Which Suite ?

Hi, My Avast IS subscription expires shortly and I am currently trialing Bitdefender Internet Security 2013.

I dont really need any Sandboxing facility as I use SandboxIE but I prefer a security suite for antivirus,email antispam and firewall. I have MBAM Pro realtime protection as well.

I am considering introducing a VPN also.

I have not trialed any other software and was hoping to receive suggestions from fellow forum members who have different security set-ups which may be better suited to me, either paid or free.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Andy

 

I can tell you that in today's market almost all security suites offered by vendors have similar scores and results in performance and detection tests. I would not worry so much of which is better. I would trial a few of the main ones for a week each and after a month make a choice based on how they felt to use. Really only subjective user experience matters when purchasing security software these days. Free can be just as good as a pay for software bundle, again its just subjective to what you want out of the product and if you need the extra features the full versions bring, base detection rates are almost always the same.

 

Try Eset Smart Security V6 for 30 days ... Latest results show Eset has come back to the competition ... Good Luck

 

That's always what I go after, but the majority doesn't

 

Best advice you're going to get

 

To get you started, try VPNBook. It's free, doesn't require registration, supports PPTP and OpenVPN, and there are no limits on speed or bandwith. OpenVPN is more secure than PPTP and therefore to be preferred but don't download the OpenVPN client using the link on the VPNBook website - it's an old version. Get the latest version from the Community Downloads section of the OpenVPN website.

There are two servers optimised for high speed web surfing: one in the UK and the other in the US. Using the UK server, I am getting speeds that are only a few percentage points slower than my normal ISP broadband connection. There are also two anonymous servers based in Romania that don't do any logging. I found the speed on these to be slower than the UK server, but still fast though.

You may want to move to a paid service later (I probably will at some point), but VPNBook is a good place to start while experimenting.

 

nod32
only the antivirus

 

Check av-comparatives, the highest ranking products in terms of detection should be good.

Having said that, they all have issues.

For example, Kaspersky can be complicated and possibly be a drain on resources.

Avira used to be good, but if they have that marketing junk (ASK etc.) in their product I wouldn't recommend it.

Eset smart security is a good product, but I don't like the 'automatic' setting of the firewall (which can be set to interactive). It's also a light product.

Bitdefender ? I've never used it and it is supposed to be strong, but I recall the AV eating system files ! The worst kind of false positives.

Just a few examples.

It's important to choose one that works for you on your setup, one that meets your conditions (e.g. cloud or not).

I wouldn't recommend to 'try them all', unless you have an imaging setup.

It also depends if you're willing/able to use the 'advanced' setup.
Personally I really don't like those firewalls that allow about everything to phone home as long as it's from a certain vendor and it's certified.

 

To be fair Avira isn't the only one with Ask toolbar junk.

 

Very true. There are a lot of free AV's and programs that have items that added on. CCleaner, avast, avira, java. Just to name a few.

 

Doesn't Avira paid come with some ASK junk ?

Free products doing that is one thing, but paid ones ...

 

No excuse!

 

Avira is inexcusable... they listed and detected ASK As malware before, they were literally bought. I can't imagine how can anyone trust Avira again.

 

Download a trial version of several security suits and see which ones you like most. Don't forget to re-image your windows before trying each one.
I tried Norton Internet Security 2013 and I was impressed and recently bought their license.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I am presently trying Comodo Internet Security Premium free which seems quite featured. The paid version comes with TrustConnect and a 10g limit per month which I think I could live with. Seems quite light on resources too.

So having had Avast 8 Internet Security which is up for subscription again shortly, and having tried Bitdefender which again was light on resources, I am thinking possibly Comodo will get my vote.

Not sure if its a wise choice though

 

In my view there are several really good suites. I have tried several including, KIS, Avast, Bit Defender, F-Secure, Norton, and Avira. Some ran better than others on my machines, so the only way to know is to trial as has been suggested.

Another factor for me is cost. I have found some readily available on ebay, and have not had problems with the license as long as I got a CD or boxed copy. Downloadcrew also has some good deals from time to time, but they are downloads only, so unless you are going to use very soon you will lose some time on the license.

I have a lot of confidence in AV Comparatives as to the effectiveness of the AV.

Give several a try until you decide.

Jerry

 

I also agree with this, and I've been thinking for a while that the next logical step for AV companies would be to "optimize/dedicate" their software to specific computer brands in terms of their current hardware, something along the lines for example, Avira version optimized for Asus, Dell, Samsung computers, obviously this could be done only for big manufacturers, but perhaps it would be too expensive to implement.

 

Nice idea.

Problem is hardware is forever changing and evolving and vendors would be in a catch up scenario.

 

Osaban,

What's the point ?

I think the last thing we need is suites getting tied to the big PC manufacturers.

A product should run well on all PCs that have the right hardware. Mostly CPU power and RAM.

I'm not a fan of corporate collusion.

 

I returned from Linux when windows 8 was released and did at comparison of different suites since I had lost track of them through the years. I tried all that had a trial. I chose Kaspersky Internet Security sinse it is a set and forget type of software. It has no noticable impact on system and does not bother me in any way. I like the "safe money" concept too since I do quite a lot of online shopping.

But the best way is to try them all rather than listen to me your system configuration is different from mine and some other suite may suit you better.