Re: PC security suites (was Weird Outlook (maybe) problem)

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

3. Re: PC security suites (was Weird Outlook (maybe) problem)
(Jones, John (US))

>

Of additional potential value is the trend towards blended threats where
a virus contains spyware (or some other combo). There's no reason why
this scenario couldn't occur: A standalone AV package skips a threat as
they've chosen to classify it as spyware while the AS vendor could do
the reverse; classify it as a virus and not update their
definition/detection engine. Result: The malware gets by both packages
and infects your PC. A suite shouldn't be susceptible to this scenario.

Point-products _tend_ to include a best-of-breed candidate among all vendors' offerings for the specific product area. And suites _tend_ to have fuller coverage as well as better integration.

Suites can include a specific feature (e.g., AV) that might be great while other features (e.g., AS) are merely okay within the suite. By selecting particular point-products, you can generally get a combination that is near best-of-breed for each area while avoiding installing unneeded functions for your environment.

A company that expands to cover multiple areas can lose a step in each area. It's always a trade-off -- spend time to learn something about the quality of multiple products and then learn different product installations, activations and configurations. Or go with a single integrated suite where some parts might be 2nd-rate... perhaps.

However, I like the point about 'blended threats'. If that develops, then suites might take the lead for a long time to come.

Tom Liotta