Shield Antivirus Full Review: Simple Virus Protection
ShieldApps is a software development company dedicated to helping corporates and home users enhance their PC security and privacy, utilizing proprietary top-notch technologies to protect their devices and privacy.
Pros
Cons
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Quick Stats
How does Shield antivirus fare against its competition, and is it worth it? This article will contain all the information you need to help you make up your mind.
Security and Protection
The primary point when buying an antivirus is how secure the product is, so we ask the question; can Shield antivirus protect our devices from viruses, malware, and other causes of harm?
To answer that, we check the following regarding security and protection:
1. Third-party lab test results
When checked, Shield antivirus lacked data from third-party testing labs, including AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, and SE Labs. This makes it hard to assess, as third-party labs test a large number of harmful files which can be found across the internet, making them an excellent source to assess an antivirus's security.
2. Firewall and IDS protection
Shield antivirus lacks a firewall which means your device will have to use the Windows Defender Firewall. A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic providing users with an intruder detection system (IDS) to protect users from possible threats that might harm their devices.
3. USB Rescue ToolKit
Shield antivirus doesn't provide a USB rescue toolkit. A USB rescue toolkit is the last line of defense backup mechanism, which can be used by pre-installing the rescue toolkit on a USB or disk, which is then used when your device won't start up due to harmful software, or when a malware that is dependent on your device booting has infected your device.
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Plans and Features
Shield antivirus has only one antivirus product with two plans that provide the same features and differ only by the number of devices covered. It's important to note that Shield antivirus is compatible only with Windows and Android.
1. Shield antivirus
Shield Antivirus is another basic antivirus focused mainly on protection. It doesn't provide many extra features, as most other features are bought as standalone products. That being said, here are some of the main features provided by Shield antivirus:
- Real-time active protection: Shield antivirus provides its users with monitoring and blocking all forms of viruses and malware whenever a threat is detected.
- Dedicated ransomware protection: Shield antivirus detects and removes any known ransomware before it harms your device.
- Deep threat scanning: Shield antivirus provides three different types of scanning, these are quick scan, custom scan, and deep scan. With the deep scan, Shield antivirus reaches the hidden and deep none standard subfolders and hard-drive segments, ensuring your device's safety.
- Internet security: Shield antivirus protects from websites that might attempt to infect your device with malware while surfing the internet.
- Peak performance: Shield antivirus consumes only a small part of your CPU, leaving your device in top shape while protecting it from harm.
- Live-updates: Automatic updates to the virus database are available, meaning you will always have updated protection.
- Secure file eraser: A file shredder feature that allows you to delete files so they can't be retrieved securely.
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Shield antivirus mobile app
Shield antivirus provides mobile protection for Android but not for iOS.
The antivirus protection provided here is also basic, as it only takes into account viruses, malware, and other harmful software you might encounter. However, it doesn't provide other features such as anti-tracking or microphone and camera blocking. These features are instead provided by the Mobile Cyber Privacy Suite, which is a different product.
Extra features
Among the significant extra features provided by antiviruses, Shield antivirus stands as follows:
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Password manager
Shield antivirus doesn’t provide a password manager as part of its plans but rather as a part of the PC Privacy Shield product.
Repetitive use of the same password, over and over, could get you hacked across all your accounts when hacked on one. On the other hand, using many passwords puts you at risk of forgetting them. Password managers are the perfect solution.
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Parental control
Shield antivirus doesn’t provide a parental control feature.
Parental control allows worried parents to take care of their children and make sure they are surfing safe parts of the internet and when they are allowed to do so.
If you think parental control is essential for you, I recommend using Norton 360 or Bitdefender instead.
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VPN
Shield antivirus has a premium VPN service under the ShieldApps VPN standalone product or as a part of the Cyber Privacy Suite.
ShieldApps VPN is meant for protection and security but not much when it comes to bypassing geo-restrictions as we found it to be lacking. However, it provides AES-256-bit encryption, so your data remains safe, and a no-log activity policy. The protocol it uses is the OpenVPN protocol.
ShieldApps VPN can connect up to 3 devices at the same time. It is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Android.
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Backup
Shield antivirus doesn’t provide online backup.
The presence of encrypted online backup can give peace of mind, especially when one has sensitive documents relating to work, personal, and sensitive files. Moreover, with the online backup, a user can find his files saved in the event the main files are lost, which can prove helpful.
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User Experience
Shield antivirus provides a great user experience for users, be it in the form of the scan, which can be optimized to either quick scan, custom scan, or deep scan to suit your needs. It also provides a simple-to-use user interface. On the other hand, the customer support seemed a bit lacking, as there was a bit of trouble navigating the website for information.
1. Ease of use
The user interface is easy to use with a large scan button to start scanning with the option to change the type of scanning from below. Accessing the utility tools is possible from the tabs above; changing settings can be done by the settings icon from the bottom right or the manage tab above. Thus, it is relatively easy to navigate through the application easily.
2. Customer support
In terms of customer support, the following methods of contact are available for users when they require help:
- Knowledge base
- Email and ticketing
Pricing and Payments
Shield antivirus prices per plan are summarized in a table:
| Plan | Internet Security |
|---|---|
| 1 device | $69.99/year |
| 3 devices | $104.98/year |
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Payment methods
Shield antivirus' payment methods include:
- Major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard).
- PayPal.
Free trial
Shield antivirus provides users with a 30-day trial period to try their premium product to make sure they are satisfied with the product.
Money-back guarantee
In addition to the 30-days trial, a 30-day money-back guarantee is also available, adding up to 60 days of risk-free use of Shield antivirus until you make up your mind.
Final Verdict
Is Shield antivirus worth it? Adding the facts together from the lack of extensive third-party testing to the lack of extra features in their plans, on top of which the high prices, lead us to the conclusion that we think you can do better.
For a lower price, you can get a better deal with Norton 360 by getting a high level of protection authenticated by different third-party labs with the addition of many more features for a lower price.