Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 7.0 offers a top-notch firewall, antivirus and spyware protection. This latest version by Kaspersky adds several features such as parental controls and rootkit detection to its existing strengths.

FIREWAll: What's an Internet Security Suite without an efficient firewall? The firewall included in this suite is extremely powerful-probably even more than ZoneAlarm. In addition to whitelisting or blacklisting programs, Kaspersky offers configurable filtering down to specific ports and data types Asking for user permission to allow a program to connect to the Internet is turned off by default so you need to beware of that. This is a poor choice considering that predetermined whitelists could have been added here.

ANTI-VIRUS: You have a top-notch performer here! You're in safe hands with Kaspersky's antivirus engine which is licensed by more than 120 companies for use in other products.

Scanning the entire system for the first time (after installation) will take hours,
as Kapsersky builds a virus database. However, once this is done, your precautionary measure is well in place.

ANTI-SPYWARE: On the anti-spyware front, Kaspersky performs admirably. Unlike most Internet suites, Kaspersky doesn't scan viruses and spyware separately and doesn't differentiate between the two. Any threat is a threat!
ANTI-SPAM: The anti-spam filter list is not as easily accessible as we would like, nevertheless Outlook mail protection is offered. However those using alternate e-mail clients such as Thunderbird would need to configure them manually; tutorials for manual configuration are available through Kaspersky's well-documented support section.

Unfortunately this suite does not offer any predetermined blacklist feature-only an old-fashioned self-teaching Bayes algorithm is provided. ANTI-PHISHING: Phishing refers to the use of social engineering to trick users into revealing their personal information online. This act is now taken very seriously by security companies. The suite maintains an updated signature base blacklisting all known phishing sites.

PARENTAL CONTROL: This is an unusual feature for a security suite to have, which is a welcome addition since this is billed as an Internet security solution. KIS 7 allows parents to take total control over Internet access permissions on their family PC. The suite allows you to choose between three different levels of access permission. OTHER ESSENTIAL SECURITY FEATURES: Kaspersky manages to stuff more gems in the suite, such as a Privacy Control module which intercepts attempts to transmit confidential data such as local passwords, e-mail client passwords, Auto-Complete information, etc.

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Kaspersky also offers highly detailed reports of problems that were found, if required by the user. It is clearly made keeping in mind the security conscious user and it will be of great help to system administrators on large networks.

KIS 7.0 is smart enough to allow throttling back scanning speeds whenever your CPU activity rises, preventing system slow-downs. To get full protection, you should tweak and play around with the suite's settings, which are unfortunately quite confusing. Not everything is where you'd expect it to be, and the explanations are not always clear either. All in all, this is one suite that you would definitely want on your side.

FOR: Solid protection on all fronts, well documented online support.
AGAINST: Not novice friendly, confusing interface.