Kaspersky Free offers free antivirus protection for your files, the web, and email, as well as scanning and database updates.

The layout is familiar to Kaspersky users and intuitive enough for anyone new to Kaspersky. The main window has links to the free features, including Scan and Database Update. Of course, the other links, including Safe Money, Parental Control, Privacy Protection, and Protection for all Devices, are grayed out as a push to buy their premium antivirus. An extension for Internet Explorer protection is available. I assume the crew at Kaspersky have heard of Firefox and Chrome?

More Tools gives you access to Cloud Protections, On-Screen Keyboard, and Quarantine while, once again, grayed-out links to their premium products are in place.

Kaspersky Free does have file, email, and web antivirus, automatic updates, self-defense and quarantine, protection against phishing and infected files being run, and supports portable drives. It was designed to not compete with their paid products, offering all this essential protection. At the same time, the paid versions also have Parental Controls, Online Payment Protection, and Secure Connection (VPN), for example.

Scanning allows you to scan full, quick, selective, and external drive scans. You can create a scan schedule as well.

Settings have quite a few features that include General, Protection, Performance, Scan, and Additional. Here, you get a better idea of what's offered in this free antivirus.

Support offers up some links to a FAQ, configuration tips, support forums, and support tools.

While free, an account at Kaspersky is required. You can opt out of promotional emails and must accept the privacy agreement.

Kaspersky Free is everything they claim and everything we expected. It's fast and provides essential protection with an attempt to upsell you, which is all the rage lately. We don't mind. We're not talking "OMG BUY ME NOW OR DIE" but rather subtle, grayed-out links to some features you might want someday. Free antivirus is designed for those who can't afford it, don't want Windows Defender, and have some tech savvy. If you had to have a free antivirus that you might upgrade later, you certainly can't go wrong with Kaspersky and its proven track record of being consistently one of the best.

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