This would take a good bit of doing to explain, but the whole menu is too big, spread out, and rather clustered. Look at NOD32’s system of nested tree structure and tabbed menus. Everythings pretty concise, and well layed out and by accident, most people will run into the deep features. Thats but one example, other examples would be AVK and F-Secure, which are marvels for asthetically sound interfaces.

4. Many people like the skins - and the simple user interface is just what they want. I agree that the "computer professionals" may not like it (in particular, I was rather unable to orient myself there when I saw it for the first time). However, the professionals don't have to start it... is there any problem with not using it?

Yes when its set to default on the pro version, I honestly feel the basic interface should be in the backseat on the pro version, but thats my opinion and as anything, everyones varies. But to download the “Pro” one and see the basic interface, was a bit wierd - and as I said, some of my clients saw it load up, and thought it was a joke. :-[

5. Well, I think "generic" is not a good word... its meaning is questionable. Personally, it's exactly VRDB that I would call "generic". As for using VRDB as backup... on contrary, any other healing method should be used as help, but VRDB should be always used - because when VRBD succeeds, it turns the file [b]exactly[/b] into its original state - which is something you generally won't get with any other method. Btw, I'll try to improve the VRDB functionality if time permits... in my opinion, the current implementation is getting a little too old.

Quite honestly, I have to profess ignorance on how cleaning works in these products. But i’ve run limited testing on the ability of some AV’s to clean up properly. Some products i’ve found, such as Panda (an AV I generally DONT like), was usually able to cleanup from an infecting without damaging anything. Other products, like Norton, destroyed system functionality trying to cleanup. So I guess something like Rezjor suggested, a generic “Repair” type system that would function in absense of the file being in VRDB.

6. Personally, I don't think it would be very easy to navigate in a popup menu with all the options, covering the whole desktop (and require 1600x1200 resolution to fit).

Thats my point, you don’t need a SPRAWLING interface to include lotsa options, you just have to use basic ergonomics and layouts in functional ways. Currently, I even think the enhanced Avast interface is way too large, even at 1280x1024, I have to scroll around in it. I guess the best thing I can say, is to look how some other AV’s handle this. For example in eXtendia AVK, TONS of options are in 3 sets of very compact menus. They start out in a basic consumer level slider bar system, then you click “Advanced” and they open up to a very compact, and concise layout.

http://home.comcast.net/~prolawn00/menu2.JPG

http://home.comcast.net/~prolawn00/menu3.JPG

This AV has DEEP configurability, probably very close to the level of Avast, but its all done in very concise, easy to navigate, and easy to find tabbed type form, as you can see from the screenshots. Its a gorgeous system, probably the best i’ve seen in a AV… But as I said, theres other AV’s out there with very good ideas in terms of layouts. I’m not saying Avast should look exactly like these, all i’m saying is there should be a better “Rhythm” to how it operates/looks.

F-Secure, AVK and NOD32 in my opinion are shining examples of great interfaces, with tons of options presented in a clear, and concise manner - without being confusing to the slightest degree.

Regards.