Review by T. Adlam

Since I’ve been a user of Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAV) for over five years, I wanted to try out Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) to see if it truly warranted making a switch.

I installed KIS on an older Vista laptop, a netbook with Windows 7 Starter, and a newer HP with 64 bit Windows. Installation across each of the machines was painless. For installing on the netbook, since it doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive, I just downloaded the software package from the Kaspersky website, which actually saved some time since it was the latest version and there was no need for the software to update during the installation process. Once installed, I simply used the key on the CD to register my license.

(Tip: During the installation, one of the steps will ask for your email address; it’s not made clear this isn’t required information. Unless you want Kaspersky to email you about products and such, you can move to the next phase without hampering the installation.)nnAt first blush it’s exactly like KAV, except it has a few other management panels. That’s when I double-checked the box to see exactly what the differences were from KAV, if any.

First up was the spam filter. No one really needs anymore manhood enhancement emails, so superifically this is a great feature to have. However, I primarily use Gmail which has a superb spam filter, and Thunderbird, which doesn’t seem to integrate well with Kaspersky’s spam feature (or, at least, I haven’t been able to figure it out). This might be a different story for someone using Outlook, but so far, this feature wasn’t enough to tip the scales.

Next was the Safe Desktop which lets you open suspicious files safely. Frankly, I wasn’t about to test this feature on my production computers, so I used it on the older Vista machine. After inspecting the feature, I’ve come to think of it more as a novelty for the morbidly curious or the overly paranoid. I say that because Kaspersky already does a good job of alerting you if it believes something is infected of acting suspiciously. At that point, a user generally chooses to quarantine or delete the offending file. Why would someone want to open it? Unless the file was downloaded from a trusted website, there really isn’t a good reason I could think of. But, again, that’s a personal opinion, and this feature also wasn’t enough to warrant an upgrade.

I then tried the Safe Search feature, and it does, indeed, do as it states–it alerts you whenever you land on a suspicious website. I tried it on a few known websites which disseminate viruses and other trojans and each time I received a Kaspersky notice. This is especially good for people who enjoy surfing the net, but who may not necessarily understand the perils of doing so freely. The downside is that some websites may load more slowly than usual because of how this feature works (it pings the Kaspersky server to make sure the site being visited is safe). As someone who does tend to play it safe while cruising the internet and about the files she downloads, I’m not swayed by this feature, however, I can see the utility.

Application Control is another of those features that looks better on paper, at least from my perspective. Chances are, Kaspersky would have warned you long before you even tried to install an application that it was suspicious or infected with a virus. So, again, I wonder if this feature is simply for the overly paranoid.

The redeeming feature, in my opinion, is the included parental controls which limits access to the internet. Some browsers already come with parental controls, however, those can generally be circumvented by simply using a different browser. With Kaspersky, that won’t work. Access to the internet, period, is restricted. This is good not only for parents, but also people who need to restrict access to their computers, for instance is settings where one may have a roommate or colleague.

Although I may not find anything compelling to upgrade, that is not enough for me to mark off for this product. Overall, it performs as well as KAV, and I can definitely see the usefulness in the Safe Search and Parental Control features for those who need them.

That said, I do find that it has a tendency (as does KAV) to slow down my older machine and sometimes my Netbook when it’s running, even in the background. Also, the virtual keyboard is quirky as it is with KAV. For those reasons, I had to knock a star off.