Group test: what's the best security software?

Internet security suites group test

By | PC World |

We've exhaustively tested every major internet security suite. Here we present the top 5.

See also:

Security Advisor

Security software reviews

5. Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012
  • Reviewed on: 3 February 12
  • RRP: £39.95 (1 PC, 1 Year License)
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

Despite its somewhat middling detection scores, Trend Micro's security suite is simple to use.

4. Kaspersky Internet Security 2012

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012
  • Reviewed on: 3 February 12
  • RRP: £39.99 (3 PC, 1 Year License)
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

The Kaspersky security suite's on-access scans could be faster, but it’s very good at detection and blocking.

3. BitDefender Internet Security 2012

BitDefender Internet Security 2012
  • Reviewed on: 1 February 12
  • RRP: £39.99 inc. VAT
  • Rating: Rated 8 out of 10

A great choice for beginners and advanced users alike, Bitdefender's suite combines a friendly interface with top-notch protection.

2. Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011

Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011
  • Reviewed on: 18 January 11
  • RRP: £49.99 inc VAT for a three PC licence
  • Rating: Rated 9 out of 10

With solid protection across the board and some impressive test results, Norton easily earned our Best Buy crown.

1. G Data InternetSecurity 2012

G Data InternetSecurity 2012
  • Reviewed on: 2 February 12
  • RRP: £35 for a one-year, one-PC license
  • Rating: Rated 9 out of 10

G Data's security suite is one of the best defenders we've ever seen, and it takes the top spot among this year's crop despite a rough interface.

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Comments

chris_esp2go said: Beside decent antivirus and firewall software or a suite is the need to ensure your system is patched and up to date. Using something like secunia will help and running windows update. The other thing to realise is that no av / securitysoftware is 100%. Therefore, a muti-layer approach is best. By this I mean using a primary software with real time protection and a secondary layer to check (without real time protection to avoid conflicts etc) such as an online scan or other software. Best of all avoid trying to get things for free on the net as they usually come with a price and most importantly the old right click syndrome. This is usually where most security software fails, as it presents an unintelligble option to a user who just gets fed up and goes clickety, click, oh my pc is infected, how did that happen? Or as I often say to someone whos pc I frequently have to fix, you seem to have a PIBKC error - person in between keyboard and chair.

fred said: I have had Bitdefender And have had a lot of problems We will fix it No  ... no money more and no anti virus progam more Thank you Bit defender

Radiounlock Carstereo said: This is very helpful especially for hard drive restore

Hussain_alqursan said: AntiVir sucks really

Hussain_ronaldo said: Bitdefender is the clearly No.12- Norton3-Kaspersky and ESET

Matt Egan said: It is, especially in this space! You can't skimp on testing security software. It has to be done properly or not at all.

PCsearcher said: A lot can happen in a year - it must be difficult to keep your software reviews uptodate for the latest versions of  software  Having been overloaded with AVG 's system heavy suite - i found the trial of the newest Webroot lightsmart and very fast - but is it doing the job ? reviews say yes but yours is over a year old ?

Matt Egan said: Yeah, we’ll be updating the test as soon as we’ve had chance to properly test all the 2012 versions. As I’m sure you’ll appreciate it’s the most involved testing process of them all, but it has to be done properly or it’s not worth the ink.

Stewe Woran said: This test is fairly old. Do you plan any new one coming soon? I would suggest to add more products in to the test: G-Data, K7 Computing.

Peter Davidson said: An excellent subject to cover. It is very important to ALL computer uses, whether light or heavy uses. Pleased to see Norton came out on top, I have been using it for several years. Well worth upgrading to their Premier edition

Matt Egan - Editor said: Hi Peter. If a product has 4.5 stars you can be assured that it will protect your PC to the required level. We did consider artificially reducing some scores to create a greater spread but that would be unfair and, really, pointless. Our Antivir review is here: bit.ly/dReI0S (3.5 stars).

Peter said: Now how does this rating help me? All have 4.5 Stars and where is Antivir? The best Anti-Virus is an updated one :-) Also budgets with slower Computers needs to be taken into consideration and the Platform what they running on. Commercial License vs Personal use?

Rosemary Hattersley, associate said: Good point, Craig.The other products tested were Comodo Internet Security 2011 Complete review, McAfee Internet Security 2011 and Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011

craig kensek said: A number of security internet security suites weren't in the top 10. What other internet security suites were testsd?

Stuart said: I have never been a fan of big bloated security programs like Norton although i do read the reviews and it looks like they may have finally got their act together.I always found Avast free edition and Malwarebytes has always done the job with little intrusion to let me get on with using my pc.Most infections i have fixed in the past came from people who didn't know how to set their AV properly or don't understand what to avoid on the net.This is where companies like Norton will make a killing,through peoples laziness..

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