Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2009 review

Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2009 has a great interface and helpful extra features.

It even includes a Gamer Mode button that disables visible alerts to stop them disrupting your gaming experience. The main screen lets you scan your system, block all network connections, clean up temporary files and make backups.

Webroot comes with 2GB of free online backup storage, though backups can also be made locally or to any location on your network that you've mapped as a drive. Once you've backed up data to your online storage area, you can log in to access it from any internet connection. This means that it's also a useful place to store files you may need when you're away from home.

If you want more control over your internet security settings, the advanced menus are equally easy to use. There's no firewall blacklist for blocking specific ports or websites, although you can control which programs access the net. There's a training mode that, for a few days, asks if you want to allow every program that attempts to go online and then compiles a list of allowed programs based on your choices. We also liked the ability to switch between pop-up and taskbar alerts.

Root of all evil

Webroot did a fair job of protecting our PC, but it couldn't identify as many malicious programs as Panda Internet Security 2009 (left) or McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009. It was also more dependent on its full scan to find those it successfully eliminated.

There are some areas in which Webroot excelled. It was the only program to successfully spot a malicious, fake anti-malware program hidden inside a password-protected Zip file. McAfee VirusScan Plus and Panda Internet Security didn't spot it until we extracted the archive's contents. However, as the graphs below show, Webroot couldn't rival the overall performance of its competitors. It's user-friendly but, given the lack of advanced firewall controls and relatively poor malware detection, it's not our first choice.