The main Russian developer of antivirus solutions, Kaspersky Lab (Kaspersky Lab), presented its first completely free antivirus with the uncomplicated name Kaspersky Free.
The main advantage of this program is that in practice Kaspersky Free is a simplified version of the multiple winner of various contests of Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS). In the latter there is almost everything: parental control, technical support over the phone, protection of Internet payments, protection from Trojans, screen blockers and butoviruses. It can be put on Windows, Mac and Android – all using one box.
But Kaspersky Free does not have any additional functions. It is an antivirus that is necessary and sufficient for a modern user. Strictly speaking, it has everything that was in Kaspersky Lab’s programs 5-6 years ago: the antivirus itself with the scheduler of checks, a file monitor with an add-on for the browser, a mail antivirus and checking IM clients (messengers). If you want, you can download separately a free antivirus for Android-devices. In addition, Kaspersky Security Network is included in the free version of the antivirus. It is a cloud service that represents the base of all existing viruses and reflects the reputation of files, Internet resources and programs. The base is constantly replenished, which makes it possible to improve the already good protection.
To install, you need to go to the Kaspersky Lab website and download the installation file. When you start the program will offer to read the license agreement and will start downloading the necessary files from the Internet. After installation, you will only need to select a program in Windows to protect against virus threats by default.
Kaspersky Free requires registration. To do this, just click on the “Register” button, after which the program will prompt you to notify about the installation of friends on social networks and begin work. Already then, during use, the antivirus will again offer to register, but this time will send the user to the site to create an account (which, however, does not oblige).
Although the antivirus is declared completely free, in the lower right corner you can see information about the license term – 365 days. What this means is unknown. There can be two options: either this product is a kind of annual campaign to attract additional customers, or it remains when the full version is processed into a free version. Most likely, the second, because the startup screen of the program always offers to purchase the full version.
Antivirus has quite a lot of options for customization. You can enable automatic mode, you can specify whether to delete questionable files. If necessary, one of the components can be turned off. Moreover, the disconnection is available both for automatic checking of files in permanent storage, and for additional components separately, including a monitor that checks open files in real time, IM, mail or web antivirus.
As in the full version of Kaspersky Internet Security, in Kaspersky Free, the game mode is available: when you run certain programs, the antivirus is automatically turned off to reduce the load on the processor. Priorities for working in the system are also available for customization.
The menu has many levels of security familiar to many: low, medium, high, with the ability to fine-tune each profile and select an action when a threat is detected and external devices are checked.
Thanks to the absence of unnecessary features, Kaspersky Free runs significantly faster than the paid version of KIS. However, with properly configured priorities (such that the system worked quite quickly), checking my 32 GB disk took almost two hours. On the other hand, in the background the program is almost invisible. So it has all chances to become the best anti-virus program of the year, repeating the long-term success of KIS in comparing paid antivirus programs.
