Scope of Protection:  

F-Prot Antivirus isn’t a complete security solution, and doesn’t protect from all malware. The software does protect from viruses, worms, Trojans, and other malware. And while the program scans for spyware, adware, keyloggers, backdoors, and rootkits (to some extent), they admit that for complete spyware/adware protection, you need another, more dedicated software.

Effectiveness:  

We can’t speak too highly of the relative protection level from F-Prot Antivirus either. On the one hand, the software has passed the VirusBulletin 100% test, proving they can protect from known in-the-wild viruses. But the test also illustrated the comparative weakness of F-Prot with advanced security, with the software only showing 48% accuracy for reactive and proactive scanning technology. In our own tests, F-Prot found a handful of false positives (the software detected “malware” files that really were fine).

Ease of Installation:  

Installing and setting up F-Prot Antivirus is straightforward and easy, and will look familiar to anyone who has installed any software on a Windows computer. The complete installation does require a system restart, after which F-Prot automatically checks for the most recent updates.

F-Prot isn’t a system hog, but we did see a noticeable slowdown when it was running in-depth scans.

Ease of Use:  

F-Prot isn’t hard to use, but there’s nothing really great about it either. The interface is simple (almost too simple), and while not difficult, doesn’t really add any usability benefit. Users should be able to set up scheduled scans or run manual scans on various PC components. Luckily, the software is designed to run by itself (with automatic scans and updates) for the most part.

Features:  

F-Prot Antivirus features proactive heuristic detection to protect from previously unknown threats. The software also has password protected settings, and integrated email scanning (for both inbound and outbound messages and attachments). Unfortunately, the web-based protection is limited to the Internet Explorer browser.

One nice feature that F-Prot offers is the multi-user licensing. One license of F-Prot Antivirus is good for up to 5 home computers.

Updates:  

F-Prot’s antivirus software includes automatic updates that are designed to be faster and lighter (because they are delivered on a regular basis). Proxy server users can also setup for automatic updates.

Help & Support:  

F-Prot’s online support center features a knowledgebase and forum. You can submit a suspicious file to the company to look at, or send a specific question by submitting a ticket.

We can’t recommend F-Prot Antivirus, especially when there are so many better antivirus programs available. The protection level is sub-par, and the interface could definitely use an update. For better protection, consider one of our better antivirus alternatives, or even an internet security suite or premium security suite.