Portable avast!

Designed to protect U3 smart drives from viruses and other forms of malware
avast! Antivirus U3 Edition is designed to protect U3 smart drives from viruses and other forms of malware. The U3 platform is all about carrying your entire workspace with you, including your programs and data. However, this
makes them very vulnerable. From home use to the office; University or school to an Internet café, avast! lets you use your U3 smart drive knowing your data is safe from infection.

avast! Antivirus U3 Edition will work with any U3 device providing comprehensive protection of your U3 smart drive against viruses and malware infections from a host machine.

If you own a Sandisk U3 flash drive, you can buy Portable Avast! at a special discount, by clicking here.

Main features of avast U3 Edition:

Antivirus engine
The latest version of avast! antivirus kernel features outstanding detection abilities, together with high performance. You can expect 100% detection of In-the-Wild viruses (viruses already spreading between users) and excellent detection of Trojan horses.

The kernel is certified by ICSA Labs; it frequently takes part in the tests of Virus Bulletin magazine, often yielding the VB100 award.

The avast! engine also features outstanding unpacking support. It can scan inside the following archives: ARJ, ZIP, MIME (+ all associated formats), MAPI (Outlook pst files), DBX (Outlook Express archives), RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, BZIP2, ZOO, ACE, ARC, LHA/LHX, TNEF (winmail.dat), CPIO, CHM, RPM, ISO, 7ZIP and SIS. It also supports a number of executable packers (such as PKLite, Diet, UPX, ASPack, PeShield, FSG, MEW etc.).

Last, but not least, it can also scan for viruses and other types of malware hidden in Alternate data streams on NTFS volumes of the host machine.

Virus Shields
Virus Shields (also known as the Resident protection or On-Access Scanner, that is the real-time protection of the device), is one of the most important features of an antivirus program today. avast! features a powerful resident module that is able to detect malware before it has any chance to infect your U3 smart drive and cause any harm, even if you are not logged on as an administrator on the host machine.

The file system protection module ensures that no virus will be saved on your U3 volume, and if one is detected, you are given a chance to remove it instantly.

Even before the Virus Shields start, the host machine is thoroughly scanned to ensure its integrity. If a virus is found active on the host machine, it is not recommended to continue working.

Automatic updates
Automatic updates are another key need in virus protection. Both the virus database and the program itself can be updated automatically. The updates are incremental, with only new or missing data downloaded: thus reducing the transfer heavily. The typical size of a virus database updates are tens of KB; program updates typically are in the hundreds of KB range.

The update is performed automatically whenever the U3 smart drive is connected (provided Internet connection is available), and can also be performed manually at any later time from the program interface.

User interface
The program comes with a simple-to-use user interface and comprehensive online help. The whole system was designed so that deep knowledge of computers or computer security is not necessary to operate the program. Most tasks are preset so that the program can take action automatically, without asking any difficult questions.

The activity of the Virus Shields is signalized by a small icon in the system tray. By clicking the icon, you can simply access all parts of the program.


Requirements of avast U3 Edition:

U3 smart drive

12MB free on the U3 smart drive

otherwise, the requirements are the same as for the U3 Launchpad itself, i.e. Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server


Limitations of avast U3 Edition:

60 day trial

Free Download ( Evaluation | 13.5 MB )

Buy Now ( Full version | $19.95 )