2010 Antivirus Firewall Software Report

*NEW* VIPRE Antivirus Premium 2010

Despite still being somewhat new to the competitive field of antivirus firewall software, VIPRE Antivirus Premium, managed to out-perform top competitors in our 2010 antivirus tests.

VIPRE Premium is unified antivirus firewall software that combines the antivirus protection of VIPRE Antivirus 4.0 and the overall Internet security of Sunbelt's Personal Firewall Software.

Before, you had to buy VIPRE Antivirus then add on Sunbelt's Personal Firewall to complete your Internet security suite.

That was fine, and they worked together as expected, but now they've combined the two programs into one: VIPRE Antivirus Premium.

In doing so, our main concern was that VIPRE would lose its highly-regarded speed and low resource usage, but the people at Sunbelt, VIPRE manufacturers, pulled it off.

They managed to keep the power and light resource usage of their antivirus software and combined it with their lean, mean firewall.

You still get the same top-notch antivirus and anti-spyware engine that's built into VIPRE but now there's the benefit of having a strong, integrated firewall, and without the hassle, however minor, of having to purchase, install, and run two separate programs.

While there are only a few weak points with VIPRE Antivirus Premium, the good far outweighs the not-so-great.

*NEW* BitDefender Internet Security 2010

BitDefender Internet Security 2010 builds on their excellent track record from the 2009 version and keeps up the good work this year with an excellent Internet Security suite, BitDefender Internet Security 2010.

They've kept the solid antivirus and malware protection we've come to expect from them, have improved the interface, and added some new noteworthy features, too.

The firewall software compontent is strong and easily managed by a novice or advanced user.

Spyware and adware detection and protection wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped, but it should still do the job for most people.

The user interface has been modernized for 2010, with BitDefender taking a strategy similar to many other antivirus firewall software vendors and providing Novice, Intermediate, or Expert settings.

We feel like these settings are seldom done well, but in BitDefender's case, we feel like they got the settings right.

And overall, we believe BitDefender Internet Security 2010 does a great job at general PC protection.

*NEW* Kaspersky Internet Security 2010

In the areas where it really counts, Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 does a fantastic job at detecting, preventing, and eliminating viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious software.

We like Kaspersky a lot, and they've consistently been one of the best, most innovative antivirus security software vendor for many years.

Our testing showed excellent results in all areas of security protection with only a couple of areas that could use further revision.

Overall, Kaspersky delivers excellent virus and malware protection, but only average anti-phishing and parental controls, and a less-than-perfect firewall.

Every year brings significant progress from Kaspersky; we hope they'll improve some of their deficiencies this year (and lower the price.) Regardless though, Kaspersky is a terrific Internet Security suite for anyone.

Even with the few things we didn't care for, Kaspersky still makes it to the top of our list of antivirus firewall software / Internet security software for its great overall protection.


$79.95

*NEW* Panda Internet Security 2010

Like many contenders competing for best antivirus firewall software, Panda does an adequate job this year with their Internet Security 2010.

Given the improvements made last year, there weren't as many improvements this year as last, but it's still worth exploring, especially if you're a fan of Panda Internet security software.

Real-time virus and malware protection is on par with its competitors, and their firewall is effective, flexible, easy to use.

Since these core functions are what will keep your PC safe, we don't have reservations about recommending Panda.

Among other things, we're glad to see Panda has taken their resource usage down significantly this year. This version is one of the lowest we've seen. Nice work.

The user interface is simple enough (and we like simple!), but there are some places where some further rethinking is needed for easier configuration--especially by novice users.

The backup function is basic but effective for most home users.

Our only real gripe with Panda is with their technical and customer support: there's no free phone support at all, which is one of the main reasons it places below software like VIPRE, BitDefender, and Kaspersky, all of which boast hassle-free phone support.

Even with these deficiencies, Panda Internet Security 2010 is still viable option for many consumers--particularly those who feel they'll never need phone-based technical support.

$79.95

*NEW* Norton Internet Security 2010

Norton Internet Security 2010 performed considerably better than their 2009 Internet security suite, performing quite well overall as Internet security software.

We're glad to see Norton making serious effort to improve their resource footprint from previous versions. And we're glad to see they havent lost focus on overall PC protection, including antivirus.

While there were only a couple of stellar areas, there were also none that made us concerned about the software as a whole.

In sum, it adds up to quite a good product worth consideration.

The main challenges in the past were heavy system resource usage, mediocre virus detection, and equally mediocre support.

The bloat from excessive features and only average protection led their solid reputation to get a bit soiled in the process.

Fortunately though, the 2010 edition of Norton Internet Security has made considerable strides towards making Norton antivirus a serious contender once again.

$69.99

McAfee Internet Security 2010

For 2010, McAfee promised significant revisions and improvements over their Internet Security 2009.

With the McAfee brand name behind it, you'd think it would be a stellar product by now, but their Internet Security suite isn't what it could--or should--be.

In fact in our test labs, McAfee Internet Security 2010 didn't stand up to our rigorous tests like we expected.

We were glad to see McAfee giving serious attention to real-time antivirus protection, email scanning, and anti-spam, but while important, these alone aren't enough for a successful Internet Security suite.

While their real-time antivirus detection of McAfee Internet Security 2010 is excellent, it comes at the expense of resource usage that's higher than we'd like to see.

$49.99

*NEW* CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010

CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 gets our lowest score this year again. While they've made a few notable improvements, they still lag far behind in overall Internet security and virus protection.

Email protection was clean and easy, and the backup feature was among the best: two shining stars in an otherwise lackluster Internet security suite.

The same goes for CA's anti-spam feature, which also performed better than the filter in CA Internet Security Suite 2009.

IM and anti-phishing proved to be adequate for most users, but still not as powerful as some of the other Internet security suites we've tested this year.

Disappointingly, the worst features we tested were the actual anti-malware and antivirus protection. Both the firewall and real-time protection were slow and less than acceptable.

Resource usage was just too high for modern antivirus firewall software or an Internet security suite. During manual scanning, we found far too many discrepancies in memory usage and blatant computer slowing.

And, it earned no bonus points for the user interface either. All-in-all, a less than stellar performance--especially given its hefty $80 list price.

Trend Micro Internet Security 2010

We're sad to say, Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 hasn't improved that much over last year's effort.

While the software looks good and is easy to use, its overall effectiveness still needs a lot of work.

For starters, the real-time antivirus protection only stopped about 50% of incoming virus and malware attacks we tested.

And, this is their Internet Security Suite--not just the Trend antivirus software.

Even with the firewall enabled, we felt that total PC protection was below acceptable levels.

Resource usage was decent, but disappointingly manual scanning missed a high percentage of known infections.

$44.95