In some recent correspondences I've noted confusion between the two different antivirus products named AVP and AVX.

AVP (AntiViral toolkit Pro) has been renamed to Kaspersky Antivirus. The reason for this change is quite evidently that the product name AVX (AntiVirus eXpert) has been creating what I believe must be intentional confusion with consumers.

Exacerbating the problem, Central Command, a US company that until late last year sold AVP via its site at www.avp.com, now sells AVX at that same domain. They are unquestionably contributing to the confusion between AVX and the Kaspersky Lab product.

The only explanation I could find on the Web is in Spanish at http://www.avp-es.com/noticias/avx.html. It appears Kaspersky Lab has an ongoing agreement with Central Command for distribution, which places them in a difficult position with respect to public pronouncements on the matter. But their Spanish distributor is under no such constraint, and neither am I.

The Spanish report indicates Central Command has withdrawn support from consumers who bought AVP from them; rather they only offer an "upgrade" to AVX without any explanation that the product is a totally different one.

The website's content supports this scenario. A search for the term "AVP" on www.avp.com produces no result, demonstrating that Central Command is making no effort whatsoever to draw any distinction between the two products despite the brilliantly obvious fact that consumers who seek out the AVP name will be misled.

The deceptive methods being used by Central Command/AVX are more than enough to convince me to recommend firmly against the AVX product, sight unseen. Except for the similarity of name, it appears to be an obscure product and I have no reason to believe it is a remarkable performer among AV scanners. Its sales obviously benefit from the fame and good repute of its competitor, precisely because of the apparently-calculated similarity of name.

A product that needs deception to sell is unlikely to possess sufficient merit to stand on its own. A distributor that betrays its producer and abandons its customers cannot reasonably be trusted to provide continuing support for another product.

I have myself ceased to refer to the Kaspersky product as AVP, and now use only the new name, Kaspersky Antivirus.

In my experience, the Kaspersky Antivirus product is among the best antivirus tools available if not THE best for most users. I have been impressed by its effective, trouble-free, resource-conserving performance on Windows systems. It is deserving of better treatment.