Antivirus software

Home Office Computing, July, 1998 by Philip Albinus

The program lets you search for different viruses by category, find out the symptoms of each virus, discover the damage they do, and whether or not PC-cillin can cure the virus and save your infected data. We also liked the supplied QuickStart card that tells you how to install PC-cillin and guides you through steps to take if the software finds a virus.

Although it may not have the bells and whistles of the other programs in this roundup, PC-cillin will give your PC an effective shot in the arm for fighting viruses.

Quarterdeck ViruSweep Extra Strength

*** WIN / WIN 95

If you need a good-looking virus fighter with extra protection tools, take a look at the new and improved ViruSweep Extra Strength (VES) from Quarterdeck. (A regular-strength version is available for $39.95, but lacks the eSafe Protect feature.) We received the latest update and, after putting it through its paces, we came away fairly impressed.

Although VES worked smoothly, we had a minor problem during installation when we typed in our serial number. A warning screen said the supplied serial number was invalid. After retyping the same number, we were given the option of proceeding with our "invalid" serial number. (This happened while testing the standard edition of ViruSweep as well.) Despite this glitch, VES installed properly, offered to make an emergency recovery disk, and successfully scanned our hard disk for viruses.

To spice up its design (the previous version was on the lackluster side), ViruSweep Extra Strength has slick animations to show it's active. The virus fighter not only loaded a pair of icons in the system tray, but placed an icon on our Windows 95 desktop for easy access.

The two icons in the Windows 95 system tray do the majority of the work: Quarterdeck Service Manager launches the Update-It dialog box for finding, downloading, and arming yourself with the latest inoculations, while ViruSweep Watch launches the program to scan hard disks, floppies, Zip disks, and directories. What's more, VES now ships with eSafe Protect, a utility that protects against rogue Java and ActiveX applets that could creep in, infect your computer, or even steal passwords and credit card numbers.

ViruSweep offers adequate virus protection, but we would still prefer using Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Deluxe or Norton AntiVirus 4.0. Not only did we find their system scans more thorough, but we walked away with the perception that our computer was safe and secure. And, in the end, that's really all that matters.

RELATED ARTICLE: CHEAT SHEET

Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Deluxe ***1/2 $60

Network Associates VirusScan 3.1 *** $50

Norton AntiVirus 4.0 *** 1/2 $70

PC-cillin Anti-Virus 3.0 **1/2 $45

Quarterdeck ViruSweep Extra Strength *** $70

RATINGS

Our one-to-four-star ratings are based on performance, features, setup, ease of use, availability, warranty, support, documentation, and price. When a product tests well and is exceptionally priced, we award it a Best Buy designation.

EXCELLENT **** GOOD *** FAIR ** POOR *