Design: Simple, Intuitive, Customizable
Many of even the best antivirus software are complicated with tons of buttons, features, and optional extras that can be confusing to new users. Not so with Vipre, which has a streamlined front page with a single-window and just three menu items to pick from. Scanning is activated via a single button and the Account tab gives you information like your product key code, the length left in your subscription, and a quick access help menu. There’s even a way to adjust the color scheme of the client to better suit your tastes or eyesight. One aspect of the design we really didn’t like, though, was that Vipre Security forced us to uninstall the free remediation tool, Malwarebytes free scanner. There was zero need for that to happen and it made the system’s security weaker because of it. There shouldn’t be any real problem in layering antivirus defenses and it’s a shame to see Vipre not even give users a choice in doing so.
Type of Protection: Antivirus, Firewall & ID Cover
The main Vipre Security suite offers comprehensive antivirus software protection and bundles in a firewall to prevent nefarious connections from taking place. There’s also e-mail spam protection built right in, and live web protection if you want it. As for anti-malware scans, you can easily adjust various aspects of its operation, including the types of files it scans for, the level of advanced protection (performance or security-focused) and whether you want web and edge protection in place while surfing online. ID protection means both your webcam and microphone will be blocked to prevent anyone with prying eyes or wanting to eavesdrop.
Scan Locations: Everything You Give it Access To
There are three scan options with Vipre antivirus: Quick, full, and custom. The former performs a quick scan that’s great for daily threat detection, while full goes into more depth with greater scrutiny of more system files and the registry. A custom scan lets you tweak which options you want. You can toggle looking at and for running programs, Windows registry, cookies, rootkits, and archived, and compressed files. You can also pick particular drives or folder subsystems to scan.
Types of Malware: Almost Everything
Using Bitdefender’s antivirus and Vipre Security’s own threat detection systems, the software is able to target almost every type of malware out there. It blocks and quarantines worms, trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, exploit kits, and even ransomware. It detects the latter with real-time behavior monitoring to watch for files that are acting suspiciously, stopping them in their tracks if they’re detected. The only attack vector that Vipre doesn’t protect against is cryptojacking via the web browser. For that, it recommends third-party tools and web extensions. It does, however, employ website scam detection systems, so it’s possible that it might stop you visiting a site with a crypto jacker infection, even if it can’t stop the actual attack itself.
Ease of Use: Simple As Can Be
With Vipre’s seamless and intuitive client tools, regular updates, and comprehensive protection, it’s one of the easiest to use antivirus solutions we’ve come across. It has plenty of options for power users, letting them customize their Vipre antivirus experience, but if you want a tool that’s perfect for set-and-forget use, Vipre Security is a great choice. It even has a “Quiet Mode” that you can toggle for complete hands-off protection. All options that might be a little confusing have handy tooltips explaining what they do as well and there is an extensive knowledge base and forums where you can get more information if you need it.
Update Frequency: As Often As You Like
Vipre antivirus has a default virus update schedule of every 30 minutes, but you can customize this to whatever you like. There are options ranging from once a day to every fifteen minutes. Alternatively, you can set it to manual mode, so that it only updates when you decide, but that is less advisable because if you forget, you could end up with antivirus solution that is woefully out of date to tackle any new incoming threats.
Performance: Fast When It’s a Quick Scan, Slow When It’s Not
Vipre is a comprehensive antivirus solution, but it’s not the fastest if you don’t choose the “Quick Scan” option. Quick scans finish within a few seconds and give you a good idea of whether your system is safe or not. Full scans, however, take much longer and that was on a reasonably fast system with an SSD as the main drive. If you’re using a hard drive and/or a slower processor, it might take upwards of 15 minutes to complete a full scan. The installation process was quite slow, too, requiring a lengthy wait to use the software. Once it was up and running, though, the rest of it was snappy. Menus were responsive and easy to navigate through and the scans weren’t egregiously slow. The fact that they picked up any viruses we threw at it was a great sign, too. Third-party tests show that Vipre is an effective solution for blocking all manner of threats.
Additional Tools: Firewall, Privacy & ID Protection
Although Vipre antivirus is the main focus of its Security Bundle, you do get a lot of extras, too. In the main security software, there is a history cleaner and secure file eraser for getting rid of personal information that you don’t want anyone else to see–permanently. There’s also a Social Watch tool that keeps an eye on your Facebook feed for you and notifies you if anyone tries to take control of your account or post anything that you’re not happy with. In its own separate client, you have Identity Shield. This is a separate product from the Antivirus but comes as part of the Security Bundle. It includes a webcam blocker and microphone blocker, which stops anyone snooping on your active recording devices, and a tracker block for preventing advertisers from following what you’re doing on the internet. Other features include a safe storage solution for passwords and login credentials, a scanner to make sure that you aren’t storing any personal information in an unsecured fashion, and a tracking blocker that actively puts out information about you to prevent anyone from figuring out your identity by your online habits.
Type of Support: A Bit of Everything
Vipre antivirus makes sure that if you need help, you can get it. There are forums and knowledge bases should you want to find the information yourself, as well as a phone number for actively calling a real person for some help with your software. The only thing missing is live chat support, but Vipre does employ a support bot that can help you with some specific questions.
Price: Stomachable To Cover Multiple Machines
The base price of the Vipre Security Bundle is great for the first year—the Antivirus Plus plan starts at $14.99 and the Advanced Security plan is $23.99. However, after that initial year, the plans are a little expensive for single systems, charging $54.99 and $74.99 per year. However, the Vipre Security Bundle does scale very well with multiple systems. It costs $39.99 the first year for up to five devices and only $52.99 for up to 10 devices the first year.
Competition: Vipre vs. Malwarebytes
Considering Vipre antivirus forced us to uninstall Malwarebytes when we first installed it and we’re firm fans of that Malwaresbytes brings to the anti-malware table, it seems fitting to pit the two against each other for a quick comparison. Both offer comprehensive anti-viral solutions with some great additional tools. Vipre does have a more expansive selection of privacy protections, so if those are to your liking, it’s well worth considering for that alone. Malwarebytes is a far faster antivirus solution, however, offering snappy scans, and solid web protection. It’s a toss-up, but Malwarebytes gets the nod by a nose hair. Vipre antivirus is an excellent product that does exactly what it’s supposed to do and does it well. The lightweight client is lovely to use and there are plenty of options and additional extras to play with if you want more. The Security Bundle isn’t necessary if you just want antivirus protection, but if you’re concerned about your online identity, it’s the most cost-effective option Vipre offers, especially if you want to protect more than one system. We don’t like that it forces you to uninstall any other antivirus solutions before using it, but it does at least play nice with Windows Defender.
