McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0.0: Pros: Free to UTM students (given on ITS Technology CD at SOAR, also available at www.utm.edu/antivirussw). Simple to maintain through “Update Now” feature. Runs in Windows’ background and does not require a lot of system resources. Cons: Anti-virus only (no firewall, spyware, or anti-phishing protection.) A few viruses get through. No automatic updates; students and faculty must remember to download updates periodically. Bottom Line: McAfee VirusScan Enterprise is a good piece of software offered for free by Information Technology Services and required for Windows computers run on campus. Because it is free, however, students and faculty should use a firewall or anti-spyware/phishing software in addition to VirusScan. These programs primarily run in the background, similar to VirusScan, and should not heavily tax the computer’s system resources.

Norton Internet Security 2007 Pros: Effective. Plain and simple, Internet Security 2007 automatically blocks viruses, prevents online identity theft, has anti-spyware and a firewall and provides a Protection Center to check all of the system’s security settings in one location. Cons: Price: $69.99 direct from Symantec.com. Anti-spam, while included as an additional service to the many listed above, misses plenty of spam email. Bottom Line: Norton seems to continue its dominance at the top of the anti-virus software world with Internet Security 2007. It has already received awards from PC World, PC Magazine, and RedmondMag.com for its features and dependable malware prevention. Cost can be a factor, especially for students, but for Windows users concerned about viruses and protection, there is no more complete package of features.

Grisoft AVG Free Edition Pros: Provides a mostly complete anti-virus protection, free to anybody (available at http://free.grisoft.com.) Automatic, regular definition updates and real-time protection of files and email attachments. Cons: Control Center is difficult to navigate (and is not used frequently.) Scheduling of automatic updates and scans is limited to daily in free mode. Once again, the anti-virus is standalone, lacking a firewall and other top features. Bottom Line: AVG works well in tandem with McAfee VirusScan Enterprise. Despite the lack of scheduling options and anti-spyware/phishing features, good products that are available for free grab attention every time.

McAfee Total Protection (Security Center) Pros: Great anti-virus protection in a trusted, household name. Large number of features in addition to anti-virus protection, including anti-spyware, SpamKiller and a firewall, just to name a few. Cons: Because the program provides such a number of features, most of which run simultaneously, Total Protection slows down system performance considerably. A majority of features need improvement. Anti-spyware crashes some systems. $79.99 yearly subscription cost. Bottom Line: Even considering the great feature set available, Total Protection’s yearly cost and system resources consumption is not worth the added functionality.