VIPRE Internet Security 2013

By Neil J. Rubenking

User interface trends in the security suite business come and go. This year the big influence is Windows 8, with its flat, matte style. VIPRE Internet Security 2013 has adopted that style throughout, getting rid of last year's 3D buttons. The change is only skin-deep, though. Everything I didn't like about last year's edition is still present.

On the plus side, if you have a house full of computers, GFI's "home site license" is quite a bargain. For $69.99 you can install the suite on every PC in your household, up to ten of them. Given that most vendors charge roughly that price for a three-license pack, GFI seems quite generous.

Antivirus Drama
With one small exception that I'll dig into later, this suite's antivirus protection is identical to that of VIPRE Antivirus 2013. Do please read that review to get all the details. I'll summarize results here.

The independent testing labs all pay attention to VIPRE, but few give it high marks. In three important tests, AV-Comparatives assigned VIPRE the rating STANDARD, the lowest passing rating. In one recent certification test by AV-Test, VIPRE squeaked past with 11.5 of 18 possible points, just a half-point above the minimum. See the chart below for a summary of recent results. The article How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests offers more detail about the labs themselves.

Getting VIPRE installed on my twelve malware-infested test systems was an ordeal that required hours and hours of remote-control tech support, diagnosis, and repair. The expertise of the GFI technicians impressed me, but a simple installation without any need for support would have impressed me more.

With VIPRE installed on all twelve systems I launched into my malware cleanup test. VIPRE detected 74 percent of the malware samples and scored 5.8 points, just slightly above the current average. Norton Internet Security (2013) and Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete 2013 both scored 6.6 in this test, the best score among current products. See the article How We Test Malware Removal for the low-down on how I come up with these scores.

Like most security products, VIPRE earned a significantly higher score in my malware blocking test. 9.2 points sounds pretty good, but Webroot scored 9.9. Among the other eight recent products that beat VIPRE's score are Avira Internet Security 2013, F-Secure Internet Security 2013, and Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013 .

To learn more about this test, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/PUqsCfkq1WA/0,2817,2411902,00.asp

John Orozco Garrett Reid shawn johnson Tony Sly Lauren Perdue tagged Heptathlon