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1-2-3 Spyware Free 4.8 Review and Download


Sunday, 21 November 2010 21:08:49 (US Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

  1-2-3 Spyware Free is small but effective free antivirus by Smart PC Tools.  While the program is simple it offers a lot advanced features.  It includes  always on real-time protection, quarantine, scheduling capabilities, and an extensive virus database.  And the best thing about 1-2-3 Spyware, is that there are no limitations on the software;  one can scan as much as one desires.

    The installation of 1-2-3 Spyware Free was easy.  The download was 11.6 megabytes  in size and included an installer.  The installer offers several different languages and finished in about 20 seconds.

    The program immediately launched and then automatically updated the virus definitions. As of the 21st of November, 1-2-3 Spyware Free contained over 502,524 definitions.   This is really impressive for a free antivirus and amazing that it already included the majority of the definitions without an update.

    The first thing that stood out about 1-2-3 Spyware was that the interface design is superior to most other free antivirus.  The menu works on computer resolutions as low as 800X600 (probably lower) and is aesthetically pleasing.  During virus scanning, a small but interesting video is played while most antivirus bore with only flashing numbers.

    1-2-3 Spyware Free seems to scan quickly, however it only achieves 1.5 megabytes per second in practice.  This is slower than the average antivirus.  There are a few scanning options.  One can choose what drive to be scanned, select a folder to be scanned, or simply perform a full system scan.  The latter finished in about 2 hours.   One downside to 1-2-3 Spyware Free, is that the program utilizes a significant amount of memory.  The program uses about 75 megabytes of RAM while  idle and the real time protection shield uses about 87 megabytes of RAM.   The 162 memory footprint is quite large when matched with competitors.  However, if ones system has a lot of RAM, 1-2-3 Spyware Free performance impact is little to none.

 

   A disadvantage of 1-2-3 Spyware is that the program doesn’t include a lot of settings to change.  There are very few scanning options; no exclusion or false positives option etc.  However, this may not be considered a disadvantage for a novice user who simply wants basic protection.