Vipre AntiVirus + AntiSpyware
November 11, 2009 | Posted by admin 
- High-performance, next-generation antivirus + antispyware technology
- Home Site License for all the computers in your house
- Won¿t slow down your PC
- Keeps notification pop-ups and warnings to a minimum
- All-new technology with a unique antivirus and antispyware engine
Product Description
High-performance antivirus + antispyware that doesn’t slow down your PC! User surveys show the biggest frustration with existing antivirus solutions is bloat and high resource usage. VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware runs seamlessly without significantly impairing your PCs performance and is designed for an improved user experience, keeping notification pop-ups and warnings to a minimum. The Home Site License covers every computer in your house! VIPRE Antivirus + Antis… More >>
Categories: Antivirus | 
Tags: AntiSpyware, Antivirus, Vipre | 
5 Comments »
I get McAfee free with my ISP subscription. The only thing the product literature says VIPER does that McAfee does not do is so couched in esoteric jargon that I have no reason to even try it.
Rating: 1 / 5
I’ve tried a variety of anti-virus programs throughout the years, from avast to kaspersky to NOD32, etc, etc. This has to be the worst anti-virus/anti-spyware program I have ever encountered. During the installation process it regularly froze and then screwed around with other programs freezing my computer and forcing me to restart several times. When I tried to update the virus definitions it just froze and did nothing. When I wanted to run a scan, it froze, inhibited other programs from running, and did nothing. Save yourself some stress and money, download avast and malwarebytes for free.
Rating: 1 / 5
I have used several antivirus products, Norton, Defender Pro, AVG-Free, and now Vipre, so I have much to compare it with.
I installed Vipre on 2 computers to test it to its max.
Computer 1 – older, slower computer running Windows XP
When installing, received contradictory messages and clicked the wrong one. Took about 45 minutes to set up, since it downloaded a newer version as well as the additional virus definitions.
After I installed, I did a “quick scan” of the computer and was pleasantly surprised to find it only took about 15 minutes. However, because of the age/speed of my computer, I found things “slow responding” while the scan was running. It found 83 tracking cookies – but no viruses – not surprising, since I had been running it without protection for two years, but practicing safe internet.
The second computer is an HP Pavillion running Windows Vista Home Premium.It has 4G SDRAM, and has been up and running for about a month.
It took about 20 minutes for the full install including a much faster download of the same virus definitions and newer version. I ran a quick scan, and it completed in 7 minutes. It found tracking cookies that had been permitted by Norton (which I removed before installation)
I especially appreciated the fact that it incorporates well with the Vista Program, even reminding you to turn off Windows Firewall so that it doesn’t conflict.
The default for the program is to check for new virus defs every 2 hours and to do a deep scan daily. OOOPS, I don’t think so! But, with a few clicks, it is now searching for new virus definitions every 24 hours, and will run a deep scan once a week on a day I don’t use the computer (Yes, you can tell it which day of the week and time you want it to scan) then have it turn off when it’s done.
The cutest part is that it runs little documents, or blocks, or computer parts past the scanner while it scans, mundane until you see a whole row of cookies come marching by. The programmer obviously had a sense of humor – the cookies are chocolate chip!
If I’m ever expecting NCIS to take over my computer, I’ll use the history cleaner and/or the Secure File Eraser, but otherwise, I don’t see any real need for that. All my “stuff” is pretty innocent.
It is currently running a deep scan as I run a game program and type this review. Neither is affected. For that, it gets 4 Stars.
I have had several experiences where Anti-virus protections have frozen my computer in the middle of something, or grabbed so much memory that I couldn’t use any of my programs while they were running. This AV appears to be all that is promised – fast, efficient, and does not slow down my faster machine.
Why the missing star? I feel that the installation could have been smoother and more user friendly. It may sound small, but it would have been nice for the program to tell me WHERE to find the license number, so I would not have to check everywhere (It is on the back of the Quick-start guide). The extra starts because of the installation of both the disk and the update made it a bit frustrating at the beginning. Small problems for a great program.
It’s a great product, and I highly recommend it to Windows Vista users. XP users on older computers should determine if this product warrants the higher price, since it does not seem to be as efficient in that capacity.
*** Later Entry – I have now been using this product for awhile. My best comment is that it is POLITE. I only notice it when it pops a little window up and politely tells me it is downloading new virus definitions or that it is running a scan. Otherwise, it is completely invisible on my Vista. I continue to have slowdowns on my older XP.
****NOTE*** (SEPT 19 UPDATE) BECAUSE OF AN UPDATE ON WINDOWS, MY COMPUTER NO LONGER RECOGNIZES VIPRE. WHEN I CONTACTED VIPRE, THEY STATED THAT THERE WOULD BE A CORRECTION WITHIN A FEW WEEKS. THAT CORRECTION HAS NOT BEEN MADE. THE SOFTWARE WORKS, BUT MY WINDOWS SECURITY CONTINUES TO INSIST THAT IT DOES NOT EXIST.
Rating: 4 / 5
I wish I could review the effectivness of this product. However, I never got it installed.
Let me start by saying I am not a computer idiot. I am better than most non-IT people. My computer worked fine prior to this, never had a single problem.
After spending several HOURS completing the installation the first time, probably the most complicated installation and software update Ive ever done, the program simply uninstalled itself from my computer.
Since I was forced to reinstall it, I started the process over. Interestingly, it didnt let me. It simply froze my computer for 20 minutes, deleted all my security settings, then my computer would simply go to a black screen whenever I clicked an icon or even right clicked the screen for the menu.
I called the number on the box for help, only to be told by the person on the phone that they only support business customers after hours, I would need to call back during regular business hours to get help. Its 4:00 in the afternoon where I am at, I thought that was regular business hours. Come to find out, they are only open for “personal user support” from 9:00 to 4:00 EST. So I will have to take a day off of work so that I can be at home with my computer when I call back.
In the meantime, my computer doesnt work, at all. Installing this software has effectively killed my computer and Im going to have to miss a days work to be able to stay at home during East Coast bankers hours to get some technical support from them!
DO NOT buy this product, stick with Norton or MacAfee.
Rating: 1 / 5
First, the good points: this product installs easily, did not materially slow down the functioning of most other applications and the user interface is competently designed. The control panels are comfortable, uncluttered and easy to navigate.
The product was tested by being installed on a relatively new laptop that had no other anti-malware software. This computer currently has no connection to the internet and was known to be free of malware/spyware/virus before installation. I was impressed by VIPRE when after the first scan it had located a bit of low-risk ad-ware. This little popup had surfaced the first time computer was used and while it wasn’t harmful it was annoying. The computer shop who sold me the computer was supposed to have cleaned up all that advertising gunk that computer manufacturers allow to be foisted on their customers. Vipre made it go away in a snap. Nice!
VIPRE immediately wanted to go online and update itself. This is an expected feature and totally necessary for anti-virus protection. Sadly, this computer has no connection to the internet so VIPRE didn’t get to show what it could do in that regard.
VIPRE also respected my games-playing applications, but it did want to pop up little balloons while I was working in MSWord. Did I mention that this laptop is where I do my creative writing? I resent little balloons during my limited writing time. Also the product liability statement that one must “accept” before installing the program states in bald English that this software does not guarantee that it will do what it advertises. It strongly implies that I am a moron to even think of installing it on any computer I may own. (Sigh.) Such insults have become usual but do nothing for customer confidence.
Eventually, I decided that I had to uninstall this product from the laptop because I noticed that while the scans did not dampen computing capacity they certainly sucked down the electric power. The computer would become warm and the fan would run for the entire period of the scan. If the laptop was running on battery power only, the battery would be drained in about half the time. Uninstalling was easy and the product removed cleanly. I am tempted to try this product on my main internet-accessing desktop computer, but am deterred by the difficulty of uninstalling my current anti-viral program, which currently has several months of contracted service to run.
Rating: 4 / 5