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#1
Not the Usual Anti-Virus Discussion
I'm using Windows 7 Pro 32 bit with Kaspersky Internet Security. For various reasons, I view Kaspersky as at least as good as any of the mainstream commercial software packages. I switched from Norton a few years ago because I was unhappy with the degree to which it bogged down my system. I now find myself in the same situation with Kaspersky.
I'm satisfied with Kaspersky's performance, but I'm wondering if the price I'm paying for protection is too much: a significant slowdown in e-mail, internet, and sometimes even general general computing tasks. It's frustrating to pay for things like broadband and SSD's only to have their speed advantages negated by the protection software. have we all been frightened into using more protection than we really need?
This is a difficult discussion because not everyone will agree about how much protection is enough, and not everyone will experience the same degree of slowdown (or have the same level of tolerance toward it). Nevertheless, I ask the following questions:
Does the average user need a full protection suite as mentioned above?
Are there alternatives to these programs that give acceptable protection with a much smaller resource footprint?
Is MS Security Essentials adequate for general computer protection?
Can Kaspersky (or any of the other big names) be modified or limited in order to speed things back up without compromising the protection they offer?