The main functions offered by Kaspersky Free, the new free antivirus that will soon be available in India. Kaspersky had been working on it for at least a couple of years. After releasing the accessible version of the antivirus only in Russia, Kaspersky Free recently became freely installable in all other countries, including India.
Currently, Kaspersky Free is not India, but its interface will be translated into our language by early October, as clarified on this page. Kaspersky’s anti-malware scanning engine needs no introduction: it’s always at the top regarding threat detection and doesn’t suffer from the “false positives” problem that plagues many other competing products.
How Kaspersky Free Works
Let’s say right away that Kaspersky Free, despite being a free product, works very well.
The only “annoyance” may be registering on the Kaspersky website, which is not strictly necessary. Still, by doing so, you will avoid the appearance of a notification window when you start your PC and the message referring to “licensing problems” on the main screen of the antivirus. Despite its free nature, Kaspersky Free is a relatively complete product because it includes the following:
- Real-time and on-demand scanning –
- Heuristic analysis of files
- Advanced (“smart”) scanning modes to improve Performance
- Web protection (scanning Internet pages while browsing online looking for potentially harmful)
- Instant messaging software protection
- E-mail scanning (POP3, IMAP, and SMTP servers) with analysis of all incoming and possibly also outgoing messages
- Cloud-based
Protection – VPN protection with the ability to transfer up to 300 MB of data for free every day: Kaspersky Secure Connection: protects your data when using other people’s WiFi. We have some reservations about this service because it is provided by Hotspot Shield, which recently ended up in the “eye of the storm”: VPN security, Hotspot Shield accused of monitoring user traffic.
If you do not need to use the Kaspersky VPN ( Kaspersky Secure Connection service ) and you prefer, for example, to use the excellent ProtonVPN ( ProtonVPN: how to browse anonymously ), you can proceed with the installation of this module by acting on the Programs and Features window of Windows.
Like all the most modern and effective antiviruses, Kaspersky Free – albeit free – integrates a module for scanning data on the cloud. Thanks to it, infections can be prevented, and those that have just appeared on the Net can be stopped in the bud. The approach based exclusively on viral signatures fails when dealing with new threats which have recently appeared on the Net and still need to be discovered by the technicians of the antivirus laboratories.
To also benefit from cloud protection with Kaspersky Free, you must tick the I want to participate in the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) box when installing. This will permit you to share some anonymous data, but in return, you will automatically receive and activate cloud protection. Once Kaspersky Free is installed, the first step is to download and apply the latest updates for viral signatures ( Database update button ).
Kaspersky Free’s main window only offers a little: most of the space is taken up by references to the advanced features that are provided in the paid versions of the antivirus. The most exciting part of Kaspersky Free is, therefore, without a doubt, the Settings section, accessible by clicking on the icon representing a small gear at the bottom left.
By default, Kaspersky’s free antivirus optimizes its operation by choosing a configuration that represents the right balance between performance and protection effectiveness. After installation, Kaspersky Free is usually usable already as it is, ensuring truly top-level real-time data protection and web protection that is very effective in blocking websites with harmful content. Defenses are not usually found in free products.
One of the scanning methods that should be performed regularly is Quick Scan. It analyzes only the most critical areas of the operating system, within which the malware components “lurk.”
This is an intelligent scan mode that allows you to minimize scan times.
By accessing the Kaspersky Free settings, then click on Scan in the left column, and, finally, on Advanced settings, Quick scan settings, and Additional settings, you can adjust some items that will make system scanning even faster. this window, choose File scanned by extension, Scan only new and changed files, and Do not unpack compound files larger than 100 MB.
This way, the Scan will effectively work on files by extension, scan only new items or items added since the last Scan, and refrain from unpacking extensive archives. The same changes can also be made to the configuration of Full Scan and Selective Scan without lowering the overall level of protection guaranteed by Kaspersky Free.
By default, Kaspersky Free concentrates on scanning tasks when the system is not in use ( idle ). If necessary, this behavior can be changed by clicking on Performance and then on the Perform Idle Scan box .
After the first Scan, we also suggest disabling the periodic rootkit scan (which can be activated later on request) by checking the Search for software intended to conceal traces of a malicious program in the system (rootkits) box. The anti-rootkit Scan is rather heavy in terms of system resources used because it adds to the “load” of the traditional analysis routines. Therefore, this analysis procedure can be activated only when needed in case of doubts.
Also Read: Microsoft’s Antivirus Is Coming To iOS & Android Very Soon
