Security Suites Review - How About Comparing Them All?
- 12
- Add a Comment
In the March, 2009 issue of PC World, they did a comparison of 9 Security Suites. Like in the movie Casablanca, they rounded up the usual suspects. Boring. We have been there and done this a 100 times before. Naturally there was Norton and McAfee. Plus BitDefender, Panda, Avira, Kaspersky, F Secure, Webroot and Trend Micro. But wait one minute. Aren’t there a few other software products that should of been thrown into the mix?
Just to name a few, how about AVG, Avast, Comodo, ZoneAlarm, BullGuard, Norman, Steganos, and I am sure there may be others. Now let me tippy-toe for a moment since I do not want to sound like a critic of PC World. I know last year I did a posting about a PC World article and was besieged by comments on how they have lost some credibility over the years. That is not my point of writing about this current review.
My point is. If you are going to write about Security Suites, write about them all please. I noticed this last week in a MSNBC article about cars. There was an article about the best small cars. Missing were some of the vehicles from Kia and Hyundai which I found odd. But as I wondered around the site I noticed a heavy concentration of GM auto ads. Could that explain why the Chevy Aveo was rated so high?
I’m not naive. I am sure that companies pay to have their products promoted. This could explain why Norton came out as #1 in the PC World review. But are we readers really that dumb? I believ that consumers today are well aware of the critics about Norton in which there are many unhappy campers that have dumped the software.
But what do you think? Do you believe any of the reviews being done online or in magazines concerning software or hardware products? Or have you lost faith in such reviews?
Comments welcome.
12 Comments
Bruce
April 22nd, 2009
at 11:48am
I think that someone that would read a tech focused magazine like PC World would be aware of the gripes surrounding Norton products. However, I don’t believe Uncle Joe and Aunt Betsy who wouldn’t know a bit from a byte would be aware of the controversy. They see the ads in Newsweek and Time with all the little logo endorsements and figure that’s the product for them.
Have you noticed how often the full page ad for an Editor’s Choice award product follows the article, or just happens to be the back cover ad?
Coincidence? I think not…
Ron Schenone
April 22nd, 2009
at 1:16pm
Thanks Bruce.
Security Suites Review - How About Comparing Them All? ~ The Blade … « Security
April 22nd, 2009
at 1:37pm
[...] See more here: Security Suites Review - How About Comparing T… [...]
Security Suites Review - How About Comparing Them All? ~ The Blade … « Security
April 22nd, 2009
at 6:27pm
[...] Read more here: Security Suites Review - How… [...]
Jeff
April 22nd, 2009
at 10:02pm
have you tried Norton 09? don’t pre judge
Ron Schenone
April 23rd, 2009
at 4:46am
Hi Jeff,
No I haven’t. It sounds like you have. What is your opinion?
Let us know.
bill
April 23rd, 2009
at 8:16am
The last time I used Norton I had to replace my HD to get rid of it.
So I’ll never spend another $69 to test it again. I have Vista Home Premium with avg, spybot and ad-aware with no problems.
Are you sure the security industry does not indirectly cause some of these virius, worms, etc. to keep their billion dollar industry going?
Buffet
April 23rd, 2009
at 9:58pm
Norton’s products have always been considered bloatware and resource hogs. I give them a wide berth. As to the accuracy and integrity of product reviews in magazines and online - caveat emptor.
Jeff
April 24th, 2009
at 12:37am
I actually started using Norton after a 5 year stint of not. last Norton product I used was Norton system works 04.
To be honest, the new software is night and day with the old one. it installs in 50 seconds, updates in under 2 minutes, and its smart. If you walk away from your PC for a few minutes, it will start a back ground scan. if you are away longer, it does a full system scan. As soon as you return, it stop the scan, and if anything comes up - it reports it.
I am a heavy gamer, and so far it doesn’t affect performance at all. I also tried norton utilities, a popular add-on that is part of the Norton System Works Suite, and its nice too.
Together, or just with Norton system works, it identifies services most people dont use, and turns them off, optimizing your vista experience. It then lets you scan the computer for commonly known and good programs so it bypasses them during scans (an optional feature) so that it uses even less system power.
I tried all the Eicar tests, and it passes em all. I couldn’t get an e-mail attachment, download a file, or even save a word document with the string. So its pretty good at monitoring.
Ron Schenone
April 24th, 2009
at 4:41am
Thanks Jeff for the information.
Geneva
April 24th, 2009
at 2:51pm
Well I bypassed all the conversation here to agree with Bill and his para on security keeping the dollars afloat…
Ron Schenone
April 24th, 2009
at 2:53pm
Thanks Geneva for stopping by.