HEXUS.gaming : Review :: SteelSecurity

[Nick]

You're in the middle of a frantic fire-fight, the CTs are on the back foot, you've got 30 seconds 'till the bomb goes off and <b>wham!</b>... Your anti-virus has just kicked in, everything slows to a standstill and you get headshotted by the n00b with the AWP...

You need a gaming orientated security package. Which is handy as we've got the first review on the net of SteelSeries' SteelSecurity, an all in one solution that does some clever stuff for the gamer.

Check it out in this Exclusive SteelSecurity Review.

[Agent]

AVG is a great example of a decent AV program that can be stupidly annoying with its updates. It’ll quite happily drop you out of F.E.A.R. to tell you it’s just updated itself… and with AVG’s regular updates, this can be supremely annoying. I mean, why tell me you’ve updated? That’s all well and good but isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? You’re as bad as that bloody Norton for telling me how cool it is for blocking an intrusion attempt! What do you want, a medal? How about I mail the coders every time I breathe in and out? Stop telling me stuff I don’t want to know!

Or you could just turn it off in the options ?

Powered by Symantec

Whats the resource usage like ? RAM / CPU ?

[DragonStar]

How does it compare to similar suites in things like detection? I use AVG internet security which has a firewall, AV, antispam anti malware etc and ive been pretty happy with it.

[Nick]

Or you could just turn it off in the options ?

Aye, but with this I don't even have to do that

Whats the resource usage like ? RAM / CPU ?

That's the clever bit, it drops everything off when you load up a game. So updates, scans and all that malarkey are halted, the firewall sets itself up and off you go. It minimises everything to leave you with as many resources as poss for gaming.

[Nick]

How does it compare to similar suites in things like detection? I use AVG internet security which has a firewall, AV, antispam anti malware etc and ive been pretty happy with it.

It's just as good as Norton, which I use on my work machine. The spam filter is better than Outlook's for sure.

Shields Up showed it was doing the firewall thing and blocking everything.

I can't comment on the AV other than to say it must be working as I've no viruses on the gaming after having it sitting in the DMZ for two weeks.

[dave87]

...or you could go for NOD32 which uses bugger all resources, has one of the best 'in the wild' detection and cleaning/removal rates and as a result keeps your PC running well, whilst being silent and not hampering your gaming pleasures....

Seems like a bit of a marketing gimmick if I'm honest.

Dave

[DragonStar]

I can't comment on the AV other than to say it must be working as I've no viruses on the gaming after having it sitting in the DMZ for two weeks.

That you know of

[DragonStar]

On a side note the backup thing is nice to have, you tend to pay a fair bit for online remote backup, which brings me to my question, i didnt notice anywhere in the review what steel security costs?

[Nick]

&#163;29.99 with a yearly renewal of the the same, though we're waiting for that price to be confirmed by the producers.

Dave, I agree about NOD32, but there's a lot more here than just AV.

I was as sceptical as you were, I really was. I thought 'What's the point? I have all this already...' but as a complete package, it really is rather impressive.

The automatic firewall config when you launch a game is great and something like Pacific Fighter, which uses weird ports, works a dream, as does F.E.A.R., DoW, Tiger Woods, Steam, Stronghold, CoH. Sure you have to set them up as profiles but then you're done and the ports are automatically opened and closed as you load up.

[kempez]

...or you could go for NOD32 which uses bugger all resources, has one of the best 'in the wild' detection and cleaning/removal rates and as a result keeps your PC running well, whilst being silent and not hampering your gaming pleasures....

Seems like a bit of a marketing gimmick if I'm honest.

Dave

QFT

NOD32 is the best of the best

If your tech savvy you run NOD or Kapersky (I think, not sure). NOD is awesome. Just sits there and does it's job without making any fuss at all.

Sorry but if you run Norton you're a nub

[dave87]

Sorry but if you run Norton you're a nub

Even dell has the sense to provide McAfee

[s_kinton]

It looks like a good product if you take it for what it is: an all in 1 PC protection and back suite, with an added gaming feature. But, I dont think theres enough there to warrant me paying &#163;30 for it. I use Avast and my rotuer firewall, and I dont know theyre running. I turn all the avast notifications off and just set it to automatic, silent updates etc.

I can see the appeal for people with regards the 1gb of space, but the gaming profiles arent something that I feel i personally need. Everything else thats included can be got for free.....

[GeorgeTuk]

I think it would be difficult to justify having a hardware firewall and this, would seem silly to spend &#163;80 on the wireless router and then buy something that will conflict.

Wouldn't it be great if somebody built a hardware firewall with the profiles option?! Come on Netgear/Cisco pull yer fingers out!

[Whiternoise]

Hmm i might consider this.. my Norton subscription is running out in december and i want to change - Norton covers all the bases for me, it does a really good job. Except for resources, it takes about 4 minutes to get to a stage where i can run programs quickly; I can't access the net until Norton has finished loading and updating and it is a general resource hog.

I saw a review of SS in PC Gamer, who said it was a good piece of kit, but not quite in the same league as companies such as McAffee or AVG. So, i think i'll go with NOD32 for AV and Outpost Pro for firewall, but i'm open to suggestion..

thoughts?

@GeorgeTuk - i think my Linksys router does a pretty good job, you have to open it via the IP address, but you can configure port access, etc. and it's never conflicted with Norton (both my PC and my mum's has it - i'm 16 before any of you get ideas )

[Noli]

I run Avast Antivirus too and it's v v impressive. Takes up (next to) no resources, fast, efficient and Free. Will now turn off notifications too now that s_kinton has mentioned it.. thks for the tip! Having said that, Newsleecher's super search engine doesn't work with Avast on (downloading does though) but I just turn it off and on again quickly to perform this, only a couple of mouse clicks... any advice on how to stop Newsleecher being blocked are welcome!

[Rack]

I have Kaspersky Internet Security 6 and it's great AV, FW, Spam, Spyware, etc. - I've never had a problem getting kicked out of games, setup is easy, it's unobtrusive and low resource. Also if you get the OEM version it's &#163;10.

Agreed, Norton is crap. I have a friend with it on his PC, it takes an extra minute to start up since he installed norton, and constantly runs about 5 applications in the background.