Labs

Steganos doesn't make its own anti-virus software, but rebrands Kaspersky Personal Anti-Virus and sells it at a knock-down price. So you can buy top-of-the-range virus protection for very little. The annual renewal fee is the lowest of any paid-for programs tested here.

The virus scanner was as effective as other Kaspersky-based products we've seen, detecting every virus and Trojan uploaded to the test system. There is an optional extended anti-virus database you can command the program to use. This may well increase detection capabilities, but we're

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happy with the standard database.

Users of Kaspersky Personal 5 will find little difference using Steganos AntiVirus 2006, though there are a few extras such as a Profiles option that lets you group settings into presets that can be recalled quickly. The Protection level slider enables you to set the general level of security without wading into pages of settings. Scanning can be run from within the program or using the Windows context menus.

The software is not as fully featured as Kaspersky's, lacking more advanced anti-rootkit features and Proactive Defense. You can't 'undo' the actions of a virus that executes itself. You can't create rescue disks, either.

Spyware protection is provided by definitions stored in the anti-virus database, but there is no browser monitoring to prevent settings being changed by any spyware that manages to break through the anti-virus defences.

The new features in this program are so powerful and attractive, and Steganos is charging so little for it, you'd be mad to ignore this deal. If your budget is stretched and you want great anti-virus protection, Steganos AntiVirus 2006 is ideal