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146 of 153 found the following review helpful:
 Very good security software - fast, easy to use Sep 11, 2007
By Goldengate
"Goldengate"
Intro: Over the years, I've had several computer security programs... going way back, I started with Mcafee because it was pre-loaded on a computer I bought, but I found it to be too intrusive and too "buggy".... then I went to Norton which I had for several years. Again, bugs abounded and the software really slowed my computer down. After that, I moved to Trend Micro's Internet Security software because I had heard it used less system resources and therefore the computer would run faster. I didn't find this to be true. Trend Micro was OK, but I kept reading stellar reviews of Kaspersky and decided to give it a try when my subscription lapsed.
This is a good suite of software, not perfect, but very good. It installed pretty easily, though during installation the computer rebooted unexpectedly, but no harm seemed to be done. After it completed its initial scans (which did take quite a while), it doesn't seem as intrusive scanning as other programs. It only scans new or changed files, so my computer doesn't seem to be scanning all the time. It also found a couple of Trojan horses that Trend had not discovered.
It comes with "parental control" turned on, which I didn't realize, and it was blocking access to fairly innocuous pages (such as "Excite", which has a provocative name but is anything but Exciting). I turned off the parental control and I again have access.
This software seems to have the smallest footprint of any security software I've used... it doesn't hog system resources, and unlike my old software, I can actually USE the computer while it is scanning.
Kaspersky isn't perfect, but it's the best I've had so far...I'd recommend it.
Pro's:
* Does not drain system resources or significantly decrease response time
* Easy to use
* Very thorough - finds viruses etc that other packages do not
* Good price, especially after the rebates frequently offered!
Con's:
* No telephone support - all support is via "live chat" that never responds. Email support is a 48-72 hour turnaround. Not ideal. But not many of these software firms have telephone support these days; Trend Micro is an exception I believe.
That's the only con I could come up with! And I was trying for at least 2-3.... overall I'm very happy with Kaspersky.
UPDATE ON 9/12: I may have posted the above prematurely. In the past day or two, I have had significant issues with Kaspersky blocking my local network. I cannot print on my local network, nor can the computers "see" each other. Scanning the online help forums, it seems that the firewall function is a bit "buggy" on this new 7.0 release. There are many topics regarding it and several "help" files in the Kaspersky Knowledge Base. I'll update this once I get more info - but for now if you're on a home network, you might want to wait for a few updates to the firewall part of this software.
Update 9/20: I've gotten all of my problems fixed (well, those related to Kaspersky at least...) I think most of the issues were caused by uninstalling Trend Micro instead of installing Kaspersky. The people on the Kaspersky user forum were very helpful and I'm up and running. I'll continue to recommend this security suite!
51 of 51 found the following review helpful:
 Requires patience Dec 31, 2007
By S. Henry
Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 is a generally excellent anti-virus program as can be seen by other reviews. It is not entirely perfect, at least in my experience.
The default setting for the integral firewall is low security. It is perhaps advisable to leave it there. Setting it to medium security places the firewall in "training mode". This renders Kaspersky entirely too obtrusive in my opinion with constant pop-up warnings against even known safe web sites, even those that are visited on a routine basis.
The registry guard feature sounds well in theory but, again, can lead to excessive pop-up warnings. This can make installing new programs and updating existing programs difficult. The feature can be easily turned off however and, to be fair, Kaspersky is not the only security progam to do this.
The almost minute-by-minute pop-ups (I confess I exaggerate slightly here but it sure seems like it sometimes) offer quite technical information regarding arcane processes that most users would find baffling and therefore useless. I have found that, in most cases, acceding to Kaspersky's recommendation to deny the process promptly cancels the task you were trying to accomplish like opening a program for example. For the first few weeks, these warnings should be fairly prevalent as you train Kaspersky to your computer's environment but I find them just as frequent after four month's use.
Less excusably, Kaspersky recently issued an automatic update that tried to quarantine explorer.exe. This is a vital process that Windows needs to run to do pretty much anything. A correction was quickly forthcoming and updates can be rolled back to previous versions if there's a problem but, still, I feel this was a very great blunder for a company of Kaspersky's reputation to make.
In my opinion, Kaspersky provides rigorous security for your computer but, in return, demands your constant attention.
69 of 72 found the following review helpful:
 The best I've tried! Sep 11, 2007
By Matthieu P. Raillard
I have become rather cynical and jaded when evaluation new security suites, and I have tried the vast majority of them: Norton, McAfee, TrendMicro, Panda, ZoneAlarm, Windows Live OneCare and more. The ugly reality of the internet age we live in is the need for constant protection(if you can, examine the firewall log for your system, and you're likely to be stunned by the number of intrusion attempts made by trojans and other nasties), but this protection comes with a price: bigger and better software is also bigger and slower and less user-friendly. Most of the major brands are way too resource-hungry, too intrusive or too relaxed, and with a wide range of abilities in terms of virus and spyware hunting. Enter Kaspersky. While this security suite isn't perfect (I'd give it a 4.5 stars), it is by far the best I have ever had on my PC.
PROS: Very, very capable virus and spyware detection, and a strong firewall. Kaspersky has long been one of the best performing suites, and at the end of the day, that's what you get it for- to prevent bugs from getting into your computer in the first place. The interface is also better than a lot of other suites, and while it's not perfect, it's easy enough to navigate and use. The memory footprint is also better than most suites, which is nice. Kaspersky also features the most regularly updated virus and spyware definitions- every couple of hours! The ability to scan all sorts of processes and also scan for rootkits is great to have. It comes with a thorough paper manual.
CONS: The "training mode" for the firewall is a bit arcane and takes some getting used to, and might confuse a lot of users. The only other downside I've noticed is that the startup scans/downloads when you first boot your machine take a little bit longer than I'd like. That said, the performance of this software more than balances the extra few seconds I have to wait when booting up.
Bottom Line: I feel much, much more secure with Kaspersky. It's been called "The experts' antivirus of choice", and I can see why.
57 of 60 found the following review helpful:
KIS 7.0: Great for experts - and everyday users Jan 02, 2008
By Razmataz
In March 2007 I tried three leading a/v-firewall suites on the same XP system image: Norton Internet Security 2007, ZoneAlarm Internet Security, and Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0.
I chose Kaspersky, have loved it ever since, and recently upgraded (free) to version 7.0 - an even better product.
About my comparative evaluation in March 2007
---------------------------------------------
I was using NIS 2004 (annually renewed, daily updated, fearful to move to a later version due to strongly negative customer reviews). Yet I could not keep it forever, as it lacked malware and root kit support (which I augmented from other sources). Plus (another motivation for upgrade): I grew weary of yet another month of Symantec's "Critical!" failure alarms that announced "in 4 weeks you will expire" - a tremendously bad design choice because you tend to overlook !!RED!! general alarms for several weeks' time, and you could easily overlook a legitimate security problem if one were to occur. (All that, just for Symantec marketing purposes.)
So I needed a vanilla PC platform, stripped of my previous A/V-firewall suite, to make the testing fair. Uninstalling NIS 2004 was a huge ordeal requiring several days of trial and error. (It truly looked like Symantec deliberately designed this to be so daunting that the faint of heart would give up, and stay with Symantec.) Add/Remove Programs doesn't remove the product nor its services, and while there were two tiers of Symantec tech support uninstall tools, the first is hugely ineffective and actually leaves the Symantec service still installed and running - yet the second tool actually strips out much of the operating system, including required support for Virtual PC, MSXML, and BITS (reportedly the solution is to reapply XP's SP2 plus all subsequent hardware and software patches). Sadly, Symantec corporate's "NoNav" removal tool is unavailable for the NIS product line. Ultimately I followed this published third-party tip: use Add/Remove Programs, reboot, then perform a detailed search of the drive and registry for things named "Symantec" and "Norton" - and delete them by hand. I removed about 70 registry references; fortunately I'm experienced with XP's registry and can recognize when to remove a 'value' versus a 'rule.'
Evaluation experiences:
Norton Internet Security 2007
++ Pro:
* 1. Flashy, fun, highly automated, set and forget it.
* 2. Highly rated by reviewers.
-- Con:
* 1. I had become a master at configuring NIS 2004 firewall exception rules, yet I remained completely stumped how to customize NIS 2007 for websites I trust but which NIS 2007 restricts. (Still don't know if such customization is actually available. It must be.)
* 2. Twice the executable dropped (failed). Symantec said they fixed this error, but only for paying customers, and they wouldn't distribute the fix to trial-download customers. This left me with no possible way to evaluate whether the fix actually worked before buying the product. How dumb. Unacceptable. Dead ended, I moved on.
ZoneAlarm Internet Security
++ Pro:
* 1. Great GUI, nice integration of features, great logging features.
* 2. Highly rated by reviewers.
-- Con:
* 1. Unstable operation. Installed twice on top of the same PC image, it behaved differently each time: sometimes it would leave Windows Firewall enabled, sometimes disabled. Sometimes logging would work, sometimes not. That sort of thing.
* 2. A known corruption in the ZIS database halts event logging, but even when logging worked, log detail was so underreported that I could not gauge product effectiveness.
* 3. Managing and overriding firewall restrictions on trusted websites was ponderous, requiring multiple tiers of screens for each and every website, including the requirement to perform a visual search against all previously customized websites plus all websites visited during this session - which sadly you cannot sort by timestamp nor by the parent portion of the website name, only by prefix - so good luck finding your website in that growing list!
* 4. Days into use of the product, when the learning mode switched as predicted to restricted mode, PC operations became seriously bogged down, and stayed that way.
* 5. The VSMON.exe engine (the main executable of the product) repeatedly failed, stopping the service with a popup memory error alarm. This may or may not drop the firewall protection - I couldn't tell.
* 6. Scan time is slow.
Kaspersky Internet Security
++ Pro:
* 1. This product is geared for geeks and gear-heads who want and expect a lot of initial interaction to teach the firewall the rules for operation. And it really performs and excels in that capacity.
* 2. Yet there is also a "typical" setup mode which I did not try, myself - for less technical users. I can't evaluate it, not having tried this mode.
* 3. Detailed logs - exhaustive, reliable, searchable by field, selectable between major versus all events, exportable to other formats.
* 4. Adding websites to the trusted list is a simple, convenient operation.
* 5. Your custom configuration settngs can then be exported and later imported again.
* 6. Scan status is a piece of art compared to the competition: Kaspersky shows you the scan percentage completed on the task bar icon, and if you open the scan it shows you the start time and the predicted completion time.
* 7. If you're not afraid of understanding firewall and antivirus/antispyware product operation, this product is a dream.
* 8. Flashy, fun, highly automated: configure it, and as it matures with use, you just set and forget it.
* 9. Web support and web forums are the best, most helpful among these three publishers. Plus the Web forum posts aren't filled with frustrated, tear-my-hair-out complaints (a good sign).
* 10. Very stable operation. Not seeing bugs! (That's unique among the three.)
* 11. Highly rated by reviewers.
-- Con:
* 1. Price is highest of the three.
* 2. I'm seeing some sluggishness with some of my web use at times. I'll keep watching this. Generally though, among these three products, Kaspersky runs neck and neck with, or slightly behind, Norton Internet Security. And Kaspersky blows the socks off ZoneAlarm.
Conclusion:
Hands down, I was absolutely thrilled with Kaspersky's operation, low resource utilization, terrific logging, extreme ease of customization, and high regard in the industry in terms of its reportedly high level of effectiveness. By day two I was sold - and I ordered it and took advantage of Amazon's rebate to reduce the cost.
Update:
The above tests pertained to the KIS 6.0 version. Version 7.0 only improves on product features (adding Root Kit scans, a more attractive GUI, and a bit more customization). Highly recommended.
Perfect? No. I experienced one false positive alert that cost me some investigation time; that's not unique to any publisher, in my experience. I just have to disclose it here.
Bottom line: solid, stable, responsive, customizable, and a pleasure to use.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Fort Knox protection Nov 19, 2007
By Brian Martin
"foliowyrm"
I installed this software on my laptop and my desktop two months ago and am gratefull I have not had any issues. The firewall is solid and the antivirus is excellent with multiple updates each day. I did do a clean install, as every year I reimage my hard drives and that is when I add new software so maybe that is a reason I have had no issues. I have not noticed any slowdowns while working or web surfing. If you need a good firewall/antivirus suite I would recommend this one.
See all 177 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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