Kaspersky PURE 2.0 Total Security v12.0.2.733

Kaspersky PURE 2.0 Total Security is the latest version of Kaspersky's do-it-all suite, a comprehensive toolkit which includes just about every security feature you could ever want.

A powerful antivirus engine delivers strong real-time protection, for instance, monitoring your downloads, email attachments, instant messaging traffic, the files you access, and more, to detect and block all incoming threats.

An excellent firewall stops network attacks and prevents spyware from phoning home, while keeping annoying pop-up alerts to a minimum.

Phishing protection helps to protect you from online scams, while another module scans all scripts processed in Internet Explorer, blocking anything dangerous from running.

A simple backup program makes it quick and easy to keep your most valuable documents and files from disaster.

And elsewhere, parental controls keep your kids safe online; a spam filter protects your inbox; a vulnerability scanner detects and highlights poorly chosen Windows and IE settings, as well as applications that are missing security updates; a sandbox allows you to run suspect programs in an isolated environment where they can't harm your PC; and there's an encryption tool, a virtual keyboard to bypass keyloggers; a data shredder to securely wipe confidential files; and the list goes on.

What's new in this "Total Security" release?

The interface has been enhanced to simplify use and provide more feedback on your PC's security status. The Parental Controls now do a better job of controlling who your kids can contact on social networking sites. The Password Manager now includes a "Portable Version" function which enables you to export your passwords to a file on a USB flash drive, so you can easily use them on other PCs (even if they don't have Kaspersky PURE 2.0 Total Security installed).

And backup performance is reportedly improved, though we haven't tested this ourselves.

Kaspersky PURE 2.0 "Critical Fix 2" is now available, labelled as build 12.2.0.733. Critical Fix 2 brings these improvements:

* Windows 8 has been added to the list of supported operating systems.
* Scenario of upgrading to Windows 8 has been added.
* Support of new versions of web browsers (Mozilla Firefox 9-15, Google Chrome 17-21) by application modules has been added.
* Anti-Phishing has been improved.
* Cloud-enabled protection has been enhanced considerably. The cloud technology in combination with conventional signature-based methods provides a high level of security for computers, whether or not they have a permanent Internet connection.
* Update process has been improved. Update process concedes access priority to hard disk to other applications.
* Configuration of the Backup and Restore, Parental Control, Home Network Control and Data Encryption components has been simplified to provide ease of use for people with different levels of computer literacy.
* Password Manager has been improved and upgraded.

There are cheaper ways to secure your PC, but few that deliver quite as much power and functionality as Kaspersky PURE Total Security