F-Secure Internet Security 2007 review

F-Secure's Internet Security 2007 package combines a well-proven anti-virus product with a slew of other safeguards against internet threats.

The main elements of the suite are virus detection and removal, spyware protection, a firewall, spam detection, anti-phishing safeguards and a parental control filter that lets parents maintain separate browsing regimes for small children and teenagers.

All these elements are installed collectively and managed from a single control panel. Even more significantly, they are automatically updated every day. This makes the program ideal for inexperienced users who don't want to get bogged down in the minutiae of online safety, but who want a high level of security to be maintained through daily automatic updates. There is a price to pay for such convenience in longer boot-up times though, and there's an occasional delay while the F-Secure performs a background security task, but this is bearable.

The default settings used during installation will suit most users, but if you want to set up your PC so that it can be used by small children, you'll need to manually input a list of approved sites. These will be the only ones they can visit. This isn't necessary for teenagers, who are given wide freedom to roam the web with only a few sites being blocked for inappropriate content.

F-Secure errs on the side of caution and in the first few days after installation it will frequently pop up and tell you that completely innocuous everyday programs are attempting to modify the system. But once you've given it the go-ahead for these, you won't be bothered again by the same false alarms.

Even though there are free programs that perform many of the functions of Internet Security 2007, they don't offer the ease of use or peace of mind that comes from having real-time checking continually taking place, instead of having to run user-assisted scans at regular intervals.