Kapersky Antivirus has been around for some time and often pops up on home computers as the uneducated user’s anti-virus software of choice. Unfortunately, it really isn’t as user friendly a program as it should be for novice users.


While most people want an anti-virus program that they can set and forget, Kapersky, requires a lot of configuration, which is fine if you know what you are doing and want total control over your anti-virus software, but is time consuming and prone to problems if you don’t.


Although there is a central control centre, Kapersky separates its main functions requiring users to load individual applications to monitor virus activity, scan for viruses or update virus definitions. While the program can be scheduled to search for updates, the default is for once every 14 days compared to every three hours for the likes of PC-cillin.


Kapersky uses an old style interface which sets everything out in a directory tree structure that is more familiar to system administrators than home users, and as a result is neither intuitive nor particularly user friendly for the average home PC owner.


Even the initial set-up requires some puzzling choices such as what extension to use for virus reports (there is no explanation as to why such a choice is required and what difference it makes). Kapersky does not rank highly as a first choice for the average user looking for a set and forget anti-virus solution, however it’s certainly worth the effort as this was the only package that was capable of detecting a full 100 percent of all test files.