- Apr 25, 2013
- 5,355
We're on a roll here at Softpedia when it comes to reviewing antivirus utilities. Yesterday we looked into the brand-new 2015 edition of Bitdefender Internet Security, and two days ago we tested and were pleasantly surprised by Baidu Antivirus 2014.
Today we're shifting our attention to another up-and-coming tool designed for preventing and removing malware, namely 360 Internet Security. Developed by Beijing-based company Qihoo 360, this antivirus solution uses three engines to detect and remove infected or suspicious files. Two of them belong to the developer (360 Cloud, QVM II), while the third belongs to Bitdefender. Just like Baidu, this app is packed in a pleasant and highly intuitive interface. It sports several layers of security made to prevent web-based attacks, in addition to a traces cleaner and sandbox for programs.
NOTE: 360 Internet Security was tested on 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro.
Performance results
We tested 360 Internet Security on an Intel Core i5-3470 @CPU 3.20GHz with 12GB RAM and 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 7200RPM, running Windows 8.1 Pro.
We submitted a collection of 8,502 virus samples (no zero-day threats) to find out how many of them are spotted and deleted by the app. Unfortunately, the real-time shield was mostly a disappointment. With default settings applied (medium protection level), the tool was completely unresponsive, even after accessing the files. We had to raise it to high level to see noteworthy response time but it was very slow at removing the files.
However, things started looking up when triggering a contextual scan on the directory in question. As it turns out, 360 Internet Security identified and removed 8,483 files, leaving only 19 files behind. In other words, it had a success rate of 99.7%(which is slightly better than Bitdefender's outcome yesterday).
For the next part of our tests, we ran a full scan with default settings; the entire hard disk had 294GB occupied space. It was completed in outstanding time - 46 minutes and 42 seconds (with Highest Speed enabled, instead of Best Performance). A secondary run on the full scan (we didn't make any modifications to the files in the meantime) was over in just 3 minutes and 22 seconds, since 360 Internet Security resorted to Scan Acceleration Technology to skip unchanged files.
It recorded 2 false positives during the full scan, and detected 5 out of 5 phishing websites.
The Good
The interface is user-friendly and pleasant. Plus, several themes are available.
During a scanning or removing job, it is possible to explore other interface areas while 360 Internet Security is working in the background.
Scan jobs are extremely fast, and the malware detection ratio was almost perfect in our tests. The program is forgiving when it comes to CPU and RAM consumption during scan jobs (with default settings applied).
The sandbox has plenty of configuration settings to ensure PC safety while confining apps' activity to a secured environment, while the cleaner is fast and effective.
The program is free to use.
360 Internet Security was stable throughout the entire evaluation, unlike many av products.
The Bad
In our case, the real-time guard was not responsive to threats when applying default settings. It is slow when it comes to removing numerous files. The tool sometimes requires system reboot to finalize tasks.
The elapsed time shown is not always accurate (it got stuck in our tests while files were being eliminated).
The "Repair" suggestion made by 360 Internet Security is somewhat misleading, especially if the user is not experienced with av products. The tool does not actually fix the files but deletes them instead.
When detecting some types of viruses, it pops up a full screen alert to prompt users for action and pauses everything else, thus becoming highly intrusive.
The Truth
Excellent speed and virus detection ratio, in addition to the comfortable and simple-to-use interface are 360 Internet Security's highlights. It's impressive that the program is free, considering that some of its features can usually be found in paid av utilities (or do not exist at all).
If the real-time guard was faster and the default configuration was truly optimized, it would've been perfect in terms of performance. 360 Internet Security may seem ideal for beginners, but a bit of tinkering really is necessary to achieve best performance results. Plus, remember to keep an eye out for false positives. Nevertheless, there's always room for improvement. Our overall rating lies somewhere between 4 and 5 stars.
EDITOR'S RATINGS:
User Interface:
(5/5)
Features:
(4/5)
Ease of use:
(5/5)
Pricing/Value:
(5/5)
Overall:
(4/5)
Full Article
Today we're shifting our attention to another up-and-coming tool designed for preventing and removing malware, namely 360 Internet Security. Developed by Beijing-based company Qihoo 360, this antivirus solution uses three engines to detect and remove infected or suspicious files. Two of them belong to the developer (360 Cloud, QVM II), while the third belongs to Bitdefender. Just like Baidu, this app is packed in a pleasant and highly intuitive interface. It sports several layers of security made to prevent web-based attacks, in addition to a traces cleaner and sandbox for programs.
NOTE: 360 Internet Security was tested on 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro.
Performance results
We tested 360 Internet Security on an Intel Core i5-3470 @CPU 3.20GHz with 12GB RAM and 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 7200RPM, running Windows 8.1 Pro.
We submitted a collection of 8,502 virus samples (no zero-day threats) to find out how many of them are spotted and deleted by the app. Unfortunately, the real-time shield was mostly a disappointment. With default settings applied (medium protection level), the tool was completely unresponsive, even after accessing the files. We had to raise it to high level to see noteworthy response time but it was very slow at removing the files.
However, things started looking up when triggering a contextual scan on the directory in question. As it turns out, 360 Internet Security identified and removed 8,483 files, leaving only 19 files behind. In other words, it had a success rate of 99.7%(which is slightly better than Bitdefender's outcome yesterday).
For the next part of our tests, we ran a full scan with default settings; the entire hard disk had 294GB occupied space. It was completed in outstanding time - 46 minutes and 42 seconds (with Highest Speed enabled, instead of Best Performance). A secondary run on the full scan (we didn't make any modifications to the files in the meantime) was over in just 3 minutes and 22 seconds, since 360 Internet Security resorted to Scan Acceleration Technology to skip unchanged files.
It recorded 2 false positives during the full scan, and detected 5 out of 5 phishing websites.
The Good
The interface is user-friendly and pleasant. Plus, several themes are available.
During a scanning or removing job, it is possible to explore other interface areas while 360 Internet Security is working in the background.
Scan jobs are extremely fast, and the malware detection ratio was almost perfect in our tests. The program is forgiving when it comes to CPU and RAM consumption during scan jobs (with default settings applied).
The sandbox has plenty of configuration settings to ensure PC safety while confining apps' activity to a secured environment, while the cleaner is fast and effective.
The program is free to use.
360 Internet Security was stable throughout the entire evaluation, unlike many av products.
The Bad
In our case, the real-time guard was not responsive to threats when applying default settings. It is slow when it comes to removing numerous files. The tool sometimes requires system reboot to finalize tasks.
The elapsed time shown is not always accurate (it got stuck in our tests while files were being eliminated).
The "Repair" suggestion made by 360 Internet Security is somewhat misleading, especially if the user is not experienced with av products. The tool does not actually fix the files but deletes them instead.
When detecting some types of viruses, it pops up a full screen alert to prompt users for action and pauses everything else, thus becoming highly intrusive.
The Truth
Excellent speed and virus detection ratio, in addition to the comfortable and simple-to-use interface are 360 Internet Security's highlights. It's impressive that the program is free, considering that some of its features can usually be found in paid av utilities (or do not exist at all).
If the real-time guard was faster and the default configuration was truly optimized, it would've been perfect in terms of performance. 360 Internet Security may seem ideal for beginners, but a bit of tinkering really is necessary to achieve best performance results. Plus, remember to keep an eye out for false positives. Nevertheless, there's always room for improvement. Our overall rating lies somewhere between 4 and 5 stars.
EDITOR'S RATINGS:
User Interface:
Features:
Ease of use:
Pricing/Value:
Overall:
Full Article
