Scope of Protection:  

Anti-Virus PLUS covers a range of malware and other threats, including keyloggers, dialers, adware, worms, Trojan, spyware, and rootkits. ParetoLogic utilizes traditional virus signatures (regularly updated) to detect and defend from malware in real-time.

Effectiveness:  

ParetoLogic AntiVirus PLUS is an effective antivirus software, keeping users protected without much user intervention. The West Coast Labs has certified ParetoLogic as an effective solution for protecting your computer from viruses, spyware, and Trojans. 

During and after a scan, when a dangerous file is detected, you are shown a nice graphical representation of the relative threat level. You can click on each suspicious file for additional information, and ParetoLogic AntiVirus PLUS is effective at removing (or repairing if possible) infected files.

Ease of Installation:  

We had no problem downloading and installing the software. The install took us only 7 minutes, and didn’t require a system restart; we were up and scanning In no time.

The program can be downloaded directly from paretologic.com. There is a free trial version available, but it only scans, and isn’t equipped to remove malware unless activated.

We were pleasantly surprised to see just how resource efficient Anti-Virus PLUS was. While running a scan, the software only uses about 12MB, and only 3.8MB when “idle”. You’ll hardly know that ParetoLogic is running because it protects you in the background.

Ease of Use:  

The user interface of ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS isn’t overly impressive, but is simple enough to use and is fairly intuitive. Whether you’re performing manual scans, updates, setting up custom scans, or scheduling tasks, the whole process is pretty self-explanatory.

There are three basic scans you can complete; a full scan, quick scan, or a customized scan. Custom scans let you decide exactly what files and folders to scan (and which to exclude).

Features:  

ParetoLogic’s antivirus software has all the essential features, but not much beyond that. Scans are scheduled to run automatically, but can also be run manually. If you have a specific file you want to scan for viruses, simply find it on your computer, right-click on it and send to the ParetoLogic software to scan immediately.

One of the unique advanced features that ParetoLogic incorporated in their Anti-Virus PLUS is cyclic detection. Some malware is able to write a new entry on your registry even after it has been detected and blocked. The new entry causes another popup alert to display, and just keeps repeating. Cyclic detection in Anti-Virus PLUS identifies the pattern and will disable the block option temporarily, allowing you to run a system scan to remove it.

Updates:  

The virus definition files are updated regularly (daily) and automatically. Of course you can always perform a manual scan at any time, and ParetoLogic will let you schedule updates (just like you can schedule specific virus scans). The software can also update via a proxy server.

Help & Support:  

The in-program help file is fairly detailed, and ParetoLogic also has some good support available online. The support center includes several FAQs, and an online community where you can provide feedback, read their blog, or check out ParetoLogic on Twitter. Unfortunately, they don’t offer support over the phone or online chat, and submitting an email request requires you to register (though it’s free).

All-in-all, ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS is a good antivirus software, but doesn’t stack up to the competition. Feel free to download the free antivirus trial and see how ParetoLogic works, but we suggest you look at our antivirus comparison to find a more complete product.