Baidu is an Internet company based in China which is now trying its luck with desktop software and mobile applications. Its latest software product is an antivirus system designed for Windows OS running computers.
Baidu is a well respected Chinese company and its online applications are used daily by millions of people. Its Android application DU booster have reached a milestone figure of around 50 million downloads. But is Baidu antivirus capable enough to protect your computer from malware, antivirus infections? Let’s find it out
Setup: This antivirus software is available on Baidu’s website. You can use it for free. Open the site, download the setup file and run it. The installer’s interface is beautiful. It features an animated install button and an option to join Baidu’s user experience improvement program.
You can also go through the license agreement and privacy policy or change installation folder/language through the same window. Despite the fact that its setup file size is of 165 megabytes size, Baidu antivirus gets installed within 10 seconds. After installation, you won’t be requested to restart your PC.
Full Review of Baidu Antivirus 2015
Engines: Well, this is the first time I’ve seen a security software with 3 AV engines. Baidu features its own antivirus engine and cloud scanner. For better protection, this software also includes Avira’s award-winning AVE.
Scanning: Baidu antivirus 2015 can take several hours to complete a full scan operation. On my PC, this software took 2 hours to scan around 120000 files. When the scanner was active, Baidu didn’t slow down my laptop. It consumed just 50 MB system memory. Here’s the screenshot of the same.
Protection: This free security software keeps your PC safe from USB viruses. It prevents hackers accessing using your webcam, Windows services, desktop, etc. It can detect and remove keyloggers too.
Ad blocker: This antivirus software allows users to block advertisements on websites. if you activate the ad blocking feature, Baidu AV will install a plugin for Chrome, Firefox and other browsers that you’ve installed on your PC or laptop.
Baidu AV 2015 is packed with the below useful features:
Malicious plugin checker: This utility will scan plugin folders generated by web browsers and software that use plugins. Baidu Antivirus 2015 will delete the malicious files when it finds them.
Browser protection: Most AdWares change the homepage URL when they’re active in your system. Baidu AV will prevent this if you enable its browser protection feature. To use this utility, you’ll have to enter a homepage URL. This URL will be opened as soon as you run the browser.
Sandbox: If you suspect that the application or file you’ve downloaded might be infected with a virus, run this tool and test the file.
Traffic Firewall: This is the feature that allows you to keep an eye on all the active network processes. You can view the process’s downloading activity, speed, status, etc. To improve browsing speed, you can block some process from accessing the network.
Download Protection: You can enable this feature by navigating to the settings window. When this feature is active, Baidu AV will scan each downloaded file. If the file is compressed, this software will extract the content to scan them.
Network repair: If you’re using a broadband connection and websites are loading slowly in the browser, run this tool. Network repair will detect the problems that are affecting the network performance and it will fix them on your behalf.
The popular IT security institute av-test assessed Baidu antivirus 2 years ago in 2 successive months (November, December). The results were not disappointing.
They proved that Baidu AV can keep your PC safe from many types of infections. However, this software’s online protection system had an ordinary score. If the latest version is tested again, I’m sure that the results will be better.
Even we have tested this software. Our testing process was not as rigorous as that of AvTest. We used virus-infected DVDs for the same. Baidu was able to detect several trojans, adware and virus infections in the DVD.
Conclusion: This software from Baidu deserves to be counted among the best free antivirus for Windows. Its features are good but the performance could have been better. ad
Maybe the developers have designed this software to use lesser CPU cycles and RAM. This can be the reason why the scanner takes a lot of time to finish its task.
