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WinLab Reviews
-- by James E. Powell
Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus 7.69 offers a simple two-button interface: You can either scan your drives or update the program. There's also a new optional monthly update ($29.95 per year) for virus signatures and changes to the core program. However, this latest version doesn't add the features necessary to join the ranks of other WinList products. WinGuard, Dr Solomon's antivirus sentinel, sits in your System Tray and watches for viruses; it can be set to automatically remove any intruder it finds. (The version we tested recognized 11,241.) Dr. Solomon's reduces the number of false alarms, thanks to the program's Advanced Heuristic Analysis technology, which detects new and unknown viruses before a virus signature has been added to the program's knowledge base. The program can also recursively inspect compressed files. During tests, it found all our planted viruses, taking just 24 minutes to scan over 18,600 files (including dozens of complex ZIP files) that totalled 1.25GB. Other features include a new installation program, an online Virus Encyclopedia with interesting details about the most commonly encountered viruses and an SOS disk to safely boot to a clean system should a virus ever attack. At under $50, Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus 7.69 is good insurance for your files. However, our WinList's Norton AntiVirus 2.0 offers similar features plus corporate administration tools. Furthermore, its initially higher price includes free updates to both the virus knowledge base and the core program, a service that quickly makes up for the cost. While Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus is a fine product, Norton AntiVirus 2.0 remains the better buy.
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