Scope of Protection:  

F-Secure Anti-Virus is adequately equipped to protect basic users from a variety of computer threats, including viruses, spyware, worms and Trojans. F-Secure can also locate and eliminate deeply entrenched rootkits.

Full protection from online threats (phishing, hackers, identity thieves) is only available with the upgraded F-Secure Internet Security, but the Anti-Virus software includes basic protection from viruses spread through emails, cookies, or malware that attempts to infiltrate your PC registry.

Effectiveness:  

F-Secure has one of the most effective scanning engines, and third-party test results to prove it. While not the best performer, F-Secure is among the handful of antivirus software that hold the current Advanced A+ rating from AV Comparatives, with an overall detection rate of nearly 98%. The same test found F-Secure Anti-Virus with (relatively few) 4 false positives.

The Virus Bulletin found F-Secure right on par with most of the best antivirus competitors, with a reactive and proactive score of nearly 70. Long story short; F-Secure isn’t technically the most effective, but they’re pretty close to other top antivirus contenders.

Ease of Installation:  

Taking F-Secure Anti-Virus from start to scanning is impressively straightforward. The installer is configured to automatically remove any other antivirus software you have installed (as they interfere with each other), and is quite quick. F-Secure Anti-Virus was one of the quickest loading antivirus programs we loaded.

F-Secure is a fairly resource-conscious program, and is designed to deliver quality protection without sacrificing resources. In our tests, F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 was pretty middle of the road, with a respectable idle footprint (how much memory the software takes when it’s not really doing anything). We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the very efficient scan footprint (memory used while scanning). While it wasn’t as low as some, it was significantly lower than several antivirus solutions.

Ease of Use:  

Anti-Virus 2010 from F-Secure is a fairly straightforward program. The user interface accommodates simple navigation and makes it easy to schedule specific scans or adjust settings. The main dashboard features quick access to the essentials (scan, update, statistics), and is visually striking with the use of transparency.

Most of the time you won’t even have F-Secure open since the updates and scans run automatically. The easy-to-understand icon in the lower-right taskbar will help you comprehend the status of your security.

Features:  

One impressive feature from F-Secure is their innovative protection network. DeepGuard 2.0 utilizes “cloud security” in the form of a speedy internet-hosted database of security information. Basically, when you open a program or application on your PC, F-Secure checks with the DeepGuard network for any insights, known problems, or validation. If a program doesn’t make the grade, every other F-Secure user is protected from the same threat within 60 seconds. Best of all, this intensive security check happens in real-time and won’t even be noticed in everyday computing.

F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 also incorporates advanced heuristics. The proactive protection for “zero-hour” threat catching is a HIPS (host-based intrusion prevention system) that works behind-the-scenes to find malware-like activity through monitoring file behavior and sandbox analysis. Basically, F-Secure is looking out for hidden malware that goes undetected by the current virus signatures.

All files accessed/opened on your computer are scanned by F-Secure’s on-access scanning. Anti-Virus 2010 is also equipped to run regular antivirus scans automatically, but you can always perform a manual scan from the program. Furthermore, if you want to scan a specific file or folder, simply right-click on it and scan it immediately.

F-Secure can scan compressed files and files on removable drives. You can configure the software to clean the files (if possible) automatically, or they will be placed in the quarantine. The quarantine is where potentially dangerous files are kept where they can’t cause damage until you decide what action (restore, delete) to take.

Updates:  

Updates are scheduled by default with F-Secure to renew (if needed) every 2 hours, completely automatically and in the background. And as mentioned earlier, with the proactive DeepGuard Network, users are updated and protected from newfound threats within 60 seconds.

Business users and others should have no problem staying on top of updates; F-Secure is able to update with a proxy server.

Help & Support:  

F-Secure has a number of useful resources available online for additional product support. You can contact 24/7 on the phone, or submit an email request. Online they feature several help articles and a knowledgebase. Direct in-product help is in the form of a user manual.

F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 is another great antivirus software. Delivering excellence in technology and implementation, F-Secure is a solid solution. Complete with proactive protection, cloud security and simple usability, F-Secure Anti-Virus is a compelling piece of software, and should more than do the trick for basic home desktop antivirus needs. For more advanced and complete internet protection (link scanner, active blocking, safety warnings), consider F-Secure Internet Security, or one of our higher rated antivirus software.