Kaspersky Internet Security 2010

At a Glance:  Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 did very well in the big lab tests, earned the Silver E Key award, and is a favorite among users. This year's version is top notch but false positives hurt the score a little.

The Triple "E" Keys

The following table summarizes the effectiveness of Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 based on certain tests by large independent testing labs. For more information on the scoring system, visit the Triple E Key Awards page.

Install/Remove:  Installing Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 took only a couple of minutes and did not require a restart. Plus, this program is very thorough during the installation process. The wizard asks several questions such as:

• Which components to install (if you choose custom install as I did)
• If you want Kaspersky to make decisions about security issues or you'd like to make them yourself
• Whether you want the installation "protected" or not. This is selected by default and can be left that way.
• And a few others. The questions are not that difficult to answer but for complete novices it could be irritating.

During installation, a scan of trusted programs is run. This creates the so-called "whitelist" of applications that Kaspersky will assume are allowed to run and access the Internet. They won't be scanned again since they are trusted.

Once this is done, Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is started and runs a system scan for malware. If the database is out of date, it will prompt you to update it right away.

Removing Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 was straightforward and I had no issues with it. A restart was required to complete the task.

Setup/Use:  

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is a great program. It's fast and transparent and that's something I like a lot in a security software package.

The user interface is simple on the main screen and default settings seem about right. If you want to delve into the inner workings, there are "settings" links that will let you explore to your heart's content. Overall, it's a lot like Norton Internet Security 2010 in its approach.

There is one feature that I want to point out so you'll take advantage of it. It's called a "Sandbox". A sandbox is a virtual environment that programs can run in so that if something bad happens, it really hasn't happened to your computer--it only happens in the sandbox. It's like a computer within a computer.

So, if you get a crazy pop up windows saying that you're infected by 100 viruses and give us your credit card number quick so we can disinfect you, it would be really good if your infected browser was running in the sandbox. That way you might be able to "undo" the rogue program installation by deleting the sandbox and it will as if it never happened.

Nothing is perfect but I love that Kaspersky has added this feature. You know that I've said time and again that antivirus programs do NOT work as well as the vendors want you to believe. Sandboxing is yet another layer of protection that can stop the malware before it affects your system files. Multiple layers of protection is what enterprise (business) security is all about and it's moving to consumer machines too.

Help:  Help is available via a Knowledgebase, forum, PDF manual, live chat, and a tool called "FastTrack" that's designed to quickly get you to an answer for common problems.

Performance:  Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 took 5 minutes to scan my test files. It found my double-zipped virus test file and quarantined it very easily. Pretty mainstream performance here for Kaspersky.

Some people will find it odd that F-Secure Internet Security beat Kaspersky in my Triple E Key Awards on the home page. The simple reason for that is simple: false positives. While it is important that detection and blocking are highly rated, false positives can hurt the score. F-Secure had lower detection and blocking scores but had false positive scores as good as Norton Internet Security 2010, the Platinum Key winner.

AV companies work very hard to detect every threat that comes through but sometimes they are a little too eager to label something as malware. In the case of McAfee in April 2010, that shut down a lot of Windows XP systems. The aftermath took weeks to resolve.

So, in my view, false positives are just as important a factor as the detection and blocking scores. F-Secure did a better job than Kaspersky this time but there's always next year!

Additionally, F-Secure beat Kaspersky on this particular AV-Comparatives test.

Value:  A 3PC license costs $79.95 which is on the high side but if this program is right for you I still think it's a bargain.

Bottom Line:  Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is one of my top three choices and I doubt you'll go wrong with this stellar product.