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Firewall is well configurable, and comes with some advanced features, like packet scanner, as well as virtual keyboard. Spam protection comes with Mozilla Thunderbird support, which is relatively rare.

I’ve used F-Secure, ESET Smart Security, and numerous other, and while Kaspersky may not be highest in score in some aspect of it, but it is certainly well balanced. (Don’t think too much into those scoring, they are affected very much by a lot of factors…)

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Reading reviews, I discovered that the NEW Norton Internet Security had been redesigned and was no longer the memory hog I had experienced earlier. But there were other reasons why I hated Norton IS: First, it would only protect 1 computer and I have 3, whereas other companies are reasonable about the fact that one owner should not have to pay full license fee for both desktop and laptops (I think Norton may now have met the competition on this). Second, instead of giving you a reduced price for an upgrade, Norton has this scam where you pay full price and then have to spend an hour filling in rebate forms, copying the bars on the side and the receipt. To top it off, Norton denied my last rebate after giving me very little time to turn it in and I missed their deadline by a few days (Believe me, I was more irate over the time lost than the money and they lost themselves a customer!) Lastly, I went to Norton’s website to see if the SPAM protection was compatible with Thunderbird (one of the most common email programs), and could find no technical information whatsoever — just sales fluff (I had already been burned on Trend Micro because they claimed to support Thunderbird, but did not support it for SPAM protection — in fact, with Trend Micro you get no SPAM protection whatsoever unless you use Outlook).

Enter Kaspersky Internet 2009. The first thing I found is that it took almost as little memory as the new Norton IS. It certainly takes less than any of the other IS programs I had used. The second was that their website was quite informative and told me clearly that I would get the Kaspersky toolbar in Thunderbird as well as Outlook (To be sure I downloaded a free trial version and yes, SPAM filtering worked fine in Thunderbird.) Third, it protects three computers for a very reasonble price (and at Best Buy there was a terrific sale which required no time consuming rebate nonsense).

Now, I’m running it like a breath of fresh air. The hourly auto updates are not too intrusive, but if they bother you, it’s easy to schedule exactly when you want them (mine are for 2am daily). There seems to be little hesitation when the system loads and no intrusion into my daily work. If it detects an intrusion or virus it lets you know, otherwise the only thing you see is when you first start a new program: a small screen briefly comes up in the left lower corner to let you know that a program is starting and how they classified it. Another reviewer mentioned the “white list” and “black list”. These are accessed easily (at least in Thunderbird) by clicking on the Kaspersky icon which is installed in the TBird interface. The console screen which controls Kaspersky is very well organized and easy to understand. They provide a full scan and a quick scan. Both scans seem to get it over with much quicker than other IS programs. I appreciate the fact that, unlike other programs, Kaspersky doesn’t scream and yell and pop up warnings because you don’t run the full scan whenever it thinks you should, as some programs do (Don’t they understand that I’m looking up information for a client on the phone and the last thing I want to do is make them wait a half hour for my IS program to do some thing that can wait til later?)

I highly recommend this program.

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Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 is a complete change, and even manages to improve the protection in the process. First, the Automatic Mode (where Kaspersky takes care of new applications, internet connections, etc.) is now worth using in my opinion. This takes a lot of the “manual” work out of the picture.

Kaspersky licensed technology from Bit9 in this release for whitelisting. Whitelisting is using a list of “known good” applications that can be trusted to go to the internet. For example, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a known piece of software, so it can be trusted. For applications not on the whitelist, the software determines from its actions if it may be malicious, and categorizes them as such (and therefore, pays more attention to them). What does this mean for you? Less overhead using applications it knows it can trust - Faster browsing, using your PC, etc.

Finally, the last addition that I think is perfect is the security analysis it performs during full scans. Besides checking for viruses, malware, etc., it also checks your applications to see if there are known, patchable vulnerabilities. One of the most prevalent ways bad stuff gets on your PC these days is through unpatched “holes” in software. Kaspersky will alert you to these holes, so you can patch them before someone can get to your computer. An ounce of prevention being better than a pound of cure, so to speak (although with Kaspersky, you get both).

I have no noticeable slowdown on my machine, the product is using less than 25MB of RAM presently, and I know I have one of the best security products protecting my data. I highly recommend this product!

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So my conclusions are this: Kaspersky support is the next best thing to nothing!!!! Kaspersky must be hard up for money and hopes that we will all purchase new activation keys from their website for full pop. Beware of the new world order at Kaspersky, do yourself a favor and look to someone else for security would be my advice.

Sure times are tough, but they are tough for most all of us!!!!

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I too fell into the trap of purchasing this product (from amazon). When I originally bought it in Oct 09, I only had two computers so there was never an issue until I bought a third computer this month and installed the “3rd” license. Whenever only 2 machines are on we are good, however whenever all 3 of the machines are on, Kaspersky kicks off the on that’s been on the longest and I get an ugly LICENSE MANAGER box informing me that “You have exceeded the maximum number of application copies that can be installed with the one license. Protection of your computer is disabled. You need to purchase a new license in order to resume protection…” Hence it works for more than 2 computers but less than 3. It allowed me to install it on all three computers but not let me run it simultaneously on three.

I am looking at the packaging right now, almost pristine condition from the day I received it, with the plastic wrapping barely sliced open for me to obtain the contents (Disc and license key card). When the package arrived, there was no evidence of tampering and the silver foil protecting the license key was securely in place and the package sealed. It is VERY possible to receive this package sealed with all the obvious signs or “Newness” and still be faulty. I know because I am experiencing it right now!!!

Contacting Kaspersky is a joke. Loops and lots of frustration to prove the validity of my product and unwillingness on their part since they don’t consider Amazon an “authorized” retailer…or at least that’s what they’re telling me to get out of it. I find that hard to believe.

I would have given it “no stars” had it allowed me.

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KAV installed without a hitch. It took less than 10 minutes, including a reboot, to install KAV from CD and another couple minutes for the automatic virus database update. It has worked flawlessly (and transparently) ever since. This is what I have come to expect from Kaspersky.

My suggestion is that you review the features of the two 2010 options, KIS and KAV. If you don’t need the extra stuff them maybe buy KAV, save some money, and avoid some headaches.

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I bought the 3 user license and installed it on my 3 computers. No problem at first. Then, one by one, they each had protection suspended for a “license violation”. I chatted with Kaspersky tech support and they instructed me how to reactivate the license. This worked, but each computer continues to be kicked off at intermittent times and left my computers unprotected.

I sent an email support request to Kaspersky and they sent me some boilerplate answer that suggested, among other things, that the software was sold by a spammer who had distributed the same license number to other users. I said I had bought it from a legitimate seller, that is, amazon.com and if someone else is trying to usurp my license number they should block them instead of me. Kaspersky replied that I have an international license number from the UK and they don’t support it. I wrote again to ask why the link for support in the software goes to them if it’s not their company? He replied, rather rudely, that amazon.com is not an authorized dealer and if I get my money back from them so that I can buy it from Kaspersky at their price I won’t have these problems.

In other words, it appears you can’t be assured that your computers will be protected and receive support for issues unless you buy the product directly from Kaspersky’s web site. I have never heard of this before!