Kaspersky Free Antivirus - Pro's & Con's

[TairikuOkami]

I could only recommend Sophos Home Free

I used to recommend Sophos, but it has gone really really bad lately.

Personally I don't think I could ever recommend Kaspersky Free to anyone.

Same here, but since the number of good free AVs has decreased significantly, I have included it in my list again, still do not like it though.

I was more on about detections, CPU usage et al.

Playing with limited settings it has, this seems to do nicely. RAM usage about 200MB and 0,24% CPU. Still, scheduled scans can not be disabled.

 Kaspersky 2019 (RU) - https://products.s.kaspersky-labs.com/homeuser/kfa2019
 Kaspersky Setup - Accept KSN Statement (to enable cloud detection) - Decline Statement regarding data processing - uncheck Detect other software that can be used by criminals
 Kaspersky - Uninstall Kaspersky Secure Connection
 Kaspersky - Settings - Scan - Security Level - High
 Kaspersky Performance - Settings - Additional - Network - uncheck Limit traffic / uncheck Inject script / select Do not scan encrypted connections
 Kaspersky Performance - Settings - Additional - Threats and Exclusions - uncheck Enable Advanced Disinfection technology
 Kaspersky Performance - Settings - Additional - Appearance - Do not use Smooth transition between windows

 

[uninfected1]

Is it possible to stop automated daily rootkit scans? I understand there is an option to do this in KIS (Settings/Performance etc) but I can't see how this can be done in the free version.

 

[silversurfer]

Is it possible to stop automated daily rootkit scans? I understand there is an option to do this in KIS (Settings/Performance etc) but I can't see how this can be done in the free version.

The option to disable rootkit-scans is available in Kaspersky Free, you can change it also in settings/performance!

 

[yitworths]

Is it possible to stop automated daily rootkit scans? I understand there is an option to do this in KIS (Settings/Performance etc) but I can't see how this can be done in the free version.

only protection components are greyed out...

 

[ForgottenSeer 67480]

I see in free version only those pros: Light, Less RAM Usage, Good Protection, Blocking phishing websites, Free security toolbar for browsers and cloud works fine, free version slowly has no more available functions to use, to this is my cons.

 

[amico81]

and the signatures are not delayed in the free version??

i can't believe that it has the same signatures like the paid kaspersky antivirus ( or IS / TS ). because who will pay the basic antivirus if we have the same protection with the free version??? they would kill the own product basic antivirus.


and I'm wondering why they do not compare the free and the basic antivirus, but the free and the internet security.

an example > bitdefender free doesnt have ransomware-protection. so it's totally ok to pay the price for their basic antivirus if any user wanna have the extra layer of protection.

 

[Azure]

@amico81

There is more to Kaspersky than just signature detection.

 

[stefanos]

I tried it. It is a very good product but it is new and has some problems. I believe that they will be restored in a little while from Kaspersky. For now i come back with Avast and i wait the comments

 

[amico81]

@amico81

There is more to Kaspersky than just signature detection.

i know...but if the only paid feature is the firewall...how do you want to make money in the future?

you know what i mean?!

 

[harlan4096]

There are no delayed signatures in Kaspersky Free products, also signatures & KSN are the same than in paid versions...

Paid features: Application Control, FireWall, Safe Money, Private Browsing, Anti-Banner, Anti-Spam, WebCam Protection, and other minor modules...

 

[uninfected1]

The option to disable rootkit-scans is available in Kaspersky Free, you can change it also in settings/performance!

Thanks. 'Search for software that is intended to conceal traces of a malicious program in the system (rookits)' is very bad and ambiguous wording though. It should say something like 'Perform rootkit scan' as it used to.

Other than that Kaspersky Free seems to have improved significantly since I first tried it about six months ago, certainly the best of the free AVs I've tried recently, including Panda Dome (don't ask), Bitdefender (way too heavy) and Sophos (also pretty heavy).

 

[imuade]

I see in free version only those pros: Light, Less RAM Usage, Good Protection, Blocking phishing websites, Free security toolbar for browsers and cloud works fine, free version slowly has no more available functions to use, to this is my cons.

The only issued I had with KFA is that it doesn't automatically update signatures, I think it's a bug.
About the ability to configure every module's settings, you can use Kaspersky Cloud Security Free. I tried it and it was quite good, but I think there is a bug there too.
Even if the Free version doesn't have a Firewall, I got a warning on Windows Security Center because Kaspersky Firewall wasn't working... and when I clicked "open Kaspersky Cloud Security for more details", the Firewall options actually opened

 

[harlan4096]

Even if the Free version doesn't have a Firewall, I got a warning on Windows Security Center because Kaspersky Firewall wasn't working... and when I clicked "open Kaspersky Cloud Security for more details", the Firewall options actually opened

I also got that SHOCKING behaviour with FireWall and my KSCloud Free 2019

About auto updates, I'm not suffering that bug in any of my KFA2019 neither in KSCloud Free 2019...

 

[uninfected1]

Does anyone here reckon it's worth switching to Kaspersky Security Cloud Free which lets you change protection settings? Personally I'm quite happy having all modules enabled so I won't be switching, or are there some that you would prefer to uncheck?

 

[yitworths]

About auto updates, I'm not suffering that bug in any of my KFA2019

that's because of some malformed updates most likely. As not all of my KFA behaving in that manner. Which have got those updates those are only affected.

 

[yitworths]

Does anyone here reckon it's worth switching to Kaspersky Security Cloud Free which lets you change protection settings? Personally I'm quite happy having all modules enabled so I won't be switching, or are there some that you would prefer to uncheck?

yea, it's worth switching from KFA to KSC free. but if you are happy with kfa & don't have any intention to fiddle with your security product then stick with kfa.

 

[petersaints]

On the Global Kaspersky Website all links about their free products now seem to point you to the Kaspersky Security Cloud. However, tou can still get KFA by going to: https://www.kaspersky.com/free-antivirus.

 

[Al-Faqir]

Its a browser web page. Here, if you want to mine for me for a minute: Windscribe (No login. It gets attributed to my ID)

 

[petersaints]

yea, it's worth switching from KFA to KSC free. but if you are happy with kfa & don't have any intention to fiddle with your security product then stick with kfa.

At least for now there's no problem in sticking with KFA. But keep in mind that Kaspersky may discontinue KFA. If that happens, you should switch to KSC, or other security product.

 

[TairikuOkami]

With KFA, telemetry was optional, but with KSC, telemetry is mandatory, since it is a cloud AV.
At first Kaspersky has degraded KFA to what it is now and then offered the option to move to KSC.