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

[qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

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