Fortress PC

Home Tool Kit

We evaluated four home antivirus programs with proven track records: the ASP-based McAfee.com Clinic, plus the shrink-wrapped products McAfee VirusScan from Network Associates, Norton AntiVirus 2001 from Symantec, and PC-cillin 2000 from Trend Micro. We chose two PC antivirus tools--Norton AntiVirus 2001 ($40) and PC-cillin 2000 ($40 shrink-wrapped or $30 as a download).

Last year's version of Norton AntiVirus took the Best Buy award in our February 2000 antivirus roundup, and it remains one of our favorites. Like other leading antivirus products, Norton combines the tried-and-true method of scanning for known virus signatures with a process known as heuristics, which attempts to intercept new, unknown viruses by examining programs for viruslike behavior.

The product is easy to set up and, like any effective antivirus utility, has a real-time scanner that runs in the background. Norton's LiveUpdate engine checks for new virus definitions whenever you are connected to the Internet and automatically downloads the latest updates.

PC-cillin has a more graphical and intuitive interface than Norton's, it's a bit faster at scanning your entire PC for viruses, and it can more easily be set to automatically download virus updates. It also provides a basic password-protected content-filtering mechanism for blocking URLs of Web sites that home users may consider dangerous or inappropriate for children.

Home Firewalls

Many home users--especially those with high-speed connections--should set up a software firewall. We tested the ASP-based McAfee.com Personal Firewall along with BlackICE Defender 2.1 from Network ICE, Norton Personal Firewall 2001 from Symantec, Zero-Knowledge Systems' Freedom 2.0 (which includes anonymous surfing and cookie management), and Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm Pro.

Overall, the software firewalls were impressive and effective--each passed all or nearly all of the tests we threw at it. We chose our two favorite tools--BlackICE Defender and ZoneAlarm Pro (each a $40 download)--based on how easy they are to set up and use and how effectively they provide information to the user (such as details on blocked hack attacks). Earlier versions of both products shared the Best Buy in our September 2000 firewall roundup, "Make Your PC Hacker-Proof."

BlackICE Defender is a no-frills utility: It's easy to set up, it has an intuitive interface, and it doesn't need much attention. Resembling an antivirus program, it quietly checks all the Net traffic coming into your PC against a database of known hacking methods and scans for known Trojan horses. (Updates can be set to run automatically.) It stopped all the attacks in our tests.

If you want to know precisely what BlackICE Defender is doing, you can review a detailed list of suspicious probes and their originating IP addresses. Defender also provides an intuitive graphical display of all network activity, the intensity of outside probes, and their severity over a period of time.

ZoneAlarm Pro is considerably more complex. It not only filters incoming data but also watches which programs on your system attempt to access the Internet. You can allow connections on a case-by-case basis or tell ZoneAlarm to remember your preference every time the application runs. By watching individual programs, ZoneAlarm Pro can catch and block Trojan horses and "spyware" programs, which send information about you and your PC back to their makers.

Pro includes a feature called MailSafe, which allows you to quarantine e-mail attachments that may carry viruses or Trojan horses. And if you opt to set up a small home network, Pro can also filter traffic passing through a gateway PC that uses network address translation or Internet connection sharing. With Pro installed on every PC, the gateway computer can monitor all traffic and applications.

Zone Labs offers home users a free version of ZoneAlarm that provides similar protection but fewer customization options and no network support. It also includes a simpler version of MailSafe. For home users who don't need Pro's extra features, the free download is a great choice.

File Encryptors

We looked at four file-encryption products--CenturionSoft's Steganos Security Suite, CyPost's Navaho Lock, Network Associates' PGP Personal Privacy, and Panda Software's Panda Security. Steganos Security Suite ($60) wins our recommendation. It protects your data with extremely secure 128-bit encryption, which you activate by simply dragging and dropping a file onto an icon of a safe. You then unlock the data with a password.

But Steganos stands out because of the many additional security features it offers. For example, you can use a process called steganography to create a hidden drive letter for encrypted data or to hide one data file inside another. Steganos also has a handy password-management utility for storing all your passwords in an encrypted folder; a virtual shredder, which ensures that deleted files cannot be retrieved; and a feature called SysLock that password-protects access to your computer.

Steganos even lets you encrypt e-mail, although, as you'll see later, we preferred another product for this task. Steganos doesn't come with a manual, but it's so intuitive, you don't really need one.

Must-Have

Antivirus utility: Norton AntiVirus 2001 or PC-cillin 2000

Optional

Firewall: BlackICE Defender 2.1 or ZoneAlarm Pro

File encryptor: Steganos Security Suite

E-mail encryptor: Sigaba Secure

Anonymous-surfing service: Anonymizer