F-Secure SAFE is a clear and easy anti-malware suite that’s somewhat gentle on options past parental controls.
Pros
- Good vary of options, together with parental controls
- Renews at buy worth
- Unobtrusive
Cons
- Less correct than some rivals
- Lacks webcam safety
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Parental controlsTime limits and content material filtering for kids of varied ages -
Gaming modeCeases notifications and CPU-intensive exercise when a recreation or software runs at full display screen -
Protected browserProtected browser mode for safe on-line banking and purchases -
Per-folder ransomware safetySelect particular folders to be protected in opposition to unauthorised modifications
Introduction
F-Secure SAFE supplies a easy, unobtrusive number of antivirus and parental management instruments for dwelling customers.
It doesn’t jack up the worth when your subscription renews, makes it very straightforward to choose out to auto-renewals completely, and it’s fairly competitively priced. But is it one of many best antivirus choices?
Pricing
F-Secure SAFE doesn’t robotically signal you up for an auto-renewing subscription, however subsequent years nonetheless price greater than the primary.
F-Secure has scrapped the widespread business follow of getting renewals at a better worth than preliminary subscriptions, which I very a lot welcome. The firm has additionally modified its tiers so that you just get extra to your cash. Its entry-level annual $34.99/£59.99 subscription now covers three gadgets, somewhat than one.
In an analogous vein, you’ll pay $44.99/£79.99 a 12 months for 5 gadgets and $54.99/£99.99 for seven. One- and two-year subscriptions can be found for as much as 25 gadgets, and in the event you don’t need to be billed in opposition to the subsequent 12 months, merely choose “No” underneath the clearly marked “Renew expiring subscription automatically” choice on the acquisition web page.
Features
- Includes parental controls
- Thin on options in comparison with rivals
With shopper anti-malware suites, you’re paying for extra than simply virus safety, and F-Secure supplies vary of instruments to your cash. Parental controls are launched at set up time, with choices for instantly setting closing dates and content material filtering for kids of varied ages. You can set up the software program to be used by a youthful member of the family, too.
Device administration and monitoring is accessible via the identical system to all members of your F-Secure account.
There are, after all, a spread of real-time and on-demand scans obtainable, though your choices right here aren’t as granular as these of some rivals resembling ESET Internet Security. For instance, if you’d like boot sector scanning, you’ll need to run a full system scan.
A variety of F-Secure’s exercise occurs underneath the bonnet. For instance, DeepGuard solely means that you can run functions that F-Secure’s cloud is aware of to be secure, and ransomware safety prevents chosen folders from being modified with out permission. There’s additionally a notification-free Gaming mode you can activate through a right-click menu on the software program’s notification space icon.
Browsing safety blocks suspicious web sites and people which might be identified to be harmful, whereas browser extensions can be found to assist present a safe banking expertise that guards in opposition to spy ware. You can additional block any software from downloading recordsdata over HTTP, if you could particularly lock down a system in opposition to Trojan horses and the like. However, that is off by default, because it’s more likely to get in the way in which of day-to-day actions.
F-Secure’s settings interface carefully resembles that of Windows’ personal settings, which is comfy, however there actually isn’t a lot there in the case of options with which you’ll be able to really work together. I’d have appreciated to see a firewall or another front-end to the built-in Windows firewall.
Malware Detection Performance
F-Secure’s malware detection engine scored a 100% defence score in three out of 4 of AV-Test’s most up-to-date real-world and malware reference sample-scanning assessments. However, its real-world safety rating in February 2022 was 99.5%, indicating that it failed to identify one malware pattern.
| Testing facility | AV-TEST | AV Comparatives | SE Labs |
| Real-World Threat Protection | 99.75% | N/A | 98% |
It improved on its efficiency in SE Labs’ most up-to-date assessments, with a safety score that improved from 96% to 98%. AV Comparatives doesn’t embody F-Secure SAFE in its assessments.
This is not at all a poor displaying, coming in only a hair beneath that of Microsoft Defender throughout all assessments. However, Defender is free and comes inbuilt to Windows 10 and 11, so F-Secure has to compete on options, somewhat than both comfort or efficiency.
Best Offers
Should you purchase it?
You desire a easy antivirus:
F-Secure has a lovely interface that blends effectively with Windows. It has the core options you want for household virus safety, good parental controls and is unobtrusive.
You need finest worth for cash:
F-Secure’s virus detection is usually good, however it isn’t as much as Trend Micro, Kaspersky or Microsoft’s anti-malware choices, and Microsoft Defender is free.
Final Thoughts
It’s nice to make use of, however there’s little when it comes to malware defence or options to advocate F-Secure SAFE over Microsoft Defender. If you’re right here for the additional options, paid-for shopper rival Kaspersky Internet Security has extra of them, however F-Secure’s parental controls are simpler to deploy.
How we take a look at
We use each antivirus suite ourselves, so we will take a look at their numerous options, from scanning choices to built-in extras resembling parental controls. The outcomes we use to evaluate malware detection performance come from respected testing homes together with AV-Test, AV Comparatives and SE Labs.
We obtain and use the software program ourselves to check the included options
We use information from trusted and authorised testing homes to find out the malware detection efficiency
FAQs
Yes, you could pay for a subscription with a view to use F-Secure SAFE.
Microsoft Defender scored higher within the malware detection assessments not too long ago, however F-Secure does have further options.