Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)*(PLEASE NOTE: This review is geared towards Windows 7 64-bit users with a fairly recent computer build, e.g. any dual core processor PC built over the past four years or less. PC users with ten-year-old Pentium 4/XP computing rigs should look elsewhere for advice; if possible, they should also consider upgrading and/or replacing their aging hardware and OS, as the cost/value ratio in the PC market has never, ever been better... even when one takes into consideration these hard economic times.)
As was the case last year, after taking a month-long test run with the latest internet security suites (Avast, Norton, McAfee), I have come away very impressed with Kaspersky Internet Security. I own a 4-year-old Dell XPS 410 with an Intel Core 2 6700 CPU @ 2.66GHz, equipped with a "RAID 0" 2 TB dual hard drive, 8 GB DDR2 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB "Direct X 10"-compatible graphics card. I have been using KIS on this computer since 2007, back in the days when I had Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit installed, and my computer was equipped with only 4 GB RAM and a 650 GB Hard Drive (in fact, the upgrade to my hard drive and RAM was only done weeks ago, right after I finished testing). While I was fairly unimpressed with KIS's sluggish performance when I ran it on Vista 32-bit (at least on my computer; my mother's PC, which uses Vista 32-Bit, has never had a problem), ever since I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, KIS has shown itself to be a terrific, smooth-running (if imperfect) security suite that is improving with each new incarnation.
The Good:
- Installation is intuitive, quick and painless;
- KIS 2011 works excellently and unobtrusively with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. For the past month that I have been using it, I have experienced no obvious bugs, hiccups, computer slowdown or start-up/shut-down hangs to speak of;
- KIS 2011 sports a new, clearly-marked interface that improves on last year's (mostly successful) attempt at making KIS more novice user-friendly. KIS's latest look is extremely clean and utilitarian, which means a relatively painless learning curve for newbies;
- KIS 2011 contains plenty of smart, easy-to-implement customization tweaks in the protection settings that should more-than-satisfy experienced users;
- KIS 2011 uses even less system resources than KIS 2010 (which was by no means a resource-hog). In fact, KIS 2010 blows most full-featured internet security suites out of the water in this regard (and that includes the latest incarnation of Norton, which while no where near as resource-hungry as past versions, still lags behind KIS in that respect);
- KIS 2011's excellent "system watcher" feature has gotten even smarter (and less intrusive) than earlier iterations, keeping ever vigilant of changes, attacks or takeovers that are attempted on your computer;
- KIS 2011's intelligently implemented firewall protection is among the best (if not the best) of any security suite I've tested;
- The parental control feature on KIS 2011 is outstanding. Simply put, your child will be well and thoroughly protected from internet dangers. In fact, from what I've seen so far this year, no other internet security suite with this feature comes even close in terms of effectiveness and ease-of-use, with the exception of "Kasperky PURE", Kasperky's answer to "Norton 360". Although I have never personally used it, from what I understand of "Kasperky PURE", it has all the features of KIS 2010, plus a couple more options for parental controls. Still, KIS 2011's parental control features are quite complete (e.g. internet usage, web browsing, file downloads, instant messaging, social networking, private data and word usage are all covered) and should more than suffice for all but the most demanding parents;
- Malware and networking detection/protection is top-notch;
- Viral/malware/spyware/trojan scanning has little impact on the speed of your computer, meaning you can run a scan simultaneously while doing other tasks on your computer with little impact on system resources;
- As always, the free software upgrades mean you only have to continue renewing your subscription, as opposed to shelling out money annually for software upgrades (HINT: KIS 2010 is going for pretty cheap right about now...).
However, there are some cons:
- The spam filter is mediocre at best, and needs a lot of work. My testing with KIS 2011's spam feature using Microsoft Outlook was extremely unimpressive. Spam got through at least 40% of the time. To be fair, Kaspersky claims that a certain period of training is needed to maximize the spam filter's effectiveness. However, Norton Internet Security's spam protection feature worked terrifically right out of the box. For those (like me) who use a web-based email account which already has junk mail filters in place (e.g. Yahoo, Hotmail, Windows Live Mail, Gmail), this is a non-issue. However, users of client-based email acccounts (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Pegasus Mail, Mozilla's Thunderbird) that are in need of spam protection should very well consider Norton Internet Security over KIS 2011;
- Phishing protection on KIS 2011 is still surprisingly hit-or-miss, and seemingly has improved little since last year. Under my testings, both IE 8 and Firefox 3.6 contain superior built-in phishing protection, with both browsers catching malicious websites that simply went undetected by KIS 2011. Thankfully, phishing security settings on most web browsers are set up to be "on" by default and are quite effective at their job, meaning this isn't as much a concern as it could be. Nevertheless, at a retail price of $79.95, KIS 2011 has no excuse for this kind of weak performance in such a crucial area of internet security;
- Although comparable with other internet security suites, KIS 2011 is fairly slow at scanning large hard drives;
- While protection and detection is excellent, the removal of certain malwares can prove to be problematic for KIS 2011. Recently, my mother (a computer novice running Vista 32-bit on her four-year old Dell PC) happened to inadvertently give KIS 2011 permission to allow a stubborn (but thankfully fairly innocuous) malware trojan to infect her computer. Although KIS 2011 immediately alerted her to the fact that her computer was now infected, it was unable to completely remove this specific trojan once it was installed (to be fair, Norton, Ad-Aware, Avast and Spy Doctor also had problems removing this specific malware). The moral of this story? For novices, always keep KIS 2011's interactive protection settings (found under the "system watcher" feature) on automatic, rather than manual; under that setting, my mother would never have been given the option to allow such malware to infect her computer in the first place.
- Unfortunately, as some have already pointed out, the excellent "safe run" feature on Kasperky does not work well with 64-bit computers, a fact I was only recently made aware of, since I never did attempt to use that particular feature on my computer. However, I did indeed spend some time with it on my dear old mother's computer (again, which runs Windows Vista 32-Bit) when I re-installed her PC's software and made an attempt to teach her how to use it (she's a tech-phobe to the 11th degree). If you are running 32-Bit with KIS 2011, and have need of this feature, you're in luck: it works great. In fact, the "safe run" sandbox virtual environment (which allows you to test run your data and PC settings completely walled-off from the rest of your system) has been vastly improved from last year, and now works terrifically, with far less slowdown than the previous version. Hopefully, Kasperky will release some kind of 64-Bit version of "Safe Run" in the future.
As a side note, perhaps the most pointless new feature offered by KIS this year is the "Desktop Security Gadget", an unsightly orb-shaped sidebar gadget that offers redundant features such as having immediate customized access to your most used KIS 2011's protection settings (because clicking on the KIS taskbar icon is so time consuming) and the ability to drag and drop files onto the gadget for virus scanning (for those who have trouble right-clicking on a file and selecting "scan for viruses").
Caveats aside, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is an overall excellent security suite. It's not perfect, but then this true in one respect or another of all internet security suites; as is the case with any consumer product, your needs will ultimately dictate your purchase. For me, KIS 2011's pros outweighs it cons. Between its light resource footprint, smooth performance, intuitive interface, and potent, tweakable protection features, I have come to consider KIS an essential annual purchase.
UPDATE, 11/10/10: Since writing this review, (one month ago) I purchased a Dell M101z mini-laptop, which runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit and is equipped with an AMD Athlon II Neo dual core 1.3Ghz processor, 350 GB Hard Drive, 4 GB DDR3 RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 integrated graphics card; in other words, this is a considerably less powerful computer than my desktop. Upon receiving my laptop, I immediately installed KIS 2011, and am happy to report that after one month of use, I have found that KIS 2011 runs just as smoothly and effectively as it does on my desktop. The bottom line is, if you have a comparable (or superior) PC setup to either of my computers, I strongly encourage those in need to give KIS 2011 a try.
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