The e-commerce software forms the foundation for any online store. It is this application that shapes every aspect of the customer’s experience from browsing the items they want to actually purchasing them. This is why it pays to find a solution that perfectly suits your business. There are several programs on the market, and this can make choosing one considerably difficult. The good thing is that you do not have to spend hours upon hours evaluating every product on the market. All you need to know is what features are the most critical to the success of your online store.

Easy Item and Category Management

It is important to know that e-commerce systems range from simple shopping carts to fully integrated solutions that can help you build an entire website. While the functionality you require all depends on individual needs, features like image resizing, comprehensive listings and the ability to copy those listings to multiple categories will make it much easier to get your storefront up and running. Another useful capability comes from integration features that allow you to import product listings from an existing store into your new setup. For example, you have some programs that let you import product listings from your current store, a spreadsheet or the location of your choosing.

Extensive Customization

The last thing you want is an online storefront that looks just like what everyone else has. This is when an e-commerce software package that offers customization comes in handy. There are some applications that allow to customize your store through a variety of pre-designed templates. Others allow you to use development technologies such as HTML, CSS and PHP to change the look and feel of your store. These programs generally require that you have a certain level of technical skills in order to make the modifications. In either scenario, an e-commerce solution that enables customization can help to ensure you have an online store that is uniquely your own.

Integrated Shipping Calculators

The ideal e-commerce software will not only calculate your order totals, but also accurately calculate the shipping and handling charges associated with those orders. To ensure flexibility, you may want to opt for something that gives you multiple ways to determine shipping. For example, you may choose to charge for shipping based on the total of the order, or do so based on the weight of the item. Another consideration that deserves attention is making commonly used shipping channels such as UPS, USPS and FedEx available to your customers.

Not all e-commerce software is created equal. Then again, neither is every storefront. Online stores differ greatly and so do the individual requirements of the merchants who maintain them. Regardless of how feature-rich and powerful it may be, there is no single program that makes the perfect solution for everyone. It is all about accessing your needs and understanding what it takes for your business to be successful. One of the best approaches you can take is evaluating a few products, determining their value, and then selecting one that best suits your requirements.

Prague, Czech Republic – Avast combined speed and accuracy to top the latest AV Comparatives analysis of antivirus programs.

Avast had the fastest scan time of the 16 tested programs, over two to three times faster than most other programs. Speed was just part of the winning equation. Avast was the only program out of the 16 tested to get a top five finish for both malware detection and low numbers of false positives.

“Fast, unobtrusive, and secure is what users want,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of ALWIL Software, makers of the avast antivirus program. “It’s very difficult to produce an antivirus product that is not only fast but also effective without false alarms. But this is what users want and need – and what we have provided.”

The AV Comparatives rating balanced malware detection with the number of false alarms; rewarding programs that identify malware with a minimum of false positives. Typically programs with the highest detection rates also have the highest numbers of false positives – often creating additional problems for computer users.

“These elements can be mutually exclusive and it is very hard to get top scores in each category,” said Steckler. “The best antivirus product is not necessarily the one with the best detection-it is the one with the best blend of these three elements.”

Programs recognized by AV Comparatives as “Advanced+” detected least 97% of the nearly 1.6 billion malware samples with 15 or less false positives. Avast was well over this threshold, catching 98 percent of the malware thrown at it. With only five false positives, Avast was just one out of the top position for this variable among the 16 tested programs.

AV Comparatives is respected organization that provides in-house testing of antivirus software. The August 2009 edition of AV Comparatives analyzed the on-demand scanning of 16 antivirus programs, comparing scanning speeds, malware detection, and the number of false positives.

“We really upgraded our ability to reduce the number of false positives-we added over 150,000 files to our known clean set,” said Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer at ALWIL Software. “Overall, we are showing a fast, progressive improvement in these tests.”

For more detailed comments from Vince Steckler, see avast blog.

Additional information about AV Comparatives is at
http://www.av-comparatives.org.