F-Secure Internet Security 2005: New Competition for Norton and McAfee Spam Control and Parental Control Joseph Moran
Spam Control
F-Secure Internet Security 2005's attempt to deal with the blight of spam yields decidedly mixed results. The Spam Control module integrates best with Microsoft Outlook, automatically creating spam rules as well as a folder to hold questionable mail. (The application can also empty said Outlook folder automatically — the default value is 7 days.)
If using Outlook Express, Eudora, or another mail client you must both create the folder and empty it manually, and with the exception of Outlook Express, you must create the spam rule manually as well. What this all means is that by default messages received by non-Outlook mail clients and deemed as spam by F-Secure's Spam Control will automatically disappear into the ether, which is likely to be unacceptable for many users.
Spam Control does lets you define e-mail addresses (or entire domains) whose messages will either never or always be directed to the spam folder, but there are no options for automatically adding senders of received spam to the list. The only other configurable option available is to select one of three modes for the filter posture — relaxed, optimal, or aggressive.
Lamentably, neither the application nor the online help provides any explanation of these settings other than the obvious fact that higher settings have a greater chance of filtering legitimate mail, leaving choosing one largely a question of faith. McAfee's method of allowing you to see and edit individual filters is definitely preferable in this case.
In our time with the product we found that Spam Control appropriately identified spam about half the time, but it also often incorrectly flagged valid mail as well. For example, it identified as spam several notifications from our beloved Netflix, while surprisingly allowing other Netflix messages to pass through without any problems.
Parental Control
Preventing kids from accessing inappropriate Web content is never an easy job, but FSIS 2005 does a decent job of blocking sites based on the six major content categories — drugs, hate, sex, weapons, gambling, and web mail (this last one isn't blocked by default). The Parental Control also seemed to be reasonably adept at interpreting between sites. For example, it blocked the site www.ecstasy.org, which discusses use of the drug, but allowed access to the drug's information page at the NIH web site.
On the other hand, the Parental Control feature doesn't recognize multiple profiles, so you can't define different settings for individual users like you can with McAfee's Parental Control. Also, if you attempt to access a blocked site, you can't override the parental control temporarily for that page and must instead disable it entirely (and then remember to turn it back on as well).
Availability and Pricing
Users can download a fully-functional release of F-Secure Internet Security on a 30-day trial basis. After that, a one-year subscription (which includes unlimited e-mail technical support) will set you back a hefty $78, plus another $14.05 if you want the software on CD-ROM, which is more expensive than either the McAfee or Symantec (Norton Internet Security) offerings, and the price delta is likely to be even larger when factoring in competitive or upgrade rebates, which F-Secure doesn't offer.
To F-Secure's credit, however, the company doesn't have the gall to charge you a separate fee for the privilege of downloading the software again during your subscription term (should you need to reinstall it due to a system crash, for example). You can instead re-acquire the trial and convert it using your license key.
The process of downloading and installing F-Secure Internet Security 2005 is a bit more protracted and cumbersome than it ought to be. While the initial download is a bit less than 7MB, the installer in turn requests an additional 50MB for download, which took nearly an hour to download even via fast DSL and cable modem connections. This would seem to indicate that the company, which is based in Finland, is throttling download bandwidth on its site.
Overall, F-Secure Internet Security 2005 doesn't offer the same range of features as McAfee Internet Security Suite 2005, which wouldn't necessarily be a big problem if the software were priced considerably lower than its competitors. Given the premium price however (likely due in part to currently unfavorable exchange rates) and the lack of good documentation and many useful capabilities, most users will likely find they can obtain the same or better protection for less money.
Pros: Helpful and quick setup wizard, effective and relatively quick combo anti-virus and anti-spyware component, solid firewall capabilities prevent applications from modifying or launching others
Cons: Expensive, spotty spam filtering, limited functionality in Spam Control component, somewhat quirky behavior at times, poor (nearly nonexistent) documentation, parental control component lacks support for multiple profiles
