US Cable Support > Charter Internet/TV > Is Charter's Internet security suite any good?

Is Charter's Internet security suite any good?

»www.eset.com/home/smart-security

give eset a try its way better id not use f secure (charter secuity suite uses f secure) its sluggish compared to eset (cant even tell eset running unless it catches something)

eset is best secuity suite on market it uses less reousrces then most antivrus only apps

reply to emak
Charter security suite works ok, its just a resource hog sometimes.

reply to emak
Simple answer is NO!!

Big time hog and I hate that Backweb agent.

IMO,
All of those "suites" are junk.
If you're running from XP and up, to many freebies out there are way better using single stand alone products.

For a firewall I use Private Firewall, »www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html and for an AV use either Avira, »www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus or Avast, »download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Ant···g=button

reply to emak

reply to emak
Works very nice, no false virus warnings. I highly recommend and Charter offers it at no charge. Waiting for this years upgrade. (decided to try when waiting for sale price on Norton Security Suite last year this time, kept it on my system because it worked better)

reply to emak
I had better luck with AVG which is free.

reply to emak
I dumped Charter's suite years ago when a simple update killed my internet connection, resulting in my having to do a full system restore. I was not pleased and switched to NOD32 eventually, which provides both antivirus and spyware protection which is out of the way and quiet.

Also in most cases if you're using a router for wifi or multiple computers, the router acts as a hardware firewall. That and the default Windows firewall combined should give you all the protection you need on that front.

reply to cork1958
Compared to pay-for others? yes! Compared to the free security solutions no...

Lets face it to be paying for internet security in this day in age is ridiculous and the amount of people that still do get suckered year after year paying to "renew" there subscriptions is just flabbergasting...

Norton hasn't been good since 2004, and AVG is headed the same way... in fact I've run into multiple instances of AVG failing to stop some bad infections out there...

I stand by either Avast or Microsoft Security Essentials both are lightweight (on system resources) but offer great protection (real-time and on-demand scanning) and best of all FREE

Also anyone who thinks they need a firewall for their home computer is definitely been scared into doing so

You don't need one! Windows has a built-in one that does fine on its own (as long as you keep windows up-to-date) and your router/modems have a firewall built in of there own

Those are kind of old stats posted, being as I use Microsoft Security Essentials and its at Version 2.1

and those stats were showing at at BETA 1

I downloaded Charter Security Suite. I might have to get it a try.

Yeah,
They were kind of old and I'm not trying to start an arguement with anyone either.

Use what ever you like. Even using something is better than nothing!!

Just my personal experience with F-Secure, that I wouldn't touch it again with a 10 foot pole!!
--
The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Yeah, I've seen some AV's bundled with products and figured they were low end.

F-Secure is one of them. Didn't even attempt.

I've had good luck with AVG, AntiVir, and Microsoft Security Ess.

Norton and McAfee i WOULD NOT touch with a 10 ft pole.

It appears F-SECURE makes the Charter Suite . . . Anyone else know about this?
-------------------------------------------------------

Charter High Speed Security Suite
Charter High Speed Internet partnered with F-Secure®, an industry leader providing anti-virus and firewall software, to create Charter High Speed Security Suite. This solid line of broadband defense is included at no additional cost with a 8 Mbps Charter High Speed Internet service. Feel secure knowing your information and computer are protected by these beneficial features:

Yes, F-Secure has been their suite for years.

I noticed Avast free version wasn't in that list posted of %'s, and was wondering what that % represents. I use it and like it fine, except it updates twice a day, which seems excessive to me. I also use the last version of Sygate's personal firewall, before they sold out. Never had a problem with either.

reply to emak
With the exceptions that the current offering is outdated and thereby causes minor issues with the newer versions of the internet browsers, Internet Explorer 9, Minefield (Firefox 4), and Chrome 8, which are easily resolved by disabling of the relevant plug-ins, and TiVo Desktop 2.8.2, it seems to work well. The combination of the suite and SuperAntiSpyware seems to detect and deal with everything I've encountered to date.

Except when it notifies me of it's detection of problems, I'm not aware of it's presence.

reply to msmisfit

Excessive, which could mean "more than is necessary for my needs." I primarily use my computer for online gaming, so twice-a-day updates is definitely excessive (not necessarily a burden, though). If one is constantly torrenting, web surfing, etc., then more frequent updates might be wise.

One-size-fits-all doesn't work in this case. And frequent updates doesn't necessarily mean your protection is "better." It could just as easily mean the rate of errors is high, although I'm not suggesting that's the case with your solution.

reply to emak
The most important thing one can do is keep your OS (Windows, Linux or Mac) up to date, without it, the most powerful security software in the world won't protect you....

I had a client computer that had avg, SuperAntiSpyware on their computer, didn't detect the fact that there was a Trojan buried and running on their computer... even after getting rid of the bad file the computer became infected weeks later, turns out a back-door was being used that no security software I threw at it would detect

reply to cork1958
I've been working in IT for fifteen years. I make a lot of my money from the script kiddies who write malware and release it, because then I get called to come rip it out. I do this on a professional basis, and I do it daily. Sometimes all day.

I'm also a bittorrent fanatic and frequent porn connoisseur, so I get exposed to that crap all the time. Believe me, I'll only use what works because I get tired of having to format and reinstall. Which I'd have to do once a week or more if I used ineffective security software.

I have no idea where those stats you quoted come from, but they're inaccurate just like almost all the other stat lists out there. The fact is you can find a list, from some "authoritative" source, that puts whatever AV you like at or near the top. Yours shows Avira to be at the top. Other lists, and my own experience, show it to be relatively feeble and easily defeated. It has only two virtues: it's free, and it has a very small footprint. Oh, one more virtue...it beats the crap out of AVG.

Your list also shows Kaspersky to be third best. My last employer was a Kaspersky partner, and we sold and supported both the standalone and the server based enterprise suite. Most of our clients were running one or the other. I spent sometimes fifteen hours a week going around to clients and ripping out malware, and what shocked me with them all was just how easy malware ripped Kaspersky's guts out and disabled it. Very common, and probably half or more of our clients experienced that very thing at least once a month. Sometimes on twenty or more workstations. Oddly enough, I never saw this regular failure with any other antimalware package used by our clients, not even those that used the free programs like AVG.

Kaspersky is very good at finding rootkits. Very good firewall. Otherwise, it's better than nothing, but not by much. If you're a warez or porno freak (you know who you are) Kaspersky is not the one for you.

I've found the big three commercial packages--Trend Micro, McAfee, and Norton--to be very good and my experience is that for comprehensive protection they're far better than any free program. Which makes sense. Nobody is going to just give away a superior product.

One package not even on your list is consistently at or near the top of every single list it's on: A-squared from Emsisoft. When a computer scans clean with every other package you can think of, scan it last with A-squared. I did this yesterday with an infested machine. Hit it with GData rescue disk first, removed nine viruses, trojans etc. Scanned with SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes and both showed it to be clean. Scanned it with the client's own installed Trend Micro Enterprise, clean. Just to be safe (this is a doctor's computer, and he has HIPPA to worry about) I left it scanning with A-squared. It took six hours to complete. It found three trojans and a dropper. Now I can say honestly that the machine is clean.

I love A-Squared, like GData, as a scanner only. I don't know how effective its memory-resident program is because I have never bought it (there is a free version you can scan with). It's rumored to have an awkward implementation and user interface.

So what's best? Honestly, it depends on what you're trying to do. These are my opinions

Gdata is rumored to be very good. All it is is a program which skillfully incorporates two scanners into a single package (AVG and I think ESet). My only experience with it is through using their rescue disk (free for download) that you can boot and scan with on a machine otherwise too infested to operate. It works very well, and is my first choice for a bootable scanner.

Free scanners for daily use: SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes. Both are surprisingly effective, especially for free programs. Again, I use them only for scanning, not memory resident, because I don't want to pay for them.

The only free memory-resident programs I recommend and use are Panda Cloud and Avast. Oh, and Avira if someone is running an old PC with little memory and other resources.

Webroot makes the best anti-spyware on the market. Their antivirus, not so much. But it's worth it to buy it, deactivate the antivirus, and run something else with it. The antispyware part is really that good.

Threatfire from PC Tools is a free non-signature based memory resident that uses heuristic "behavioral" analysis to detect stuff. Small footprint and is capable of catching stuff no other package will detect. No zero-day holes in your security.

Finally, what is my main software defense? I used Trend Micro until 2005, when I started downloading "borrowed" software. I used Mcafee during 2005-2006. Since then I've been using Norton, first their IS and currently 360 2010 version. When they released the 2007 version they corrected a lot of what people hated about it, namely its overbearing and intrusive interface, and its heavy footprint. It's now extremely frugal of resources and not so annoying as it used to be. It's also extremely effective. More so than anything else I've used. Well worth any annoyance.

I run it on all of my work and personal PCs. The very same malware that I've seen disembowel Kaspersky and other packages have never penetrated my security. Well, once, but only because I was using it to scan a client's hard drive and forgot to turn off autoplay before I plugged it into the USB port. I've never ever picked up anything browsing or downloading. Norton has blocked every single thing.

I have no emotional attachment to any particular package. I'm only interested in keeping crap out of my computers. N360 does that. Nor do I have some emotional aversion to particular software packages--like some seem to have with Norton. I'm willing to use anything that works. Next week, if Kaspersky released something more effective than N360, I'd gladly switch.

Symantec Corporate Antivirus is worthless. I don't see how it can come from the same company that makes Norton 360, but it does. It sits there and soaks up resources, merrily runs in the background and never does a damned thing. It and malware pass each other in the dark and neither knows the other even exists. Use something free, like Avast, instead.

If you frequently engage in the internet version of filthy unprotected sex (warez and porn) as I do, and you want to turn your machine into something resembling a bank vault, use Norton and Webroot together. They're not infallible, but they've worked for me better than anything else out there.

If you insist on doing retarded stuff like installing free toolbars, games, and screen savers, or are fool enough to use Internet Explorer and allow web sites to install ActiveX programs, then don't bother using any antimalware software. If you regularly bypass your own security, no program can protect you.