Which Internet Security Suite for Vista?

[Aaron Here]

This past October I bought a Dell laptop that came with Windows Vista and a 90-day trial of McAfee Total Protection (internet security suite). I'm finding McAfee does the job, but it does consume quite a bit of resources! And since my McAfee trial expires this week I'm wondering if I should extend it for a year ($49) or buy some other internet security suite.

I've read reviews praising the ZoneAlarm Internet Security, but they say it's not yet 100% Vista compatible. I don't want to introduce Vista-compatiblity issues, so I thought I would ask Vista users on this forum which security suite they use/recommend.

Thanks.
Aaron

[Neoxellos]

Well, it all depends on what you want from a suite.
-Antivirus
-Antispyware
-Antispam
-Firewall
-Parentcontrol
-Ad blocker
-Not too many resources

I myself use Eset smart security because I only want antivirus, antispam, firewall and a suite that's light on system resources.

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "Well, it all depends on what you want from a suite.
-Antivirus
-Antispyware
-Antispam
-Firewall
-Parentcontrol
-Ad blocker
-Not too many resources

I myself use Eset smart security because I only want antivirus, antispam, firewall and a suite that's light on system resources." }-
Presuming you use Vista, are you finding ESS to be 100% Vista-compatible?

[Neoxellos]

Yes, and I use Vista 64.

[tonyf1971]

Im running Kaspersky Internet Security 7 on Vista x64 ,I have had no problems with it seems to work very well

[C.S.J]

AVG Internet Security.

works very well on vista, try the trials.

[zfactor]

kaspersky runs perfect, ess works fine though i have some issues with it but thats not due to vista, avira suite runs perfect, nortons 2008, trend is vista compatable, avg is fine, f-secure etc... among others most are fine now with vista. honeslty i have tried almost all of them and while i really wanted to like ess there were to many bugs for me (they may have been fixed by now not sure i gave up), avira suite is one of my fav's but i had a few quirks with its updater and on 2 occasions i found my firewall turned off... kis 7 so far flawless in operation.. low resources and while i see a tiny bit of the chkdsk issue i only have maybe a 10-20 second delay so no worries. my recc after using pretty much everything out there in a suite would be kis at this time and there are 0 vista issues

[appster]

While I'm not ready to make the move to Vista yet, my neighbor has been running Vista together with BitDefender Internet Security for the past 6 months without incident. On the other hand, a fellow instructor has told me he experienced strange Vista issues running Trend Micro AV (which disappeared after recently replacing TM with NOD32).

[Ngwana]

-{ Quote: "...I've read reviews praising the ZoneAlarm Internet Security, but they say it's not yet 100% Vista compatible. I don't want to introduce Vista-compatiblity issues, so I thought I would ask Vista users on this forum which security suite they use/recommend...Thanks.
Aaron" }-

For 32-bit versions of Vista there is increasing choice but not ALL are the so-called ‘Vista Certified’ products. Some of the Vista Compatible products lack functionality that is available for XP. Also be aware that there is an ‘out-of-memory bug affecting Vista when copying large files and it is more visible when using Kaspersky products.

For 64-bit versions there is a problem of some sort. I do not want to make an issue as to what undocumented tricks all the vendors are using to work-around the Patch Kernel Protection but IMHO I hate products running as services.

Try some of the recommended products and find the one that satisfies you. Happy hunting. BTW I use Vista 64-bit with EAV.

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "For 32-bit versions of Vista there is increasing choice but not ALL are the so-called ‘Vista Certified’ products. Some of the Vista Compatible products lack functionality that is available for XP. Also be aware that there is an ‘out-of-memory bug affecting Vista when copying large files and it is more visible when using Kaspersky products.

For 64-bit versions there is a problem of some sort. I do not want to make an issue as to what undocumented tricks all the vendors are using to work-around the Patch Kernel Protection but IMHO I hate products running as services.

Try some of the recommended products and find the one that satisfies you. Happy hunting. BTW I use Vista 64-bit with EAV." }-
Good info. - Btw, does EAV = Eset AntiVirus?

[Ngwana]

-{ Quote: "Good info. - Btw, does EAV = Eset AntiVirus?" }-

You welcome. Yes EAV is Eset AntiVirus. 8)

[tisungho]

I recommend u to use Norton IS 2008. It has been very much improved: strong, no slowdown, light on resource.

[trjam]

Let me throw mine into the mix. Great detection, very light, so-so firewall but a entire revamp of the engine and suite are in beta. A solid performer and company. There isnt a best, you should narrow your needs and choices down and try them. What do you have to loose.;)

[maddawgz]

Nun, just pop on avg free, and avg antispyware and your done, with UAC your ok :)

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "Nun, just pop on avg free, and avg antispyware and your done, with UAC your ok :)" }-UAC drives me nuts! :gack:

[Chuck_IV]

-{ Quote: "UAC drives me nuts! :gack:" }-

That's why I turn it off. While it may help protection, it is a ROYAL PITA and just more aggravating that it's worth.

As for the original question, I've been running Vista since it was released and have gone thru a few IS suites. Kaspersky(bogged my system down) ESS(way too buggy, at the time), FSecure(ok, but still was a bit sluggish, but is free from my cable company) and I've settled on Bitdefender's Total Security Suite. In my experience, the 2008 version has been THE lightest on resources in Vista and has been scoring very well in the AV tests.

As an FYI, I have just switched to Vista's 64bit version and Bitdefender is working great on the 64bit version too.

[DevilFrank]

I have been running 2 machines with Vista here (Ultimate64/Premium64). Both with NIS2008 without problems - light, no slow-downs and very configurable.

[acr1965]

Why not try out the Avira Premium Security Suite for 90 days to see what you think? It is light and has a large, loyal following. You may need to tweak the firewall some and you may want to adjust the av settings as well. I am sure you can find plenty of help here on wilders. Also, if the download is in german you can just download the english (or whatever your preferred language is) and use the same license key.

The six month trial of avira av was just taken off so this 90 trial of the suite may be stopping soon as well.

http://www.avira.com/en/evaluate/vnu.php

[Zimean]

I m using KIS since 1 month. but my system slowed a bit since then
.i want to change to bit defender total security..any opinions

is it a resource hog?

[Chuck_IV]

-{ Quote: "I m using KIS since 1 month. but my system slowed a bit since then
.i want to change to bit defender total security..any opinions

is it a resource hog?" }-

I didn't find BitDefender to be a resource hog at all(at least not for me, under Vista 32 and now 64bit). It's been great.

Those slowdowns from KIS are the reason why I left them, as well.

[larryb52]

I'd look at ESS from ESET but back it up with a spyware program but it runs light & fast...Norton IS is good as well...

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "I'd look at ESS from ESET but back it up with a spyware program but it runs light & fast...Norton IS is good as well..." }-
Which Anti-Spyware do you find complements ESS well?

[cdmontfort]

I have had good luck with Avira, ESS and Norton products so far on Vista (x32) Home Premium Edition.

I am interested in trying UAC off and Prevx 2. Anyone tried that combo yet?

Collin

[Franklin]

Firefox with Noscript.

Vista firewall if no hardware fw.

Sandboxie configured to stop all outbounds except your browser.

Returnil.

All free and much more secure than any suites with way less resource usage and no siggys to update.8)