Suites

Bottom Line: How many PCs, Macs, smartphones, and tablets do you have? A three-, five-, or ten-license Kaspersky ONE package lets you protect the stated number of devices regardless of type. It's not the unlimited protection of McAfee All Access, but it's more flexible than most.

Bottom Line: Most of the components in Norman Security Suite PRO 9 are second-rate. The antivirus bombed at malware cleanup, the old-school firewall left ports open, and the privacy protection is nearly nonexistent. Yes, it beat the other suites in antispam accuracy, but that alone isn't a reason to buy this suite.

Bottom Line: Product not yet reviewed by PCMag Editors.

Bottom Line: If all you want is antivirus, firewall, and a spam filter, PC Tools Internet Security 9.0 might be just the suite for you. It's surpringly big, though, and it noticeably slowed my performance tests.

Bottom Line: McAfee Total Protection 2012 offers a huge array of security-relevant features, among them file encryption, shredding, intruder detection, and more. Its spam filter is accurate and parental control is much improved. However, its essential antivirus protection doesn't measure up to the very best.

Bottom Line: VIPRE's spam filter is the best around, but its antivirus protection is average and it can't seem to remove rootkits. Its firewall avoids bombarding the user with popups simply by not enabling protection that might cause popups. Its performance drag is small, and the 10-PC home site license is a bargain, but you're better off paying more for more protection.

Bottom Line: Product not yet reviewed by PCMag Editors.

Bottom Line: F-Secure achieved good scores in my hands-on tests and even better scores from the independent labs. However, getting it installed on malware-infested systems was difficult, and its DeepGuard behavior-based detection identified both valid programs and malware samples as "suspicious."

Bottom Line: The antivirus component is the best part of this suite, with good malware cleanup and better real-time protection. Phishing protection and parental control, however, are not so hot. Overall it's a good suite, but not a great one.

Bottom Line: The best part of this suite is its real-time protection against malware attack. The flexible online and local backup system is also nice. But many of the other components just aren't up to snuff.