The tutorial leads you straight to the Internet (assuming you are connected), while the Start-up Wizard lets you make decisions regarding ongoing operation. We opted to run the Start-up Wizard the first time we used the program, but you can run it later via the F-Secure options on the Programs/All Programs menu. The wizard's customization offerings are minimal and mostly unnecessary, given the program's intuitive nature. Nevertheless, at some point you need to run a computer check and establish virus scan schedules, both of which the wizard prompts you to do.

Plan To Scan

If you run the wizard and opt for a system scan, you cannot control which drives, folders, and other elements F-Secure scrutinizes, although you can make adjustments for subsequent scans. On our 650GB, two-drive system, the scan took three hours. We worked through the scan with little affect on performance, although the system halted a couple of times (once for about 20 seconds).

Because we were working, F-Secure was unable to clean a tracking cookie it found or scan some important files, including the archive file our backup program accessed during the scan. Consequently, we recommend you run the initial scan when you—and your backup software—won’t use the PC for several hours. Shut down all running applications and let the initial scan run unimpeded.

Personal Choices

The product falls in the middle of the pack (among its peers) in terms of customizability. The spam controls have three presets—Aggressive, Medium, and Relaxed—and let you create Allow and Filter (check for spam) lists. However, you cannot block or allow by specific keywords or spam probability rank. The Parental Control feature has only three presets—Small Child, Teenager, or both—and you cannot create custom profiles for different users (nor can you control or monitor program usage). The wizard lets you block content types and activities (for example drugs, sex, Webmail, and chat) and establish time restrictions. You must dig into the Advanced options to access browsing histories or execute site-level browsing control.

The Internet Shield and the Virus & Spy Protection modules offer numerous presets, but customization (which can be extensive) is better left to experts only. One preset we really liked was Performance-Optimized, which helps the program run on systems that aren’t quite up to snuff.

Overall, the program worked so well only dedicated tinkerers (and maybe your oldest teenager) will be bothered by the lack of customizability. The system tray icon gives you quick access to all controls, and the program is so intuitive that pop-ups for Internet access were nonexistent (very nice). There is some lag time scanning incoming email attachments and opening complex files (such as Adobe Acrobat PDFs) but generally, performance is good. If you want a solid program that does its thing with minimal intrusion into your daily activities, this is a very good choice.

by Jennifer Farwell

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