Comprehensive security in the home

Norton 360

I tested Norton 360 MultiDevice for Amazon Vine - you can see my review here. I have been using the Norton products for many years and, while I've tried some of the others, keep coming back to Norton. As long as you're not expecting anything on an iOS device, I think Norton 360 will do what you want. I'm not sure where you get the $100 price, though - Amazon sells this for $60. No WinPho support, though.

Maybe it's worth considering a combination solution? For Windows PC's, Microsoft Security Essentials plus regular scans from Malwarebytes will usually put paid to the most common threats, and for the phones there are several options available.

In combination with this, a secure router (e.g. http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-secure-wireless-router.htm) offers additional protection for the devices at home.

WebRoot

I have been using WebRoot for over a year, and have gradually moved all my clients over to it; The result? A very real drop in clients having virus or spyware problems. A big drop.... To ZERO.

Where WebRoot really scores over the other products is it really does cope with Spyware, which most others do not.

I realise that every IT professional has their favourite software, and before Webroot we were very much in the mcAfee camp. But WebRoot has been much better, as well as easier to manage.

However I dont think it has the parental controls that you ask about. It does though do a good job on the mobile support - Android, WinPho, and even iPhone.

In short, the choice is yours, with pros and cons with each. and even a few $$$ more is worth it if it saves many hours of recovery after an attack,

How about Sophos Home UTM (FREE for up to 50 IPs)

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-utm-home-edition.aspx

what a difference a browser makes

Slightly off topic but I try to preach prevention instead of just protection. The first thing I do to "prevent" nasties is to get users to ditch IE and install adblock, be it on Firefox or chrome. There's a real connection between "ads" and malware. I forget the name but I also try to add a traffic light extension/add on to rate websites.

I know you can get plugins for IE but I simply don't trust it.

why one solution

Out of interest,

the 'problem' I found one time was that one particular security package had a hole, and all the kids pc's got infected at once. Try to fix that one,

so I now put different anti systems on different machines,

for instance I currently use avast and avg for anti virus at home,

it was surprising what one will find that the other won't ,

same with anti male ware,

Add to that the android tablets, the Nintendo's and tv;s with web access et all, and security is interesting.

as for parent control,

impossible,

if my kids are anything like I was at 12, then I will not be able to control what they do

so I 'just' have a snooper on the gateway, makes log of all sites visited,

lets hope they don't find vpn too soon,

I think your analysis is a bit too skewed toward costs and away from effectiveness. Ask yourself "What is the potential cost to me in man hours and possibly financial cost related to hiring a pro to clean up an infected network, and (heaven forbid) identity theft"?

Believe me, after you spend three days trying to fix an infected and/or bricked machine, you'll be a lot more prone to chose the most effective system you can afford. If you do a search on "review compare antivirus software 2014", you'll find articles on highly respected websites such as CNET and PCMagazine. They usually conduct in depth tests and will tell you which software had the highest success rate with a bunch of test malwares.

I have been using Kaspersky for three years now and it has worked flawlessly - at least as far as I know, none of my machines has ever been infected. I also like its supplemental features like super-secure online financial transactions, immediate look-up of suspicious code on their real-time server, etc.

Before that I tried Bitdefender, Eset and Symantec, all of which let crap through.

There are also some specialized solutions, many of them free, that do things like giving you a super-secure VPN when you are using public WIFI.

The other issue is who is listening to your traffic. It makes my skin crawl to think that I may be spied on by tracking cookies and other snooping technologies. If this is a concern to you, there are good solutions out there, again many of them free, that you can search for. For example, the TOR proxy network which comes packaged with a secure browser that is a branch of Firefox. SWare Iron is a branch of Chrome with all the tracking features removed.

Good luck! And let us know what you decide on.

MSE + Avast

Personally I'd use mixed software, for different platforms.

Microsoft Security Essentials is perfectly decent for Windows PCs, not to mention being free.

Avast is great on Android, no annoying Ads and provides file and app security along with device tracking/locking/remote wiping.

I don't own any Windows Phone device, but there seem to be very limited options on that platform and Microsoft seem to be of the opinion it is not needed. I have to say the architecture does make most potential attack vectors very difficult.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/business/security

variety per device

I would use multiple Anti-virus programs and other programs on each of the same type of device, eg 3 PCs then at least two AV programs so not all are caught by a single instance infection. AND it should be different to the AV used by your ISP . (For example my ISP BT internet uses and offers McAfee , so the some machines are McAfee while one is not). Problem is roaming, the tablets and phones can pick up anything outside your network. The key of no adds is well put but that would restrict the add revenue to some legitimate sites that need it to pay bills. I would treat it as a three ship problem , each ship (device type) being handled separately. No one solution fits all. However this is a market you have spotted and no vendor is as yet moving to support it

Final rollup

Hi all,

After a lot of consideration, I've gone and sprung for the Bitdefender comprehensive license rather than one of the other packages. In addition, I'll be setting up a proxy on the Synology NAS at home to add an extra layer of protection.

Why Bitdefender?

- Nice licensing model: one fee, infinite devices

- Seemingly robust protection (e.g. no worse than anyone else)

- Online client management

- Unspeakably scrupulously honest

A few words on the last two:

The online dashboard is quite clever, though I think it could be clever-er.

With Parental controls installed, you create a profile for each child and group all their devices (or in the case of Windows, their usernames on each PC) under that one profile. Set up the various controls (when allowed online, which sites permitted) and you're off. The defaults are pretty strict but a good place to start. I've tuned them a bit and the kids are not complaining.

Things I'm missing are limiting online time (duration, rather than time slots) and the ability to check the status of a client (last updated) or even enable/disable features (BitDefender Wallet: I'm looking at you).

Features I think are a bit over-the-top: the detailed reports of what the kids are doing (applications run and sites visited). But if you're a paranoid parent, you'll probably appreciate those.

Other features (client protection and Android theft protection) not tested.

On the unspeakably scrupulous honesty:

The privacy assessment of android apps is quite clever - apps are evaluated and the device is given an overall score. The wife and kids spent an afternoon competing with each other, trying to get the best score without sacrificing anything "important". Also very clever is the ability to share the risks of an application with friends. Which brings us to Honesty: The Bitdefender Android Security application correctly identifies the Bitdefender Parental Control application as a major security risk (which it is, of course, since it captures user data). One of the kids massively enjoyed sending me security risk reports to this effect and demanding the app be uninstalled (no).

My thanks to you all for your input!

Regards,

Edwin