CA Antivirus Reviewer's Comments

Formerly known as eTrust EZ Antivirus, CA Antivirus is an easy-to-use program that's good for computer novices and does a good job protecting your files and your computer from viruses.

This software doesn't scan for riskware, adware or spyware.

Ease of Use:  

The interface uses an Explorer-like file tree that you use to select individual files and folders for scanning. This program is user-friendly with four tab categories. This product is ideal for the average user, but advanced users may find the software has limited advanced features.

Though you can exclude and customize specific files and folders to scan, the software lacks the advanced features that Bitdefender offers.

Effectiveness:  

In Virus Bulletin's tests with live viruses CA Antivirus earned the VB100% rating in June of 2007.

CA passed both the Level 1 and 2 tests from West Coast Lab and recieved the ICSA 2007.

The software's compressed file detection is limited and it only scans email when you open an attachment.

Updates:  

CA updates their virus definitions on a daily basis. You can choose between automatic and manual updates.

Feature Set:  

CA includes a new feature called Snooze that disables the program's real-time protection for a user-specified period-from one to 99 minutes. This is great for new software installations or to troubleshoot a system performance glitch or problem. In previous versions of CA Antivirus (eTrust EZ Antivirus), you had to reboot after disabling virus monitoring. To deactivate Snooze, simply click the Wake Now icon in the System Tray. If you forget, the timer will automatically turn off Snooze after the allotted time and restart the CA Antivirus protection.

CA Antivirus real-time scanner operates like most other AV software and runs in the background without much of a performance hit. CA now also a "quarantine" function for infected, unclean files. This feature is common on many other AV packages.

Ease of Installation:  

We didn't have any problems during installation.

Help/Support:  

In this new edition, CA offers up to $1,500 in technical service and hardware support if your computer suffers any damage from a virus after Antivirus is properly installed. CA has great support with their support page, Knowledge Base Search and FAQs page. The support team responded to our email within 36 hours. Overall, CA was very helpful through all of our interactions. Unfortunately, the telephone support is quite expensive at $29.95.

Anti-Virus by CA is an inexpensive option for protecting your computer. However, the Gold, Silver and Bronze products offer a larger feature set.