Entered CNET Catalog: 10/02/2008
SKU: CNETFSECUREINSECURITY09
Manufacturer: F-Secure Corp.
Manufacturer description
F-Secure Internet Security 2009 provides a complete and easy-to-use protection against all Internet threats, whether they are known or previously unidentified. It includes an award-winning antivirus, powerful antispyware, and an easy-to-use personal firewall. F-Secure Internet Security 2009 also contains updated DeepGuard 2.0 technology, reducing unnecessary user prompts and enabling lightning-fast protection against malware outbreaks. In addition, the product filters spam and so-called phishing attempts from your e-mail, and Parental Control lets you easily block access to websites with questionable content. Fast-spreading hidden attacks designed by money-driven online criminals are a major problem on the Internet. F-Secure Internet Security 2009 comes with updated DeepGuard 2.0 technology that automatically protects you against anything that might be a sign of danger in your computer. This version also introduces instant recognition of both safe and potentially bad software which makes the technology virtually unnoticeable and more accurate than ever.Product summary
The good: F-Secure Internet Security 2009 uses multiple antivirus engines; includes a disk utility feature; and has an online tutorial.
The bad: F-Secure Internet Security 2009 costs more than the competition; hides its disk utility feature; has a noisy firewall; and suffers from some uneven system performance and antimalware effectiveness in third-party testing.
The bottom line: While offering roughly the same features and performance as its competition, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 is about $20 too expensive.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/08/2008
F-Secure Internet Security 2009 is a complete suite of antivirus, antispyware, antispam, antiphishing, and personal firewall tools for personal desktops. We've been hearing good things and looking forward to reviewing F-Secure for years, however, several little things bothered us about this release. F-Secure Internet Security 2009 costs more than the competition without adding any "must have" features; the firewall prompts were noisy; and we noticed local system degradation on some of our test machines, even though in formal CNET Labs testing, the product performance was on par with its 2009 competition. Our uncertainty about F-Secure Internet Security 2009 continued to effectiveness testing--one of the test organizations reported high marks, the other did not. In the end it's not the performance, but the cost, roughly $20 to $30 more than the competition, that holds us back.
Installation
We had no problems installing F-Secure Internet Security 2009. A reboot is required. We did, however, have trouble with one or two installations. Although the CNET Labs tests showed F-Secure performs on par with its competitors, we noticed in one installation a marked slowdown in system performance. A second installation did not show this.
Should you decide to uninstall, F-Secure does not provide its own uninstaller. You must use the Microsoft uninstaller found in Add and Remove Programs within the Command Console. After a reboot we found no Registry files, but we did find several program and log files in an F-Secure directory tree on the root drive.
Interface
The F-Secure interface is clean. The left-hand navigation is clean, as is the right window pane where details appear. Configuration settings are no more than one click away for those who want to change a setting.
Missing is the obvious "Scan now" option; we found it later, though.
Features
F-Secure Internet Security 2009 covers all the bases, including antivirus, antispam, antispyware, and firewall protection. There's even parental control built in (not a separate download). But beyond that, there wasn't some additional feature this year that stood out as groundbreaking.
For antivirus protection, F-Secure licenses multiple antivirus technologies from other vendors. This has the potential to knock F-Secure out of the ballpark, yet it doesn't. While it gets very high marks in live malware testing in one test, another testing organization scored it considerably lower. While the F-Secure malware scan on our test machine was thorough, finding one virus on our machine that other scanners had not identified, when it came time to remove the malware, we were presented with a choice. Huh? Most antivirus products today simply quarantine the offending file for later inspection, but F-Secure stops and makes you decide before progressing. While you can configure the removal options, we found the default surprising.
We also found the F-Secure firewall to be especially noisy, more so than usual. Not only did F-Secure not recognize common programs like Skype and Google Toolbar update, but it continually flagged us about a copy of Secunia's scanner (in beta) on our test machine--even after we clicked "allow." The messaging is also a problem. Most programs use a discrete pop-up in the lower right corner of the desktop. F-Secure uses a rather large message space in the middle of the screen shortly after boot. We'd appreciate it if F-Secure could in future releases increase its white list of known programs and also reduce the amount of space its messages occupy.
There's also a disk utility program but it is separate from the Internet Security Suite itself. If you didn't know it existed, you might not even notice it. We think that's bad because it can be very good (depending on the state of your machine).
Performance
In CNET Labs' performance tests, F-Secure Internet Security 2009, in general, scored on par with the competition. In third-party, independent antivirus testing using live viruses, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 scored mixed results. On the CNET iTunes test, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 came in at 273 seconds, which put at the bottom of the list. On the CNET Microsoft Office test, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 came in the middle at 1,454.33 seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and media files, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 completed this test in 359 seconds, which was significantly longer than Kaspersky, Norton, and Trend Micro. Although in terms of boot speed, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 took 31.89 seconds, which was faster than Norton and Kaspersky.
To find out how we test antivirus software, see CNET Labs' How we test: Antivirus software page.
In terms of whether F-Secure Internet Security 2009 will protect your PC, we cite results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. The results are mixed. From AV-test.org, F-Secure Internet Security 2009 found 99 percent of the malicious software and 99 percent of the adware in the September 2008 test, achieving some of the highest scores overall. In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, however, for on-demand scans, F-Secure Internet Security only earned an Advanced (second highest) rating, finding 91 percent of the malware presented. And for the Retrospective/Proactive test, F-Secure Internet Security failed to receive any certification.
Support
F-Secure supports its Internet Security suite with online FAQ, e-mail access, and a toll-free telephone number. There's also a tutorial online (which we think all vendors should offer), but no hardcore online documentation except for a quick installation guide. Also, it would be nice to have a free support forum such as the one offered by Symantec.
Conclusion
Mostly troubled by little things we were not wowed by this product. The price is the real kicker: considerably more than the competition while offering roughly the same features and performance.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6out of 6 user reviews
Offers great protection, Clean nice design
Pros: - Clean and usable design
- Veru trusty antivirus (Kaspersky maschine)
- Efective farewall and antimallvware
- Good custom function and easy navigation inside
Cons: - resource usage, there's good and bad news. F-Secure added a relatively small overhead to a running system
- Price is high. Must bi around 50 euros, and possibility for 3 years ( like a BitDefender)
out of 6 user reviews
Nice product
Pros: Nice interface, clean and easy to use.
Fast scans
Easy and fast install
Detective rate is very high
doesn't bug you to deal with alerts
Cons: nothing that I can think of
out of 6 user reviews
Outstanding (2010 version)
Pros: Nice interface, clean and easy to use.
Fast scans
Easy and fast install
Detective rate is very high
doesnt bug you to death with alerts
Cons: nothing that I can think of
out of 6 user reviews
does the job
Pros: simple understated interface. easy to use.after 2 years its been reasonably reliable.only a spam malfunction problem which was fixed via e mail.
Cons: compared ith other av products I have used the boot up time though not excesive was 4 mins 30 secs quite long.. Did not catch all the nasties.Other criticism the firewall is not that great.
out of 6 user reviews
the best security solution
Pros: overall great protection, easy to use
Cons: slow scan speeds
out of 6 user reviews
F-Secure - bestest Security Suite also for Dummies!
Pros: easy to install, to understand, to get the right settings; runs steadily; great interface; "Mom-proof"
Cons: sometimes slowing the 'puter
