Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0

Internet Security 7.0 from Kaspersky Lab brings speed and frequent updates to the security suite table, It’s not as intuitive as other security suites in this roundup, but it’s still a solid choice.

One thing you’ll quickly notice about Kaspersky’s offering is that it takes up only 50MB of hard drive space, which is less than most of its competitors. We also like that the installation process is quick and painless, with an express option getting you up and running in about 90 seconds. Unlike the other suites we tested, though, this software required us to restart the computer after installation was complete, which was a little annoying.

Though we would have liked to see the application launch automatically after the restart, we were pleasantly surprised when we opened the software from the system tray and found a full scan already under way while new updates were being downloaded at the same time. This showed a great sense of efficiency, as our system continued to run normally with little to no impact on speed. Likewise, Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 had no noticeable impact when we were browsing the Web and playing music. Unfortunately, boot time increased by about a minute, and Kaspersky’s equivalent of a quick scan, Critical Areas, took almost four minutes to complete. While it’s one of only two suites in the roundup that has this feature, Kaspersky’s took much longer.

Internet Security 7.0’s interface was clean and colorful. While not as easy to understand as Norton Internet Security 2008, one can grasp after a few minutes the basics of operating the software. We also appreciated that Internet Security 7.0 organized files, Web, and e-mail into different categories and allowed us to customize how it dealt with threats to them separately. Managing the privacy control and anti-spam tools was also easy, though having a more advanced technical understanding of what spam is will help you better utilize this particular feature, so you can configure settings to your needs.

Although it’s not as simple to use as Norton Internet Security 2008, we have little hesitation in recommending Kaspersky’s Internet Security 7.0 for its multiple updates per day and resource-friendly scans.