Best Internet Security Suites 2011 – PC Magazine

The table below lists the Best Internet Security Suites of 2011 as reviewed by PC Magazine and Neil Rubenking. The ratings are from high to low and then reverse alphabetical order (just to be different). http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373529,00.asp

The last figure in each row reflects the number of stars awarded by www.av-comparatives.org in their February 2011 "On-demand Detection of Malicious Software". This figure has the following caveats; Antivirus products were used, not internet security suites; where there is a blank, that company’s antivirus product was not tested by AV Comparatives.

Best Internet Security Suites 2011 – PC Magazine

4.5 - Norton Internet Security Suite 2011 2
4.5 - Norton 360 Version 5.0 2
4.0 - Webroot Internet Security Suite 2011 Tested
4.0 - Kaspersky PURE Total Security 3
4.0 - Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 3
4.0 - Astaro Security Gateway
3.5 - Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2011 1
3.5 - McAfee Total Protection 2011 3
3.5 - BitDefender Total Security 3
3.5 - Avast! Internet Security 6.0 2
3.5 - Ad-Aware Total Security
3.0 - PC Tools Internet Security 2011 1
3.0 - Outpost Security Suite Free 7.0
3.0 - G Data TotalSecurity 2011 2
3.0 - F-Secure Internet Security 2011 3
2.5 - Trustport Internet Security Suite 2011 3
2.5 - Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.0
2.5 - Bullguard Internet Security 2011
2.5 - AVG Internet Security 2011 1
2.0 - eScan Internet Security Suite 2011 3


PC Magazine reviews each of the products in the table in detail. People looking for a solution should look at these individual reviews. They contain detailed (and extremely knowledgeable) qualitative data about the products as well as results of malware tests that were done by PC Magazine. Many of the companies also offer more than one internet security suite. Another reason to visit their web sites.

Individuals interested in only an antivirus solution can go to “Best Antivirus Software of 2011 – PC Magazine” at http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/11/best-antivirus-software-for-2011-pc.html for a ranking of these solutions.

Individuals interested in a table showing internet security suite rankings that combine PC World, PC Magazine and about.com rankings can go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/02/pc-world-pc-magazine-and-aboutcom.html

To see an evolving compilation of Best Antivirus 2012 reviews, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html

People should also review (it's also free to download) the AV Comparatives document. It contains a great deal of content about the testing, detection rates, missed samples, false positives, and scanning speeds (and more). People may also want to go to www.av-test.org and www.virusbtn.org to look at additional tests. To learn about test standards, you may wish to visit the Ant-Malware Testing Standards site at www.amtso.org .

Internet security suites vary greatly in what features they provide. They could include, for example, identity protection, backup and restore, free online storage, PC tuneup, free email, chat, and phone support, parental controls, password managers, data encryption, file shredding, remotely lock files, extend protection to smart phones, and authenticate hotspots. These examples are from Norton, Kaspersky, and Trend Micro. http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-internet-security/ , http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/pure

There is more to a product review than just counting the "likes" on a Fan Page ;) . Sometimes the wisdom of experts is better than the collective wisdom of crowds, with all due respect to James Surwiecki.

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is providing independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public. For more information, go to www.av-comparatives.org