Kaspersky Anti-Virus is an antivirus program developed by Kaspersky Lab. It is designed to protect users from malware and is primarily designed for computers running Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, though a version for Linux is available for business consumers.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus features include real-time protection, detection and removal of viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, keyloggers malicious tools and auto-dialers, as well as detection and removal of rootkits. It also includes instantaneous automatic updates via the "Kaspersky Security Network" service.
According to Kaspersky, "Kaspersky Security Network service allows users of Kaspersky Lab security products from around the world to help facilitate malware identification and reduce the time it takes to provide protection against new (“in the wild”) security risks targeting your computer." Kaspersky Lab maintains a strict privacy policy for use of this service and asserts that volunteering to use this service by sending certain information "contains no personally identifiable information about the user and is utilized by Kaspersky Lab for no other purposes but to enhance its security products and to further advance solutions against malicious threats and viruses."
Microsoft Windows users may download an antivirus rescue disk that scans the host computer during booting inside an isolated Linux environment. In addition, Kaspersky Anti-Virus prevents itself from being disabled by malware without user permission via password access prompts upon disabling protection elements and changing internal settings. It also scans incoming instant messenger traffic, Email traffic, automatically disables links to known malware hosting sites while using Internet Explorer or Firefox and includes free technical support and free product upgrades within paid-subscription periods.Kaspersky Lab currently offers one year, two year and three year subscriptions.