Rant Dont Buy Kaspersky Internet Suite!!!

[rynnor]

Seriously! I have installed this on two pc's - XP service pack 2 and Vista - both suffer from random BSOD due to this software.

The XP machine is so crippled it will require a complete clean re-install - it crashes 3-4 times on start up before I can get a stable session - the Vista machine is less affected but still suffers from BSOD every couple of days.

I have fully updated the software so my only conclusion is that its Sh*te - it does a fair job as an anti-viral but the constant BSOD are thrashing my hardware.

Note - this is my 2nd attempt to post this on my XP pc but the first time around it BSOD'd as I was writing it - lol!

If I wasnt so lazy I'd sue them for charging me for this shit...

 

[Mabs]

grats on being the only person ive ever heard of having a prob with that

most odd

 

[gunner440]

It's you.

 

[rynnor]

It's you.

I thought so when it was 1 machine but two totally seperate machines with completely different specs (1 laptop 1 desktop) running different O/S seems a bit of a stretch.

I think the pure Anti-virus program is probably ok but the internet suite includes lots of other bits and this seems to be the culprit...

 

[Starman]

Personally Barclays recently gave away a copy of Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and I've installed it on one box and have had no issues thus far.

 

[Mazling]

I'm having bluescreens here. "An interrupt request on a secondary processor was not received within the allocated time" or something. It might have been my water block come loose (again) ... what blue screen have you had?

All this aside, Kaspersky does slow down a computer, and does sometimes interfere with program installers, but it's pretty much bulletproof.

 

[Yaka]

its russian therfore its baaad,

 

[rynnor]

Personally Barclays recently gave away a copy of Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and I've installed it on one box and have had no issues thus far.

I turned on practically everything - how is yours configured? I wonder if its one of the optional extras thats screwing it?

 

[rynnor]

I've just been on their official forums and theres quite a number of threads about people getting random BSOD's from having this software installed - it works ok for some people but I stand by my warning - one best avoided!

 

[ford prefect]

Yeah I have had the same issues with this on my mp3 machine, which uses an old nforce3 mobo. Obviously that PC won't run vista (cheers Nvidia), and I tend to stick with AVG on my Vista machines tbh. I tried it on a vista laptop and it seemed to become quite unstable too, but once removed everything was back to normal.

 

[Litmus]

wtf is this software?

 

[Cromcruaich]

I dont like any of this internet security labelled bloatware. Complete overkill.

 

[Mazling]

I dont like any of this internet security labelled bloatware. Complete overkill.

Kaskpersky in antivirus, firewall, spam filter, and sits watching what your apps do and stop them doing anything nasty! Very configurable, very useful, but it can slow down a computer. The best computer protection however can be found sat on the seat in front of your comp, right about now ;-) Usually an ignorant user is the weakest link so this stuff can be useful.

Oh and my bluescreens were to do with using different/faulty sticks of ram.

 

[Cromcruaich]

Kaskpersky in antivirus, firewall, spam filter, and sits watching what your apps do and stop them doing anything nasty! Very configurable, very useful, but it can slow down a computer. The best computer protection however can be found sat on the seat in front of your comp, right about now ;-) Usually an ignorant user is the weakest link so this stuff can be useful.

Oh and my bluescreens were to do with using different/faulty sticks of ram.

Aye exactly. best ways to protect pc with no impact on your systems performance and no bloatware is

Correctly configured firewalled router
Active management of website white and black lists
Dont do everything in an account with admin privs
Dont go near sites that offer warez, and dont execute warez.
Dont execute any executables downloaded from p2p sites or similiar
Ensure you apply windows updates
Dont let your gf or little brother use your pc
And regards spam email - sign up to nothing and never post your email address on public forums or usenet news groups.
Take those steps and you will get away without any AV, software firewalls or malware prevention software and email spam filters

Still not everyone can be arsed taking such precautions. If you gonna troll for warez do it on a virtual PC that you can just clear at the end of the session!

 

[ST^]

Windows users don't have much of a choice running as an administrator as long as certain software requires ridiculous privileges to run.

 

[Cromcruaich]

Windows users don't have much of a choice running as an administrator as long as certain software requires ridiculous privileges to run.

thats what runas is for - you just run that software as an administrator. Windows users are just too lazy. Even in that instance it generally because the software has been badly written so it wants to write to registry areas and local folders that a basic user doesnt have change permissions to. Quick permission change can sort that out. Though yes it aint really practical to try and second guess where the hell the software vendor is trying to write to now.

Anyway i digress - runas is your friend.

 

[Mazling]

gg thx pld. More bluescreens. Same ones.

 

[ST^]

thats what runas is for - you just run that software as an administrator. Windows users are just too lazy. Even in that instance it generally because the software has been badly written so it wants to write to registry areas and local folders that a basic user doesnt have change permissions to. Quick permission change can sort that out. Though yes it aint really practical to try and second guess where the hell the software vendor is trying to write to now.

Anyway i digress - runas is your friend.

But then (pre-Vista at least) you lose your My Documents shell shortcut. For the average user, expecting them to go through Documents And Settings, or use a folder other than My Documents to store stuff, isn't exactly workable.

 

[Mazling]

KIS7 & KIS2009 BSODs in Vista - Kaspersky Lab Forum - Seems others have been having problems too. I've reverted to KIS 6 and the bluescreens have gone away!

 

[Hawkwind]

What do you expect, inferrior communist bloatware!

 

[Mazling]

Kaspersky is pretty much bulletproof, plus you can disable what you don't want of it

 

[Cromcruaich]

But then (pre-Vista at least) you lose your My Documents shell shortcut. For the average user, expecting them to go through Documents And Settings, or use a folder other than My Documents to store stuff, isn't exactly workable.

Yes, the average windows user isnt gonna be off using runas or changing registry permissions. They just carry on playing around on an account that has full privs. Its one of the reasons why windows has a reputation for security holes over linux/unix - linux/unix users generally know what they are doing and are technically savvy, windows users can be anything from your 8 year old sister to your 80 year old grandmother. Obviously though, there is a KFC bargain bucket of worms to open here.

Anyway, not disagreeing, just musing aloud and going OT.

Should be able to use the /env switch to keep the current user environment btw.

 

[Cromcruaich]

Kaspersky is pretty much bulletproof, plus you can disable what you don't want of it

PC World are trying to flog it now.

 

[Sar]

I use Kaspersky when I'm in Windows - works very well IMO.

 

[Mazling]

KIS7 & KIS2009 BSODs in Vista - Kaspersky Lab Forum

I've just got a pm with some instructions to add a new update server for kaspersky 7 and 8. This is of course probably beta and may well suck your computer into the warp but do have a go if you are having bluescreen troubles and remember to mail your crashdumps to kaspersky.
I've just installed kis7 again and updated, and will get back with my results.

 

[rynnor]

Actually I've just had another problem with it on the xp box - it somehow knackered itself so that it wouldnt start up even if manually started - I had to take it back to an earlier checkpoint and re-install.

Oh and another slight issue with Kaspersky is that you can never un-install it

It removes a lot of very basic things like TCP/IP drivers and replaces them with Kasperskys own ones for security reasons - the upshot of that is that if you ever un-install it now you have no tcp-ip drivers - good luck getting on teh Net

Note - your best bet in that situation is to restore back to before you removed it... Unless you fancy re-installing windows...

Edit - the reason Kaspersky is so good at anti-virus is that it works at a very low level - all the problems with it also stem from this low level approach however...

 

[Mazling]

Actually I've just had another problem with it on the xp box - it somehow knackered itself so that it wouldnt start up even if manually started - I had to take it back to an earlier checkpoint and re-install.

Oh and another slight issue with Kaspersky is that you can never un-install it

It removes a lot of very basic things like TCP/IP drivers and replaces them with Kasperskys own ones for security reasons - the upshot of that is that if you ever un-install it now you have no tcp-ip drivers - good luck getting on teh Net

Note - your best bet in that situation is to restore back to before you removed it... Unless you fancy re-installing windows...

Edit - the reason Kaspersky is so good at anti-virus is that it works at a very low level - all the problems with it also stem from this low level approach however...

I have uninstalled and reinstalled it quite a lot these past few days, trying out the latest version (which is awful) and alternating between 6 and 7. The uninstallation was smooth, and no system drivers were removed. I don't remember any problems on XP and here on Vista uninstall/reinstall has all been fine. Tell them!

 

[Kryten]

You're all clearly missing the point.

For decent all round internet security and virus protection, hire a midget.
Your midget will stand next to you and your PC whilst you surf. He will be wearing nothing but a leather bondage getup and a large, stingy cat-o-nine tails.
If you meander onto a nasty site, naughty site or suffer a virus, you shall be whipped to within an inch of your life. You'll soon learn to surf safely














Bit more seriously though, I basically trial nearly everything I can get my hands on in VM's, Kaspersky included. Although some of them do work at a much "lower level" as you say, uninstallation does replace the changed system files with backups - these backups are either normally kept in the original folder or within the program's folder. If uninstallation doesn't put everything back how it should, there's something seriously wrong with the package itself. I run changelog software on my testing VM so I can tell exactly what's been changed, moved, added and removed during installation and then uninstallation, and then also run a comparison afterwards; it then flags up any differences from before installation and after uninstallation. The latest version of Kaspersky was absolutely fine in this respect. If any version you have isn't, the best thing you can do for yourself and other prospective users is contact Kaspersky labs and raise an issue (obviously check their FAQ's etc beforehand)

 

[Aeiedil]

Kaspersky on it's own doesn't cause BSOD's, I run it at work with no issues as does everyone else there.

 

[rynnor]

Kaspersky on it's own doesn't cause BSOD's <For Me>, I run it at work with no issues as does everyone else there.

Here, I fixed that for you - just because it works fine for you is not a good basis to make a general prediction.

I never said it wouldnt work full stop but I thought it reasonable to mention it to others who may get unexplained BSOD's after installing it.