14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the fact that I got over last Friday 13th well enough, I find myself pretty sick today, and this can only make me think about one thing: viruses. To be more specific, we're going to have another antivirus and antispyware tool here, and hopefully, things will get better, at least for my computer, if not for my physical health...
Today's choice is called - hang on! - Microworld Anti Virus & Spyware Toolkit Utility, but fortunately, the program is not as complex as its name sounds. On the contrary, this program is as easy to use as possible; you don't even have to install it! Its latest version, 8.5.7, comes as a 12MB executable file that you have to run and that's all, no install needed!
The scanning is for free, but if you want to use this program for removing viruses and spyware, you'll have to purchase a license that is worth 99.85$ a year, and that's way too much, in my opinion. These being said, it's time to move on and explore the program's interface and features, as we always do.
I must say that Microworld's product I have here today doesn't look good at all, especially when thinking about its price. There's a main window, easy to use and with an outdated design, and an external tool that also looks pretty old, its name being ViewTCP, version 2.7. Let's see what can be done against viruses now...
The main window has more areas available, and the options are not as many as I was expecting. The items to be scanned available in the Scan Options can be changed with a single mouse click, and these items are the memory, startup folders, registry, system folders and services, but you can also choose to scan a certain folder or drive, as needed.
The scan process was quick, but as effective as a visit to a restaurant when you're hungry to smell the food, because the version of the program I have here can't remove the threats it finds. What a pity!
The scan log and virus list can be displayed only inside Notepad(or your default text viewer), and unfortunately, I wasn't able to spot any details about the large number of viruses that can be detected by this program - over 230,000 at this time, and rising, of course.
When you click the View Network Activity button, an external window opens and the ViewTCP utility is started. There's not much to say about it, because this is nothing more than a basic network traffic monitoring tool. The good part is that you can check detailed information on Microworld's website about malicious programs that may run on your computer, and also close connections - but it seems this is another option disabled in this free version...
Unfortunately, there's nothing more to say about this program, and considering its price, that doesn't sound really good, but let's move on and check the conclusions now, shall we?
The Good
Microworld Anti Virus & Spyware Toolkit Utility is easy to use, fast and you don't even have to install it!
The Bad
The version I have tested is extremely limited, and that makes it practically useless without the purchase of a subscription, and its price is too high, in my opinion.
The Truth
I am sad to say this, but today's antivirus and antispyware tool, taken as it comes, free of charge, will leave you naked in front of all the evil things lurking in the darkness of the World Wide Web, and there are a lot of other free solutions much better, so all I can say is NEXT!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
