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Installation and setup
Very easy and straightforward. Getting the application up and running is child's play and the process is fairly automated, meaning very little user interaction is required during the installation procedure. I have a little bit of criticism against Kaspersky Lab going the opt-out route regarding the participation in the Kaspersky Security Network. With "opt-out" I mean that you need to explicitly opt out from participation and I would like to see this the other way around. But at least Kaspersky Lab gives you the option to opt out, unlike other software developers who never even inform you of participation in their usage data collection programs.
Updates
The software updates itself quite often, with definition updates released several times a day. The software checks for updates on an hourly basis, but certain users report that actual updates are published every three hours on average. Nevertheless, Kaspersky Lab stays up to date with the latest threats and outbreaks, to the benefit of every user of their software.
User Interface
It is quite easy to use the software, making it an attractive option for novice users. Most of the components work out of the box and customising them is no rocket science. However this can't be said of all the components. The firewall component is the least user friendly and making changes to the firewall rules, to make it behave in a way that suit your needs, is an extremely frustrating and time consuming operation.
Performance
You won't need a monster PC to run Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, but you need at least 1 GB of RAM and an 1GHz processor to run the security suite on Windows XP, without compromising the overall performance of your computer (for Vista and Windows 7, double these figures to 2GB of RAM and a 2GHz processor). Off course you will notice a slight decrease in performance, but nothing major. With the processing power of today's standard office computers, you shouldn't have any trouble running the software on one of these.
Real-time Protection
This is where Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 packs the punch. This security suite brags with a whopping 13 different security components, each one of them providing tailor made protection against specific types of threats. You are basically protected against malware (viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits, etc.), network attacks, spam, phishing attacks, intrusive advertising through banners and even your kids are protected against inappropriate content on the Web. There is more to Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 than meets the eye and only a look under the hood can reveal the different levels of protection provided by this world class security suite.
Threat Protection Tests
This is the core of every security software review, in other words, can the software protect me when the pawpaw hits the fan? Malware tests were satisfactory, although it missed a couple of threats. Malicious files are isolated properly and accidental execution of a known threat is nearly impossible. The heuristic scanner is fairly clever too and the software defended itself perfectly when I tried to disable it by force.
The firewall fared well against the couple of leak tests I threw at it, but I was able to determine the computer's MAC address and the fact that it was up and running, with a simple port scan from another computer. The proper behaviour of a firewall in this case would be to hide the computer completely from an unauthorised computer, connected to the same network. The firewall detected and blocked the port scan, but it did not blacklist the offending PC, because it assumed that its IP address was spoofed. I would have liked an option to block the attacking computer completely, but hey, this is not a perfect world.
The spam filter is the only component in Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 that did not do so well during this review. At first I had loads of issues getting it to work in Thunderbird 2 and secondly, I discovered that there is no support for Thunderbird 3 at all (perhaps in the future?). The spam filter operates quite well in Outlook Express but the actual spam filtering left me wanting. I have to mention though, that the accuracy of the spam filter improved, after training it with more or less 150 spam e-mails, but even after all that training it still allowed obvious spam e-mails to come through. So it is disappointing to see a spam filter, with so much potential (Heuristic analysis, GSG technology for image recognition, analysis of RTF files and self-training text recognition with iBayes), struggling so much when it comes to actual spam filtering.
Value Added Protection
Like I mentioned earlier, during the discussion of the real-time protection, you also get a parental control and anti-banner component with Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. These components are disabled by default, because not everyone will have use for them. However, these simple tools are really impressive in terms of functionality, they do exactly what you would expect from them. The parental control component is easy to configure and very little configuration is needed, because it relies heavily on heuristic detection of inappropriate websites. Heuristic analysis is often something that delivers either a lot of false positives or false negatives, but the heuristic analyser of the parental control component is totally different, it is successful at detecting inappropriate sites, with very few false positives.
People with a vendetta against banner advertising will find the anti-banner component very helpful. Once again it relies on heuristic analysis to detect common banner sizes. The parental control and the anti-banner components, each has a white-list and a black-list, which can be used to explicitly allow (white-list) or block (black-list) specific websites.
Conclusion
Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, is a well rounded Internet security package. There is most certainly some room for improvement in the firewall and spam filtering division, but apart from its faults, it still remains one of the leading Internet security suites in the market. I highly recommend it for home and office use.
To win the battle against cyber crime we need comprehensive protection against online threats. We need to take the necessary precautions to keep our computers free from malware and unauthorised access. In order to achieve this goal, we need the necessary protection on our computers BEFORE an attack strikes. An Internet security suite like Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 can help you achieve this goal.
One golden rule applies to computer security, prevention is better than cure!
Coenraad is webmaster and founder of Cyber Top Cops, leaders in Internet security, analysers of security software and raising awareness about internet fraud and malicious software. For more details about this security suite, read my in-depth review of Kaspersky Internet Security.
XP Smart Security is related to the devastating virus known as Security Tool, which enters your computer through a Trojan, adjusts your security settings, and slows your PC down to a crawl. Smart Security will load you with pop-ups and scare you with 'critical alerts.' If you've had spyware or virus on your PC before then you know these threats are false, and are trying to rob you out of some money. However, you cannot afford to sit on your hands, as any Trojan virus can make your life even more miserable if given enough time. The worst case scenario in these situations is when a hacker has enough time to scan your computer for sensitive information, possibly resulting in identity theft. We can't afford to take such a risk. Let's get rid of this badware right away.
If you're wondering how this spyware made its way onto your computer, it was most likely through a video codec, an unscanned e-mail attachment, or a download through a P2P network or a filesharing service. If our PC does not have an updated, active protection program installed, then we are constantly at risk, especially if we ever look at 'questionable' sites.
The symptoms of an infection, other than pop-ups and alerts can run the gamut as well, but normally you will find that your PC is slower than it used to be, your desktop wallpaper and/or icons may have changed, and you may find new bookmarks or search engine redirects. Hackers will redirect your searches to websites that try to install even more spyware on your computer, or try and trick you into clicking their advertisements, thus helping the crooks earn more money on the side. Your computer is basically hijacked when software such as XP Smart Security is installed.
So how do we remove XP Smart Security?
Like the famous quote goes, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." In this case, the hard way is manual removal. It's only recommended for IT professionals and PC experts. If you fancy yourself one of these, then you will have to dig into your system's registry, in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder and HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, and locate the registry values with "SmartSecurity" in the filename. You will need to remove those values, and also stop all related system processes. After this, you will have to delete all related files and folders in your system, usually in the Programs folder. The big issue here though, is that if you make one small error, you may render your PC unbootable. Nobody wants a dead computer.
I personally elect to use automatic removal, and I suggest it to all of my clients and friends. The reason is that automatic removal is easy, it's fast, and best of all, it protects the PC in the future. I can't afford to risk any mistakes.
Are you sick and tired of worrying about your safety and security? Don't let the hackers win. Remove XP Smart Security right away and get your computer finally clean and fast again!
Bob Walker is a veteran IT consultant with over twenty years of experience in the industry. He's helped clean up the computers of everyone from fortune 500 organizations to individual users and families. His website is dedicated to anti-spyware and virus removal research, where he ranks the most efficient anti-spyware and anti-virus programs currently available.
