Computer Associates(ca) is one of those really big IT management firm providing all sorts of IT solutions to businesses. One of their areas of expertise is security management. Since most of our readers are generally home users, we will be taking a look at one of CA’s best security product for Home & Home Office - the CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008.
The Product
Software: CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 Trial
Price: US$69.99 for support up to 3 PCs
Features:
CA Anti-virus
CA Anti-spyware
CA Personal firewall
CA Anti-spam
CA Website inspector
CA Parental control
CA Desktop DNA migrator
Website: http://shop.ca.com/malware/internet_security_suite.aspx
Installation
Installer size: 99mb
Installation time: Took longer compared to other security suite
Ease of installation: Average (user might not understand some of the terms used or unsure whether to enable some of the features)
Graphical User Interface
Main Control Panel
Comment: Components are nicely arrange in order.
CA Anti-virus Panel
Comment: Task buttons are easily locatable. Anti-virus settings are pretty basic down to just enabling components, cleaning/quarantine option and setting up a scan scheduler . The only advance setting available is turning on or off the heuristic scanning.
CA Scanning in Progress
Comment: The scan progress keeps track of the number of infected files and list down the type and location of the malware. Sadly it doesn’t come with a time keeper - you wouldn’t know when the scan will be completed.
CA Personal Firewall
Comment: A pop-up alert you whenever a program is trying to connect to the internet. Under the Firewall menu, there is a list of all softwares on your computer which are either granted or blocked its access to the internet. It also gives a green tick to active processes which are accessing the internet.
CA Parental Control
Comment: Compared to other security suite with parental control, we like CA’s Parental Control. You will have the usual time table to set for internet access, then you can set the categories of website your child is not allowed to visit (adult, gambling, chat, drugs, romance) or you can have the option to add more website’s url to the list of blocked site. The sweet thing about CA Parental Control is that it have a reporting tool such that it will generate a list of blocked site your children have been trying to access.
CA Desktop DNA Migrator
Comment: The CA Desktop DNA Migrator basically allows you to perform a backup for system settings, application settings, files & folders and file rules.
Performance
Active Memory: ~96.9mb (whoa!)
CPU Usage: average 60-70% when performing a scan
Detection: Fairly Good
Conclusion
It is worth considering on such a product if you have a high specification computer. 
I installed CA Security Center on my Compaq Presario R3000 personal laptop a few months back as it was a free download for me as a subscriber to Time Warner’s Road Runner high speed internet service. I suppose it does the job it’s supposed to do, but apparently at a cost of lots of CPU. I disabled every piece of the product save the firewall, and my CPU usage went down dramatically. No longer does the fan have to kick on all the time (thereby saving my lap from getting ridiculously hot), and everything runs much, much faster now. I recommend looking elsewhere for virus protection.
Yup, it does consume a lot of RAM space. Close to 100mb.