Open Letter to McAfee Customers (by Dave DeWalt)

Kaspersky replaced McAfee on my ctopumer, low resource utilization and no problems. Easy installation. Not only can I use my ctopumer at any time, I can also print on my wireless connected printer. McAfee decided that since I did not have their product installed on the ctopumer on my home network I could not use it. To print I had to disable the firewall. Kaspersky correctly identifies the device as a printer and have no problems using all of the features of my all-in-one. The installation was flawless and fast, even though there was a new version available and the download was large. Full system scan runs very quietly on the background and I don’t even notice it is doing anything, I had to open the window to see if it was still doing it or it was completed. It also ran in half the time of what McAfee used to take, and you do notice McAfee when it is running. Another advantage is that it has not used up another license because I am running a multi-core processor, McAfee had me at five licenses because of this problem. My ctopumer is set-up as a single user ctopumer. I have not contacted support for anything, so I can’t rate it. I have not found any of the problems reported in other reviews for 64-bit based systems with multi-core processor (Intel i7 X980) and Windows 7 ultimate, every program performs flawlesly and starts faster than they were starting before I switched to Kaspersky.

Just checking out the webagpe that you added about the safe-kids links. Good job. You mentioned moving to the blog instead of the website. Should we talk about that before you leave?

After using Norton for years and getting tlatloy frustrated with their horrible service and an atrocious product called Norton 360, I switched to Kaspersky about 3 years ago. That was a fantastic move because Kaspersky has better customer service and a SUPERIOR product. Let me start by saying Kaspersky is the best consumer product for protection of your computer, however, they have significant problems every time they upgrade to a new version. Even worse, management refuses to communicate with their customers about those problems. One of the pluses of buying this product is the following. If a new version comes out during your one year cycle, you can upgrade to the new product for FREE. The downside, with both the 2010 and 2011 upgrades, many customers [not all] had major problems. With the 2010 upgrade, I was one of many whose system slowed to a crawl for weeks until they finally fixed the problem. Management failed to send out an email advising customers there was a problem. I learned about it after the fact. I was one day away from leaving the product for good when it was finally corrected. I thought they learned their lesson but they didn’t because 2011 is causing a new array of problems. With Kaspersky 2011, [for many customers] if you open up a photo it will completely freeze your system. I’m talking about a complete lock up. You cannot use Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get to the Task Manager and you can’t even reboot. The one and only way to get your system restarted is to turn off the power, wait about 30 seconds, and turn your computer back on. That is tlatloy unacceptable! After several weeks of complete silence from management, the problem was corrected and now users can check out photos without a system failure. Most users had no idea why their system was freezing and locking up. The company should have sent an email to every customers saying: 1. We have a problem with the 2011 upgrade 2. When you do X, your computer will lock up 3. We are aware of the problem and are working on an update to fix the issue. 4. The Tentative Date for the fix is whatever date they select 5. In the interim, we recommend you do Y All software companies have problems. But everyone appreciates and understands when customer service acknowledges they made a mistake and they’re working hard to correct the problem. A lack of communication results in customer frustration and a negative attitude towards the product and the company. As much as I like and respect the actual product, I would NOT touch Kaspersky 2011 until management decides to be honest, open, and communicate with it’s customers.

*(PLEASE NOTE: This review is geerad towards Windows 7 64-bit users with a fairly recent computer build, e.g. any dual core processor PC built over the past four years or less. PC users with ten-year-old Pentium 4/XP computing rigs should look elsewhere for advice; if possible, they should also consider upgrading and/or replacing their aging hardware and OS, as the cost/value ratio in the PC market has never, ever been better even when one takes into consideration these hard economic times.) As was the case last year, after taking a month-long test run with the latest internet security suites (Avast, Norton, McAfee), I have come away very impressed with Kaspersky Internet Security. I own a 4-year-old Dell XPS 410 with an Intel Core 2 6700 CPU @ 2.66GHz, equipped with a RAID 0 2 TB dual hard drive, 8 GB DDR2 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB Direct X 10 -compatible graphics card. I have been using KIS on this computer since 2007, back in the days when I had Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit installed, and my computer was equipped with only 4 GB RAM and a 650 GB Hard Drive (in fact, the upgrade to my hard drive and RAM was only done weeks ago, right after I finished testing). While I was fairly unimpressed with KIS’s sluggish performance when I ran it on Vista 32-bit (at least on my computer; my mother’s PC, which uses Vista 32-Bit, has never had a problem), ever since I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, KIS has shown itself to be a terrific, smooth-running (if imperfect) security suite that is improving with each new incarnation. The Good: – Installation is intuitive, quick and painless; – KIS 2011 works excellently and unobtrusively with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. For the past month that I have been using it, I have experienced no obvious bugs, hiccups, computer slowdown or start-up/shut-down hangs to speak of; – KIS 2011 sports a new, clearly-marked interface that improves on last year’s (mostly successful) attempt at making KIS more novice user-friendly. KIS’s latest look is extremely clean and utilitarian, which means a relatively painless learning curve for newbies; – KIS 2011 contains plenty of smart, easy-to-implement customization tweaks in the protection settings that should more-than-satisfy experienced users; – KIS 2011 uses even less system resources than KIS 2010 (which was by no means a resource-hog). In fact, KIS 2010 blows most full-featured internet security suites out of the water in this regard (and that includes the latest incarnation of Norton, which while no where near as resource-hungry as past versions, still lags behind KIS in that respect); – KIS 2011 s excellent system watcher feature has gotten even smarter (and less intrusive) than earlier iterations, keeping ever vigilant of changes, attacks or takeovers that are attempted on your computer; – KIS 2011 s intelligently implemented firewall protection is among the best (if not the best) of any security suite I’ve tested; – The parental control feature on KIS 2011 is outstanding. Simply put, your child will be well and thoroughly protected from internet dangers. In fact, from what I’ve seen so far this year, no other internet security suite with this feature comes even close in terms of effectiveness and ease-of-use, with the exception of Kasperky PURE , Kasperky’s answer to Norton 360 . Although I have never personally used it, from what I understand of Kasperky PURE , it has all the features of KIS 2010, plus a couple more options for parental controls. Still, KIS 2011 s parental control features are quite complete (e.g. internet usage, web browsing, file downloads, instant messaging, social networking, private data and word usage are all covered) and should more than suffice for all but the most demanding parents; – Malware and networking detection/protection is top-notch; – Viral/malware/spyware/trojan scanning has little impact on the speed of your computer, meaning you can run a scan simultaneously while doing other tasks on your computer with little impact on system resources; – As always, the free software upgrades mean you only have to continue renewing your subscription, as opposed to shelling out money annually for software upgrades (HINT: KIS 2010 is going for pretty cheap right about now ). However, there are some cons: – The spam filter is mediocre at best, and needs a lot of work. My testing with KIS 2011 s spam feature using Microsoft Outlook was extremely unimpressive. Spam got through at least 40% of the time. To be fair, Kaspersky claims that a certain period of training is needed to maximize the spam filter’s effectiveness. However, Norton Internet Security’s spam protection feature worked terrifically right out of the box. For those (like me) who use a web-based email account which

I find little value in the 6th edotiin of the book it’s much the same as the first one with updated information. This book is best read by people that know very little about how attacks work and want to discover how the average low level attacker goes about doing things. This book is not bad at all but it really just doesn’t add anything to my arsenal or provide me with any new information that is valuable to me.If you want a book that can give you a very entry level understanding of how attacks might take place and need a book to teach you the very basic’s of how to become a script kiddy or how they operate then this book is a good choice.I mean no disrespect by this but it is my opinion that true hacking or pen-testing does not and can not follow the old methodologies that are outlined in this book. There is simply not an A to B route that is to be followed in hacking/pen-testing and tossing attacks from tool after tool at systems isn’t the right way to go about testing.In my opinion this book is the best choice for someone with a new interest in the subject and knows very little about security testing and defense. This is a good place to start to learn the very basic’s of offensive infosec and to pick up some entry level knowledge on how to defend against it. If you are looking for an introduction or a bridge to entry level certification such as certified ethical hacker or certified penetration tester this would be a good choice to pick up before you start your studies to fill in the gaps. Overall this is a great book just take it for what it is. It is not a book on how to hack. It is an introduction to hacking and some of the common tactics that are used. If you’re not defending against these then you’re doing a poor job. To be fair to the author and the series this book was a pioneer in the industry at the time it was introduced there was little information on the subject to be found in this type of structure. In our infosec crazed world of today so many books follow this exact format that reading it becomes dry and very boring. Overall great series pioneers of information security books but a new approach is needed and maybe that is present in the hacking exposed series but I can not comment on that because I have only read scattered edotiins of the original title.

My first exposure with hcnikag series was back in 2002 the 2nd edition, in the Foreword of the 2nd edition they summed up the expectation and identified the who should read this book But if a computer network has a security vulnerability and no one knows about it, is it insecure? .In writing this review I like to bring to attention the fact that I am not sure who is the intended audience anymore.I have seen this book on every network engineer’s and self proclaimed security guru’s book shelf, many of the one’s I have seen were not even used once.So my question is why do people keep on buying this book, is it the title? The marketing? Or is it a cult think? I was given the 6th edition as a gift. I read most of it out of curiosity, and after a while I realized that this book does not have a true audience. This book is not written for;.-The hacker since many of the hcnikag techniques are either irrelevant or old and most hackers know a better way..-The criminal. See previous note..-An auditor. If it was, it would have specific processes on how to conduct and audit..-Management, they don’t care how hping2 works..-Those who are concerned about wireless security. There is a hcnikag exposed for wireless book for them.If we take away the fat, this book has about 200 pages of useful information, most of which can be found using the authors favorite search engine Googlewhy did I give it a 2 star instead of just 1, I did like the entire 10th Chapter, this section has very relevant information, and it has a purpose, it introduces the concept of governance and use of standards such as ISO17799 which is actually ISO27001:2005 and NIST Publications 800-64 and 800-27. It explains the SDLC although the author calls it SDL combining the Life with Cycle. So if this is your First Hacking Exposed book, buy it with caution, but if you already have one, don’t upgrade .Best Fishes and thank you for reading.