Which security suite for my parents?

Good luck with it. How much did the product cost or was it free

 

If available, also activate the Parental Control options, they are especially designed for parents.

 

this may sound crazy but why even bother with a security suite? believe it or not windows can be setup to be pretty damn secure with no 3rd party security software needed.

first, i'd enable the windows xp firewall. then i'd setup a limited user account on their machine. then, if they have windows xp media center edition or windows xp pro, setup software restriction policy. even if they don't have win xp media center edition or win xp pro, there's a way to enable SRP in windows xp home edition. if you wanted you could further tweak the limited user account with the software restriction policy to disable any writing to startup locations in the registry (a program called KAFU can do this for you automatically). all this shouldn't even take you 20 minutes to setup and once you have it setup it pretty much takes care of itself.

there you have it, no pop ups no nothing. if you want you can add a free antivirus to the mix (antivir, AVG, or avast!) but that's up to you.

 

A lot of good choices so far.

How about a different idea:

1. Free AV
2. SuperAntispyware
3. Windows firewall
4. Acronis True Image or other easy to use backup software.

 

Online Armor was specially designed "for moms and pops". It is easy to use, secure, nonintrusive, intuitive. In your case I'd recommend OA AV+ (which includes Kaspersky AV). FW + HIPS + AV + antikeylogger, all in one relatively light, but well rated pack.

 

If you can wait for the official release (soon) KIS 2009 is an excellent choice. When left on default settings it is extremely quiet. Your parents will hardly know it is there!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! I don't have access to their pc - they are not in the US and I won't be visiting anytime soon. So I will be mailing them some software which they can install.

I won't ask them to download any software and image based programs (Acronis, Returnil) are 110% too advanced for them to use!!

I haven't used Online Armor, not sure they need a HIPS (I mean, even I don't have it). I am trying OneCare in a XP vm right now and so far I like it. Next will be 360 and OA.

 

HIPS is OA doesn't require too many knowledges and can be disabled. But as for me I don't see just a single reason to do it. For one this provides a strong selfdefence for two this provides white-list and signature-based execution control. These basic HIPS features you will find in ANY security suite.

 

My parents and mother-in-law both presented this same challenge to me. They are all in their 60's and purchased their first computers around the same time about 5 years ago. At first the hype of being attacked by malware made them paranois and they both loaded up with complicated firewalls, multiple setting AV's with all the whistles. Of course they did not know how to operate them and soon they were either infected or had messed with firewall settings that I had to reset to get their programs to work. OF course the irony was that they only went to their email accounts which were web based and had their own scanners, as well as the daily news, weather network and and of course safe online game sites like Yahoo. That was it. They are both from the old scholl and actually still use cheques, no online banking. The joy of a small town.

So my parents are now using Norton 360, and my Mother-in-Law opted for AVG free, Windows Defender and K9 Parental filter for when the kids are over. They both have never been happier. A few years later and they have yet to have to ask for help.

Anyways, that was my situation with older parents.

Best,