*NEW!*
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010
While they've made a few notable improvements, they still lag far behind the competitors in overall Internet security and virus protection. Thus, CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 gets our lowest score this year again.
On very positive notes, email protection was clean and easy with few problems. As was CA's anti-spam feature. Both performed much better than last year.
IMPROVED FEATURES
Better email protection
Good anti-spam
Decent IM protection
IM and anti-phishing proved to be adequate for most users but still aren't as powerful as some of the other Internet security suites we've tested this year.
The worst features we tested were the actual antivirus and anti-malware protection. Both the firewall and real-time protection were slow and less than acceptable. On top of it, the user interface was poorly designed, requiring far too many clicks to perform even relatively simple tasks.
Resource usage was far too high for a modern antivirus or Internet security suite. During manual scanning, we found far too many discrepancies in memory usage, and blatant computer slowing.
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 is still popular among many users, though when compared to the other best antivirus firewall software and Internet security suites, CA lags behind the competition for complete PC protection.
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 Features
-
- Real-time Protection
Protects your computer in real-time from viruses, malware, adware, and spyware. You can relax knowing your PC is being protected 24/7.
-
- Spyware Removal
Keeps spyware and adware off your computer. Scans and identifies potential spyware and adware threats already infecting your PC.
-
- Email Protection
Helps protect your inbox from viruses and other malware. Scans incoming and outgoing messages for potential threats.
-
- Instant Messaging Protection
Helps protect your computer from malicious files being transferred through your IM conversations. Scans chat files for potential threats.
-
- Anti-Phishing
Helps identify suspicious phishing sites that try to steal your personal information. Reduces the threat of identity theft and fraud.
-
- Parental Controls
Keeps inappropriate websites from children's view. Helps keep kids safe online.
-
- Firewall
Monitors all incoming and outgoing traffic. Your first line of defense against malware, spyware, and viruses.
-
- Anti-spam
Helps keep unwanted emails out of your inbox.
-
- Registry Protection
Monitors your computer registry for unwanted or malicious entries that could harm your PC.
-
- Backups
Lets you create a backup disk in case of emergency. Keeps your files and settings safe in case you experience a destructive virus.
-
- Identity Protection
Helps reduce the risk of identity theft.
CA Internet Security Suite 2010 Assessment
Here we've listed a breakdown of each category we've tested for CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010. Each category was given a percentage rating based on those tests.
Antivirus Installation: 85%
Installation wasn't as easy as it should be. CA requires you to download a download manager, which is just another file you need before you can actually download the installation files.
The download manager is sparse in information. It took about 12 minutes just to download the installation files, and there was no indication how big the files were or how long it might take.
You're able to skip the registration, and there's a quick scan that searches your PC for any existing threats. In our tests the initial scan missed about as many threats as it detected.
As isn't uncommon, the virus definitions were out of date after our installation. CA Internet Security Suite alerts you to this immediately, after which you'll need to update your definitions manually right away (not terribly efficient but not uncommon).
Total installation with downloads and definition updates took over 20 minutes. Far longer than any other Internet security suite we've tested this year.
Un-installation: 95%
Uninstallation was much easier than the install. You can either use the ADD/REMOVE Programs feature in Windows, or through the CA self-uninstaller.
After a reboot, your registration codes are saved just in case you want to reinstall later. We didn't find any significant registry traces that would pose any problems down the line.
CA uninstallation was fast and easy with no serious issues.
User Interface: 50%
CA Internet Security Suite gets our lowest rating for user interface (UI) this year. Not only is it unattractive, but it's very difficult to use. It's not very intuitive, and the more advanced settings are hidden.
The UI is flash based which means each time you click into a new section, you'll often get a "loading" dialogue. (Very annoying is an understatement.)
The navigation itself was simple, but we were constantly using the help files to understand the extent and limitation of each setting.
Since the main control panel was simple, we often had to use the "advanced features" which really weren't that advanced (these features are probably hidden due to the lack of real estate within the control panel and overall poor design).
Sections and features are given non-technical names, which is meant to make the user interface more friendly, but it just makes things more confusing.
For instance, CA doesn't use the term "firewall" anywhere on the control panel. Instead, its located within a category called "My Internet" lumped together in the "Browser Protection" section.
We think users are smart enough to simply call a firewall a firewall; certainly calling it "My Internet" isn't the best choice.
One big problem we encountered again and again was the lack of back buttons.
For instance, one section has several tabs, but opening an item inside the tab uses the entire control panel, covering the tabs!
Thus, once you look at something inside, you have to close it, and then re-open the entire section. Terrible UI design planning indeed.
Real-time Protection: 84%
CA's real-time protection wasn't as potent as it should be. Our testing showed CA Internet Security to score lower than most its top competitors.
Only 70% of malicious software files were detected and quarantined. Some of the older malware was not even detected.
Viruses and malicious threats are detected immediately upon being transferred to the computer. The exception is .zip files. The scanning of .zip files needs to be enabled manually.
Otherwise, compressed files are only scanned when uncompressed.
CA hasn't improved much this year in real-time protection. We hope to see better results with the next version.
Manual Antivirus Scan: 83%
Manual scanning fluctuated dramatically during our tests. Our original testing showed a success rate of under 60% virus and malware detected. Our later tests though showed scores of 87%.
This was due to updated antivirus definitions and heuristic detection. We interpret this to mean CA isn't always up to date with the latest virus definitions and their heuristic detection engine isn't strong enough to capture new, as-yet-unidentified threats.
If anything, we'd rather see things work oppositely: weak definitions but strong, powerful heuristics that detect malicious behavior on your PC rather than just detecting viruses
that are already identified and labeled.
Manual scanning took about 30 minutes.
Resource Usage: 67%
Resource usage was very high during our testing. When real-time protection was enabled, memory usage started at 0% until a file was transferred or accessed, then the memory usage would spike to over 5% and hover there.
Memory resource usage was as high as 195MB during a manual scan. That's very high.
During manual scanning, CPU usage hovered around 85% with some spikes that peaked our test machines at 100% CPU consumption.
It's one thing to see brief spikes to 100% that are instantly cleared, returning the CPU to normal as the A/V software successfully scans a file. Regrettably, more of these "spikes" stayed there than we'd like, sometimes leaving the CPU at 100% long enough for our testers to literally sit back and take notice.
Browsing the internet was painfully slow since the browser was extremely slow to respond.
All this boils down to a very slow and sluggish Internet Security suite. CA hasn't improved their overall footprint this year when other competitors have successfully done so.
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010
Antivirus Scanning Resource Usage
|
| Real-Time Memory |
5.0% |
| Manual Scan Memory |
195MB |
| Manual Scan CPU |
85% |
Note: These are the average results we found during our testing.
Every PC is different, of course, so your results may vary, but we expect these results to be fairly representative.
|
CA used 5.0% memory during real-time protection.
CA used 195MB of memory during a manual scan.
CA used 85% of CPU during a manual scan.
Spyware/Adware Protection: 90%
Given the performance of the antivirus filter, we were very pleasantly surprised by CA's strong showing in anti-spyware.
Since scoring software is more complex than a simple measurement of the relative success or failure of an Internet security suite at doing its job, when we saw
80% of spyware we tested get captured during installation and good CPU utilization, we knew that (at least for the anti-spyware/adware portion) CA eTrust had a winner on
its hands this year.
Some spyware programs--the peskiest ones we test with--weren't detected at first, but they were later captured during a manual scan.
Our testing showed good antispyware results for CA with few exceptions. We're glad to see CA get anti-spyware and anti-adware right this year.
Virus Removal from a Pre-infected Machine: 86%
We pre-infected our testing PC with malicious software, viruses, spyware, then installed CA Internet Security Suite to see how well it would perform.
The quick scan during installation removed all active malware. It did not, however, remove malicious files that were hidden or dormant. Only after a full-system, manual scan was run were the dormant virus and malware files detected.
Overall, a good score for CA.
Email Protection: 97%
70% of viruses and malicious files were detected during our email protection testing. Not nearly as good as we'd hoped.
CA works with IMAP or POP3 (such as Outlook or Thunderbird). Any suspicious file is scanned as it attempts to download to your PC.
We didn't notice any significant sluggish performance during email protection scans.
Anti-spam: 94%
The anti-spam filter was very effective and easy to use; in fact it's one of the best parts of the CA Internet Security Suite.
It has a learning feature which allows you to tell it which existing folders are spam and which are not.
The user can also do this with single emails, marking them "good" or "bad".
During our testing, we "taught" the anti-spam feature to separate our good (friendly) emails from our bad (spam) emails. After only about 25 samples, CA was able to correctly classify and organize thousands of emails into our honeypot email spam testing accounts with relative ease.
There was some system slowing in Outlook when opening the CA spam folder but no noticeable slowness when downloading or sending email.
Firewall: 88%
CA Internet Security Suite 2010
Firewall Scores
|
|
Firewall Performance
|
| Inbound Blocking |
70 |
| Outbound Blocking |
73 |
|
Other Firewall Ratings
|
| Firewall Ease-of-Use |
77 |
| Configuration Flexibility |
77 |
|
The firewall is easy to use on a basic level like the rest of the software. More advanced configurations run into problems when you're dealing with the user interface, however.
The firewall is mainly designed so that it will provide alerts for unknown applications that could be harmful to your computer (as well as allowing trusted applications through without any excessive configuration).
All standard protocols and options to make new rules are available.
While the general use of the firewall was easy during our tests, the wizard for rule creation is awkward because it offers too many options. The options are spread out across 6 different pages that are not easy to navigate.
There's a time scheduler for rules which is an interesting feature. It allows you to apply rules at specific times over a week-long schedule.
Our testing showed the firewall to be average when it comes to actual PC protection. Most virus and malware threats are handled by the antivirus engine while any bi-directional requests are (naturally) handled by the firewall.
Overall, this is not an advanced firewall, but something a novice user might feel relatively comfortable with.
Parental Controls: 72%
CA Internet Security Suite parental controls were average at best. The parental control features include: website blocking, scheduling, peer to peer blocking, and IM monitoring.
Website blocking is done by category: Adult, Chat, Social, Hate, etc. Or you can block by a specific URL (domain). Website blocking works with all major browsers.
You can specify when the internet is available on a weekly schedule.
There is an application filter that allows the blocking of peer to peer file sharing applications.
Specific Instant Messaging conversations can also be blocked based on keywords or contacts.
The
parental control
configuration was straight forward, although we did have to use the help files in most sections to fully understand exactly what each setting did.
During our tests we encountered a few problems: we were unable to set a password for the children's account. We were unable to select specific programs to block (.exe). We could only select general peer to peer blocking or IM clients to block.
Yahoo Messenger was blocked, but would give an error at the same time.
CA's parental controls can email you a report when any attempts to visit blocked sites or blocked chats occurs.
Overall, CA's parental controls are average but adequate for basic use. However, many known applications could not be blocked, and there is no option to control gaming. Both of these could be a real security issue for your children.
IM Protection: 92%
There is no dedicated setting for IM (Instant Messaging) protection. However, IM protection is effective only when real-time protection is enabled.
Our testing proved effective and all malicious files that were transferred through IM were successfully captured. Yahoo, AIM, MSN and Trillian are supported.
We'd like to see more control settings specifically for IM protection next year.
Anti-phishing: 80%
The anti-phishing feature was just as good as Internet Explorer's default anti-phishing. It seems CA keeps their database current with known phishing sites.
A toolbar is used to identify phishing sites or sites that could pose a risk. The toolbar ranks each site by a risk level (if it can identify the risk). This was helpful because many of the phishing pages we tested had been later removed from their domains, so the anti-phishing alert did not come up. However, CA's anti-phishing toolbar would still label the site as high risk.
An adequate anti-phishing feature, but you'd do just as well with the default Internet Explorer settings.
Antivirus Definition Updates: 92%
CA Internet Security Suite checks for updates every 8 hours by default. This is not nearly frequent enough for today's minute-by-minute threats.
However, you can manually set the software to check for definition updates as often as every hour.
Backups: 90%
The backup and recovery feature is straight forward and easy to use. Simply select the directories you wish to backup, and CA will create a file (.exe) that you can save to a CD or external drive.
The backup file can be run on a computer that no longer has CA installed on it or never had it.
One strange glitch we ran into was the size of the backup file. CA tends to create a large file even if the original directory is small. This could pose a storage issue for those wanting to backup their entire computer.
Customer Support: 50%
From the main control panel, you can access a help section that guides you through all the features. It's complete with an index and table of contents.
You can also access a webpage called "Top Solutions" that lists popular solutions to common problems.
There's a video section that shows how to do some of the more basic configurations.
Customer and tech support options aren't available directly from the User Interface, but you can reach support via the CA website.
Basic customer support is free (registration, purchasing, etc), but for more technical support, it's going to cost you: just talking to a live tech support representative starts at $19.95.
Chat support requires you to download their chat software. Plus, they give no indication as to whether or not the chat software will interfere with any other applications or how invasive the software was.
During our testing, we discovered CA is able to take screenshots of your PC without our warning! Highly invasive, absolutely, totally, completely, utterly unacceptable behavior in our opinion.
(What confidential data do you have on your desktop or open when their screenshot fires? Maybe you've got pictures of your family on your desktop and don't want a stranger to see it.
Sorry, no choice with CA.)
Email and forum support are available for free, but with no free tech support and invasive chat support, we can't give a high score to CA.
CA Internet Security Suite 2010
Review Conclusions
|
CA Internet Security Suite 2010 Scores
|
|
Antivirus
|
$69.99
|
| Overall Internet Security Protection |
77 |
| Real-time Security Protection |
84 |
| Manual Antivirus Scanning |
83 |
| Resource Utlization |
67 |
| Virus Removal (Pre-infected Machine) |
86 |
| Antivirus Definition Updates |
92 |
|
Additional Internet Security Features
|
| Spyware/Adware Protection |
90 |
| Email Protection |
97 |
| Anti-Spam Protection |
94 |
| Firewall Software |
88 |
| Parental Controls Software |
72 |
| IM/Instant Message Protection |
92 |
| Anti-Phishing Protection |
80 |
|
Other Software Ratings
|
| Installation |
85 |
| Un-installation |
95 |
| User Interface |
50 |
| Customer Technical Support |
50 |
|
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 didn't perform well in our tests. While we're glad to see some mild improvements, they still haven't created a well-rounded Internet security suite to offer any serious threat to their competitors--or to the malware writers either for that matter.
Just tackling the user interface alone was a challenge. There are far to many windows to navigate, and sections just seem squished together due to poor design.
- Difficult user interface
- High resource usage
- Better email protection
- Average anti-phishing
- Poor real-time protection
- Heavy manual scanning
Manual scanning proved to be very unreliable and heavy, as was the overall footprint of CA.
Most antivirus and Internet security suites are managing to create streamlined software, but CA still feels clunky and out of date.
While CA had one of the better anti-phishing features, its still no better than standard Internet Explorer settings.
The parental controls were average, but we wouldn't trust them for complete child protection. You really need a separate, more powerful
parental control software for complete protection.
Overall, CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 remains at the bottom of our list this year again. We tested it in hopes that some improvements would be made, but there weren't enough for us to recommend this Internet security software.
CA Internet Security Suite 2010
XP System Requirements
|
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox 2.5 or higher
- CD-ROM drive
(NOT required for installation via the Internet)
|
| Software
|
Windows XP (32bit only) Home, Pro, Media Center Edition
|
| Processor/CPU
|
300 Mhz Pentium compatible CPU
|
| System Memory/RAM
|
256 MB
|
| Free Disk Space
|
300 MB
|
| Email
|
- Outlook
- Outlook Express
- Thunderbird
|
| Instant Messaging
|
|
CA Internet Security Suite 2010
Vista System Requirements
|
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox 2.5 or higher
- CD-ROM drive
(NOT required for installation via the Internet)
|
Software
|
Windows Vista (32bit & 64 Bit) Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate
|
| Processor/CPU
|
800 Mhz for Vista
|
| System Memory/RAM
|
512 MB
|
| Free Disk Space
|
300 MB
|
| Email
|
- Outlook
- Outlook Express
- Thunderbird
|
| Instant Messaging
|
|
CA Internet Security Suite 2010
Windows 7 System Requirements
|
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox 2.5 or higher
- CD-ROM drive
(NOT required for installation via the Internet)
|
Software
|
Microsoft Windows 7 (32bit & 64bit) Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate
|
| Processor/CPU
|
1Ghz for Windows 7
|
| System Memory/RAM
|
1 GB
|
| Free Disk Space
|
300 MB
|
| Email
|
- Outlook
- Outlook Express
- Thunderbird
|
| Instant Messaging
|
|
