Kaspersky Lab clinches strategic partnership deal with AOL.

AOL Premium Services will offer its online-users a new product Active Virus Shield, a free anti-virus solution with core, entry level, antivirus functionality and access to antivirus database updates. "We hope that by offering Active Virus Shield in a joint initiative with AOL we will provide basic security to users who do not already have antivirus protection installed on their computers and make the Internet a safer place overall."

Active Virus Shield does not provide all the functionality of the Kaspersky Lab solution, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0, which it is based on. In particular, it does not include scanning for HTTP traffic, an in-built proactive defense, advanced new generation protection from rootkits, or tools for creating a rescue disk for restoring the system after malicious activity.

There are significant differences in the configuration options in the two products. Moreover, Active Virus Shield is available only in English and there will be technical limitations on its distribution to ensure that it is not localized into other languages without authorization.