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The most helpful favorable review:
I was given the opportunity to evaluate Kaspersky PURE on computers where I had been running Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2010. The two computers I used for the evaluation were a 6 year old laptop running Windows XP Professional with a 2 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM and a 2 year old netbook running Windows XP Professional with an Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. Both computers have about 10 GB of free space on the hard drives. Neither of these computers has significant processing power or disc space by today's standards and so the use of a internet security package that provides excellent protection but does not bog down the system is a priority. I found that Kaspersky PURE excelled at this.
When I first tried to install PURE, I received an alert that I needed to remove other Kaspersky programs prior to the installation of PURE. This required a reboot of my machine after Kaspersky Internet Security was removed. Otherwise, the installation of PURE was straightforward and easy. My netbook does not have an optical drive, but the packaging with the installation disc noted that I could download the program from the Kaspersky website.
As part of the installation, you are asked to participate in the Kaspersky Security Network which allows anonymous data to be sent from your computer to Kaspersky Lab. The data sent to Kaspersky Lab is used to create a behavioral engine to further strengthen security safeguards. I didn't want to send data to Kaspersky and so I did not accept the terms and conditions of joining the Kaspersky Security Network and was able to proceed with the installation.
Once PURE was installed, I received alerts that the program's databases were out of date and that updating was required. Updating the program can be done manually or automatically. If you choose manual update, PURE will start to alert you that the databases are out of date if you do not update for a few days. A really nice feature of the Kaspersky update is that it will update even with a slow internet connection. Norton, on the other hand timed out if the internet connection wasn't fast enough during updates. This is a very nice feature by Kaspersky to allow for users with slow internet connections.
Full scans on my computers can take up to several hours. I have noticed that the scanning time is faster with PURE than with Kaspersky Internet Security. Unlike Norton Internet Security, using PURE I could easily access a detailed report of events such as banners that were blocked, scans that were performed and applications that were controlled. This level of detail in the report may not be needed, but it is nice that it is available if you want to see what PURE has been doing.
A very good feature that was not included in Kaspersky Internet Security is the Open Vulnerabilities Scan. This scan found outdated versions of Firefox, Java and even Photoshop on my computer. I was given a link to which the problems with the older versions of these programs were listed and a link that I could follow to get the latest version if I didn't want the software to upgrade myself. The scan also found vulnerabilities on my computer such as allowing autorun on usb drives or problems with Internet Explorer. I think that the Open Vulnerabilities Scan is a very good feature and an important part of the defense for a computer. Although I am pleased with the scan, I am disappointed that Kaspersky did not make the Open Vulnerabilities Scan a part of the full scan. Not everyone may run the Vulnerabilities Scan as a separate option. An annoyance with this feature was that it continued to list Java and Photoshop as being vulnerable even after I updated the correct version of these programs. I am not sure if the scan did not recognize that the latest version had been installed or if there really is a problem.
In comparison to Norton Internet Security, PURE is very light on the computer resources. Norton IS was a resource hog and there were times when my computer would be running full out due to something that Norton was running. In Kaspersky PURE runs virus scans run quietly in the background.
In comparison to Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, PURE includes a password manager and is supposed to be better at guarding your home network. PURE also included the Open Vulnerabilities Scan. A full comparison of PURE and Internet Security can be found on the Kaspersky website.
The password manager if a good option for people who want a repository of their passwords. Access to the password manager can be by a password you type, the presence of a Bluetooth device with the key or a USB device. You can also generate a list of passwords onto a USB device to take with you which would be handy if you need to access secure websites from different computers.
Other features that PURE offers beyond virus and vulnerability protection include:
- Backup and restore to backup the hard drive to an external drive
- Parental Control
- Remote control of other computers on the home network
- Create containers where sensitive files can be stored and encrypted
- Virtual keyboard to defeat keyboard loggers by giving you a virtual keyboard on your screen that you can use to type in passwords for banking websites, for example.
- Safe run which allows for suspicious programs to be run in a protected environment to prevent the programs from gaining access to personal data.
- Anti banner
PURE is a very nice security package, but it does have some minuses:
- Scheduling scans is not intuitive. You need to click on a button marked manual to change the virus scans from manual to scheduled and unless you know to click on the button. Kaspersky should have made it much easier to schedule a virus scan.
- I had to change the default setting to allow for the full scan of USB drives when they are fist detected. I strongly believe that full scans of USB drives should be the default setting with the allowance that the user can change the setting. The only time that Kaspersky has found viruses during its scans is when I have plugged in a USB drive that I have used them to get data from someone else's computer.
- Open Vulnerabilities Scan not part of the full scan
- Checks the vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer, but not of other browsers such as Firefox, Opera or Chrome.
- The Open Vulnerabilities Scan does not recognize when programs with vulnerabilities are updated to the latest version.
- The database of malicious scripts has not been updated by Kaspersky since September, 2010 which means that at the time of the writing of this review, it has not been updated in five months.
Pluses
- Not intrusive
- Updates for slow internet speeds
- Very good reputation
- Full of features
- Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 has received very good reviews by Cnet and PC Magazine and PURE offers even better protection for your computer.
Overall, despite the flaws, PURE is a step up from Kaspersky Internet Security and is highly recommended over Norton Internet Security.
The most helpful critical review:
The Kaspersky Pure 3 user program did not work for me or my computer. While the anti-virus part of the program does seem to work very well, this program just caused too many conflicts with other programs or devices that I used on my computer. For example, I stream TV shows from my computer, through my Xbox to the television. The Kaspersky didn't like the program that I use to do this and it would not allow the streaming to work properly. I tried to go into Kaspersky to make sure the program was set to allow all access, but it was very difficult to find where and how to do that. I also have other programs on my computer that Kaspersky would just keep crashing on me while I was using them. I know it was this program doing it as when I run Norton 2011 I do not have these problems. All the problems also stopped after I uninstalled Kaspersky and reinstalled Norton. As I said, I did like certain aspects of this program. One big one was that it went through my software that's on my computer and let me know that two of the programs that I use on a regular basis were outdated and that updates were available for these programs. I found that to be really helpful. Now if only I could take what I like about each, Kaspersky and Norton, and combine them I would have the perfect software.
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