Alwil Avast! 4.7 Home Edition review

Alwil's free anti-virus software now supports Windows Vista, putting it in the minority of current anti-virus programs for use at home.

It comes with a choice of interfaces, including a media player-style default and a more conventional set of windows for changing the program's settings. Skins are available to customise its appearance. Upgrading to the professional version adds an 'enhanced interface' along with other features. The Pro version costs around £25, and you must pay this to use the software commercially rather than for home use.

Avast! 4.7 Home Edition has lots of settings compared to Grisoft's free AVG anti-virus software, so it seem an attractive option. It also has a so-called Virus Recovery Database to help repair infected program files. Avast! users may find this last feature particularly useful.

When we last tested Avast! we used version 4.6. We were concerned about its poor virus detection, which was the worst we've seen. We'd hoped that the latest version would be much improved. Sadly, Avast! 4.7 Home Edition again came last, detecting just 60 per cent of the email viruses. It beat three other programs in the web-based threat test, finding 22 per cent of the infected files, twice as many as Panda Antivirus. However, this is still below the average and well below the 40 per cent and higher figures the leading products were able to achieve. To be fair, Alwil does not explicitly claim that Avast! detects spyware, although it implies so on its website, where it highlights the increasing threat of spyware and discusses Avast!'s web filter.

It might be free and have a snazzy interface, but we require that our anti-virus software detects lots of threats, and Avast! doesn't cut it. If you want to install a free anti-virus program, AVG is better. However, we think anti-virus software is one area where you really have to spend money rather than relying on freebies.