Internet Security Suites

All-in-one suites with a spam-blocking component

This year's faster and lighter Internet security suites are overcoming their bloatware image, and many consumers are choosing them as a simple, economical replacement for single-purpose security software. Most have an anti-spam component, but critics say that in many cases top-rated standalone spam blockers are still more effective.

One possible exception is Norton Internet Security 2010 (*Est. $45). Complaints about system drag and software conflicts that plagued older releases have evaporated with the slimmed-down Norton, and reviewers give it top marks for anti-malware detection and removal. Last year's edition didn't make the grade when it came to spam filtering, but PCMag.com, which rates Norton Internet Security 2010 as the year's top suite, describes its anti-spam performance as vastly improved. Neil J. Rubenking says, "In my testing with over 8,000 current real-world email messages, Norton didn't block any valid personal messages or valid bulk messages, and it only let 12.3 percent of the undeniable spam into the inbox... Only the community-based standalone spam filters are appreciably better." British publications Web User and Which? magazine also praise the improved suite.

McAfee Total Protection 2010 (*Est. $70) has also greatly improved its overall performance over previous versions, and critics say it nearly matches Norton Internet Security 2010 in spam blocking. In PCMag.com's testing, it missed less than 3 percent of spam and blocked only 0.3 percent of valid messages, while not blocking any newsletters or bulk emails. It's also more flexible than most spam-blocking utilities: it integrates with both the full and Express versions of Outlook as well as Windows Live Mail, Eudora and Thunderbird.

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2010 (*Est. $70) builds on last year's excellent anti-spam reviews, though it still lags in other areas. PCMag.com looks at the similar Extreme Security 2010 (which adds ZoneAlarm Forcefield to its Internet Security Suite). Rubenking says that "in testing with thousands of current real-world messages, the filter didn't block any valid individual messages. It did mistakenly categorize 1.9 percent of newsletters as spam; using the mailing list feature would have rescued all of those. And it let just 3 percent of spam into the inbox." Which? magazine editors give Zone Alarm the same 4-star rating as Norton. Zone Alarm uses blacklist, whitelist, challenge/response and message content filtering technologies. The program also includes an adjustable slider to control how aggressively the program filters.

Please see ConsumerSearch's companion report on Internet security suites for more detailed information and a breakdown of each suite's strengths and weaknesses.