F-Secure Internet Security 2003

F-Secure will appeal to users who want their virus protection and firewall software to work without too much fuss. After all, there's nothing worse than spending a great deal of time setting up only to find you've forgotten to activate an important setting.

After a quick installation, which is only spoiled by the mandatory online registration, all the basic firewall and anti-virus security you need is started immediately. If you do need to tweak the settings or gain access to advanced options, such as scanning your PC for viruses, they are condensed into a single, clear dialogue box, accessed by clicking on the F-Secure icon in the System tray.

F-Secure automatically updates itself via the internet and checks for new updates whenever you are online, so you don't need to worry about your software becoming out of date. The virus database updates are very rapid indeed, even via a dial-up internet connection.

The price of the software includes 12 months of updates, after which a new licence has to be bought. This is standard for most anti-virus software, though.

The virus-checking system uses three separate techniques to detect new viruses. However, this does slow the process down.

When F-Secure detects a virus, you are offered simple step-by-step options to quarantine and delete the virus. All this is backed up with an excellent manual that will help you clear up some of the more technical issues.

One major downside is F-Secure's lack of email scanning. Instead, it scans the files that emails are stored in. Most other virus scanners scan email as it arrives, so we're not sure how effective F-Secure's approach is. It certainly leaves a question mark over a fairly crucial aspect of its performance.

Overall F-Secure is certainly one of the most user-friendly security packages we've looked at and it offers reasonably effective protection against viruses and hackers. It's even available at a very affordable price.

Contact: WSKA
www.wska.com