If you’ve been searching for the best antivirus program in the market right now, I am pretty sure you’ve come across the Kaspersky Antivirus. This is ultimately no surprise as Kaspersky is a household name in the antivirus software industry.

Kaspersky Antivirus has been in the market for over 20 years and currently serves over 400 million users around the world. In other words, it’s currently one of the best and most popular antivirus programs in the world.

The numbers are quite impressive given the numerous controversies that have faced the company over the years.

In fact, after allegations of the company having close ties with the Russian government by the US government and other western media outlets in 2015, the US president ended up signing legislation that saw Kaspersky software banned from all government computers.

Of course, the company vehemently denied the said allegations but the damage had already been done. In a bid to increase accountability, Kaspersky announced that it would migrate some of its core infrastructure for its foreign customers to Switzerland from Russian.

It’s therefore quite impressive that a company that has for years been marred by serious allegations and even possible permanent bans has managed to rise from the ashes to glory.

However, this shouldn’t come as a surprise as Kaspersky’s reputation for uncovering previously unknown viruses, vulnerabilities, and numerous other cyber-security threats have been very influential in gaining reputation and sales as well.

It is especially well-known for its revelations on various government-sponsored cyber-espionage and sabotage efforts including Stuxnet, Flame, Gauss, Duqu, Regin, and Equation Group.

As far as viruses and malware protection is concerned, Kaspersky does not disappoint. The antivirus software offers real-time and on-demand protection against all sorts of malware, including ransomware and spyware, as well as viruses.

All this comprehensive protection comes at a fair price so if you’re looking for a powerful yet budget-friendly antivirus solution, Kaspersky is an excellent option.

In this article, you’re going to learn everything there is to know about the renowned Kaspersky Antivirus and whether or not it’s worth considering.

Kaspersky Antivirus offers award-winning protection for PC users. It’s Kaspersky’s entry-level and cheapest PC protection plan.

The antivirus itself offers superb Real-Time and on-demand protection for your PC against malicious online threats such as malware, viruses, ransomware, worms, rootkits, Trojans, spam, and even defends your network against cyber-attacks.

Additionally, Kaspersky Antivirus monitors your PC for suspicious program behaviors and even warns users about potentially dangerous websites.

The program however provides support for Windows devices only- from Windows XP to Windows 10. If you’re using a much older version of Windows, consider upgrading it to enjoy the benefits of Kaspersky Antivirus programs.

Sadly, the Kaspersky Antivirus security features are somehow limited. For example, the program lacks the Online Payment Protection feature, not to mention that it only supports the Windows platform.

Fortunately, users who wish to enjoy full coverage and better security for a wide range of devices can do so by upgrading to the two advanced plans offered by the company.

Kaspersky Antivirus’s Malware Protection is unrivaled. It has time and again emerged at the top as having one of the highest malware detection rates as well as the least number of false positives in independent tests.

In 2016, tests performed by independent testing companies such as AV-Test and AV-Comparatives discovered that Kaspersky Internet Security which uses the same malware protection as the Kaspersky Antivirus was able to catch 100

% of all prevalent viruses as well as 100% of zero-day viruses. The industry averages for prevalent viruses stand at 99% and 98% for zero-day viruses, which is quite impressive.

We run a few tests by injecting some malware samples into our machines to find out whether Kaspersky would detect and possibly remove the threats.

The results were quite impressive as the antivirus was able to quickly detect and remove at least 99% of all the samples. There were no false-positives.

However, I did have some trouble initially while injecting malware into my system with Kasperksy’s Real-Time Protection turned on.

Real-Time Protection stops malware, viruses, and other threats from attacking your device in real-time. In other words, the threats are stopped before getting a chance to infect your computer.

I had to pause the real-time protection to infect my machine with malware. This shows just how powerful, effective, and reliable Kaspersky Antivirus is.

Something else worth noting is that Kasperksy uses the Kaspersky Security Network and Heuristic Algorithms which protect your PC from malware threats that may have not yet been listed in their malware database. 

It’s thus able to detect malicious and unusual behavior before it can even detect a potential threat.

To ensure maximum protection from malware, I recommend running mandatory and regular scans like full scans as well as quick scans. Full scans tend to be more effective and are thus recommended as regular scans. 

Quick scans are great for detecting threats in specific areas and are only suitable if you suspect a certain area has been infected.

One of the biggest concerns with antivirus programs is the possibility of slowing down the performance of a PC or other devices during scans.

The good news is that the Kaspersky Antivirus Software has a much lower rate of slowing down your machine compared to some other antivirus programs in the industry.

This test from AV-Test clearly shows that users who installed Kaspersky Antivirus experienced an 8% slow down when launching popular websites against the industry average of 12% slow down as well as a 3% slower copying of files against a whopping 19% industry average.

Overall, Kaspersky Antivirus offers top-notch protection from malware, detects vulnerabilities, and even recovers malware-damaged files.

In addition to malware, Kaspersky Antivirus also offers a really powerful ransomware protection feature that ensures that your sensitive data does not land in the hands of cyber-criminals who not only seize and encrypt it but also demand a ransom to get it back.

Ransomware is one of the most common problems facing thousands of users and small businesses as well.

Kaspersky Antivirus offers ransomware protection in all their paid plans which does a great job blocking both local and remote attempts to steal and encrypt your data.

This is all thanks to its reliable real-time protection that shuts out threats before they get a chance to infect your computer.

In addition to ransomware, the program is also able to effectively detect, block, and remove crypto-miners software, adware, riskware, pornware, and numerous other threats.

Phishing is a very common practice that affects thousands of people every single day.

Simply explained, phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable businesses or companies to induce the individuals to reveal sensitive personal information such as credit card details, online payment details, and even passwords.

Kaspersky Antivirus comes with a powerful Anti-Phishing feature that screens all your incoming emails for phishing links every time you open your emails. It quickly warns you about any suspicious emails, thus protecting you from getting tricked by scammers.

Kaspersky’s Anti-Phishing protection also uses the Heuristic algorithm technology that quickly detects phishing threats that have not yet been added to their database.

Of course, it’s important to be careful about opening emails from unknown sources and clicking on any links inside them, even if Kaspersky Antivirus is active- just to be safe.

The past few decades have seen eCommerce businesses solely relying on electronic transactions to charge customers for goods and services.

However, the use of electronic transactions has also resulted in an increase in fraudulent activities, particularly payment fraud.

Criminals are now using a strategy known as “form jacking” whereby they inject a malicious code during the checkout process on online retail sites, thus allowing them to steal your credit card details and other sensitive personal information.

To mitigate payment fraud, tech experts are urging people to use firewalls and antivirus software that are specifically designed to act as a shield against cyber-criminals’ attempts to penetrate a secure network.

This in addition to constantly updating your network security systems ensures that your sensitive credit card information is perfectly safe when conducting online purchases.

Kaspersky Antivirus is one of the best antivirus software that is often recommended when it comes to stopping hackers from intercepting your credit card information.

The antivirus’ Safe Money feature automatically provides you with the option to switch to a bank-grade encrypted browser whenever you land at a checkout page of an online retail site.

This ensures that your bank and other payment information details are completely secured and cannot therefore be intercepted by hackers.

To use Safe Money, you need to install and enable the Safe Money plugin so that when you enter your online banking, e-commerce, or payment system address, Safe Money will automatically recommend that you open that specific page in “Protected Browser.”

The Protected Browser provides an additional layer of protection in order to secure all your financial transactions against cybercriminals.

Safe Money also allows you to add an online payment system website address like Paypal to its database.

Whenever you request the URL on your browser, Safe Money automatically opens it in the Protected Browser instead of your usual Chrome or Firefox browser.

With Kaspersky’s Safe Money, you also have the option of using the On-Screen Keyboard when entering banking or payment details in order to prevent keylogger spyware that may have been installed in your device from recording your keystrokes.

NB: The Kaspersky Safe Money is not available on the basic antivirus. It is only available on their Internet Security and Total Security plans. If you want to protect your payment details from access by hackers, I recommend upgrading to either one of these two.

Kaspersky’s Safe Money offers an extremely easy and convenient way to secure your credit card and bank details by blocking access from hackers. You can safely shop online without ever having to worry about someone emptying your bank account remotely.

Kaspersky also provides cloud protection by utilizing the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN), a cloud-based knowledge base that contains a generous amount of information about the reputation of websites and applications.

Whenever users encounter new online threats, they can automatically send information about these threats directly to the Kaspersky Virus Lab through Kaspersky Security Network.

Based on the provided information, the lab virus experts then assign every single website, application, and file a reputation status which is immediately sent back to Kaspersky Security Network.

The main purpose of this strategy is to protect other users who encounter such threats and participate in KSN will be automatically and immediately protected from these threats.

The more data Kaspersky Labs receive, the better the antivirus performs at malware and virus detection.

The cloud protection feature comes already enabled as shown below

Remembering each and every password you’ve ever created is nearly impossible. Kaspersky knows this too well which is why they’ve included a bonus feature, the Kaspersky Password Manager.

The Kaspersky Password Manager offers a safe, secure, and reliable storage for all your passwords, whether they are passwords from websites you’ve signed up to or online payment websites like Paypal as well as online banking websites.

Additionally, the Password Manager lets you store your bank card details, addresses, private notes, and even images of confidential documents like your driver’s license and passports, which it all syncs across all your devices.

This gives you easy and faster access to all your online accounts, websites, apps, and other crucial information.

Whenever you enter new login details, the tool immediately offers to store them in your main password vault.

The next time you try to access a website that you have its logins saved on Password Manager, you’re logged in automatically– you won’t need to enter your login details again.

There is a free version of Kaspersky Password Manager which can be downloaded on both Kaspersky Antivirus and Kaspersky Internet Security.

They are available on Kaspersky’s official Password Manager website page and can be easily downloaded as extensions for various browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Internet Explorer.

Android and IOS users can also download the free version of the Password Manager on their devices.

However, while the free version does practically everything the Premium version does, it sadly lets you store a maximum of 15 passwords only.

You most likely have more than 15 passwords that require secure storage and therefore, the free Kaspersky Password Manager is not worth it.

The good news is that the Kaspersky Total Security comes with a premium version of the Password Manager that lets you store an unlimited number of passwords.
However, you don’t need to purchase the Kaspersky Total Security to enjoy the benefits of the Password Manager.

Kaspersky also sells the premium version of the Password Manager separately as a standalone product. The premium version goes for $14.99 and supports Windows, macOS, Android, and IOS devices.

On the flip side, the Kaspersky Password Manager doesn’t seem to offer some of the advanced features that are available on some of the best password managers.

For example, it lacks both the Password Sharing and Emergency Access features that are available in one of the best and safest password managers, LastPass.

Overall, Kaspersky Password Manager is an excellent addition to your antivirus software as it further enhances the security of your banking and personal details by securing your passwords.

But like I stated earlier, the free version won’t do you much good. You might want to upgrade to the Kaspersky Total Security to enjoy the password manager benefits.

Alternatively, if you just want to stick to the basic antivirus or Internet Security plans, you can purchase the premium version of Kaspersky Password Manager for just $14.99 a year.