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Webroot Internet Essentials
Price: £49.99 inc VAT

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 28/04/2005
Featured in magazine:
Issue 108
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Webroot
Tel: 0845 601 7096
Web Address: www.webroot.com/uk


Webroot has combined four of its top internet security programs into one pack at a discount price. Although you'll still need the usual firewall and anti-virus software in place, these programs can help plug the less drastic security gaps in your defences, to protect against spyware, spam and pop-ups, as well as keeping your computer clear of resource hogging digital detritus.

Features
Once you've been using a new computer for a few months, especially if you're an enthusiastic surfer, you'll start to notice the inevitable slow-down as temporary and cached files take up unnecessary space on your hard disk. Windows Washer, the star of this suite, can be used to keep such things in check on a regular basis. Also included is Spam Shredder to check your mail for spam before you download it, Spy Sweeper to combat spyware and Pop Up Washer to stop pop-ups from appearing as you surf.

Performance
All the parts of this package work well. Windows Washer has a series of plug-ins for popular programs that it recognises and can clean waste from. On our test PC it saved us nearly 600MB of space, which is not to be sniffed at. Spam Shredder made a valiant attempt at blocking spam from our email, which should improve with time as it learns your preferences, and Spy Sweeper discovered a handful of cookies that we'd prefer not to have while simultaneously protecting us from new threats. The main downside is that Pop Up Washer only works with Internet Explorer.

Ease of use
The nicest thing about buying all your software like this is that you get a coherent interface – learn one and you've learnt them all. However, they aren't all gathered in a single all-encompassing suite like Norton or McAfee's security products. Instead, each program is an individual. At its strangest, this means that a program like Spy Sweeper doesn't recognise the installation of other Webroot software, which is pulled up during installation for wanting to start automatically when Windows starts. Although this sounds a bit daft, it's probably still better to err on the side of caution.

Value for money
The big issue with this product is value for money. Spy Sweeper and Web Washer cost £25 each if you buy them individually, so you're effectively getting Spam Shredder and Pop Up Washer for free. The downside is that Spy Sweeper does a similar job to a range of free programs like Microsoft AntiSpyware (www.microsoft.com), Ad-aware (www.lavasoft.de) and Spybot (www.safer-networking.org), and there are ways of filtering spam and stopping pop-ups that are also free. You can only buy this version of the software from retailers including PC World (www.pcworld.co.uk) and Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).

More Clean-up software reviews:

• Iolo System Mechanic 8
• System Checkup
• Symantec Norton 360 Version 2.0
• Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 2.0
• Norton SystemWorks (Premier Edition)