Keep your PC malware-free with this powerful yet easy-to-use security suite
Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 is a capable and comprehensive security suite which comes packed with features: a strong antivirus engine, intelligent firewall, phishing protection, spam filter, powerful parental controls and a whole lot more.
"Safe Money" is one of the new features this time. It's a reworking of the Safe Run technology which aims to protect you when using online banking, shopping and payment services. Click the "Pay" button at eBay, say, and the program can automatically open the relevant page in a protected browser, isolated from the rest of the system, while a virtual keyboard keeps your passwords, account numbers and other details away from keyloggers.
Another big addition is the new Automatic Exploit Prevention engine, which aims to prevent malware from using vulnerabilities in Flash, Java, Adobe Reader and other common applications.
Other improvements include more accurate spam blocking, better detection of phishing sites, smaller update files for faster processing, and reduced demands on your system resources (typical RAM use when running in the background was no more than 40MB on our test PC).
And you get plenty of essential bonus tools. The Vulnerability Scan checks your system for missing security updates or poorly configured settings, for instance. The Network Monitor lets you know which applications are using your internet connection. And there's an ad blocker, privacy tools, a Windows troubleshooting module, and more.
Despite all this power, though, Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 remains generally easy to use (the firewall handles everything itself, for instance; you never see any pop-ups or alerts). Whether you're a novice or a PC expert, it's definitely worth a closer look.
Review by Mike Williams.