6 Essential Features to look while Choosing an Internet Security Suite

Internet Security Suites are generally neglected by people. However, when we do a banking transaction, a ticket reservation, online shopping or access e-mails over the Internet, we put our personal and valuable information at stake. So, our systems need a comprehensive Internet Security suite because individuals are ideal targets for malware due to

the wealth of financial and personal data usually kept on their systems. Through this story we bring out a comprehensive Internet Security Software comparison and buying advice to help you choose the correct Internet Security suite for home and personal use.

System protection

An Internet security suite should have the ability to counter threats that could damage the system. It should have the ability to neutralise viruses, macro viruses, worms, malware, spyware, rootkits, and trojans. Whenever any external device is attached to a system, the software should prompt for scanning. To detect new threats, the software can follow either of these approaches: one is signature-based, which automatically updates its virus definitions in the database. The other is Heuristic approach, which follows its own unique identity algorithm for threat detection.

Firewall protection

Whenever you use Internet, you are open to the outside world. Firewalls alert you about suspicious incoming traffic. Similarly, the firewall should be able to keep a check on out-going information. Any intruder that tries to gain access to your PC, will have to tackle the firewall first. The firewall will deflect the attack, and warn you about it. So, look for a two way firewall in

your Internet Security suite.

Parental control

Kids regularly use Internet for chatting, listening to music or playing games, but they can easily fall prey to malicious websites. A good parental control feature in your Internet security suite shall block unwanted content like adult sites. Most of the Internet security software have this feature. But then, you need to configure it.

Website advisor

To get information on a particular topic, we simply type the keyword in any search engine like Google, and in return get links to several websites related to that particular keyword. But then, how do you know whether those websites are malicious or not? Website advisors found within Internet security software are very helpful in such situations. They test websites for malware and spam and then rate the website accordingly. So, choose a software that contains a website advisor.

Anti adware & Anti spyware

Today we have a growing number of software developers who offer their code as "sponsored" freeware until you pay to register. This is usually done with the help of adware. Unfortunately, some freeware applications which contain adware track your surfing habits in order to serve ads related to you. When the adware becomes intrusive like this, then we move it in the spyware category and it then becomes something you should avoid for

privacy and security reasons. So, look for a security suite which blocks unwanted advertisements and offers.

Other features

Apart from features stated above, there could be some other ones that you can look for. These could be data protection & anti-theft, cloud storage & back-up, social networking protection and PC tune up & maintenance tools.

How We Tested

We used our three axis model of performance, price, and features for evaluating all the Internet Security suites. A system having an Intel Core i3 processor, Windows 7 Ultimate, 20 GB of used hard disk space and 3 GB DDR3 RAM was used for testing purposes. A series of test cases were formulated which included compliance testing against international standard of EICAR. In the EICAR test suite, there were 8 different files (4 for http connection & 4 for https connection). These files were downloaded and the response was recorded. In the second test, we created a 250 MB test folder and planted more than 27,000 files in it. We scanned this folder from each Internet Security Suite and recorded the time it took and the memory it consumed while scanning. The next test checked the response of the software against 25 zero day malicious websites. We identified the top 25 malicious websites from a website called malwaredomainlist.com, which keeps track of all the malicious websites out there on the Internet.

Here are reviews of the most popular Internet Security Suites:

Norton Internet Security 2014

Mcafee Internet Security 2014

Bitdefender Internet Security 2014

Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2014

Kaspersky Internet Security 2014

Protegent Internet Security

AVG Internet Security 2014

Avast Internet Security 2014

Quick Heal Internet Security 2014

Eset Smart Security 7

Albion Secure Internet Security 2014