Kaspersky PSS or Trend Micro PC Suite?

[Tony Ross]

Of the two, which do you think would protect your computer better:

Kaspersky Personal Security Suite

or

Trend Micro PC Suite

and why?

Thanks,
T.R.

 

[optikl]

Of the two, which do you think would protect your computer better:

Kaspersky Personal Security Suite

or

Trend Micro PC Suite

and why?

Thanks,
T.R.

I'm not a fan of any suites, but I would suggest you stay away from
Trend's. It tries to do way too much and its individual modules aren't
all that special. I used to be a fan of Trend's AV, but it's malware
detection engine has become way too imposing on system resources and its
heuristics are pretty miserable.

Get a good stand-alone AV and a router appliance with NAT and SPI.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Tony Ross:

Of the two, which do you think would protect your computer better:

Kaspersky Personal Security Suite

I'm about to ditch Trend Micro in favor of Kaspersky.

My gripes with Trend:
---------------------------------------------------
1) Fatal Firewall Flaw:
Their firewall warnings are interruptive. The
dialog that is popped takes focus. Once I had
this Trojan or whatever that was sending out
invitations to other PCs to touch my system.
Every time one did, the firewall prevented it,
but the attempts were coming in at 2-3 per second.
Therefore the constant interruptive dialogs effectively
disabled my PC - even though there was no real problem.
I had to pull the plug on my DSL modem to be able to do
any work until I was able to find/fix the problem.

2) No Response:
I recently moved from Win 2k to XP and Trend keeps downloading
"New" patches/code that it never recognizes as having just
been installed. Repeated attempts to contact their "help"
desk, but no reply. Also, in the past, I have dealt with
their help desk on another issue - hence the quotes. Really
inane responses bloated by even-more-inane boiler plate. It
was so bad that for awhile I honestly wasn't sure whether I was
corresponding with a PC program or a person.

 

[kes]

Of the two, which do you think would protect your computer better:

Kaspersky Personal Security Suite

or

Trend Micro PC Suite

and why?

Thanks,
T.R.

Perhaps the answer is with AV-Comparatives? (I know Kaspersky is one
of the products evaluated. If Trend Micro is not, then
that is an indication in itself.)

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Get a good stand-alone AV and a router appliance with NAT and SPI.

Please explain the router part with NAT and SPI. Also can you
recommend a good one, please? Nothing wireless.

Thanks,
Jane

 

[optikl]

Please explain the router part with NAT and SPI. Also can you
recommend a good one, please? Nothing wireless.

Thanks,
Jane

Actually, by definition, all routers have NAT, which is Network Address
Translation. NAT is what separates the Internet (WAN) from your local
network (LAN), even if it's only one machine we're talking about being
connected to the router. NAT by default uses an address translation
table to route traffic from the WAN side to the LAN side. For that to
happen, there must be data in the routing table already originating from
the LAN side. No data from the LAN side going out, no data from the WAN
side coming in, unless you somehow otherwise allow that to happen. Most
routers include a Stateful Packet Inspection feature (SPI), to varying
degrees. SPI is useful for monitoring the state of a connection to make
sure that the packets coming in form the WAN are valid, mirrored
responses to the packets going out from the LAN side. Now, firewall
appliances or UTM appliances ratchet SPI up several notches and allow
the user to configure much stricter packet management.

My experience with most routers is they are cheap and therefore, I
couldn't in all sincerity recommend anything specific. Which is why I
decided to open my check book and buy a UTM appliance. Someone else
might be able to offer you a good recommendation on routers.

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Actually, by definition, all routers have NAT, which is Network Address
Translation. NAT is what separates the Internet (WAN) from your local
network (LAN), even if it's only one machine we're talking about being
connected to the router. NAT by default uses an address translation
table to route traffic from the WAN side to the LAN side. For that to
happen, there must be data in the routing table already originating from
the LAN side. No data from the LAN side going out, no data from the WAN
side coming in, unless you somehow otherwise allow that to happen. Most
routers include a Stateful Packet Inspection feature (SPI), to varying
degrees. SPI is useful for monitoring the state of a connection to make
sure that the packets coming in form the WAN are valid, mirrored
responses to the packets going out from the LAN side. Now, firewall
appliances or UTM appliances ratchet SPI up several notches and allow
the user to configure much stricter packet management.

My experience with most routers is they are cheap and therefore, I
couldn't in all sincerity recommend anything specific. Which is why I
decided to open my check book and buy a UTM appliance. Someone else
might be able to offer you a good recommendation on routers.

Hi,
I certainly appreciate your help. However, some of it is confusing
to me. Would you please do me a favor and go to the link below for
Best Buy and check out the list of routers they are offering. Towards
the middle of the page are two or three, wired (I don't need wireless)
and read their individual specs and then let me know which one you
think would be best for me.
I have one computer and I have a high speed cable access, and one
cable modem on my computer table, if any of this helps.
Again, thanks for all your help:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=Relevance&mipp=25&uq=router&_requestid=34512

Jane

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Optik,
I have one more question. Right now I have Trend Micro Pc and I'm
thinking of switching to Kaspersky (I've downloaded the Kas. Personal
Security Suite, but have not installed it yet).
In your estimation, once I get a router, will I really need a
"Suite" program that includes a firewall, or would it be better to get
a stronger AV solo product? I am using Windows XP Home, and was told
that also includes a firewall.
Your thoughts?

Thanks,
JAne

 

[Ernie B.]

Hi,
I certainly appreciate your help. However, some of it is confusing
to me. Would you please do me a favor and go to the link below for
Best Buy and check out the list of routers they are offering. Towards
the middle of the page are two or three, wired (I don't need wireless)
and read their individual specs and then let me know which one you
think would be best for me.
I have one computer and I have a high speed cable access, and one
cable modem on my computer table, if any of this helps.
Again, thanks for all your help:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=Relevance&mipp=25&uq=router&_requestid=34512

Jane

Two cents worth here, I bought a Linksys RT41-BU,
<http://tinyurl.com/8chb7>, about two months ago. It had a $30.00 mail in
rebate so it cost me about $20.00. It's easy to set up, stealthy according
to the grc.com "Shields Up" test. I also have one computer in use and
cable, use the router to connect the laptop to the 'net for updates, etc.

BTW the link you posted above works as <http://tinyurl.com/hprq9>.

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Two cents worth here, I bought a Linksys RT41-BU,
<http://tinyurl.com/8chb7>, about two months ago. It had a $30.00 mail in
rebate so it cost me about $20.00. It's easy to set up, stealthy according
to the grc.com "Shields Up" test. I also have one computer in use and
cable, use the router to connect the laptop to the 'net for updates, etc.

BTW the link you posted above works as <http://tinyurl.com/hprq9>.

Thanks, Ernie!

Btw, how did you take such a long link and make it shorter? By looking
at the beginning I imagine I should go to http://tinyurl.com and it
can be done there?

Thanks for the other info too!

Jane

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Two cents worth here, I bought a Linksys RT41-BU,
<http://tinyurl.com/8chb7>, about two months ago. It had a $30.00 mail in
rebate so it cost me about $20.00. It's easy to set up, stealthy according
to the grc.com "Shields Up" test. I also have one computer in use and
cable, use the router to connect the laptop to the 'net for updates, etc.

BTW the link you posted above works as <http://tinyurl.com/hprq9>.

Sorry, but I have another question: I went and checked out the specs
and it says that the system requirements are for recent versions of
either IR or Netscape. Do you have to use one of those browsers in
order for this to work? Would if you use Firefox or Opera or another?
I have IE installed, I just don't use it.

Thanks,
Jane

 

[Ernie B.]

Thanks, Ernie!

Welcome, any time.

Btw, how did you take such a long link and make it shorter? By looking
at the beginning I imagine I should go to http://tinyurl.com and it
can be done there?

That's correct. Go there and read the directions. There are several
similar sites; snipurl.com and makeashorterlink.com for two.

Thanks for the other info too!

Happy routing! <g>

 

[Ernie B.]

Sorry, but I have another question: I went and checked out the specs
and it says that the system requirements are for recent versions of
either IR or Netscape. Do you have to use one of those browsers in
order for this to work? Would if you use Firefox or Opera or another?
I have IE installed, I just don't use it.

That requirement is for communicating with the router, Firefox or Opera
will work just fine. Just open a browser window and enter the router IP
address in the address window. A window for entering the User, leave
blank, and Password will open and then you can set the router to any
configuration you desire.

Anyone who runs Windows has IE, most people try to ignore it.

 

[optikl]

Hi,
I certainly appreciate your help. However, some of it is confusing
to me. Would you please do me a favor and go to the link below for
Best Buy and check out the list of routers they are offering. Towards
the middle of the page are two or three, wired (I don't need wireless)
and read their individual specs and then let me know which one you
think would be best for me.
I have one computer and I have a high speed cable access, and one
cable modem on my computer table, if any of this helps.
Again, thanks for all your help:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=Relevance&mipp=25&uq=router&_requestid=34512

Jane

Well, if you're going to force me to shop at Best Buy, then:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01029&id=1117177358301

If you have a Fry's close to you, check them out to see which store has
a better price.

 

[optikl]

Optik,
I have one more question. Right now I have Trend Micro Pc and I'm
thinking of switching to Kaspersky (I've downloaded the Kas. Personal
Security Suite, but have not installed it yet).
In your estimation, once I get a router, will I really need a
"Suite" program that includes a firewall, or would it be better to get
a stronger AV solo product? I am using Windows XP Home, and was told
that also includes a firewall.
Your thoughts?

Thanks,
JAne

My thoughts.....hmmmmmmm....
I'm not a big fan of personal firewalls, but, I'm not the one sitting in
front of your computer. Normally, if Im going to use a security
appliance, I wouldn't run a PFW. Now, you might take a look at
WinPatrol, in lieu of a PFW. It does a good job of monitoring changes to
your startup programs, services and browser helpers. I'm guessing you're
a neophyte though, so maybe a decent security suite, like Kaspersky's,
would be a better choice for you than an appliance.

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

Well, if you're going to force me to shop at Best Buy, then:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01029&id=1117177358301

If you have a Fry's close to you, check them out to see which store has
a better price.

Thanks Optik!

Jane

 

[BabyJane Hudson]

My thoughts.....hmmmmmmm....
I'm not a big fan of personal firewalls, but, I'm not the one sitting in
front of your computer. Normally, if Im going to use a security
appliance, I wouldn't run a PFW. Now, you might take a look at
WinPatrol, in lieu of a PFW. It does a good job of monitoring changes to
your startup programs, services and browser helpers. I'm guessing you're
a neophyte though, so maybe a decent security suite, like Kaspersky's,
would be a better choice for you than an appliance.

Hi, it's me again,
Re the above, if I get the router, then getting a personal firewall
will not be necessary?

Thanks so much,
Jane

 

[optikl]

Hi, it's me again,
Re the above, if I get the router, then getting a personal firewall
will not be necessary?

Thanks so much,
Jane

Jane,

I really am not qualified to tell you what is necessary and what isn't.
That's your decision to make.

A desktop personal firewall can be a good risk reduction measure,
particularly if you're unaccustomed to safe computing practices. I
personally find a PFW "necessary" (necessary=company policy) only if I'm
taking a laptop on the road and want to make sure confidential company
material is well protected. At home and at work, I only use security
appliances.

 

[BoB]

Hi, it's me again,
Re the above, if I get the router, then getting a personal firewall
will not be necessary?

XP's firewall is sufficient to cover outgoing transmissions which the
router does not cover, so use them both. Or so I've read. I don't do
XP myself.

Thanks so much,
Jane

BoB

 

[Ernie B.]

XP's firewall is sufficient to cover outgoing transmissions which the
router does not cover, so use them both. Or so I've read. I don't do
XP myself.

It's my understanding that the XP firewall blocks incoming only, doesn't
block outgoing stuph. I've disabled the XP firewall on the laptop, XP Pro,
and installed Zonealarm free version in addition to AdAware, Spybot S&D and
Avast.