What is the difference between KAV 5 Pro and Personal?

See topic

Thanks for your time!

 

This one has been answered several times before, if you look for the threads. The main difference is Pro has macro protection for office docs and is a bit more configurable. The other main difference is the price!!

 

In what way is the Pro version more configurable?

The reason I'm making a new thread about this is because of the fact of recent updates to both the Personal and Pro versions that may have created a difference in their functionality. I am usually very careful to avoid making pointless repeat threads

 

Basically TopperID is correct, a 25$ or so difference, the current Pro version doesn't support the super secure databases ( that will be addressed in a future MP) and some scheduled scan differences. Here is a cut and paste from a dslreports thread about the the release of Pro 5;

There didn't used to be an upgrade path from KAV Personal to KAV Personal Pro -- but there didn't used to be any advantage for home and SOHO users to use KAV Personal Pro. With version 4 Pro had 2 extra modules: one for a sort of checksum file validation, and the other to do more intensive heuristic detections on MS Office macros. These were things that a high-profile or a particularly attractive target might need, but not ordinary computer users.

I am not yet clear what all the additional features will be with KAV Personal Pro over KAV Personal, but the list is longer.

- More flexibility in scheduling different sorts of scans. I think this is to be the ability to do things like schedule a scan of the whole computer on Sundays, and to schedule a scan of the just the Windows folder on Wednesday.

- The ability to automatically download the paranoid virus databases. But these databases are designed to trigger on all sorts of ordinary parts of Windows and other products which can connect to the internet and which might be moved or installed or modified by a hacker. I got dozens of hits of "notavirus:..." when I tried the paranoid databases. It is not something a home or SOHO owner needs to worry about, but something that an IT professional might use on a system that had been cracked and modified, to detect modifications made, before re-formatting and re-installing, to identify calling cards, to find more suspect malware to submit for analysis, and to learn how to prevent a recurrance.

Regular KAV Personal users can choose from the regular or extended AV databases. These are the only ones I've ever used more than once.

- There may be some sort of additional backup before files are disinfected. Gee, I'd have thought backing up files before they are disinfected would be standard on all versions of KAV. So I'm not sure of this.

- A full function command line scanner. We have pushed and got agreement that KAV Personal should have a basic command line scanner, for use with MS Messenger and Yahoo Messenger -- but as of Maintenance Package 2 KAV Personal doesn't have the promised basic command line scanner yet. (Of course files shared over an IM product are scanned when they are opened, but other AV makers offer this extra layer of protection.) KAV Personal Pro will have a full function command line scanner. Again not something a home or SOHO user needs, but a convenience for an admin of a large network.

And the link the the entire thread if you are interested;

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,11618663~mode=flat?r=52#

Regards,

 

Fantastic resource you have there, flyrfan!

I have decided that I am not at risk of being infected via office documents, and scheduled scans aren't of much value to me, I will trial the Personal version until it is later in the month, when the update pack for Pro is due out.

Thanks to both of you!

 

I'm hesitant to add to the thread, as you said this one has been answered several times before, but I believe the Personal version does scan the typical MS Office documents for worms and whatnot, but it just uses signatures. Pro includes stronger heuristics that monitor for suspect behavior and fully integrates with MS Office. I haven't been able to confirm this first hand as I have no bad Office documents, but Personal does download the appropriate signatures and, IIRC, does scan .doc files with the default config. Anyone able scan a bad Office doc with Personal?