Vipre AntiVirus + AntiSpyware

by SunbeltSoftware

Product Features

• 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
• Won't slow down your PC

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0026PEP5S
• Item model number: 81032
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 24, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (225 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,243 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #94 in Software > Computer Security > Antivirus
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware is rated one of the best antivirus programs available. VIPRE is high performance security software that doesn't slow your computer down like older, traditional antivirus products that have been around for years. VIPRE combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other security technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated security solution. VIPRE delivers comprehensive protection against today's highly complex spyware, viruses, and blended malware threats.

VIPRE home page that includes status of you protection and the threat level of the Internet. Click to enlarge.

Shows the progress of a scan and anything that may have been found while scanning. Click to enlarge.

The different items that can be managed are here (e.g. quarantine, known good, known bad and schedule scans). Click to enlarge.

This settings page is for setting up Active Protection and how you interact with it. Click to enlarge.

Finally--Security No Longer Slows Down Your PC

Sunbelt realizes that as a PC user, you face very real threats of virus infections, spyware and malware that can steal your personal, sensitive, and financial data. Rootkits and other malicious files can also compromise the security and privacy of your computer. That's why Sunbelt is excited to introduce VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware as your PC security product of choice for today's threats. VIPRE features a new technology in PC Security, VIPRE is the antivirus program of the future.

Unlike older antivirus program, such as Norton or McAfee, that have bolted on antispyware or antivirus modules to their existing software, VIPRE is designed to optimize overall performance by melding antivirus and antispyware together into one, single, powerful tool. This combination of technologies gives you high performance software that doesn't slow down your PC, is low on system resources, and makes it easy for you to protect your PC from the bad guys.

With its next-generation technology, VIPRE means powerful protection against today's highly complex malware threats. No more sluggish PCs, system slowness, and resource headaches of older antivirus programs!

VIPRE is in a league of its own when it comes to antivirus software; VIPRE is clearly one of the best antivirus program available today.

VIPRE is the Future of Antivirus Programs

High performance threat protection with low impact to system resources
User surveys show the biggest frustration with existing antivirus programs is bloat and high resource usage. VIPRE Antivirus runs seamlessly without significantly impairing system performance and is designed for an unobtrusive user experience, keeping notification pop-ups and warnings to a minimum.

All-new technology delivers a unique antivirus and antispyware engine
At VIPRE's core is an antivirus and antispyware engine that merges the detection of all types of malware into a single efficient and powerful system. The new technology was developed exclusively by Sunbelt, without building on older generation antivirus engines. VIPRE uses next-generation technologies making it the future of antivirus programs!

Advanced anti-rootkit technology
VIPRE's all-new anti-rootkit technology finds and disables malicious hidden processes, threats, modules, services, files, Alternate Data Streams (ADS), or registry keys on a user's system.

VIPRE is Checkmark Anti-Virus Desktop certified by West Coast Labs and will receive additional certifications through other certifying bodies in the coming months.

Removing rootkits is supplemented by VIPRE's FirstScan which runs at the system's boot time. FirstScan bypasses the Windows operating system, to directly scan certain locations of the hard drive for malware, removing infections where found.

Real-time monitoring with Active Protection
VIPRE's Active Protection delivers real time monitoring and protection against known and unknown malware threats. Active Protection works inside the Windows kernel (the core of the operating system), watching for malware and stopping it before it has a chance to execute on a user's system.

Active Protection incorporates three methods to protect the user:

• Signature matching, comparing a file for an exact match against VIPRE's definition database
• Heuristic analysis, which looks at the internal characteristics of a file to determine the likelihood that it is malware;
• Behavioral analysis, observing the actual actions of a program to determine if it is possibly malware.

Full protection against email-borne threats
VIPRE Antivirus includes comprehensive protection against email viruses, with direct support for Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail; and support for any email program that uses POP3 and SMTP (Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc.).

Why VIPRE?

It's fast and light on system resources, with everything you need and nothing you don't! VIPRE is designed to be a high-performance product, without compromising on detection and cleaning of viruses, trojans, worms, and spyware.

With VIPRE you get:

• High-performance technology that won't slow down your PC.
• An easy-to-use interface that gets you up and running in a matter of minutes.
• Low memory usage and more efficient scanning intelligence than other products on the market today.
• Unlimited "home site license" for all the PCs in your home.

Product Comparison

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 + Antispyware is fast and light on system resources, with everything you need and nothing you don¿t! VIPRE is designed to be a high-performance product, without compromising on detection and cleaning of viruses, trojans, worms, and spyware.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great customer service; software had major problems - since fixed, July 17, 2009

By 

Patricia Jeffries "Trish" (Fairfield, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vipre AntiVirus + AntiSpyware (CD-ROM)

(What's this?)

When I first installed Vipre, I was very impressed. It installed smoothly and ran with low memory. It did an excellent job with automatic updates and scans.

About a week after I installed it, Vipre prompted me that it had found a deep threat virus and needed me to reboot in order to completely clean the computer. I followed the instructions and could not get the system to reboot. I kept getitng the "blue screen of death."

I went through several diaganostics, bios checks, etc. Bottom line was that I could access the hard drive and it's files (and was able to rescue them), but I could not get it to boot to Windows. Even when I reordered the BIOS to boot from the CD ROM (to use the Windows XP Install disk), it gave me a "Windows cannot locate a hard drive."

I called Vipre (Sunbelt) and spoke with a very nice technician who told me that this is a "known problem" and that Vipre sometimes attacks a system file that is valid but acting in an abnormal way. He sent me some file links that would/should help in getting the hard drive and CPU to communicate.

I then spoke with the Geek Squad (since I couldn't even get on email at that point) and had several diagnostics run. Bottom line - I had to replace the hard drive.

I have since spoke with Sunbelt and the same technician who originally helped me. He was very nice, but explained that they do not reimburse for damage caused by their software. This did not make me happy as I have now spent $300 to replace the hard drive, not to mention the time wasted on a large consulting project I was working on as it took about a week to get it all worked out.

8/3/09 - EDITED REVIEW: I have spoken with the CEO of Sunbelt and they have fully reimbursed the cost of the repairs and have commented, both here and to me directly, that the problem that I encountered has been fixed in the current release of the software.

I am SUPER impressed with this company and, with their excellent customer service, have revised my review. It really is an excellent product and this company truly stands behind their products.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Caution-Big changes after GFI buyout, February 23, 2011

By 

Digital Tuner (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vipre AntiVirus + AntiSpyware (CD-ROM)

I used to think this was a great company and anti-virus software. Recently company got swallowed up by bigger company and they said all would be the same. And then the big change came, the eliminated what was great support for Vipre and merged it with GFI who bought Vipre. Now support really is difficult and painful. I have called and have over 20 emails to them without resolution on issues on two computers. They keep saying to run their diagnostics and send to them. There own computers reject the attachment of their own diagnostic file saying its too big. They keep asking me to resend and round and round we go. I am getting over 100 scan erros on both a desktop and laptop and when found a virus a few ago its own clean action said cancelled. No explanation from them on why the cancllation and so far no resolution on scan errors.

I must say I loved the company before the buy out. A shame so many companies support goes down hill and with virus software its critical for my business.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Protection Without Bloatware, June 19, 2009

By 

JDP - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vipre AntiVirus + AntiSpyware (CD-ROM)

(What's this?)

Finally, protection that doesn't consume my computer. VIPRE (Virus Intrusion Protection Remediation Engine) is simply a high octane performance software that does not clutter my system with outdated product and nor does it slow down operations like the brand name competition. It simply delivers.

VIPRE combines anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, anti malware, key logger and more into a viable, working product. It requires only a minimum of 512 MB. It supports various email applications including; Outlook, Outlook Express, Vista Windows Mail, and SMTP. POP3 including Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc. are also supported. SSL will only operate in Outlook and Outlook Express.

Some of the main reasons for me switching to Vipre are;

1) Reduced product update & download times
2) Control over annoying pop up notifications
3) Low impact on my primary operating systems
4) Free 24 Hour US based technical phone support (BOT-FREE)
5) Easy to read Windows core level monitoring and protection
6) When deep scanning, real time display actually lets me know how much time is remaining before the scan is complete.

Unfortunately Macintosh & Linux users will not find this product acceptable. It simply does not work with these operating systems. Nor can it be tailored for early editions of Windows 95, 98, or ME. According to a representative at tech support, a new version for Windows 7 users will be available in early 2010.

This Vipre version features the Home Site License which offers unlimited protection for all computers under one roof for one, low annual fee. This subscription includes threat definition updates, software upgrades, and free US based, phone support. The telephone support is simply outstanding.

Firewall software is not included in the current package. A product called Sunbelt Personal Firewall is a separate purchase. An outstanding working tool, it can be easily downloaded via the Sunbelt Software website.

In the six months that I have been a Vipre subscriber, protection has been outstanding and my computers have operated faster. Obviously missing from this package and keeping me from rating this version five stars is the lack of firewall protection. Perhaps later versions will include it.

Even so Vipre Antivirus/Antispy software is easily the hands down winner over the competition. This vital protection package is a worthy product for these times.

***************
UPDATE:10.31.09
***************
Vipre is now compatible with Windows 7. Vipre Premium which is a combination of Vipre and Sunbelt Personal Firewall, will be hitting the streets in March 2010. I've been in contact with Vipre customer support on several occasions via telephone, email and live chat. Only one word describes their customer service. OUTSTANDING! Competitors Norton and McAffee could take lessons from this customer first team.