Security suite?

I'm looking for an all-in-one security suite for my computers. Of course it should offer good protection and it should also be light on system resources.

Which one would you recommend?

Until now, I used Comodo free firewall + avast anti virus, but I'm not really satisfied with them.

 

I hate it when someone asks for something, and then some know-it-all jumps in and answers it with an answer that doesn't address the exact question, but I am going to do it anyway (I should just say what security suite, and leave it at that).

Avoid suites.

Suites are never light on system resources, they are often more complex with multiple functions that step all over each other and cause conflicts, or worse, when one piece fails, it takes the whole thing down with it.

I repair PCs for a living, and I have yet to be even reasonably pleased with a suite.

The two biggies, Norton Internet Security 200x and McAfee work well when they work, but I have on multiple occassions had to remove them forcibly to restore a PC to full function after something goes bad.

Last time I looked at a PC with Kapersky Internet Security(who make a great antivirus), I was unimpressed and the firewall was wonky. Bid Defender was about the same.

I recently worked on a OC with Trend Micro's Internet Security 2008 and thought it was not bad, though it seems a little slow in starting up. Didn't have much time to play with it, but of all of the SUITES, it seemed lightest on resources and fairly feature complete. Historically, trend Micros has done well with antivirus and anti-spyware. The firewall seemed competent, albeit agressive (needed to change default alerts because they were too frequent)

I did not test out the PC tuning capabilities (automatic PC tuning software makes me nervous)

 

I appreciate your advice.

I'm kind of wondering if a separate anti virus + separate firewall + separate anti spyware, really would be lighter on the resources than an all-in-one suite. But even if they are, I'll still prefer the suite simply for the convenience.

Does anybody have any experience with one of the following:

- Norton IS 2008
- Norton 360
- McAfee IS 2007
- Kaspersky IS 7.0
- Bitdefender IS/TS 2008
- ???

Again, here's what I'm looking for in a security suite:

- good protection (of course)
- light on resources

 

Modern security suites are quite light on resources. I tried several security suites from your list.

Norton 360
Too complex for my needs (I don' t need backup and system optimalization) and I haven' t found it particularly light on resources. But it is "install and forget" type of security suite.

Norton IS 2008
I have tried the beta and it has been even lighter on resources than NIS 2007. It would be my favourite security suite if it hadn't one major flaw - uninstallation. I have had trouble uninstalling Norton products (including NIS 2007 and Norton 360), Windows Security Center always showed them as installed even after removing them with Norton Removal Tool. This occured on two computers running Windows Vista.

Kaspersky IS 7.0
I highly recommend this suite. It is very light on resources and offers excellent protection. On the other hand many people are having troubles with scandisk because of Kaspersky. You can find more about this problem on www.wilderssecurity.com

Bitdefender IS 2008
Immediately after installation, my Vista showed me BSOD. After reset it has been OK though. I have had trouble with utorrent using this suite.

McAfee 2007
I heard it is very bloated, no personal experience though.

I would add : Eset Smart Security Suite 3.0
Currently it is in RC1 stage and I have found this security to be the lightest on resources than all above mentioned. I am currently using it on my laptop. It also doesn't slow down internet connection (I had this feeling with KIS 7 but haven't tried any test).

 

I checked out the wilderssecurity.com forums out and it seems that all-in-one suites are quite good nowadays.

From what I've read, Kaspersky IS 7.0 seems to be the most favored one. Also Norton IS got a lot of praise. Also Panda gets mentioned a lot.

Which one would you recommend?

 

also think about Nod32. ive heard some good stuff about it.

 

Nod32 is antivirus only as far as I know.

 

I'm using Kaspersky Internet Suite 7.0. I guess it's okay....although it's annoying me that I can't figure out how to make Azureus work.

 

Zonealarm Security Suite. Awesomeness.

 

I used the free ZoneAlarm firewall before and I wasn't too happy with it.

- It was a bit too slow, especially when starting up and wasn't quite light on the resources.
- It occasionally caused massive lag during online play (like counter-strike)
- And I think it was responsible for other hiccups I had in other applications.

 

It depends on your needs, if you want to install and forget, go for Norton IS. Kaspersky in learning mode has more popups but it has more options to configure than Norton and it is easier to uninstall.

 

i have the same slow down experience with zonealarm on my previous xp system.

i heard the latest edition of za uses the anti-virus scan engine from kaspersky. by then, i have already moved on to kaspersky internet security.

of all the security suite i have tried (norton, panda, trend, zonealarm, etc.), it takes up the least amount of system resource (ram & harddisk) and are much snappier.