Interestingly, the interface for Kaspersky's free antivirus is not based on that of the premium edition, reviewed here. I found that the first time I invoked the on-screen keyboard, Kaspersky required a reboot. By default, it includes a number pad and arrow keys, but you can shrink those away if you don't need them. The purpose of the On-Screen Keyboard is to protect your entry of sensitive information against keyloggers, even hardware keyloggers. There's a status panel at the top, a More Tools button at the bottom, and button-panels for Scan, Database Update, Reports, and On-Screen Keyboard. Kaspersky's main window hasn’t changed much in my last few reviews, with the same slightly textured white background and plenty of whitespace. With McAfee, that same $59.99 price lets you install protection on every Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS device in your household. Norton AntiVirus Plus costs $59.99 too, but that gets you just one license. That’s pretty standard, though F-Secure gives you three licenses for just $39.99. You pay $59.99 per year for a three-license Kaspersky subscription, or $79.99 for five licenses. More important, this antivirus gives you full access to tech support via phone and live chat. The core antivirus is the same excellent protection as what you get with Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, without the clutter that comes from all the unavailable premium-only features. It earned top or near-top scores in every test by every lab that we follow and did well in our own tests as well. But there’s no similar sniff test for antivirus software, so how do you choose? The independent antivirus testing labs, which evaluate and rate dozens of antivirus solutions, can help, and they declare Kaspersky Anti-Virus a winner. When you go to buy a cantaloupe, you can choose a good-looking one, pick it up, and sniff it for ripeness. Because we have not found or been presented with any hard evidence of misdeeds on the part of Kaspersky, however, we are leaving our original review in place for those who wish to decide for themselves.

However, based on the increasing censure and criticism of Kaspersky by US government agencies, foreign agencies, and informed third parties, we can no longer recommend no longer recommend Kaspersky’s products.

Editors’ Note: PCMag rates and evaluates all products, including Kaspersky’s, based on their merits and effectiveness, not on any political or other considerations.

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