I always used Norton in the past, but it's rather large footprint finally forced me to change. Now I've been giving Kaspersky Internet Security a go.
Upsides:
- It boots up really fast, checks the internet for updates every hour, not that you'd notice and you can change that if you want.
- The entire program folder is only 18Mb, which is a pleasant change from Norton.
- It came top of a PC Pro test last December. Here's the
link, but bear in mind the comment about a Vista bug. It doesn't bother me because my new PC has XP
. AVG came
10th, out of 12.
- I got mine for £17 from
dabs.com - PC Hardware, Components, Software, Digital Cameras, MP3 Players which was a real bargain, but I see it's now up to £27. Note that the 3 user copy is "only" £37. You can actually buy direct from the
Kaspersky site where it's £18 for 1 user and £36 for 5 users.
Downsides:
- It's not free, which I know counts it out for many people. I've never tried AVG so I can't comment. I imagine you'll probably want some firewall software as well.
- While the main interface is very user friendly, so you can start scans, check on threat reports etc very easily, some of the deeper menus are a bit fiddly. A little harder to customise than Norton I'd say, but not by much.
- It comes with a component called Proactive Defence, which is really good at detecting "suspicious" activities. The reason I put this down as a downside is that it really got on my nerves as it's almost
too suspicious. A bit like having Vista's incessant warnings, multiplied by 10. It's an optional component however, so I ended up uninstalling it. The other option was patience - each warning was an opportunity to teach it something, and if I'd have just put up with for a few more weeks, maybe the warnings would have become bearable. Maybe.
Overall, I'm happy with it.