CA 2009 Anti-Virus Review

Virus Prevention, there is no argument that it is paramount that you protect yourself and your computer from unscrupulous attacks, and what better way than to employ one of the latest and greatest virus protections software packages available on the net, and more specifically we will discuss CA’s Anti-Virus protection.

As put by the eTrust company:

“CA Anti-Virus for the Enterprise is the next generation in comprehensive anti-virus security for business PCs, servers and PDAs. It combines proactive protection against malware with new, powerful management features that stop and remove malicious code before it enters your network, reducing system downtime”.

So we decided to place CA under the microscope this time and have taken the time to share with you exactly what we have discovered…

Installation:

After laying hands on the latest CA Associate 2009 we got down to business by installing the product and we found that installation was a breeze, and was quick and easy but found that registration proved to be somewhat a nuisance.

But the results were unanimous, and installation took a couple of minutes without proving a burden on system resources.

Interface:

After the installation, it came down to clean, sleek and elegant interface. The interface is well designed, including something for both the average user and a professional.

The interface includes nicely placed tabs at the left for quick access to its features and a status bar at front informing the user about the current status of the system.

Protection:

CA anti-virus provides top-notch protection against the latest threats of viruses, worms and Trojans and other malicious programs. It also includes an online e-mail scanner.

Comprehensive Spyware Detection and Removal tool protects you from all the spyware hidden deep in your system.

Updates:

To ensure perfect security from everyday threats it includes an online updater that download the latest definitions daily to ensure that your product remains up-to date.

It updates itself automatically (if set to automatic updates) and frequently to ensure that its signature never turn out-of-date.

Scanning:

It includes a standard Scheduled and on-Demand Scanning feature and also Real-time Scanning to protect you from any threats that you may encounter while accessing your files.

It also means that any spyware, virus and Trojans residing in your memory are detected and cleaned, and also includes Advanced Heuristic Scanning and Archive Scanning for those files that sound suspicious and also those that are in compressed formats.

This feature impressed us during our review. Custom scanning allows you to search for nasty virus exactly where you what it to, and allows for scsas of any specific drives, files,  or folders you want.

Detailed Scan results are put in an organized manner for your viewing allowing you the opportunity to view the path or source of the threat detected.

Evaluating Performance:

But beneath the surface, CA proved awful at the fundamental task of identifying and blocking malicious software. German research company AVTest.org performed the malware testing portion of the product.

When it pitted CA’s suite against its 674,589-strong collection of dormant malware samples, AV-Test.org found that the it caught only 63 percent, meaning that almost four out of every ten pieces of malware slipped right by its defenses.

This result isn’t even in the same league when compared to the other products that we tested. The next worst product, caught 86 percent of the samples in this test.

Also, CA miserably failed to detect almost half of all spyware and adware; its detection rate of 56 percent was the worst recorded for any of the eight suites in our collection.

And in tests of the suite’s ability to use one-month old signature files to detect newer malware, it again hit rock bottom. The suite spotted an insufficient 3.5 percent of new threats.

CA did prove quite effective in dealing with rootkits, detecting and cleaning all six samples that AV-Test.org threw at it. Only Norton matched the strong performance of CA’s suite on this test.

Further, the CA suite issued just one false positive warning in connection with a harmless file; and it was relatively fast, scanning 10MB of data per second during user-started scans–the third-best result we got among the other suites we tested.

CA wasn’t nearly as rapid at responding to malware outbreaks. Delivering signatures for new threats in an average of 12 to 14 hours. Certified by Independent Testing Organization “West Coast Labs as effective spyware protection”

Support:

The company offers decent online support. CA also offers direct phone support for $19.95 per incident. Free online chat and e-mail services are also provided to the valued customers.

There are a good number of options available online like the FAQ’s. Though some of these options are buried deep and you may struggle a bit to find these options though!

System Requirements:

**Product does not support Windows 98/Me**

• Windows 2000 (SP4+), Windows XP (SP1+), or Windows Vista™
• Visit shop.ca.com/64bit to download an upgrade to 64bit at no additional charge and for more information
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB for Windows Vista)
• 300 MHz or higher processor (800 MHz for Windows Vista)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher (7.0 for Windows Vista)
• 35 MB hard disk space
• CD-ROM drive
• Internet access
• Download Size: 32.8 MB

That about wraps up our review of CA’s 2009 Anti-Virus protection, and as you can see though it does not do as well as some of the other virus protection we have reviewed it is still a viable fit for your computer’s protection and will do well for the price you pay.

Click Here to go to the CA website and ORDER CA 2009 Anti-Virus today!