Anti-Virus Analysis - Report Example

Anti-Virus Analysis Affiliation: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 0Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 3 1 Functionality of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 3 1.2 Pros of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 4 1.3 Cons of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 5 2.0 Avira Antivirus Free Edition 6 2.1 Functionality of Avira Antivirus Free Edition 6 2.2 Pros of Avira Antivirus Free Edition 7 2.3 Cons of Avira Antivirus Free Edition 8 3.0Comparison of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Avira Antivirus Free Edition 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction An anti-virus software is a software installed on a computer so that it can alert the user whenever he/she has a virus. An anti-virus software will assist a computer user keep the computer safe from Trojan horses, viruses, worms, and any other uninvited programs. Moreover, anti-virus software helps a computer user clean their computer if it happens that they have a virus (Stair & Reynolds, 2015). The most vital thing to recall is that anti-virus software should regularly be updated so as to acquire the latest virus definitions installed into the anti-virus software program. There exist many anti-virus tools that are both paid for and that are free. However, in this paper, the main focus is on the free anti-virus tools. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Avira Antivirus Free Edition will be the main focus. In comparing the two anti-viruses, the analysis will be carried out in terms of their main features, their advantages and disadvantages, their functionality, their ease to use, and their footprint. The reason for choosing the two tools is because they are among the best ranked free anti-viruses in the market currently. Moreover, they have more features as compared to other free tools. 1.0 Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition 1.1 Functionality of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a version of the Bitdefender’s paid solutions anti-virus (Rusen, 2015). It mainly focuses on providing the user with the basic essential protection every Windows user should have. It provides on-demand and real-time protection against any known or unknown malware threat. Additionally, it has a web scanner. As per my experience with the anti-virus, it works well for any user. Not only does it utilize the same engine and database as Bitdefender’s paid version, it is also light weight. For example during the testing of this product, the CPU usage was negligible, and the RAM usage was around 16 MB. However, the RAM usage was not always at 16 MB. It peaked at around 125MB before it cleaned itself and then jumped to 16 MB. The RAM usage then gradually crept to 50 MB multiple time after which it cleaned itself up and jumped down to 16 MB. Finally, the RAM usage settled to around 16 MB with the occasional spike to 55 MB. 1.2 Pros of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition After installing Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition in my computer and conducting a thorough analysis of the advantages of the anti-virus to its user, below is a list of the pros of the anti-virus; Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition provides on-demand scanning and real-time protection against all types of malware including rootkits, viruses, and Trojans, It is exceptionally quick to install and uninstall, It is very easy to setup and use. There are no real configurations required, It combines non-signature based and traditional signature-based protection to assist detect known and not yet known threats in the computer. This is made possible by its active virus control, intrusion detection system, and B-HAVE. The active virus control looks to detect any not yet known threats, the intrusion detection system stops any processes that access the network or internet with questionable behavior, and B-HAVE analyzes behavior of programs in a safe environment to make sure that no illicit code is executed (Stair & Reynolds, 2015), It has a web scanner that any pro-actively blocked websites that are known to be malicious, It does not bog down the computer because it is relatively lightweight, It performs early boot scanning so as to try and detect any malware while the computer is booting, It uses the same database of engines and signatures as the paid version. This enables it to provide comparable excellent protection, and It is free to home, commercial/business and non-commercial use. 1.3 Cons of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Even though Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has numerous advantages, it also has its disadvantages. The cons of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition I discovered are; Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is very arrogant. It does not allow the user pick what they want to do when malicious website or file is detected, On-demand scanning capability is not user-friendly. There is no easy way to start on-demand scan for the whole computer, It has some updating issues, It occasionally displays ads, and A user has to register an account with Bitdefender, even though, the registration process is free. 2.0 Avira Antivirus Free Edition 2.1 Functionality of Avira Antivirus Free Edition Avira Antivirus Free Edition features are divided into five main categories namely Child Protection, Internet Protection, PC Protection, Mobile Protection and Administration (Rusen, 2015). Avira Antivirus Free Edition offers a number of modules for free to its users. However, it is encouraged that the user upgrade to the paid version. As per my experience with the anti-virus, it is not lightweight to the computer. For example during the testing of this product, the CPU usage was negligible, and the RAM usage was around 64 MB. However, the RAM usage was not always at 64 MB. It peaked at around 200 MB when in use. Moreover, the software has a noticeable impact on the system resource as when checking a 1GB file in my computer took 32% longer to run when there was a background scan in progress as compared when there was no background scan. 2.2 Pros of Avira Antivirus Free Edition After installing Avira Antivirus Free Edition in my computer and conducting a thorough analysis of the advantages of the anti-virus to its user, below is a list of the pros of the anti-virus; It has top-notch protection. It has built-in security browser plugin, It performs computer scanning thoroughly and quickly, It offers Child Protection, Internet Protection, PC Protection, Mobile Protection and Administration. It is capable of scanning 30 different compressed and achieved files. Its on-demand scan feature is profile controlled. Moreover, it can conduct customized searches on the computer 2.3 Cons of Avira Antivirus Free Edition Even though Avira Antivirus Free Edition has its advantages, I found its cons after using it. They include; It has huge performance impact while conducting full computer scan It has an intimating user interface, It does not have a free browser plugin available for flagging malware-infected webpages, The free version does not offer AV scans and real-time protection, a scanning shield, a social network shield, or a two-way firewall, The free version does not offer email scanning, 3.0 Comparison of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Avira Antivirus Free Edition After a close analysis of the two free antiviruses, I would recommend the use of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition over the use of Avira Antivirus Free Edition. Just about every free anti-virus product in the market scans files on access so as to make sure that there is no launch of any malware in the system (Stair & Reynolds, 2015). Blocking any access to malware-hosting websites is a good way to avoid any troubles in the system, and Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition offers this capability. Moreover, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition steers users away from any fraudulent websites or phishing websites that try to steal private information such as login credentials. Behavior-based detection is an important feature of an anti-virus that every organization needs (Rusen, 2015). Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition offers behavior-based detection to its users. It detects any malware that has never been seen before in the sense that it detects known and not yet known malware. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has a low profile that is always on detection. If a threat is detected in the system, the anti-virus takes care of it quietly without harassing the user with pop-ups messages. This is different from Avira Antivirus Free Edition. The virus harasses the user with pop-ups whenever a threat is detected. Even though the two anti-viruses have a desktop wedge, Bitdefender’s wedge offers more features than that of Avira. The wedge for Bitdefender allows the user to drop a file there for a quick scan. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition comes with a Safe-pay browser that is a toggle located on the top-right. This feature is great, and a user cannot capture screenshots or alt-tab away from it. This is very helpful especially for users that intermittently browse transaction related websites such as eBay, Amazon or the bank (Morley & Parker, 2015). Additionally, when compared to Avira, Bitdefender comes with a wallet plug-in for the existing browser. This feature allows the user to remember securely his/her personal information such as website passwords and credit card numbers. Even though the two anti-viruses come with a file shredder, Bitdefender’s shredder enables the user assert that any malware has been deleted from the system. Avira Antivirus Free Edition does not have free browser plugins. This is a disadvantage to the user. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition, on the other hand, comes with a browser plugin that scans websites for phishing scams and check Google search results for any malware (Stair & Reynolds, 2015). However, as helpful this is it is somehow annoying to have numerous green checkmarks littering the user’s view. When looking at the dashboard of the two anti-viruses, Bitdefender’s dashboard allows the user to monitor all issues across the system. Even though the two anti-viruses offer quick and full scan of the system, Bitdefender is faster and does not require high performance during the full scan as Avira. In Bitdefender, scans can be tweaked and scheduled with all sort of preferences such as if the user wants to scan the registry, perform a light background scan or perform a full scan and then shut down the system after completion. With this option in Bitdefender, it is easy for the user to maintain deep, dependable protection of the system without the anti-virus impacting the day to day activity of the computer (Morley & Parker, 2015). Conclusion Beyond protection, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition includes a whole array of tools to ensure that everything in the computer runs at tip-top shape. A disk defragmenter, start-up optimizer, and registry analyzer can assist the user know more about their computer. The bottom line is that Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition offers the user a fantastic, hassle-free experiences as compared to Antivirus Free Edition. Its interface is easy and simple to navigate through the different features it offers. Moreover, it can easily drone away in the background, catching any digital threats to the system and taking care of them even without the user having to worry or know about it. References Morley, D., & Parker, C. S. (2015). Understanding computers: Today and tomorrow. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning Rusen, C. A. (2015). IC3 internet and computing core certification key applications global standard 4: Study guide. Indianaplis, Ind.: Sybex, a Wiley brand Stair, R. M., & Reynolds, G. W. (2015). Principles of information systems. Australia: rooks/Cole Read More