Webroot SecureAywhere Internet Security Complete 2014
Most home internet Security (IS) suites are aimed at a
single platform and three PCs – bur these days, few people have only Windows
desktops or laptop to protect. Webroot obviously sees this problem, as its
SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete product caters for five devices and
they can be Windows, Mac, iOS or Android, in any combination you choose.
While it’s still true to say that function are available in
the Windows version of the software than on the other platforms, it’s probably
also true to say that the other platform s are less at risk, too.
Webroot
SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete 2014 (we’ll call it Webroot
2014 from now on) has a discreet interface in which, at first sight, little
seems to be going on. There are two panels, showing showing the security status
of your system and a link to the Webroot Community, with a third, down the
right-hand side, which does most of the business.
Automatic scans are scheduled from the time you installed
the product and thing such as the two-way firewall and security shields are
turned o by default, so you only need to tweak settings, taher than setting up
from scratch.
Core functions like anti-virus, anti-malware and identity
theft protection are as expected, as well as extensions for all the main web
browsers to help protect against spoof websites or threats from Facebook and
Twitter pages. The one thing conspicuous by its absence is parental control, so
this is not the ideal family IS suite.
One particular strength of the 2014 package is its online
backup and sync facility. Once you have setup Webroot account, you have access
to 25GB of storage on the company’s servers, and you can backup of from any of
your registered devices.
As well as providing an online backup, where you can specify
the files and folders you want to be automatically backed up, Webroot 2014 also
automatically set up a folder called Webroot Anywhere and sync its content with
the cloud. This makes it particularly easy to sync siles between all devices
registered to use Backup & Sync. A
simple schedule is provided, so you can set the time and days on which you want
backups to occur.
System Optimizer spends most f its time cleaning out
temporary folders, and although there’s a good degree of flexibility in which
folders this covers, with the inclusion of the major browsers and other key
applications, there’s little in the way of start-up control, to tailor the apps
permitted to stat when you first boot.
Other utilities include a sandbox for testing new and
untried software in a safe environment, and a secuere date shredder, which
wipes deleted files so that can’t be recoverd.
The iOS and Android apps concentrate on Internet protection
with website warning s, social network scan, password management and online
backup. They can lock-down their host devices remotely, if stolen, and provide
location details from their GPSes. The online accont manager shows details of
all the instances of Webroot 2014 you have on your various devices.
Webroot makes a big noise about the “ridiculously fast
scans” produced by its scanning engine. Although it did scan our 30GB test file basket In just 4 minutes
and 3 seconds, it only examined 11. 130 files, giving a scan rate of 45.8 files
per second. This is fourth from bottom of the IS suites we’ve tested, so not
particularly impressive.
A low number of files scanned doesn’t necessarily indicate
less effective protection, though, as it depends on the algorithms used to
select files ripe for checking, What is more unusual is tah a second scan of
the same basket of files showed an increase in the number of files checked,
which went up to 13,475.
We normally expect to see a reduction in the files scanned
on a second pass, as most IS suites flag (or “fingerprint”) files they have
checked and that haven’t changed since the last scan, to save scanning time.
It’s hard to understand why a second scan would examine more files – why
weren’t the extra ones looked at in the first scan?
In its smost recent group test, German test site
AV-Test scored Webroot at 15.0/18.0.
This is better than respectable, putting the suite just behind the front
runners.
Breaking down the overall score shows a full 6.0/6.0 rating
for Perfomance, which evalutes the resource hit of the software while
undergoing a range of typical activities. The average hit hit for the group was
6, while Webroot showed an exemplary value of 0.
This fits with what we found when we ran our copy tests,
copying 2GB with and without a scan running. The copy time was only increased
by 5 seconds while the scan was running, the fourth best result we’ve seen.
AV-Test gave the suite 4.5/6.0 for Protection, its ability
to detect and remove malware. It spotted 100 per cent of widespread threats,
but missed 8 to 9 per cent of zero-day attacks over the two month test period.
The final category, Usability, again produced a rating of
4.5/6.0. Webroot did quite badly when it came to giving false detections of legitimate
software, producing 14 over two months, against a group average of 5. In other
areas of Usability, the suite was at or above average, though.
Verdict
Webroot 2014 offers better than average protection,
multi-platform support, and a generous online storage allowance. It may not be
the best choice for a family. If parental control is required and its system optimizer
is a little single-minded, but it’s still a sound internet security option at a
good price.
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