Norton Internet Security VS. Kaspersky Internet Security

[Pookie]

As stated,
which internet security software would you recommend? From what I have researched, they are pretty much dead even, but KASPERSKY's taxes the CPU a bit more.

Oh, and I'm looking to purchase it by tomorrow.

Thanks

[Reverend]

I use Norton, but I don't have much experience with anything else. I haven't gotten a virus or anything yet and it's saved me plenty of times, but I don't know what the best choice really is.

[Niode]

Please don't use all caps in thread titles. It's not polite.

I use Kaspersky Internet Security after using Norton for years, it's cheaper, scores just as well in tests and I've found it runs with a lower overhead than Norton does. Plus the interface is uncluttered, loads fast and is 10x easier to understand.

I bought the 3 licence pack of 2009 and when 2010 came out I got a free upgrade for all my systems. This would NEVER happen with Norton products.

[J T]

I've never heard of Kaspersky.

I've used Norton and I currently use McAffee. I hate them both, but they are a necessary evil.

I always wonder if these companies secretly create the viruses to keep themselves in business. I know for awhile Norton had a contest for hackers to try to crack their system. The first to crack it and explain would get $10,000. That's basically encouraging hacking by rewarding people for it. Seems shady to me, but I guess the devil has always been the preacher's best friend. Yin Yang and all that.

[Lokkenjawnz]

I'd say use neither, try avast or AVG. They're both free, and they should handle everything you need, and they should also be much less resource intensive.

[Niode]

Kaspersky is such a better piece of software than Norton. I used Norton for years, I took the chance on Kaspersky and it paid off, it's just such a nicer piece of software to live with. The firewall only ever bugs you once (after installing a new piece of software) the data protection only ever asks you once unless you tell it otherwise (when you install a new program) you can run things in it's own isolated sandbox if you are unsure of what a program does by right clicking, it auto-updates in the background unless there has been a very long time between updates. Basically, you can just set it and forget it. It only ever prompts you if there is a problem.

Compare that to Norton which nags you all the damn time about every little thing despite telling it to remember this stuff over and over again. Kaspersky just lets you get on with things.

[Dylan]

I don't know much about Kaspersky, but I find Norton to be a terrible product. It's bloated and really doesn't offer anything that you couldn't get in a better package.

[Hobie-wan]

Do not use Norton (or Mcafee) they are giant bloated pieces of flaming garbage that will make your machine slower than a frozen dog turd in Siberia.

I know that Kaspersky antivirus is supposed to be good, but I have no idea about their security suite. I use Nod32, but only the AV. The AV portion is good and I barely notice it on my system after the short scan when starting the PC. Perhaps the rest of the security suite is as unobtrusive.

[Xonticus]

I switched from Norton years ago to "Avast!"

Home version is free and I highly recommend them.

[elvis]

I've never heard of Kaspersky.

I don't know much about Kaspersky

Kaspersky Labs are a Russian brains-trust of security researchers who have been around for some time now (officially formed in 1997, but with individual team members who have many more years experience than that).

What's funny is that most of the virus signatures people like Symantec (Norton) and McAfee use in their AV products are typically discovered by Kaspersky and other European research groups.

For ages Kaspersky was research-only, selling their findings contractually to the Symantecs and McAfees of this world. In 2007 they decided to sell products direct to the public, and have been pretty popular in Europe.

I work in IT Security for a finance org, and personally think Symantec and McAfee have both lost the plot (both in the enterprise and on the home desktop). Their recent products are slow to update, and with each annual release bloat out worse than the previous year. Not to mention the both of them are constantly behind when it comes to keeping up with the latest threats. Add to that the fact that they constantly complain whenever Microsoft try to up their security baseline in their latest release of Windows, and it's clear neither company is terribly concerned with true end-user security.

IMHO, Comodo's free products are good enough for desktop users:
http://www.comodo.com/products/desktop-security.php

No point paying for the bloat of other stuff if you don't need it.

And it probably goes without saying that if you have the opportunity, use Windows 7 in preference to XP or Vista (even as a self-confessed Windows loather, I gladly recommend Windows 7 over previous versions simply for the security enhancements and improvements to default rules and policies). Likewise use Firefox in preference to IE where possible. And finally, apply the security mantra: "patch early, patch often" - that goes for apps too, not just your OS.