Contents page

Aim………………………………………………………………..2

Objectives ………………………………………………………..2

Introduction ……………………………………………………...2-3

What is internet security ………………………………………..3-4

Mcafee internet security 2009……………………………………4

Mcafee Pros and Cons……………………………………………5

Norton internet security 2009 …………………………………...5-6

Norton Pros and Cons……………………………………………6

Zone Alarm ……………………………………………………….6

Zone Alarm Pros and Cons………………………………………..6

Conclusion…………………………………………………………..7

Plan of work……………………………………………………….8-9

Appendices…………………………………………………………10

Bibliography……………………………………………………….23

Aim

The aim of this presentation is to look and research a variety of different internet security packages and give an informative evaluation of each.

I will be looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each, how user friendly they are, price, what users think of the software and how well they protect computers.

I will also be interviewing a professional who works day to day with security programs. From this interview I will try to gain an understanding of how internet security is used in a professional environment.

Objectives

1- Research internet security packages and find out how effective each is.

I will do this by reading online reviews of the different internet security packages and using some of my own knowledge and experience

2- Show my findings in a clear and understandable format which is direct and informative to the reader.

I will do this by presenting my research as a report and a conclusion which shows what I have found and I will give my personal view.

3. To show a clear comparison of the two applications and to show the positives and negatives of the applications.

                                                                               

What is internet security?

Internet security is the process of preventing unauthorised users gaining access to your personal computer. Internet security programs help prevent access and detect files which may be malicious to your computer.

Internet security is very important. There are many examples which can be used to show this. If you purchase items off of the internet then your banking details will be stored on the system. If somebody gained unauthorised access to your personal computer then they could also have access to your personal banking details. Also when someone has access to your computer they can use your computer to send fake e-mails, monitor your key strokes and attack other computers.

A lot of hackers utilise other people’s computers and internet connection so that they can attempt to hack into high profile systems such as government organisations. This allows them to hide their location and identity. Some hackers just want to monitor your actions on your computer and others intend to cause damage by reformatting your hard drive or editing your files.

The internet is not a secure place and there is a lot of misleading information put on the internet to confuse users into allowing unauthorised users into their personal system. These are called Trojan files which act like a Trojan horse.

However it is not just viruses which put a computer on the internet at risk.

If a computer is not regularly updated then the holes in the system which hackers find cannot be patched and this gives access to hackers and malicious programs. Updates are released at least once a week, however unless you have the correct settings on your computer they will not be downloaded. This would mean that your computer is at danger of being attacked and allowing an unauthorised user access to your computer.

Introduction

Internet security is a key part of any computer which is going to utilise its internet capabilities. Without adequate internet security a computer is venerable and at risk to numerous malicious software programs.

The internet security market is very competitive and is constantly being updated to stay in competition with each other and to combat these digital threats. Internet security service providers all claim to be the most “user friendly” and to be the most value for money; however they all do the same thing which is virus prevention.

There are several different things to consider when purchasing an internet security package, Price, reputation and security features. Some internet security packages do not have regular updates, if you are an internet user who downloads data then this could be critical as viruses, mal-ware and other malicious software are created hourly.

Also you have to take into consideration how many users are going to use the software. If you intend to install the software on multiple computers then you should check if the software you have purchased has multiple licences. Without multiple licences you will not be able to install the necessary updates which keep your computer safe.

There is currently an increasing amount of cyber-crime happening around the world and this is something which nations around the world are attempting to combat. The general advice given to people who are purchasing a computer and plan to use the internet is to invest in an internet security package. Research has shown that cyber crime reaches into many different forms of crime and contributes to drug trafficking, terrorism, fraud, spam, harassment and obscene and offensive content. This information is passed on to the user to encourage them to purchase a security package to protect them from these crimes and therefore help fight criminals who use the internet for theses reasons.

Without internet security it is a certainty that you will get a virus if you are surfing the internet. Last over 10,000 new viruses were created and over $1bn was lost because of this. There are so many different viruses on the net that hourly updates are required to keep the internet running.

Internet security vendors do test which are to test their applications to see if they can be hacked into and altered by users and professional hackers. There are rewards for those that can and these tests often lead to improvements being made to the programming structure of these security packages. Many people in the industry believe that these tests are necessary to ensure that computer users are protected from such software.

The aim of this research is to compare different internet security packages and show my findings clearly. To do this I will research each on the internet and read user reviews, use my own knowledge which I have gained through using an internet security program and I will also interview a professional who uses internet security programs on a day to day basis.

Mcafee internet security 2009

McAfee internet security 2009 is an internet security program which protects your computer from malicious software which can damage your computer and give someone outside access to your private documents.

Mcafee 2009 is a lighter version of its predecessor Mcafee 2008 which was a heavier program which struggled to remove malicious software and many users found that it was quite inferior to the competition at the time. Mcafee 2009 is just as fast as Norton internet security 2009. This is due to some interesting programming techniques. The installation process does have some issues but nothing that will be to confusing.

The overall view of Mcafee 2009 is that once it is up and running there isn’t many issues. Mcafee detects malicious software, removes malicious software, gives advice on websites which may contain such programs and is regularly updated. This new version of Mcafee competes heavily with Norton 2009 and is possibly the best version yet. Mcafee has also included a lot more tools for the user to protect their computer with; there are more in Mcafee than any other internet security software. Anti-virus is in the package along with Anti-phishing, anti-spy ware and a personal firewall.

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Mcafee have also been kind enough to provide a back-up and restore feature which will back-up all of your important data so that if anything were to happen you could retrieve you data. This is possible one of the best internet security packages suited for the network because of these features.

However there are some faults which can not be ignored.

The technical support team is still lacking and when there are problems with the software there is not much help to resolve them. Users of the software do not rate it very highly and have complaints ...

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