Frequently asked questions

This chapter contains a detailed discussion of questions most frequently asked by our users regarding the installation, configuration and operation of Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

Question: Why does Kaspersky Anti-Virus cause a certain decrease in my computer performance and impose a considerable load on the processor?

The process of virus detection is a purely computational (mathematical) task that involves analysis of structures, computation of checksum calculation and mathematical data transformation. Therefore, the main resource consumed by the anti-virus software is processor time. Each new virus that is added to the anti-virus database increases the overall scanning time. That is the price that computer users pay for the security of their data.

Unlike other manufacturers of anti-virus products that speed up the scan process by excluding from their databases viruses that are less easily detectable or less frequent in the geographic location of the anti-virus vendor, as well as file formats that require complicated analysis (e.g. PDF files), Kaspersky Lab believes that the purpose of an anti-virus program is to deliver to its users genuine anti-virus security rather than an illusory sense of safety, since you cannot be "half-protected". Besides, being "half-protected" is even worse than having no protection at all, as in the latter case users resort to their own "home-grown" safety measures.

Users of Kaspersky Anti-Virus have every reason to feel that they have maximum protection. Of course, the Kaspersky Anti-Virus software package allows experienced users to accelerate the anti-virus scanning process to the detriment of overall security by disabling scanning of various file types, but we do not recommend this for users who want the best possible protection.

For the purpose of maximum user protection Kaspersky Anti-Virus recognizes more than 40 types of archive and installer and is able to detect viruses in more than 350 different file formats. This is essential for anti-virus security because malicious executable code may be contained within a file of any recognizable format. However, despite the daily increase in the number of viruses detected by Kaspersky Anti-Virus (approximately 30 new viruses daily) and the ever increasing number of recognized file formats, each version of our product functions faster than the previous one. This is achieved through the use of new unique technologies, such as iChecker™ and i-Stream™, developed at Kaspersky Lab. Each file is checked for viruses only once - during the first scan. During all subsequent scans the file is not scanned for viruses provided that it has remained unchanged since the last scan. Thus, the anti-virus program performance increases drastically after the first file scanning.

Question: Do I need a license key? Will the program work without it?

If you haven't yet made a decision about whether you wish to buy Kaspersky Anti-Virus, we can provide you with a trial key, which will work for a two weeks (or one month) period. The key will be disabled when this period expires.

Remember that you can use your trial key only once.

Question: What happens when my license expires?

When your Kaspersky Anti-Virus license expires, the software will still work but you will have no access to anti-virus database updates. The anti-virus software will still be able to detect and disinfect infected objects but it will use its old databases only.

Downloading of the anti-virus database from the Kaspersky Lab site using Kaspersky Anti-Virus will be not be available. Even if you did not use Kaspersky Anti-Virus for downloading the database, the program will not be able to use it.

Question: Can an intruder replace my anti-virus database?

All Kaspersky Lab anti-virus databases are supplied with a unique signature verified by Kaspersky Anti-Virus when the program is using them.

If you update the anti-virus database from the Kaspersky Lab update servers or receive it from our authorized dealer, we guarantee that the database is signed and that your copy of Kaspersky Anti-Virus will be able to use it. Your program may be unable to use such a database only if the database was released after your license for the product expired.

If the anti-virus update process results in an error, the mostly likely reason for this may be that the signature supplied with the updated database does not match the signature assigned by Kaspersky Lab, or that your database has been corrupted. This means that you received the database from a place other than Kaspersky Lab or that an intruder offered it to you claiming that it was a genuine Kaspersky Lab database.

Please do not use anti-virus database updates offered by unidentified vendors. This may lead to virus infection of your computer and even to the corruption of program files.

Question: What should I do if I am unable to download the anti-virus database and program module updates from the Kaspersky Lab update servers?

You may be unable to update your anti-virus database and application modules via the Internet for the following reasons:

you were not connected to the Internet when you started the updating process. In this case, connect to the Internet and retry the updating process.

your license key period has expired. In this case, renew your license by purchasing a new license key.