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CA Internet Security Suite 2007 (12/20/2006)

CA Internet Security Suite 2007

Entered CNET Catalog: 12/20/2006

SKU: ISS2007LEC03

Manufacturer: CA

Content [Hide]
  1. Manufacturer's description
  2. Product summary
  3. Editors' review
  4. Users' opinions
  5. Blogs

Manufacturer description

CA Internet Security Suite provides comprehensive protection against viruses, hackers, identity thieves, spyware, spam and other online threats that can jeopardize your privacy, your data, and your PC's performance.

Product summary

The goodThe good: CA Internet Security Suite 2007 includes a personal firewall and antivirus, antispyware, and antispam protection; runs under Windows 98 through Windows Vista; supports up to three PCs under one license.

The badThe bad: CA Internet Security Suite 2007 does not include antiphishing and antirootkit protection; parental controls are a separate utility; too many open windows on the desktop; status reports are easily spoofed into displaying Protected after incomplete antivirus and antispyware scans.

The bottom lineThe bottom line: CA Internet Security Suite 2007 feels like a pasted-together trial version of what CA offers in terms of consumer protection. The suite fails to integrate and lacks antiphishing, antirootkit, and basic IM protection found elsewhere.

Average user rating: from 45 users
1.0 stars

Editors' review

  • Editors' Choice: No
  • Reviewed on: 03/02/2007

CA, formerly Computer Associates, redesigned its product line for 2007 and repackaged its Internet security suite as CA Internet Security Security 2007. It provides antivirus, antispyware, antispam, and personal firewall protection, but there are many omissions, such as antiphsihing and antirootkit protection. Online parental controls are available from an optional download.

Despite a clever advertising gimmick promising up to $6,500 in total Internet protection, $5,000 in identity-theft protection, and $1,500 in antivirus protection (see the CA site for all the disclaimers and the very fine print), we're not convinced CA Internet Security is the best protection on the market today. We found it too easy to get the protection status screen to display "Protected" after aborting our antivirus and antispyware scans. We still recommend ZoneAlarm Internet Security 7 for the best all-around protection.

Installation and setup
We downloaded and installed CA Internet Security 2007 in a matter of minutes, but there are a few gotchas along the way. First, you must accept the CA end user license agreement, then a Lesser General Public License agreement for two open-source libraries; failure to accept one or both will not allow you to continue. In order to qualify for the advertised insurance guarantees from CA, you must also submit a detailed registration form to both CA and Mobile Lifeline, which handles the security insurance, requests an e-mail address as well as a physical address.

For $69.99, CA allows you to install the product on up to three PCs. CA Internet Security runs on Windows 98 through XP, requires 60MB to install and 256MB of RAM to run. Parental Controls, which is a separate feature, requires an additional 25MB of hard drive space to install and only runs on Windows 2000 and XP.


This is an overview window. By clicking a topic, say Personal Firewall, CA will open a new window with the Personal Firewall settings.

The new interface is more a table of contents, giving you updated status reports on four areas: antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and antispam. If you purchase any of the individual products, you'll realize that CA Internet Security 2007 has slapped an overview window on top of, say, the CA Antivirus application. By clicking individual topics, you are taken to a new window with more specifics about the topic selected. This seems very old school--even McAfee has updated its interface to contain all activities within one window--and shows that the security tools are not integrated well. The downsides are that the suite as a whole takes up more system resources and that you have several open windows on your desktop.

As with Trend Micro Internet Security 2007, we had too much trouble engaging the CA Personal Firewall out of the box. We could not update the product because we could not connect to the Internet; we needed to reboot first. Only then did CA recognize that our laptop was connected to a new network and asked us to declare this network as safe or not. This should have happened upon installation. Once we marked our network as safe, we were able to update our program.

Should you want to remove CA Internet Security 2007, CA does not provide an uninstall icon. Using the Windows Control Panel Add or Remove Programs tool, you have to remove only one product (assuming all the check boxes are marked). Oddly, during uninstall, CA denied Firefox access to the Internet; only after telling it to allow Firefox did the uninstall process complete. After a reboot, we found that CA left behind no traces.

Features
Of all the Internet security suites we installed and tested, CA Internet Security 2007 took the longest to get rid of the Attention Needed flags on the overview page. Unfortunately, we found that we could cheat the process by canceling our antivirus and antispyware scans prematurely. And we found many security protections to be missing.

Our antivirus scans took forever to run. After aborting an antivirus scan three-quarters of the way through, we were surprised to see the CA Internet Security window indicate that we had finished our antivirus scan and certify us as protected. We decided to test this on other machines and found that we could fool the antivirus status to report Protected after aborted scans on other installations. We consider this a serious design flaw.

In the past, CA has partnered with ZoneLabs for use of their award-winning ZoneAlarm firewall; not so this year. CA has created its own personal firewall, and we could not enable it after installation.

As for antispyware protection, CA renamed PestPatrol, which it purchased a few years ago, to CA Antispyware. After running a scan, we immediately disagreed with some of its findings. In particular, we found LogMeIn, a commercial remote access tool, marked as a low threat to our system, in league with Difisim, a CA-identified Trojan horse. If we accepted CA antispyware's findings, we would lose the ability to connect to our laptop remotely and might not realize that until after the fact. Oddly, by not accepting CA's findings--by not removing or quarantining any of the potential spyware items CA found--we found that the CA Internet Security overview window said our system was now fully protected. Clearly the products are not integrated well if they produce such easy false positives.

CA's antispam protection consists of a toolbar add-on for Outlook and Outlook Express. There is no support for either Eudora or Thunderbird, and we found no way to tweak the antispam settings. In general, we found the configuration options to be minimal.

Missing are several tools found in other Internet security suites. There is no protection against IM-launched virus attacks, no antiphishing protection provided, nor did we find mention of any antirootkit protection. In our opinion, these are serious omissions.

Performance
In terms of antivirus protection, CA Antivirus offered a mixed bag, ultimately scoring in the middle range, falling behind Norton and McAfee in most tests and far short of our best performer, Kaspersky Anti-Virus. On our iTunes test, CA Antivirus gained ground compared with last year, taking 206 seconds as opposed to 310 seconds last year. On our Sorensen Squeeze test, CA Antivirus worsened, taking 335 seconds compared to 330 seconds last year. CA Antivirus showed the most improvement with individual file scans, taking only 112 seconds this year as opposed to 221 seconds last year. And with boot speed, CA Antivirus improved, taking 63 seconds over 67 seconds last year. To find out how we test, visit CNET Labs' How we test antivirus software page.

To determine how well a product will protect your PC, we refer to test results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. CheckVir.com ranked CA Antivirus as one of six products to earn its Standard rating, which means the product was tested on finding but not removing antivirus threats. CA Antivirus was not reviewed by AV-Comparatives.org.

Support
CA provides support online with access to detailed knowledge base, e-mail support, and live chat support in selected markets. CA also provides telephone support, but with a fee of $29.99 per incident.

Conclusion
CA Internet Security 2007 is a cobbled-together assemblage of existing CA consumer products that fail to integrate into one unified suite. Missing are IM protection, antiphishing, and antirootkit tools, security tools common in other suites we've seen this year. We also found that it was easy to fool CA into thinking our machine was protected, when we knew we had prematurely ended our antivirus and antispyware scans.

User opinions

Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Don't waste your time it is awfulby toyotaas - December 15, 2009

Pros: It's cheap and Roadrunner offers it for free.

Cons: Slows your PC to a crawl extremely resource hungry. Caused other resource intensive programs to lock up. Even free it's not worth it!

Review: Installed it on my PC thought it was a good deal since got it free from my ISP. Let me tell you it was a complete nightmare programs would lock up, would have to reboot many times made everything slow to a crawl. At first thought maybe it was just time to invest in a new PC as mine has a few years on it but was on a tight budget so decided to reformat the hard drive and see if I could find the problem after that everything worked great until I reinstalled CA. Then all the same problems were right back! Needless to say I uninstalled it right away and everything was fine again. Purchased Zone alarm security suite it has a license for three computers, installed it and have had no problems since even when it goes in to scan mode my older PC still has enough resources to run winamp, limewire, games , vidieos or whatever I want to run with no problems. I am not recommending any particular antivirus but I strongly advise against CA at any price!
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

DON'T GET IT ,EVEN ITS FREE!!by garilko - October 22, 2009

Pros: USER FRIENDLY,OFFERS BASIC PROTECTION FOR PC.

Cons: WILL DISABLE MOST OF THE INTERNET FEATURES,AS A RESULT,YOU'D NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS MOST OF THE FEATURES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING,MOVIE ETC SITES.

Review:
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

BEWARE OF THISby evilkitty35 - October 12, 2008

Pros: DO NOT GET

Cons: I got this program and it total wrecked havoc on my pc totaled my hard drive and i had so many viruses it was nto funny and i just BOUGHT my pc so i would suggest NOT to get it

Review: The company needs to be sued !!!
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

absolute rubbish, i have been ripped off by this companyby theplod - August 12, 2008

Pros: you THINK YOUR SAFE

Cons: was up and running and didnt protect my PC

Review: i have been with CA since '98, had vet and the spyware programs, always updated and always running, i bought the security suite because i thought it was good, 3 license, my machine became infected with antivirus XP08, totally destroyed all my bits, had to isolate HDD and run as slave to inspect, lucky i had KASPERSKY on my new drive this found and cleaned the drive, but also found 69 other malware/spyware and trojans on this drive.
In short, it's a waste of money and you are not protected, also the customer support is slow and very hard to contact, don't even bother with the phone!!!
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Terrible product, worse customer serviceby Maggie6983 - August 10, 2008

Pros: effectively screened out spam for a week or so

Cons: disappeared; tech support no help; expensive

Review: This product stopped working after a few weeks. Online support ignores problem description and fixes tried. Lots of reinstall or update and reboot. Every reboot you have to recontact and even though you include in your documentation all the steps tried so far, they repeat and reboot and it starts over. if you want phone support they charge you $19.95, immeidately debits account, then cannot provide a technician to help. This product used to be Qurb and was free. Now it costs $60, another $20 for support and it still doesn't work. And they won't refund your money!
User Rating:
4.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Difficult but Rewardingby imasquare - June 15, 2008

Pros: Firewall, Antivirus, Anti-spyware

Cons: Customization of firewall

Review: A wonderful product, but the firewall does require a great deal of customization when it comes to websites, but I would rather be safe in knowing my computer is protected from privacy threats. The backup tool, child protection tool and web site checking tool is not its greatest strength however.

The virus checker is brilliant, picking up and deleting what norton or sophos can't.

My only suggestion for this product would be to integrate a tool to add websites to your safe list more easily. At the same time, I can understand CA's viewpoint of making this slightly more laborious for users to do, because it deters them from mistakenly adding unsafe websites, or websites that are usually in breech privacy laws or the bounds of what most people would consider ethical privacy.

Though a great deal of people will complain about the firewall blocking their website, I think they would think again if they were aware of what third party advertisers do with cookies.

I've tried various other packages, and I'm confident that it is one of the best, but I believe they need to work on the software package to make it more user friendly for the vast majority of users out there who do not have the time nor care to take the time to learn how to use a relatively complex package.

I have no doubt that technically this is one of the best security suites you can get (minus the migrator, child protection tool), but they really do need to work on getting an interface that is more accessible. I have been using this package for several years, and occasionally I have seen several bugs causing problems such as over utilization of the CPU and the CA Control Panel reporting that some of the packages are not installed (when they are), however they could also have been due to conflicts with other pieces of software for all I know, or possibly an OS Update breaking their software.

As for their website checker, this is too slow for the low end of 'broadband' internet connections, and dial up would not be useful. They need faster servers and high compression on the data to be useful.

So if you're a technical person, and you want the best protection you can get because you are really aware of the threats out there today, I would recommend this product. Or if you've got a friend or relative who is technically inclined and can administer this software package for you, I would recommend it.

But for everyone else who wants an easy to use software package, I would suggest looking elsewhere, however I cannot guarantee that you will get the same level of protection that CA's security suite offers.

A note for CA, perhaps in future, you can produce the same underlying protection software, but improve upon the interface, or have an installation option for a 'basic' interface that is easy to use (but users can still be a danger to themselves on the web), and an 'advanced' interface for those who are more technically inclined and want the full protection that the security software architecture can provide.

Also, perhaps they can have an 'automatic' mode for the website checker combined with the privacy protection tool, so that the privacy of the user will be done so based upon the level of deemed safety by their checking software, and to speed this up, have a compressed database of several thousand common sites come with the software (And is updateable) so that the process is sped up.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Would Not Use This For Freeby VanillaCoke5 - May 31, 2008

Pros: ***None***

Cons: Will Mess Up Your Computer

Review: I tried this out as it was offered *free * by my internet provider. Great deal I thought--not so much as it completely messed up my computer. It identified and erased a neccessary windows component as spyware!!!!! I haven't been able to access most of the internet, or my email, for a week. Afters hours and hours of research I finally figured out how to fix my computer, I am now in the process of reinstalling everything and downloading a new virus protection software. DO NOT USE THIS!!!
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Bad Company and Productby riquny - May 9, 2008

Pros: anti virus seemed to work okay

Cons: If you cancel it locks you out of internet until program is renewed or removed

Review: Due to my office glitch the subscription was canceled without me knowing it. When the computer was rebooted an error message said subscription needed to be renewed but another message said subscription couldn't be verified because the internet couldn't be accessed. I assumed the when the internet connected the program would log on and verify so I went about discovering the log on problem. After a couple of hours checking the cable connection, the router, modem, etc., and the usual time on hold and being transferred it was suggested the firewall in CA Internet might be blocking access. The program only gave me the same error messages and wouldn't open. I called CA and more hold and transfers lead to the discovery the subscription had been cancelled and that until the program was renewed or completly removed from the computer, it would prevent access to the internet. Of course nothing in the program or error messages told you that. Needless to say, I won't reload or renew this program
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Worse than a virusby sidhene - May 6, 2008

Pros: absolutely nothing

Cons: broke my computer

Review: After I installed this, I could no longer get on the internet and after a couple of restarts, the computer was completely frozen. I could only run it in Safe Mode, where I discovered that CA has no uninstaller.

Installing CA was a terrible mistake that I don't know how I'm going to undo. I only hope I don't have to wipe the hard drive and start over.

I think the only reason it doesn't have a lower user rating is because CNET has a "don't give a rating of 1" popup window when you try to submit that.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Stay away, stay FAR away.by neoprimal - March 7, 2008

Pros: The antivirus portion is OK

Cons: The rest will probably crash your pc, eventually.

Review: I ended up getting CA in order to get a gift laptop for a certain price - the deal was 'laptop is $600 w/o the suite OR $450 /w the suite' since there's a rebate involved. Anyhow, got the suite and it'd been sitting in it's box on my desk for a while since I didn't end up putting it on the gift laptop. Ahh well, you know what they say about the devil and idle hands, if you don't, google it. I installed it on my own laptop, since I use Eset on my PCs and whoa nelly. Instantly things started going wrong, first of all this is Vista 32 which the suite supposedly works with. The firewall kept crashing, then another part called 'callingid'...I mean constantly. Parts of the suite took years to perform mild tasks and it was just painful to actually use the programs. At first there were just annoyances however a week later my laptop started becoming unresponsive, taking more than 5 minutes to fully boot and settle until eventually it wouldn't settle at all. Now, my laptop isn't ancient, it's newish actually, not core duo new, but at least dual core with 2gb of ram. It runs Vista 32 very well usually and in comparison ran Eset like a champ.

I consider myself an intermediate user. I don't give up easily and I don't blame issues on programs (hello, I'm happy with Vista, so you can imagine). I tried hard with this thing. I put it on a beta machine running XP (ran better, but still sucked) as well as a Virtual XP and Vista and in every scenerio it still had crashing modules and caused issues/slowed system. After seeing it consistently mucking up my systems, I warn you, staaay awaay, it's virus like in itself.

If you can't afford or don't WANT to sub to an AV, get Avira AV Classic and just be careful with it (false positives every now and again but otherwise great AV). If you want a great AV and don't mind paying, Eset all the way. If you want an all in one solution, Eset or Avira Premium.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy CA.
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Easy to get- hard to get rid ofby zlinguist - February 21, 2008

Pros: easy to install

Cons: NOOOO customer support and poorly designed self help pages

Review: Tried the free download of the firewall. "About" does not tell you which version (2007/2008) you have. Tried to uninstall and they offer an uninstaller for 2007 "only". Could not find the 2008 uninstaller or help to uninstall. I will keep looking...but I just wanted to tell anyone thinking about this download to stop now...while you can!!!!
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Some Problemsby skillfulgil - January 12, 2008

Pros: Does it's job to good.

Cons: Can't Uninstall

Review: Gentlemen, this security system looks good, acts good, and does it's job. Only a little to good to where your downloading & uploading can't function properly. It does it's job, warning you on every occasion, verifying what
you're linking on to. If it didn't mess with your PC's regular daily activities, It's a winner. Oh, another thing. After uninstalling,you still have files and folders that can't be deleted & cause your PC to slow down considerably. I still till this day, haven't got my PC where it use to be.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

terrible terrible worse than terrible a disasterby rudi3403 - December 23, 2007

Pros: none and none

Cons: none and none

Review: This system totally messed up my computer.
I saw other reviews that said it was one of the best. However, it took me more than six hours to un-install. Do not reccommend to anyone.
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

more frustrating than the othersby shawnmfisher - November 15, 2007

Pros: easy installation when it works, easy user interface, good firewall

Cons: poor spyware protection, very slow, popups poorly designed

Review: I tried CA Internet Security Suite 2007 on several computers. Installation was a mixed bag. Some installs went perfect and others would fail or only install parts of the suite with little or no explanation or warning. After manually installing the missing parts the components were no longer integrated into the suite’s interface and had to be managed independently. This product brought all but the fastest machines to a crawl. Spyware protection was not very effective. CA ISS 2007 allowed spyware to be installed with no warning. It eventually does catch the spyware on a full system scan and has a very good removal engine but it should never have allowed it to be installed in the first place because the spyware scans will bring most PCs to a crawl. Finally, the warning popups look like spyware popups, are poorly written, and confuse inexperienced users into clicking “yes” all the time
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Worse than any virus I've ever hadby Wings42 - November 5, 2007

Pros: Beautiful interface

Cons: Takes over and wreaks havoc

Review: Immediately after installying CA Security Suite 2007:
- my internet connection became flaky, requiring cold reboots hourly.
- many essential cookies are gone from my PC, like logins for Outlook Express as an example. If you reestablish the cookie, the CA suite deletes it without asking. Maybe there's a setting to stop this, but I haven't found it, and have stopped looking.
- my PC is slooooow and thrashes a lot, with 95+% CPU usage on Task Manager
- Rhapsody and other apps. hang, requiring a hardware reset.
- none of the above was a problem until the moment of install of CA Security Suite. My PC has been very stable for a long time.
- worst of all, I can't uninstall the CA Suite. There is no uninstall button, and uninstalling from the Control Panel results in an E9011 error: that I should log in as Administrator, which I am in my stand-alone PC.
- I've turned off all CA Suite functions while trying to repair damage and get things working again (three days so far). Still, the Task Manager shows two CA apps running, eating up resources, and doing I know not what.
- I can't get through to CA for help.
- it seems to work OK as virus etc. protection, other than trashing my PC, hence the "2" rating. Maybe it's only been tested on Vista, and not Windows XP Pro which I run?
- PLEASE, if anybody reading this knows how to uninstall this monster, please email me at dcolton@san.rr.com (assuming I can get my email working again).
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Not impressedby dabgriff - October 20, 2007

Pros: It was free from Austin Roadrunner

Cons: To Many To List

Review: I download this free from Austin Roadrunner. It is a terrible product. It slows down the internet, freezes up the computer and disconnects you from the internet for no apparent reason. DON'T BUY THIS UNLESS YOU WANT MORE PROBLEMS THAN YOU CAN DEAL WITH THIS.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Terrible supportby aldorr--2008 - October 16, 2007

Pros: Comprehensive package

Cons: Slows internet with Vista

Review: This product does not work well with Vista (what does?). It slows the internet down to a crawl. Their support is a joke. Agter buying the product they want to chare to talk to tech support and it is impossible to find an email address to send any questions. I won't wast any more of my time with it.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Horrible horrible horribleby guido_schadenfreude - October 2, 2007

Pros: Nothing comes to mind

Cons: Install, uninstall, performance, support

Review: I've used CA security software for years, so when this upgrade came about, I agreed to the message, downloaded it, and began my nightmare. First it wouldn't update it's own previous versions. Anti-spyware stuff never did get installed and continually complains about it but can't install it. It complains that I'm not an administrator, when I am. Trying to uninstall, discovered all kinds of registry keys it creates that it can't un-create because they were given no permissions. I really hope I've managed to nuke this thing off my computer now completely, but I'll probably have to do some more scrubbing to completely eradicate this virus.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Don't even think about buying this!by ruisenor - September 23, 2007

Pros: slick -- in the way of snake oil salesmen (or women)

Cons: Constant crashes, does not complete downloads of updates, customer support EXTREMELY difficult to access

Review: I'm not the most technically savvy user, so my review deals with my experience as a user and customer. I was talked into this by a slick salesperson at Tiger Direct (outlet store), which had a promotion going at the time. He did a demonstration (with much of what he actually did behind closed doors) to show me how many more viruses and spyware px this product detected than what I had before. They advertised a big rebate (but the print was really fine, and I never got it). First problem I noticed was that the routine download updates would take hours, then abort without updating anything. They offered free version updates, but trying to download them either led to broken links and addresses not found, or, if I did manage to connect to the update link, it would crash the system. The program seemed to use a lot of resources. Crashed a lot. Customer and technical support is practically non-existent. They don't provide a phone number on their web page, or chat/IM options. The links to "support" are slow, clunky, and after wasting a lot of time filling out forms and answering questions, you just get routed back to the DIY page, not an actual link to real support. Took me 2 hours to successfully send a tech support request, for which I received an automated email directing me to the fix-it-yourself page, with a prominent "Do not reply to this email" message. When I finally did manage to contact tech support they were unable to help me, and completely unconcerned that they were unable to help me. They suggested fixes that not only didn't fix anything, but failed to even start to do anything (perhaps an attempt at a placebo effect?). After multiple rounds with technical support without any help what so ever, they claimed they were transferring the issue to customer support, and someone would be contacting me within 24 hours. Need I state I never heard from them again, and they stopped responding to my requests for support? Summary: Add this company and all it's products to your AVOID list.
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Blue Screenby pinears - September 15, 2007

Pros: Never got to use it

Cons: better off with virus than no computer at all

Review: I instaled CA suite on new Gateway computer with Vista and installed optimize 1.5,when I rebooted I got a blue screen. I am writting this comment from my old computer My new computer is down untill I can find a solution for this.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

CNET'S COMMENTS ARE TOO KIND FOR THIS GARBAGEby Bigtuna1768 - September 12, 2007

Pros: Price? I got to cover three pc's? If you can even call it a Pro

Cons: Where do I start...

Review: The uber sensitive firewall is overboard! I haven't been able to get mine to update in over two months! Lack of protection...It's not even worth writing any more. There's better out there trust me! Don't waste your money-I did it for you!
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

The software program is terrible.by krobbass - August 21, 2007

Pros: Any pros were negated by the nast programs that it did not detect.

Cons: It did not block nasty programs and technical support was terrible

Review: I renewed my subscription for 2007, and I found that there was always a problem with the software updates or errors in updating the software. I began having nasty popups/programs that stated that I needed to purchase protection to protect against trojans/viruses/mal-ware that the program detected on my computer. I would get a popup every 5-10 minutes stating that my computer was under attack and then the message. The CA package did not detect these programs and could not remove or find them on the computer. The technical support was ineffective, and I did an exhaustive search to find the number to contact them. I ended up buying another security package that found the nasty programs and removed them. I purchased the ZoneAlarm program that C-Net recommended, and I have not had any problems for over a week and a half.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Makes your internet access go from broadband to dialupby noisefigure - August 15, 2007

Pros: Good customer support

Cons: slows system and internet access, problem with uninstallation

Review: I had Norton security suite on Thinkpad T60 with Vista Business. As expected, Norton slowed the system boot up process considerably and also regular system operation. So then I made a horrible decision to switch to CA internet security suite as I got it cheap with a mail in rebate and being CA product, I trusted it would be better than Norton.

I did not notice any improvement in system boot up time or system operation but the internet access was slow. It was taking for ever to show the loaded pages. I was doubting my internet provider but when my friend mentioned the same problem when he installed CA, I was convinced that it was CA Internet security.
I had hard time uninstalling the software. I had to contact customer service to help me get it uninstalled.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

It cannot be overstated how BAD this product is.by rpcrapid - August 14, 2007

Pros: NONE - I repeat - NONE

Cons: too many to list

Review: The "cure" is truly worse than the disease. I would rather just have computer viruses than this software. I can't imagine a worse experience. The support is horrible as well. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Any other anti-virus is better than this.
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

IT CAN BE DISASTER FOR THE AVERAGE COMPUTER USER,by rokinrandy - August 12, 2007

Pros: IT CAN BE EFFECTIVE BUT NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE

Cons: IF NOT CAREFULL AND IF YOUR NOT THAT ADVANCED WITH THIS NON USER FRIENDLY SOFTWARE YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS WITH ERRORS AND CRASHES AND IT CAN SLOW YOUR COMPUTER DOWN

Review: SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED SOMETHING TO MAKE LIFE SIMPLE AND EASY..SOME PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO GO THROUGH AND CONSTANTLY MAKE SETTINGS..THERE IS BETTER SOFTWARE FOR THE AVERAGE COMPUTER USER..THIS IS NOT USER FRIENDLY AND IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFULL YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS... I HAVE TRIED ALMOST ALL OF THE HIGH RATED SECURITY SUITES AND THIS IS MY LEAST FAVORITE..
SORRY,I WILL NOT RECOMEND THIS PRODUCT !!!!!!
Updated
THE ANTI VIRUS IS FINE,BUT THE SPYWARE REMOVER AND THE FIREWALL CAN GET YOU IN TROUBLE IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFULL..SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED SOMETHING TO MAKE LIFE SIMPLE AND EASY..SOME PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO GO THROUGH AND CONSTANTLY MAKE SETTINGS.I THINK THE SPYWARE REMOVER DETECTS IMPORTANT FILES NEEDED FOR THE COMPUTER TO RUN RIGHT AS SPYWARE.THERE IS BETTER SOFTWARE FOR THE AVERAGE COMPUTER USER THAN THIS..EZ IS NOT USER FRIENDLY FOR MOST PEOPLE AND IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFULL YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS... I HAVE TRIED ALMOST ALL OF THE HIGH RATED SECURITY SUITES AND THIS IS MY LEAST FAVORITE..
SORRY,I WILL NOT RECOMEND THIS PRODUCT !!!!!!
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

I would Stay Awayby PeteC - August 2, 2007

Pros: Like Any Other

Cons: Don't have act together.

Review: I had the OLD version of the software, previously known as EZarmor, installed for a few weeks. It wasn't too bad except it decided on its own to empty my recycle bin. I lost thousands of files. What gave this company the idea that it has the right to empty my recycle bin. Further more, it kept doing it all the time. I searched the help files using the help search function on the keyword "recycle" and it could not find that keyword. I thrashed around for a long time through all the menus and finally found the box to click to stop this invasive action.

I "upgraded" to CA ISS and had real problems. After getting in contact with one of their people in India, he finally fixed the problem. To do it, I had to turn over my computer to him and watch as he downloaded and installed a "repair" file and then edited my registry. He then changed the privileges for modifying my registry. Believe me, that was a very scary process. There is no way this software should have so much control over my computer.


After all of this, I thought I had the program running reasonably. Then I discovered it was removing content from various emails. When I attempt to open some email I get an "Internet Explorer Script Error". I removed CA ISS from my computer. That proved my theory that it was removing something from my emails. I get an identical email every day from the same site. Emails received before CA ISS was installed and after it was removed can be opened without the Script Error. Emails received when CA ISS was installed cause the script error.

I contacted CA via email and got a very enthusiastic response from "Jennifer". I replied explaining my problem. That was 4 days ago. No response yet.


Stay away.
User Rating:
5.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

You actually would love this softwareby pinhead6793 - July 29, 2007

Pros: I haven had any

Cons: No conserns here

Review: I love this software i use it at my bank and its blocked 2 million hackers. but mabye if all of yall would go THROUGH the freakin program and make it to your personal settings then mabye (no not mabye this is fo shure) in the firewall you can allow the programs that you want and deny the ones that u want. and the only reason its probally at a crawl is BECUASE you sit there and just expect to it work. Well mabye you should get off your lazy butt and go figure it out. and the customer service is great( becuase i called to COMPLIMENT) and yeah microsoft recommends this software... this software is in the back on the store in most stores. yeah that becuase norton and mcafee are soo highly rated they suck so mabye you should give them a chance god dont diss on them just because its you guys who cant use it ok?!?!
User Rating:
4.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

I think it works great......by Bronx1031 - July 29, 2007

Pros: Does what YOU want, not as Norton or anyone else wants

Cons: none tha i can see

Review: I read all the reviews and I wonder how a computer novice like me can make this suite works fine. The blocked sites are simply added to a list of sites ok to view in privacy section of the firewall. Hmm seems like an extra layer of protection for my kids..... Spyware is dealt with quickly and easily. and for giggles I ran another anti spyware program to see if anything was missed, and guess what, after an hour scan by ( you fill in the blank ), NOTHING new was present.

It's bad enough to pay through the nose for software, CA came out with a Product that is cheap to buy, easy yo use, if you read how it works and ACTUALLY set it up for your needs, works fine without making the computer slow to a crawl. Yeah it might slow a dial up but with the money you save, how about getting DSL??

And check it out.. doesnt expire, so dont have to purchase a " renewal" to extract more money out of my wallet. This version was an up grade from 2006 purchase. and set up fine on all three computers in our home network. It even made them appear invisible to other "guest" computers IE friends of my kids, plugging in to the router so they could play games. Was piece of cake to make all work together.. Hmmmm i remember a Norton fiasco once upon a time.... A computer is a tool and not the be all that ends all. Just be careful out there and dont be scared

So come mon Computer elites... get with the program

oh Thanks CA for getting it
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Terrible software AND supportby creacon - July 26, 2007

Pros: Installed without incident

Cons: Everything else

Review: I used the 2006 version for a year and was very happy with it. It worked silently, non-invasively and without intervention. One email to tech support when my license didn't show up, was fixed quickly. When my subscription was due to renew, I switched to the '07 version 3-pack for all my computers. WHAT A MISTAKE! First I couldn't receive my email. We traced it to the Anti-virus/Anti-spam modules. I emailed CA, and after a week I got a response with a link to a document outlining a dozen cryptic settings, that even an expert computer user wouldn't have been able to figure out (Ive been in the business for 50 years). Well that seemed to work, then suddenly, I couldn't browse certain sites (not the least of which was ebay) unless I disabled the firewall. This time I logged into their tech support chat room, and what an abortive experience. After walking me through a bunch of more cryptic settings (called expert rules) I still couldn't browse, and the technician simply quit responding to me. After 45 minutes of hanging there, I finally disconnected, and sent a complaint via email. I got an acknowledgement email back shortly, and now after nearly a week, no positive response from them. Then, today, again I started getting "... server connection interrupted ..." errors when trying to receive email. I check my email on the server via webmail, and the one it wouldn't receive was from a company that I've been doing business with and successfully receiveing email from them for years. Again I disabled the firewall and the email came in without incident. If this isn't the worst product I've ever had the misfortune to purchase, and the worst tech support in the world, it'll certainly do until that one comes along.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Not for Vistaby ttoomm1 - June 30, 2007

Pros: Free with rebate if you buy at the right time

Cons: Brings Vista to its knees

Review: Had it loaded on XP. Worked but slower that some.
Upgraded to Vista and it slows everything way down. Try to use ZoneLabs firewall instead of CA's Personal Firewall and it quits intirely.
ZoneLabs (ZoneAlarm free) usabilty is far far superior.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

PATHETIC! Worst piece of software I ever had the displeasure of owningby ddouglasgordon - June 28, 2007

Pros: Tech help was very polite, but got nothing done

Cons: Full of bugs, and tech help unable to assist

Review: Buying CA Internet Security Suite was one of the worst experiences of my computer life.

The program is difficult to configure and use. You have to disable your own firewall in order to allow antivirus and other elements of the program to update themselves properly. Further, anti-spyware uninstalled itself, and hijacked my computer by perpetually trying to re-install itself over & over & over every single time I used my computer.

Antivirus would also periodically disable itself, leaving my completely unprotected. I had to restart my computer about once an hour to keep it running.

I had many other problems, and tech help was unable to resolve ANY of them. Live streaming java charts were permanently disabled, and CA could do nothing about it after multiple tries.

After 4 or 5 tries with live chat help and phone help, (which totalled probably 10-12 cumulative hours), I asked for a refund so I can go & buy something that actually works.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

"Free" is too high a price.by b_s_d - June 25, 2007

Pros: Smaller install compared to leading commercial alternatives.

Cons: Frequently hangs on eBay and other popular sites.

Review: Not reliable (as of Jun07) for Web applications more complex than basic email. Frequently hangs rather than prompting for access. Product appears either very immature or sloppy. Support recommends disabling buggy processes in startup rather than fixing them. Not worth the headaches if your Web access involves more than basic browsing.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Not a good package for dial up isp.by bigjack_au - June 12, 2007

Pros: impenetrable firewall, doesn't slow system too much

Cons: unmanageable firewall controls, poor product support

Review: This package is not for the inexperienced user. Neither is it suitable for a dial up connection. It frequently downloads a massive 17 MB as part of its normal update procedure and takes an agonising 4 hours to complete (if it does not error first). I was not able to either manage the firewall to allow MSN Messenger nor to successfully update the product. Product support suggested that I get Broadband. In my area i cannot. I did not find this helpful.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

A horrible joke, on meby areicbailey - May 8, 2007

Pros: looks nice

Cons: everything else

Review: Bought the internet security suite that included this. It was free after rebates, I now know why and still think I got robbed, of my time at the very least. Can't order from amazon? Cant put things in cart from major online retailers? I turned down all settings, and until I turned firewall off, was unable to do normal daily online activities. Now I am unable to install the firewall because I (the admin) don't have admin privileges! And yes, I tried safe mode and still can't uninstall. From other reviews it looks like my hope of reinstalling Zone Alarm will be equally difficult. NEVER AGAIN CA. By the way, the rest of the software on the suite is average. It uninstalled, and was decent. It was for from great, and worthy of an uninstall, but the firewall is just plain horrible.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Very very dissapointingby gregeaton - April 29, 2007

Pros: absolutely none

Cons: destroys everything

Review: I have used EZ products (armor - firewall and anti-virus) for many many years. I have five full licences - all used on XP pro machines from laptops to servers. As usual, I upgraded my core engine when CA advised that they has a new and "better" core process.

This could be no further from the truth.

Every machine had immedaite problems including incessant "windows violation warnings" - utter and complete slowdown to a crawl on all machines even 2Ghz dual processor machines.

Worst still, CA said that the problem was someone elses software and to fix I had to uninstall everything else and reinstall one at a time to find the culprit. They then sent me a satisfaction survey to fill in since they claimed that they had solved my problem !!!

Fortunately I still had an archive copy of the old r2 program and I unistalled the 2007 (very very difficult as Windows protests severely and almost stops the process by literally dozens of violation dialogs) and reinstalled the old program - on all machines and now no more problems.

If that is not proof that the new CA Internet Security Suite is rubbish, I don't know what is !

I now need to look for new protection software since after years of giving CA hundreds of dollars a year, I have entirely lost faith in that company and any of its products.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Utter rubbishby onlynorris - April 4, 2007

Pros: None that I can think of

Cons: Poor support. No help

Review: Right. I bought EZ anti-virus and was very happy with it. Then CA bought EZ and I got a free trial. When that expired I decided to go the whole hog and buy the entire package.

Oh dear.

I have had several problems with this. First it blocks the internet occasionally for no reason. Then it would not download updates.

I have tried to contact CA but have had more luck getting blood out of a stone.

Avoid like the plague.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Not worth the disc it was burned onby Martian5150 - March 26, 2007

Pros: It was 99 cents with the purchase of H&R Blcok TaxCut 2006

Cons: Slow, doesn't work, crashes my system

Review: Where do I start? This software is a big, steaming, stinking pile of garbage. Not only does the firewall block sites like Circuit City and has troub;e with Hotmail, it slows the WHOLE system down AND makes my computer crash. I cannot load new software on the system, the computer restarts before installation finishes. It has corrupted software that I already had on the system. And now I can't uninstall it because the system restarts (WINDOWS HAS RECOVERED FROM A FATAL ERROR) before the process completes. But it gets better. Now I can't start the computer in Safe Mode!! I spent an hour on the phone with tech support last night. I've now resorted to calling the corporate headquarters in New York. This software is horrible and doesn't even deserve the 1 point.
User Rating:
2.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Worse than 2006!by bill1437 - March 23, 2007

Pros: Good spyware, e-mail, virus protection

Cons: firewall has major problems

Review: Renewed my 2006 purchase with a 2007 download of the new suite. The firewall portion has a major problem, can't view websites that aren't 'allowed' by the software, however their solution to the problem doesn't work. I just disable their firewall, enable the MS Firewall and watch the MLB site,when the game is over I restore the firewalls. Other elements of the Suite work OK.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

IT DOES NOT ALLOW BSNL BROAD BAND TO OPERATE AND REPORTS HARDWARE FAILURE.by Rajaram.K - March 22, 2007

Pros: NOTHING TO SAY

Cons: USELESS AND PROVIDED BY TOSHIBA AS TOTAL PACK AND A LOSS FOR CONSUMER.

Review: I UNDERSTAND SOME PROBLEM WITH ANTI VIRUS INTERFERENCE BUT THIS SUIT ITSELF IS A PROBLEM IN INDIAN BROADBAND.THE COMPANY SHOULD EXPLAIN AND SEND ME A EMAIL OR ELSE THE PACK GOES A WASTE AND ALSO TOSHIBA SHALL TAKE UP THE RESPONSIBILITY
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Stay Awayby 19ertim - March 10, 2007

Pros: Price, K9 Web Filter

Cons: Speed, ease of use, custom does not work

Review: This suite is a POS. When you open it to configure, it is extremely slow. The firewall is awful. It would not let me access the K9 web filter, that was included with the suite. Managing sites does not always work, for instance I can go to circuitcity.com, but I can't shop the site unless I turn off the firewall completely. Adding it to allowed sites, does not work. I could go on and on. The tech support is ok, but the problems with is product go beyond anything they can fix. Simple statement. Stay Away
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Poor. Nothing but problems with firewall.by Ten_ton - March 6, 2007

Pros: Computer store recomended it. Cheap. (now I know why)

Cons: Computer was useless. Had to uninstall.

Review: Firewall kept giving system errors. Had a hard time uninstalling it. Complete waste of money! Don't buy this software.
User Rating:
0.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Stay Away - Total Nightmareby mittalcnet - January 20, 2007

Pros: LOOKS GOOD AND COMPREHENSIVE

Cons: WILL RUIN YOUR COMPUTER AND YOUR LIFE

Review: It will load up and everything but you will be never be able to use your computer ever again like you have been prior to installing it. Its a headache and nightmare to work with the settings. Menus and Options are written in like Greek / Latin coded language. Please Please Stay Away.
User Rating:
3.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Firewall causes problemsby easyshare - January 18, 2007

Pros: Nice colorful box

Cons: PITA to install

Review: When I loaded the whole suite I kept getting script errors. Uninstalled their firewall and installed the windows firewall and the script errors went away. As far as the anti-virus I had to scan for viruses 5 times before it took. As far as the other user comments, yes, there are problems and their support really SUCKS. I have another program ready and if it gives me more problems Im set to uninstall it and deep six it for good.
Updated
Iam currently having all kind of problems with this piece of garbage. I could find "Noahs Ark" before I could find this outfits support line or a support phone. I finally found the Corporate phone number and tomorrow I intend to call and tell them what they can do with this piece of trash.
Updated
After I called Corporate they gave me the Tech Support Phone number (1-800-645-3042).
Also for live chat (***********/gh48u) I have to admit that live chat straightened out all my problems with this suite. It's up and running great and doing its job.
Updated
After I called Corporate they gave me the Tech Support Phone number (1-800-645-3042).
Also for live chat (***********/gh48u) I have to admit that live chat straightened out all my problems with this suite. It's up and running great and doing its job.
User Rating:
1.0 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Disaster!!!!by blueaz - January 17, 2007

Pros: It loaded...........

Cons: It's been a nightmare ever since!

Review: This program has already given me more trouble than any virus or spyware I've dealt with. Really messed up my email access. I turn off the troublesome Firewall, but it comes back on every time I boot up. Emailed for help 3 days ago; no response. Called & was on hold for over one hour, still got no one. AAaaaagggghhh!!
User Rating:
1.5 stars

out of 45 user reviews

Don't Buy It!by pjcmme - December 28, 2006

Pros: Good Anti-Virus

Cons: Everything else is useless

Review: So far, I have had nothing but problems with this suite. It slows everything down something terrible, and when you try to get rid of it it will not let you do it. I'm still waiting in line to get help from their tech-support.

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CA Internet Security Suite 2007 specifications

  • General
  • Category Security applications
  • Subcategory Security - security suite
  • License pricing Standard
  • Software
  • License Type Complete package
  • License Qty 1 user
  • License Pricing Standard
  • Distribution Media Download
  • Package Type Retail
  • System Requirements
  • Min Processor Type 300 MHz Intel Pentium
  • Peripheral / Interface Devices CD-ROM
  • System Requirements Details Microsoft Windows XP SP 1+ - RAM 256.0 MB - HD 60.0 MB , Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition , Microsoft Windows 2000 SP 3+ , Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition