Labs

No, we haven't made a mistake with the screenshot to the left. Steganos AntiVirus 2007 is exactly the same software as Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 with some very minor cosmetic changes. This means that customers can buy the very latest version of the most accurate anti-virus software we've seen at a reduced price of £20. That is a bargain.

Despite the fact that both Kaspersky and Steganos products were updated with the latest virus definitions at the same time for our tests, there was a slight difference in their detection rates. The difference is so small as to be negligible,

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but it's still an interesting anomaly. Steganos missed one email virus that Kaspersky caught, and ignored five of the web threats.

Overall, though, the twins' email detection rate of 90 per cent beats every other product tested here, and absolutely thrashes better-known brands such as McAfee and Norton. The web-based threat detection was also significantly better than the market leaders and was rivalled only by F-Secure Anti-Virus, NOD32 and AVG. It found 45 per cent of the spyware and similar files.

There are a couple of security features that are not enabled by default. These include Application Integrity Control and Registry Guard. The former monitors critical parts of the operating system and can warn you if some malicious code tries to change them. The Registry Guard intercepts attempts to change the Windows Registry.

The program is easy to use, has all the features highlighted in the Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 review on page 127 and its annual renewal price of £12 is hard to beat. Add to this its impressive virus-detection rates, and choosing an anti-virus program to run on a home PC becomes an easy task. You'd be mad to ignore this deal.