FREE G Data Internet Security 2012 Download With 6 Months Key

Five or six years ago security suites for the "new model year" appeared in the fall, around the same time as the next year's automobiles. After a while, though, the start of the season began to creep earlier and earlier. It's only May and G Data InternetSecurity 2012 ($44.95 direct for three licenses), this year's first 2012 entry, is already out. While it's not wildly different from the 2011 edition (released this past November), it has made improvements in some areas.

The G Data suite's installer is almost 350MB. By measuring free space before and after install, I determined that it takes about 580MB of disk space. That's bigger than some, but not a worry given the size of modern hard drives. The nicely laid-out main window offers the expected security status and access to scans and settings. In addition, it displays the system's CPU load and the load specific to the suite itself.

During installation you can choose to install two optional features, parental control and "Shredder." The latter is a secure deletion facility external to the main program. You can shred any file or folder by dropping it on the Shredder desktop icon or right-clicking it and choosing Shred. Files deleted using this tool can't be recovered, period.

Good Malware Blocking
This suite's malware protection is exactly the same as that of G Data AntiVirus 2012 ($29.95 direct, 3.5 stars). For full details, please read my review of the standalone antivirus utility. I'll summarize those results here.

The independent antivirus test labs generally give G Data good marks. In particular it passed the certification tests by AV-Test.org under Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. The company rated each product on protection against malware attack, repair of malware infestations, and usability. Under all three platforms G Data's repair score was the lowest of the three; my own test results also showed repair to be weak.

The chart below summarizes test results for the current crop of antivirus programs. For details on how I derived this summary, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

Getting G Data installed for testing was tough. Malware on three of my twelve infested systems prevented installation, and three others locked up after the required reboot during installation. I had to resort to the company's Boot CD to get the product installed, and the Boot CD wiped out a significant number of virus-infected files rather than disinfecting them. Bye-bye, Firefox! Bye-bye Microsoft Word! That's pretty extreme, but, on the other hand, the virus was gone, and you can always repair Microsoft Office or reinstall Firefox."

G Data detected 83 percent of the samples, but left behind executable files for quite a few of them and plenty of non-executable traces too, resulting in a malware removal score of just 5.4 points. It detected 86 percent of the rootkit samples and scored 5.3 points for rootkit removal.

The one high point in G Data's test results came in the breakout score for scareware removal. G Data detected all of the scareware threats and scored 8.4 points for scareware removal. avast! Rescue Disc ($10/once direct, 3.5 stars) is the only other product that I've tested using my latest collection of malware samples, so the test results for other products may not be directly comparable. For full details on how I derive these scores, see How We Test Malware Removal.

Download the setup file with built in 6 months license.