Death by Computer
The marathon running machine I call my laptop has recently decided it would rather walk than run. In laymans terms, it slows down to an almost unusable state. It gets so bad it cant even restart itself, complaining that it does not have enough resources. This prompted me to investigate in PC tuning solutions and from previous experience, I re-installed and completely tweaked my PC for best performance using Auslogics Speed Boost. Did it help? No. Did it make my Windows 7 look atrocious? Yes.
That was to be expected however so I am in no way rebuking Speed Boost. It’s actually an extremely useful application and I recommend you try it out. Anyway, thats not the end of my story because as of yet, what I’ve said has nothing to do with the topic. As my computer still decided to take a nap while it was awake, I realized this is not a matter of fragmented disks or overabundance of internet cookies and cache. I started investigating the applications I was using. Apparently FireFox 3.6 has a memory leak which can cause the exact same results that I was experiencing. I swapped to Google Chrome. Did it help? No. Final thought, it must be some sort of virus!
And this is where my topic begins. I have always been a fan of ESET Nod32, and it has done me well these last few years, however; it was not finding any problems, and its scanning times were slightly on the long side. This motivated me to find the perfect security solution. I wanted more than just Anti-Virus. Give me the whole package: anti-virus, spyware, maleware, firewall etc etc. Research followed soon after. Before I get into what I found, I must confess that this post is not so much about what “is the perfect all-in-one security solution”, but rather my request to hear from you regarding what you reckon is the best security suite.
Firstly, lets state the difference between an “Internet Security Suite” and a “Security Suite”: To be honest, there is not that much different at all. The security suites I investigated had perhaps 2 extra features which their internet related counterparts did not. Generally, those were “PC Tune-Up” and “File Encryption”. I have a Tune-Up utility (Speed Boost mentioned above) and I’m not fussed about File Encryption. So Internet Security Suite it was. These were the suites I investigated:
- Norton Internet Security
- BitDefender
- ESET Internet Security
- AVG Internet Security
Norton Internet Security
Norton 360
They all generally contain the same features, yet the reviews seem to shout “Norton!”. I have my reservations with Norton however as I still remember the days of being cursed with a Norton Anti-Virus that would use 80% of system resources when doing nothing. Boot times were slowed to a coffee break and there was the urban myth that Symantic would create virus just to be the first to have the definitions for them. Anyway, apparently things have changed. Out of all the products mentioned above, I am most interested in trying Norton Internet Security or better, trying the Norton 360 V4 Security Suite. Is it as good as they say?
BitDefender Internet Security
BitDefender
Next up was BitDefender Internet Security. Although it seemed to have all the features, there seemed to be a problem with it updating itself. It would run in a loop, downloading the updates and at 99%, restart the update. From a little Googling, it appears that this is a common problem experienced by many. BitDefender has subsequently slid down to “least favorable” on my list. Should this problem be resolved, I will glady give it another go as it seems to be rather promising. Has anyone else experienced this problem? If so, did you manage to solve it? I’m sure your input could help others in the same predicament.
ESET Internet Security
ESET Nod32
Since I have been an ESET Nod32 user for quite some time, the ESET Internet Security Suite seemed the most enticing, but from general research, apparently they only hold 3% of the market with their product. Does this mean its not as good as the others? Or are they spending all their money paying their programmers to create the best Security Suite around, with none left over for advertising? Difficult question to answer. What do you think?
AVG Internet Security
AVG
Finally, AVG. When I think AVG, I think free ant-virus. If something is free, people believe it to lack quality. With website design, the same problem exists. Clients would rather pay 5 times more for a website because they believe the exorbitant amount indicates a better website will be produced. Lies! None the less, I decided to give them a try. I currently have the AVG Total Security 9 package installed with the 30 day trail it comes with. I must confess, I am rather pleasantly surprised. Its fast, doesnt hinder boot times, has all the features needed which seem to work without hitch and is user friendly in terms of use and configuration. Is it doing a stellar job however?
This is where I would now like to hear from you, my readers. Perhaps you have a product not listed above that you swear by. Let me know. I am most interested in finding the “perfect” solution”. Conversly, if there are suites out there you think people should stay away from, give us the heads up. I look forward to your replies.
Out.
Pingback: hacking tutorials