December 15, 2008

Swedish security firm Lavasoft pioneered spyware protection with their venerable Ad-Aware utility. On Monday, the company released a new standalone antivirus program, Lavasoft Anti-Virus Helix, priced at $23.95.

Based on technology from Avira, the product cleans up viruses and other malicious software and also includes real-time protection to prevent further infection.

Users can schedule standard or custom scans on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Helix can also schedule a scan for every login, or at any interval. The product's MailGuard feature scans incoming email and attachments and removes any viruses found. WebGuard prevents downloads of malicious files. According to Lavasoft, Helix protects against the worst threats – viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, bots, and more – without putting a drag on system performance.

While the product is too new to have certification from the major independent testing labs, the underlying Avira technology is well-regarded. It received the VB100% award from Virus Bulletin, and ICSA Labs certifies it for virus detection. AV-Comparatives rates it ADVANCED+ (the highest rating) for on-demand virus removal and ADVANCED for proactive non-signature-based detection. AV-Test calls it "very good" (the highest rating) for detection of malware and spyware, for fast scanning, and for fast response to new outbreaks. The product is currently under evaluation by PCMag, with a review to come.