Top Internet Security Suites to Recommend to Clients

There is no doubt about it, the amount of threats facing technology users today is higher than ever before, and it keeps increasing. After looking over some recent reports about some of the ‘free’ security suites available and how they scored in ‘real world’ tests, I’m no longer recommending free security suites to clients, especially with the prevalence of ransomware now.

You can purchase multiple user licenses of top notch security suites at a very reasonable price now, so there’s no excuse not to spend as much as $10 a year for each computer you’re protecting. If you’re wondering where that price came from you’ll find out if you keep reading.

Before I go any further, there is one fundamental consideration you need to take into account when recommending a security suite to clients. What operating systems are your clients running, and do they want all of their devices secured, including tablets and other mobile devices? Some security suites don’t cover mobile devices. Also, while one certain security suite performs fairly well on Windows XP, which is still in use in a disturbingly large number of businesses, it performs less effectively on Windows 8.1.

I’d guess that most technicians have a service package that includes keeping the computer running at top speed, and eliminating things that would slow down the client’s experience on the computer, so recommending a security suite that has great protection but is a terrible load on the system resources isn’t the best idea, so that’s another consideration.

In considering all those things, what are the top security suites to recommend to clients? Looking at some recent tests and also protection for operating systems back to XP, there are two that stand out at the top of the list as far as protection, system load, and usability: Kaspersky and Bitdefender. I have to say that I haven’t really used Bitdefender, but I’ve seen it in use and it does seem slower to respond to threats than Kaspersky, and there have been some complaints about it being buggy and a little more resource intensive. Bitdefender does offer mobile device protection and anti-theft, and so does Kaspersky’s Multi Device suite.

However, I have used Kaspersky and have recommended it for several years for those who want good protection on their devices that isn’t provided by free security suites and scanners. In fact, while using a popular video streaming service, Kaspersky caught malware hiding in some *.wmv files in the streaming video, and the technicians at the service headquarters didn’t believe me until I sent them the log files with the details of the infected files and the location on their servers, which Kaspersky usefully recorded.

On the other hand, what if your client is using OS X? While Kaspersky scored highest on Windows 8.1, on OS X, Bitdefender scored slightly higher than Kaspersky. Even ESET scored over Kaspersky on OS X. Would your client prefer to have one solution for both types of devices so it’s not so much of a learning curve, or is protection of the highest concern to them? Also, while Kaspersky scored at the top as far as protecting Android devices from malware, it scored slightly lower than others as far as usability, and while that seems like a minor concern when it comes to anti-malware protection on a mobile device, it’s worth mentioning when you consider consumer users.

As far as price, you can get Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 (3 PCs) on Amazon.com for around $30, and the Multi-Device suite is also around $30 at this time. There is a newer version of the Multi-Device which is higher in cost, however. As far as BitDefender, the prices are similar for the 2014 versions when you account for the 2 year license. So next time your client asks what you recommend for a security suite for their device, find out what devices they’re trying to protect, and what operating systems they’re running. I doubt if anyone would say their device security isn’t worth even $10/year, or even $20/year, and that’s essentially the cost of one of the top security suites you can recommend to them.