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Today we continue our series of Antivirus comparisons.  This time round we’re comparing Kaspersky Internet Security and the Award Winning AVG Internet Security.  Many of you wouldn’t have heard of Kaspersky as it’s not one of the big three.  To find out more check out their website!  The comparison will involve an overview of the features each package has and then at the end we’ll tell you which we think is better through our rating system.  Our ratings are worked out by the amount of ticks the product has.  Further points are awarded for faster download, simpler/better installation and cheaper price.

Feature
Download Time	Fast	Fast
Installation	A little frustrating as it wouldn’t install on many occasions as it kept identifying previous antivirus software which had been uninstalled.  Also, it wouldn’t allow me to have programs such as ‘SpyBot’ installed on my machine to complement the software. Once it started working it was very fast and efficient.  Allows you to configure basic features which is a great feature.	Takes an average length of time.  Quite extensive and helps you set up the basic features of the software.
Anti-Malware
Anti-Spyware
Firewall
Scans Files, Emails, Links, Instant Messenger and Internet Traffic
Automatic Updater
Antivirus
Antispam
Protects Wi-Fi and VPN Connections
Anti-Phishing
Identity Protection
Parental Control
Anti-Rootkit
Available to buy from Brandstar?
RRP	£39.99 (1 PC)	£39.14 (1 PC)
Overall Rating	12 out of 16	15 out of 16

Overall, I am very impressed with Kaspersky Internet Security.  It has great potential, it just needs some tlc.  I can see Kaspersky really fighting AVG for the top spot in a few years time, but it is the new boy on the block and still has a little further to go.  Furthermore, Kaspersky’s virus protection statistics aren’t as good as the ‘Big Three’ (McAfee, Norton and AVG).  AVG has an all round better performance and product quality.  One thing I really don’t like about Kaspersky is its lack of compatability.  For example, you would expect your antivirus software to go with complementary products, such as; SpyBot – Search and Destroy.  Whereas Kaspersky doesn’t, which is very frustrating.  You have to uninstall all security software before you install Kaspersky.

Today we’re comparing McAfee’s Total Protection package with AVG’s Award Winning Internet Security Package.  The comparison will involve an overview of each packages features and then at the end we’ll tell you which we think is better through our rating system.  Our ratings are worked out by the amount of ticks the product has.  Further points are awarded for faster download, simpler/better installation and cheaper price.

Feature
Download Time	Average	Fast
Installation	Installation time is long but happens automatically which discards any confusion.  However, unlike AVG you still have to configure all the software features after the installation/setup process.	Takes an average length of time.  Quite extensive and helps you set up the basic features of the software.
Antivirus
Anti-Spyware
Anti-Spam
Anti-Phishing
Firewall
Identity Protection
Web Shield (Browse the web safely)
Link Scanner
Free 24 Hour Support
Anti-Rootkit
Data Backup
Parental Controls
RRP	1 Year: £58.69 (up to 3 PC’s)	1 Year: £48.93 (for 3 computers)
Available to download from Brandstar?
Overal Rating	10/16	14/16

So after playing around with the two programs I can conclude that we think AVG Internet Security is better than McAfee Total Protection.  It has a wider range of tools and equipment to give an overall better performance.  McAfee looks nicer than AVG but we all know looks can be deceiving and AVG turns out to be far easier to use.  A huge advantage of AVG is that you can buy it for 1 computer if you only have 1 computer, whereas you dont have the option to do that with McAfee Total Protection.  Although the installation of AVG involves you having to make some choices it saves you having to do them in the long run and it helps provide you with an even better performance.  Whereas with McAfee you spend ages doing the Automatic installation to find out you still have to configure all the features yourself!!

Next time we will be comparing AVG Internet Security with Kaspersky Internet Security.

Over the next few weeks we are going to run a series of comparisons between different Anti-Virus Software.  In these comparison post’s we’re going to show you the main features that the two products provide and then tell you which we think is better through our rating system. Our ratings are worked out by the amount of ticks the product has.  Further points are awarded for faster download, simpler/better installation and cheaper price.  This time it is Norton’s 360 v3.0 vs AVG’s Award Winning Internet Security v8.5.

Feature
Download Time	Average	Fast
Installation	Quick but slightly tedious (you have to register for a second time.)  Doesn’t help you set up the general running of the software.	Takes an average length of time.  Quite extensive and helps you set up the basic features of the software.
Antivirus Technology
Identity Protection (Including Phishing Protection, Checks Links, Keeps you details safe whilst shopping online, etc)
Antispyware
Backup Software
Automated Virus Updater
Protects against Viruses, Bots, Spyware, Rootkits, Worms, Trojan Horses, etc.
Online Storage Available?
Helps Secure and Monitor Networks
Download and Instant Messenger Screening
Firewall Protection
RRP	1 Year: £59.99 2 Years: £109.99	1 Year: £39.14 2 Years: £58.71
Available to Download from Brandstar?
Overall Rating	9 out of 14	12 out of 14

So to conclude, from our investigations and playing around with the two software’s, we can announce that we think AVG Internet Security is the better software of the two. It may not have any backup software within the package but it works out cheaper to get AVG and then buy yourself a decent back up tool and external hard drive.

Next time we’ll be comparing AVG Internet Security with McAfee Total Protection.

So our first post on Windows 7 RC was relativly short, this one comes after a bit of use and testing and we stand by the previous title “Windows 7 RC is BRILLIANT”  we are very impressed.

If you don’t want to read on then you can take these three things away from our findings

• Speed
• Stable
• Compatible

For those with the time to read on we will explain what we are meaning by these three findings.

Speed

We have Windows 7 running on a pretty average system, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive. Nothing hugely special by today’s standards but we have found it to run very nicely.

The sort of use it has got is in the list below and at no point have we found it to be slow, non-responsive or sluggish. Obviously it is a new install and this helps but still we are impressed! So it has been used for the following over the last few weeks

• Website design
• Internet / Email
• General Office work
• FTP
• Remote Support

Stable

No crashes or hanging to date! What more can we say…?

Compatability

Software / Hardware we have successfully working on the Windows 7 system is as follows:

• Dell Optiplex 360 – ok, this is actually the hardware it is running on, but still useful to know!
• T-Mobile Mobile Broadband Adaptor – this didn’t work on the Beta so we are very impressed it works now!
• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Hamachi VPN
• Filezilla
• Firefox
• Crossloop
• AVG 8.5 Internet Security
• Windows Home Server Connector Software

We still have got a bit more testing before we would be happy to adopt it as a operating system for a production office machine, but I am very tempted! Roll on Final Release…

We have been testing the Beta version of Windows 7 since that was released and downloaded the RC as soon as we could get our hands on it. In short we still think it is brilliant and are really looking forward to the final release.

Without writing pages and pages on this the best way to sum up Windows 7 is this  -  “Windows 7 is in short a refined version of Windows Vista”

If you have a spare machine then download the Release Candidate for free here: Microsot Windows 7 RC Download. And see what you think.

Have a read of our other Windows 7 posts and we will post back soon with of first impressions of Windows 7 RC !

Free, legal and music streaming are words which you don’t often hear together…until now.  Spotify is a free program that you can download.  It lets you stream (listen to) millions of songs for free!!  You could type in loads of current bands and find all their albums ready to listen to.  You’ve also got all the golden oldies there for your pleasure if that floats your boat.  The only catch is that you have an advertisement every 30 minutes or so.  But for what you’re getting it is well worth it!

Its really simple to use too!  Just download the software, register and then you’re ready to start listening.  When you want to listen to music just log in, search a song/album/artist and click play!

Spotify has many great features available:

• Searches – it remembers your recent searches and compiles them in a list on the left-hand side (see image for example).
• Top Lists – Check out what songs everyone else is listening to in Top Lists.  It shows you a list of the most popular songs and albums in your country and the entire world.
• Radio – Select the decade and genre then Spotify generates a playlist of great songs from that era for your listening pleasure.
• Playlists – Make your own playlist from your favourite songs on Spotify
• Play Queue – Add albums and songs to your Play Queue to save searching for a new song every time one finishes!

If you really like Spotify you can buy their ‘Day Pass’ or ‘Premium’ Package.  The Day Pass allows you to 24 hour access with no ad’s for just 99p!!  The Premium Package will set you back £9.99 per month but gets you unlimited access with Spotify invites and no Ad’s!

Like the idea of Spotify?  Want to find out more?  In which case check out their Website, their Video or post us a comment!

Are you finding that emails from some of your contacts are sneaking into your Junk Mail/Spam folder?  Here is a great little tip for those of you who are running AVG 8/8.5 to stop this happening!

1. Open up the AVG Interface (Start –> Programs –> AVG –> AVG User Interface)
2. Click tools and then advanced settings
   
3. Click on the (+) next to Anti-Spam and then Click Settings.  After this click in the box next to ‘add recipients of sent e-mails to whitelist’ to make sure there is a tick in it.  (Click on below image to make it bigger)
   
4. Select Apply and then click OK.

We hope this helps!

Here is a table comparing the latest AVG packages.  They are currently available from Brandstar with a 15% Discount!

Free Anti-Virus software doesn’t protect you, your files or your identity while:

• Shopping online
• Banking online
• Chatting to friends
• Downloading music, files and films

Feature	AVG Free	AVG Anti-Virus Pro 8.5	AVG Internet Security 8.5
RRP – 1 year	Free*	£29.35	£39.14
Brandstar Price		£25.52	£34.03
RRP – 2 year	Free*	£39.14	£57.81
BrandstarPrice		£34.03	£50.27
Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware protects against viruses, spyware, adware and identity-theft
Safe Search scans search results to ensure that pages are safe
Prevents Identity Theft helps prevent identity theft
Anti-Rootkit protection against hidden threats on your computer which can deliver malicious content onto your machine
Safe Downloads scans your downloads for any dangerous content
Safe Instant Messaging protection for your ICQ and MSN communication
Safe Surf real-time protection from poisoned web pages
Free Support free 24/7 Support from AVG
Anti-Spam catches e-mail threats including phishing, fraud and spam
Firewall stops hackers and viruses spread over the internet
System Tools assists the admin when finding problems
Download	Free	30 day trial	30 day trial
Buy at Brandstar		Buy at Brandstar	Buy at Brandstar

My first impressions then of Windows 7 are very good.  It is much like Vista but it almost seems like a more intelligent operating system, if there can be such a thing.  Things that we have always wondered why we can’t make them more easy have been made easy.

There are a lot of graphic and layout changes; albeit often small they are still there.

The only problems I have encountered so far is that IE8 crashes from time to time (no change there) and also when viewing the Games folder one the start menu it tends to hesitate before loading the logos for the games.  Nothing huge and I am sure in the final release this will be fixed.  For a beta version I think it is very nearly complete!  Maybe that is why Microsoft has said that they won’t be releasing a beta 2!  So bring on the RC1 version.

For noobs this is a review of what you are likely to use and notice, for power users you will want to go a bit further…but then you will have probably downloaded Windows 7 yourselves.

If they don’t do anything stupid in the RC1 and/or final release then I will be putting this on a few machines in the office when it is released for sure!

See Also:
Windows 7 Beta – First Glance
Nice and Simple – Windows 7 Features

Well I am pleased that no one voted for “What’s Skype” although I am sure where are people out there who have no idea what it is!  I am surprised however that we have an even split!  I thought that many more people would use Skype than those who don’t….maybe it is the group that read PCT or maybe that really is it!!  An unexpected result.