REVIEW: Security Product Features Differ
By ANICK JESDANUN
NEW YORK (AP) — Keeping your computer secure once meant buying anti-virus software and getting updates on new threats every month or so.
Now, a good security product should also have a personal firewall to thwart hackers, and perhaps even filters for junk e-mail and protection against accidentally e-mailing your Social Security number.
Three new products reflect those needs: Norton Internet Security 2004 from Symantec Corp. (SYMC) and McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 from Network Associates Inc. (NET), both out since September, and Trend Micro Inc. (TMIC)’s PC-cillin Internet Security 2004, released this week.
All three are solid virus defenders.
They automatically check for updates every few hours and download them for free for a year (though McAfee and PC-cillin require registration with your name and e-mail address).
They scan incoming and outgoing mail, along with your entire computer every week, every month or whatever you wish. They’ll even catch viruses sent through instant messaging.
If that’s all you need, however, there are cheaper alternatives. Instead of $69.95 for Symantec’s suite, buy its standalone anti-virus product for $49.95. The McAfee suite is $69.99 as a download and $79.99 as a CD in a box, again $20 more than the standalones. Trend Micro does not make a standalone product. Its suite is only $49.99 but has fewer additional features than the others.
It is beyond virus protection where the products truly differ.
Under default settings, the PC-cillin and Norton firewalls were best at hiding unneeded Internet ports, according to online security scans.
Norton also blocks the annoying “pop-up” spam that exploits a little-used Windows feature called Messenger.
When I first used the programs, Norton and McAfee both prompted me frequently about this or that software wanting to use the Internet. Though annoying, Norton’s messages were a bit more helpful.
Norton and McAfee were the most versatile at fighting junk mail.
They both analyze your e-mail behavior to “learn” what you consider spam. You can create custom filtering rules and place specific e-mail addresses on “always-allow” or “always-block” lists. PC-cillin offers only an “always-allow” list.
McAfee gets bonus points for making most of its built-in rules available for inspection and tweaking – important in ensuring that legitimate mail doesn’t get tagged as spam.
But a filter’s value ultimately comes down to its effectiveness in blocking spam while preserving the good mail. The latter is especially important because a wrong move could block a sales lead or an urgent message from Mom.
On this, McAfee falls short.
In a scan of a test account populated by desirable mail from distribution lists, McAfee blocked 90 percent of messages – most from a single list that tagged each message with instructions on how to get off the list.
Words such as “removed” may be common in spam, but they are also common in good mailing lists. The software ought not reject messages based on just one criterion.
Trend Micro mismarked only 6 percent, and Norton 11 percent (though with Norton, I had to try it several times on two computers and three e-mail programs before it would work right).
All three products offer privacy protection. You enter your credit card numbers, passwords and other information you wouldn’t want accidentally sent over the Internet. The software then scans outgoing messages.
PC-cillin automatically blocks e-mail containing such strings, while Norton and McAfee gives you the option of sending them in case you really meant to. If you say “no,” McAfee sends the message anyway, but replaces the string with junk characters. Norton and McAfee also check for such information leaving through instant messaging.
McAfee was slightly better. It is smart enough to know that “123-45-6789″ and “123 45 6789″ are the same, though it won’t catch “123456789.” The other two recognize only exact strings.
And speaking of privacy, Norton keeps logs of all Web sites visited. The last thing I need is for my boss to see how often I visit IShouldBeWorking.com.
Both McAfee and Norton have features for blocking banner and pop-up ads, and all three have parental controls.
Again, PC-cillin’s version was the least developed. You can create lists of sites to allow or block, but it’s entirely up to you to set up. And those lists apply to everyone. Both Norton and McAfee let you customize rules for each user – adult, teen or child – and McAfee also lets you limit your kids’ Internet use to certain times of day.
And like the spam controls, McAfee makes its filtering criteria entirely visible and customizable. When a site is blocked, you can find out what naughty word triggered it.
Overall, I like PC-cillin for its price, and if you primarily need anti-virus and firewall protection, that’s a good choice.
If you need more, it’s a toss-up. Norton is slightly better for the firewall and spam controls, while McAfee is better for the privacy protection and parental controls.
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