CyberDefender Early Detection Center 2
Antivirus Software Review
CyberDefender Early Detection Center is a more-than-adequate security software solution, combining an easy to use program with effective tools. Early Detection Center takes a community approach and network detection for quick responses and protection. Unfortunately, Early Detection Center lacks some additional features, and just doesn't quite meet some of the high standards set by our higher ranked antivirus software choices.
Ease of Use:CyberDefender Early Detection Center is certainly easy to use. The software is straightforward and pretty easy to navigate. We had no problems performing scans, removing threats, and adjusting settings. The interface design is nothing overly impressive, but is clean and gets the job done. Early Detection Center tools are simple to use, and can run in the background while still protecting your computer. Users of all levels should have no problem utilizing the software.
Effectiveness:The Early Detection Center from CyberDefender is effective at protecting your computer from online threats. The software includes the tools and technology to protect your system from spyware, viruses, phishing scams, and even annoying (and potentially harmful) spam.
Early Detection Center takes a proactive community approach to quickly detect new threats and get the word out to users. In this network setup, the more users the better. When one user is attacked by an online threat, the information is relayed to CyberDefender, who can quickly make the necessary updates and protect all community users.
Further protecting users online, Early Detection Center comes with the MyIdentityDefender toolbar. This browser add-on includes two ratings to help you avoid dangerous sites and protect your identity online. The general website ratings show a quick at-a-glance gauge of the sites safety. The user rating is created by CyberDefender users submitting a score on the site. Aside from security threats, you can see if users generally approve of a site or have had bad experiences with the company.
Unfortunately, the Early Detection Center has not been evaluated with professional third-party security testers. We were unable to find any information on the software being certified by the West Coast Labs, Virus Bulletin 100, or ICSA.
The timely virus definition updates are what set Early Detection Center apart. Through the earlyNETWORK technology, each member of the community serves as a lookout for the other 700,000 in the network. When a new threat attacks any member of the collaborative internet security network, CyberDefender gets a report and can securely deliver appropriate updates to all computers in the network.
Not only is this approach efficient at helping protect individual users, it also saves CyberDefender servers from overcrowding and "flooding" attacks. And if the virus manages to interfere with the user's connection to the CyberDefender server, they will still get the necessary update from earlyNETWORK peers. This innovative approach has proved effective, and quite fast in protecting the entire network from all sorts of malware.
CyberDefender Early Detection Center is a simple program that is easy to use. There aren't a lot of unnecessary tools to get in the way, and the software is set up to run effectively without much user intervention. Early Detection Center does have pretty much all the features to get the basic job done.
That being said, there were several advanced features and some not-so advanced features missing that really would have helped this program perform better. We would have liked to see scanners that can incorporate script blocking and the ability to scan compressed files. Most of our higher-ranked antivirus software include more robust history reports and logs, and the ability to protect the software settings with a password.
The Early Detection Center also does not help protect your computer from malware spread through Instant Messages or P2P (peer to peer) file sharing. And while CyberDefender does include two great utilities, earlyVIRUS and earlySPY, we would have preferred to have the scans combined as one. To their credit, you can perform both scans simultaneously.
CyberDefender's Early Detection Center is effective, and has several great features. However, advanced users will probably find the software lacking. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the Early Detection Center is able to run concurrently with other security suites, as most antivirus programs interfere with each other. But on the other hand, why would you need to run another security suite if you're already utilizing a comprehensive security software solution?
The download and installation of CyberDefender Early Detection Center is quick and easy. We had the software downloaded, installed, and performing scans in no time (about 3 minutes total). The install (and uninstall) are simple and straightforward.
Actual scan times are similarly quick and easy. The quick scans for both earlyVIRUS and earlySPY took about one minute each. The complete in-depth scans also didn't take very long, each lasting about 7 minutes. Furthermore, we were able to perform other basic tasks and online activity while the scans were running without much noticeable slowdown.
The Early Detection Center is pretty simple and shouldn't require much additional help to run, which is good because CyberDefender doesn't include much help for the software. There is practically no internal help actually within the software. Of course to run this sort of software you'll need an internet connection, so having all the help online isn't really a problem.
Unfortunately, the online help is pretty lacking as well. There is a fairly detailed FAQs section available, but it only covers so much. Live assistance is available over the phone or with instant chat, but is only available for customers who have paid for the Live Help Desk (at least $99) service.
Early Detection Center by CyberDefender is a decent program, and provides sufficient computer security. The software will help you protect your computer from a variety of malware, spam, and even phishing scams.
The security network is an impressive innovation, and has proved efficient and prompt. But overall the software was a bit lackluster and feature deficient in comparison with our higher ranked antivirus software. For even more impressive features and security, refer to our reviews of antivirus software from BitDefender, Kaspersky, and Webroot.
