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News and Reviews => Mini-Reviews by Members => Topic started by: CWuestefeld on September 12, 2007, 09:22 AM

Title: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CWuestefeld on September 12, 2007, 09:22 AM
Basic Info

App NameKaspersky Internet Security 7
App URLhttp://www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_internet_security
App Version Reviewed7.0.0.125
Test System SpecsWindows XP Pro; AMD Athlon 2400+; 1GB RAM
Supported OSesWindows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Support MethodsOnline requests; knowledge base
Upgrade PolicyNo policy that I know of, but $25 rebate is currently available
Trial Version Available?30-day time-limited: http://www.kaspersky.com/trials
Pricing Scheme$80/3 licenses http://usa.kaspersky.com/store/
$25 competitive/upgrade discount available from http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5365948
Reviewer Donation Link(https://www.donationcoder.com/cssimages/dcgoldcoin.gif)Donate to CWuestefeld, the Author (https://www.donationcoder.com/donate/28877)
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product Review was done on a free not-for-resale copy. No strings were attached.


Intro:

The field of desktop antivirus and "Internet security" is pretty large these days. Despite having been around for quite some time, there's still a great deal of variety between the approach and quality of the offerings. I've been through many of them, driven in equal parts by upgrade pricing and reported quality.

I've been using Kaspersky Internet Security 7 for about 10 days now. I installed as part of a complete rebuild of my system following a bad infection that ruined my whole OS, under the watch of Panda (which the virus managed to deactivate). So I was looking to lean far more toward the quality side of the equation, rather than pricing.

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Who is this app designed for:

This offering from Kaspersky is targeted at home desktop PCs. The basic out-of-box configuration seems well-suited to basic computer users; some of the more advanced options (like behavioral protections) will require power user skills to use effectively.

The Good


The needs improvement section


My experience

The installation was relatively quick and easy. Just a minute or two and a reboot, and I was ready to go. While configuring the system, I noticed a few things right away:
The ability to schedule multiple levels of scanning strikes a good compromise between monopolizing the computer versus ensuring constant protection. I think this is a home run, and stands in stark contrast with Panda's refusal to provide any scheduling at all.

Within a couple minutes of my initial reboot, KIS began squealing (it does so with a horrible sound that I can only describe as a squealing stuck pig; I quickly disabled the audio alerts). It was alerting me to a keylogger. Looking at the information provided, it was easy for me determine that it was the application supporting the configurable keys on my multimedia keyboard - not a problem, and something I want to allow in the future. But I expect that this is a rather common occurrence, and likely to panic someone who understands less than I do. A more informative message might help, something like "We've detected a program trying to monitor what you type. If you have - or have just installed - a multimedia keyboard, this may be normal."

Deciding that I want to allow that application to run was easy; deciding how to allow it was another question. The notification windows take some understanding; in fact, I'm not sure I fully understand them now. It’s not really clear to me, for example when I received the keylogger alert, what option was necessary for disabling permanently (and in particularly, disabling keylogger alerts only for this one application) versus allowing it "just this once", or blocking the offender. I skimmed quickly through the User Guide but didn’t find a section dealing with this, nor pictures of the popup I was trying to understand. I think more descriptive verbiage on the popups are called for. In my experience, Norton Internet Security does this better.

Since I'm rebuilding my system after an infection, the very first thing that I want to do is a complete system scan. It appears that actually scanning a file is a lengthy process, at least compared to other scanning software. I started a full scan at about 10pm, and it was 2/3 done the next morning at 7am. The documentation indicates that the first time should take the longest – the system builds a database of files (which itself takes time) so that on subsequent scans, unchanged files may be skipped to speed the process. If this is able to reduce the time so that the whole thing can happen while I'm asleep, I'll be happy; beyond that, it doesn't really matter. Further experience shows that this works pretty well. Examining the log files shows that it is using some smarts about what it can skip.

The first scan showed up good news: KIS was able to detect the remnants of the infection that were left on my data drives.

So far, realtime scanning hasn't proved to be a burden. In the short time I was using the system with this in place, I didn't notice any performance degradation.

I really appreciate how the historical reports are set up. Having a categorized, searchable history of everything the program is done is (at least to me, a power user) invaluable in both understanding when a problem is spotted, as well as in maintaining a feeling of confidence that everything is running as it should. I think that KIS's reports are another home run.
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How does it compare to similar apps

In contrast with Panda's Internet security app, Kasperskey 7 is a big winner. With protection from tampering, scheduling updates, and light resource usage, it wins in the important categories.

I don't have objective numbers to back this up, but subjectively I feel that KIS 7 is better on resource usage than either Norton or McAfee.

In lab reviews, KIS consistently performs very well in detecting and preventing malware. My research before this purchase indicated that they are always rated either at the very top tier, or just a slight notch below that.

Conclusions

I'm as excited about KIS 7 as I can imagine being about an Internet Security application. While I acquired this copy as a Not For Resale promo (no strings were attached), I have just ordered an additional 3 licenses to cover all computers in my home.

Links to other reviews of this application

AV-Comparitives rates “Advanced+”: http://www.av-comparatives.org/ (Select "Comparatives", Nr. 15, "Online results") [edit: deep link was forbidden]

CNet rates 8 of 10: http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-security-and-firewall/kaspersky-anti-virus-7/4505-3667_7-32531226.html
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: cybernetnews on September 12, 2007, 10:28 AM
That was a great review! I just never like to go the route of an "all in one" security suite. I tend to diversify my products as it makes your system harder to hack since you have a less common configuration.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: mouser on September 12, 2007, 10:59 AM
great work!  :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: cranioscopical on September 12, 2007, 11:17 AM
Thanks for that!
 
Kaspersky 7.0 comes out well in a British "PC Pro" review (http://www.kaspersky.com/news?id=207575529), so it's interesting to see a user's perspective.

A close second place goes to Avira AntiVir, which also has a free version (http://www.free-av.com)

Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: superboyac on September 12, 2007, 11:27 AM
Great review, loved it!  I'm very happy with Kaspersky, it's the best program I've tried over the last 10 years, and I've tried a lot.  You are right about its log and event history, where it shows what is happening at all times.  It's very comforting to know what is being scanned at all times, and it is one of the few programs that does that in such a detailed manner.

And, I must say that Kaspersky has gone a long way in being user friendly over the years, which used to be a big complaint about them.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Armando on September 12, 2007, 12:26 PM
Well, I don't know about v7, but I've had problems with Kaspersky v....6.5 I think : way too often (and every time KIS started) computer (dell laptop) would freeze for 1-3min. I tried many many things, searched the forum, etc. But was never able to get rid of that problem. So I decided that I wouldn't buy it (it happened 2-3 times that KIS froze my computer when I URGENTLY needed it... didn't like that at all).
OTher than this problem -- which didn’t seem to happen with everybody -- KIS seemed like one of the best overall solution. I enjoyed its virus scanning speed, ease of use and otherwise very low resource usage.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Darwin on September 13, 2007, 12:42 AM
Nice review, cwuesterfield! Thank you for doing this. Antivirus is something that I've finally come to the (late I realise) conclusion should not be taken lightly - even if you've paid for a solution and have 5 months left on your free updates, if it stops working, find something else. Now. I'm always on the lookout for good security solutions and I will keep Kaspersky in mind.

@Armando - I had the same experience with ZoneAlarm Pro. I had half a year remaining on my licence and uninstalled it last week - wasn't worth the aggravation!
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Carol Haynes on September 13, 2007, 03:34 AM
Nice - well done.

Do I gather that this "Suite" doesn't include a firewall ?
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Grorgy on September 13, 2007, 04:41 AM
KIS 6 has a firewall dont know about 7
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Carol Haynes on September 13, 2007, 05:04 AM
Doesn't seem to mention firewall on the website and there doesn't appear to be one in the software window in the first post above. Just curious - how can a software suite be complete internet protection without a firewall?
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Grorgy on September 13, 2007, 05:20 AM
yeah it does, in that first paragraph
Kaspersky® Internet Security 7.0 provides you with the same proven anti-virus protection as Kaspersky Anti-Virus together with additional features including Parental Control, a personal firewall, an anti-spam filter, Privacy Control and more.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CWuestefeld on September 13, 2007, 05:25 AM
Doesn't seem to mention firewall on the website and there doesn't appear to be one in the software window in the first post above.
-Carol Haynes (September 13, 2007, 05:04 AM)
There is a firewall. From the product website:
# Personal firewall with an IDS / IPS system. Improved!
I noted in my review three advanced features that I chose not to install: Anti-Spam, Firewall, Parental filters. As others in the thread have noted, software firewalls (notably ZoneAlarm) tend to be a nuisance. I prefer a hardware firewall.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Grorgy on September 13, 2007, 05:32 AM
One thing I've noticed in the forums over at kaspersky is do not lose your licence key, the moderator of the forum keeps stressing that they will not give you a new key if its lost, you have to buy it again which could get a wee bit expensive.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CWuestefeld on September 13, 2007, 06:19 AM
do not lose your licence key
-Grorgy (September 13, 2007, 05:32 AM)
I have an ESD-download version, along with which they send you a license key. I burned the software itself as well as the license key to a CD. So now I don't need to worry about misplacing it, so long as I've got the disc. I think this works pretty well.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Carol Haynes on September 13, 2007, 06:22 AM
Doesn't seem to mention firewall on the website and there doesn't appear to be one in the software window in the first post above.
-Carol Haynes (September 13, 2007, 05:04 AM)
There is a firewall. From the product website:
# Personal firewall with an IDS / IPS system. Improved!
I noted in my review three advanced features that I chose not to install: Anti-Spam, Firewall, Parental filters. As others in the thread have noted, software firewalls (notably ZoneAlarm) tend to be a nuisance. I prefer a hardware firewall.
-CWuestefeld (September 13, 2007, 05:25 AM)

Thanks - I should have read it more carefully  :-[
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Defenestration on September 24, 2007, 04:06 PM
Well, I don't know about v7, but I've had problems with Kaspersky v....6.5 I think : way too often (and every time KIS started) computer (dell laptop) would freeze for 1-3min. I tried many many things, searched the forum, etc. But was never able to get rid of that problem. So I decided that I wouldn't buy it (it happened 2-3 times that KIS froze my computer when I URGENTLY needed it... didn't like that at all).
-Armando (September 12, 2007, 12:26 PM)
Did you tick the option "Concede resources to other applications" in Settings->Protection ?
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Defenestration on September 24, 2007, 04:23 PM
The needs improvement section

  • Horrible "stuck pig squeal" sound in alerts - I immediately turned off the audible alerts.
-CWuestefeld (September 12, 2007, 09:22 AM)
Some of us early adopters campaigned for Kaspersky to re-introduce this after it was removed (or was being considered for removal - I foget now) between versions 5 and 6.   Thankfully, they saw sense and listened to us :D . You can always change it with a different sound by replacing the file Infected.wav in C:\Program Files\Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0\Skin\sounds, although why you'd want to is beyond me.


The needs improvement section

  • Updates sometimes need reboot - In 10 days of usage, the automatic updates have twice asked that I reboot my system. This is in contrast with Norton, from which I recall this only once in 1 year of usage.
-CWuestefeld (September 12, 2007, 09:22 AM)
This only happens when a low-level driver has been updated, and there is no way around it. You don't have to reboot immediately as it will just continue using the previous driver(s). Norton either didn't notify that a driver had been updated, or they didn't update their drivers that often.

The needs improvement section

  • To build a rescue disc (which you should do!), you must first download and install BartPE; KIS isn't capable of building a boot disc on its own. This method works fine for a power user, and was even fairly quick, but I can't imagine my mom going through the process.
-CWuestefeld (September 12, 2007, 09:22 AM)
They could licence WinPE from Microsoft, but then that would push up the price of KAV/KIS. Kaspersky would also have to pay MS a royalty for every trial version of KAV/KIS downloaded that included WinPE, which is not realistic unless they disabled this feature in the trial.

The other option, which they took, was to use Bart's PE although they don't own it and so cannot distribute it.

So, the path Kaspersky have taken is to simplify the creation of the Bart PE through a wizard.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: rniven on September 26, 2007, 11:07 AM
You may want to review this before installing KAV or KIS 7. It's very long and I'm not saying it will happen to you, but you should know about it.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18608452-Kaspersky-You-lost-me-at-ISwift
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: mhenriday on September 26, 2007, 02:52 PM
It's not easy for an ordinary user to find an adequate method for rating available anti-virus programmes ; we often end up using such methods as what seems to have worked - or perhaps even more frequently, what has not worked - for a colleague, friend, or acquaintance. Fortunately, more objective procedures can be employed with relatively little effort, for example, using a service which daily examines the proportion of newly discovered viruses that the various applications stop or fail to stop, respectively. One such service which I have found valuable is the Virus statistics (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly) offered by the Shadow Server Foundation (http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage). Worth looking at, when trying to determine which anti-virus programme to use....

Henri   
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CleverCat on September 27, 2007, 01:38 AM
Never had any problem with KIS.  :D

The forums are a great help and....

You can change the 'squealing pig'.... :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: colonelz on September 27, 2007, 02:49 AM
Nice review. I use KIS since v6.x on all my machines and the step to v7.x was an advance in speed and usability.

Ack, to the heart-attacking alert sound. This is very annoying, especially if your speakers are turned up.  >:(

I like this solution more than others, that i checked. These were from AVG, Trendmicro, McAfee and Norton.

But some aspects need some improvement:

- The notification is sometimes inadequate. More information about the investigated process would be fine for a power user.
- Some report entries are to sparse. It's nice to see the information that the Process with PID 2028 that tried to access KIS with PID 3800 was blocked. But what the hell is it a file behind PID 2028. More detailed information would be very useful.
- That updates are activated, but i noticed that sometimes that application version number of the actual download version and the installed and updated one differ. There is no notice about that and this is a little bit confusing. In this case i download the newest version and update the whole package. Does it make sense? I don't know.

Nevertheless i like it and feel as secure as possible with such a solution.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Grorgy on September 27, 2007, 03:35 AM
lol i hate the squealing pig noise, but i must say, it always grabs my attention and makes me look at what has happened so i don't change it or silence it in anyway
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Tony Dodd on September 27, 2007, 11:47 AM
Fantastic review!! I use AVG internet security myself, but I agree that an all in one application can be compromised much easier. I may buy separately when my license expires.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Armando on September 27, 2007, 11:57 AM
You may want to review this before installing KAV or KIS 7. It's very long and I'm not saying it will happen to you, but you should know about it.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18608452-Kaspersky-You-lost-me-at-ISwift
-rniven (September 26, 2007, 11:07 AM)

I wonder if anybody else had similar problems here... sounds pretty frightening.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: jtbworld on October 08, 2007, 12:31 PM
One thing that annoyed me with KIS.
http://jtbworld.blogspot.com/2007/08/kaspersky-internet-security-neutralize.html
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: superboyac on November 02, 2007, 12:02 AM
Kaspersky comes with a plugin for the Bat! (email program).  If I disable this plugin, is it a big deal?  Because I'm already using real-time scanning, what more protection is scanning the incoming and outgoing emails going to add?
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Floppy on November 02, 2007, 04:27 AM
Hello,

Kaspersky comes with a plugin for the Bat! (email program).  If I disable this plugin, is it a big deal?  Because I'm already using real-time scanning, what more protection is scanning the incoming and outgoing emails going to add?
-superboyac (November 02, 2007, 12:02 AM)

i think the main purpose of the plugin is to move virus mails into the quarantine folder automatically.


Best regards,
Dirk
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: superboyac on November 02, 2007, 10:48 AM
I understand.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: mitzevo on November 04, 2007, 11:27 AM
lol i hate the squealing pig noise
  ;D

Great review, esp. if it scored you a free copy ;) :Thmbsup:

off topic: I had some really crappy experiences with Panda Security software. :mad:
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Darwin on January 26, 2008, 04:31 PM
Can anyone help me where I can find licence key for Kaspersky internet security 7, please its emergency.
-Sandokanxxx (January 26, 2008, 04:16 PM)

There ya go: Kapersky Internet Security Suite 7 key (http://www.kaspersky.com/store)
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: Armando on January 26, 2008, 05:04 PM
If you can't afford kaspersky, go for free apps versions :

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products.html

Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: BCHOWDHURY on July 17, 2008, 09:45 AM
Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 has virtual keyboard.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CleverCat on July 18, 2008, 01:47 AM
I'm installing 2009 today!  :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: chetcope2 on September 07, 2008, 08:15 AM
Wilders has a2 page thread (Sept 3) on OEM version of Kaspersky Int. Security 2009 on CD for $26 (Single User)
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=219538&highlight=kaspersky

The retailer: Computersworth.  Several folk in the Wilders thread vouch for the company.
http://www.computersworth.com/category.cfm?cat=183&catname=Kaspersky

Of course they also discuss OEM ramifications (& legality).

Me? I'm thinking about ordering Microsoft's One Care (v2) for $19 (3 user ??, also OEM, on CD) from New Egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116442

  I have the 90 day One Care trial version on my Vista 64 & it's working fine.  I had been using Webroot & Zone Alarm suites on  my 2 PC's but now that my XP PC died & I have 2 Vista PC's (one with 64 bit) I won't renew either: They won't support 64-bit.


 


Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CWuestefeld on September 07, 2008, 02:01 PM
Just got back from vacation, getting ready (I hope) to do a more thorough treatment. But here's my first impression.

In this version KIS has crossed a line in usability  :(

In the past there were a couple of places where I didn't quite understand what it was doing. Now this applies to much of the application. In particular, they've added categories of applications: "High Trusted", "Low Trusted", etc. When the system pops up a warning that an app is doing something that might be naughty, you're (generally) given several choices. One of these is Allow (with sub-choices of Allow once only and Allow always. A separate choice is Make Trusted. What the heck is the difference between saying to "allow always" versus "make trusted"? I just don't get it. I'm as expert a computer user as you're likely to find. If I don't get what's going on, it's a good bet that your average user will be completely floundering.

If you make security too complicated, people will ignore it. Faced with these perplexing choices, users are going to guess, and that's no way to be secure. So they may have made the tool more powerful -- on paper. But in real life, it will do a worse job.

Another thing bothering me is the way it scans applications proactively (I think as part of their heuristic filtering, where they try to identify problems before they occur). A program that's never been run before is scanned, and this takes 15-20 seconds. Sometimes when one process is spawning another, the parent proc things that the child has failed because it's taking so long. The result of this is that I can't use the SUPER video converter while KIS is running (it seems to create child programs dynamically). So their tighter security is forcing me to turn off the security altogether -- another case of theoretical improvements forcing me to use the system in an unsafe manner.

Disclosure: I'm evaluating a free NFR copy given to me by a Kaspersky sales rep. No strings were attached.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CleverCat on September 08, 2008, 01:17 AM
I used these to learn more about KIS 2009 - helped a lot..  :Thmbsup:

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=72383

 :)
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: nosh on September 08, 2008, 02:58 AM
Nice find, CleverCat. The "setting up (http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=71877)" thread in particular, is a great resource for someone who wants an in depth look into the sw without actually installing it, loads of screenshots.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CleverCat on September 08, 2008, 05:33 AM
I like to 'peruse' the forums and when they said 'KIS 2009 is different', I wanted to be up to speed!

I had no probs setting up, and I took a good look at the info first.  ;)

Glad to help!  :Thmbsup:
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: J-Mac on September 13, 2008, 01:47 AM
I used KAV6 and switched to NOD32 a little before my subscription was up. Kaspersky always gets top marks for its protection scheme - you really can't beat it!

I was a little put out by its behavior at times though. (BTW, I hated the sound with a passion! Though that wasn't what caused me to lose KAV6). KAV's version of Threat Detection or whatever they call their heuristics for malware was a little too over the top for me. Extremely aggressive and it ate up a fair number of good applications I like to use. I got an inordinate number of false positives from it. I spent a lot of time on their forum trying to resolve the problems, but in the end it was either "live with the issues or turn off that part of the program". Since the heuristics is part of what makes KAV good I didn't want to lose it, but I couldn't tolerate the unannounced quarantines and/or deletions that it did.

I just rechecked what it did: On a few occasions it grabbed emails that I was composing on another computer in my network that wasn't even using Kaspersky! In one case it was a forward of a phish email I had received that I was sending to the financial institution to alert them. As I was composing it, the email just suddenly disappeared. I was running Trend Micro on that computer and I thought that was doing it. I found the quarantined email on my desktop computer the next day. I wrote Kaspersky about it and they said "If it was a phish email then that's correct behavior". Bull! Then it started eating up my MediaMonkey scripts. Three of them I had written myself - VBS scripts. I had seen this early on and so placed them in the Exclusion section. After a couple months all of a sudden they would all disappear suddenly. If I was at the PC of course the screeching noise would alert me - and cause me to pee myself at the same time!   :o  Since they were supposed to be excluded I was baffled. Kaspersky did not reply to submittals for analysis, but a forum member told me that when new signatures are updated oftentimes they ignore the exclusions. And then I was told that the script protection module did not use the exclusions. As to why they would be safe for months and then suddenly delete them (Yes, NOT quarantine, but delete!), my best guess is the "new definitions" explanation.

I stick with NOD32 now. It also has quirks, but a lot less IMO.

Jim
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: superboyac on July 14, 2009, 12:42 PM
Anyone dig the new kaspersky 2010 (v9)?  I just installed it, not having any problems.  Seems cool enough, not that different from 2009.
Title: Re: Kaspersky Internet Security 7
Post by: CleverCat on July 15, 2009, 01:01 AM
Great except it won't let me shut down using FARR Nircmd? :huh: