App Review F-Secure TOTAL 2024 (Re-Test)

It is advised to take all reviews with a grain of salt. In extreme cases some reviews use dramatization for entertainment purposes.
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Shadowra

Shadowra

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F-Secure is a relatively young Finnish company.
I had already tested it, but in its latest version, F-Secure has integrated AI Machine Learning detection into DeepGuard.
I'm quite intrigued by this, so let's have a look together...



User interface :
F-Secure has changed the aesthetics of its interface, which was already quite attractive.
Help is also available to explain the various modules for novices.


Web protection: 10/10
F-Secure blocked all malicious links during the test.
A very good score, thanks to high-performance, intelligent Web protection.


Fake crack : 0,80/1
F-Secure has blocked all installations but a CPL file is missed using rundll32.exe .

Malware Pack : Remaining 17 out of 698 threats.
F-Secure has a good anti-malware engine. But less so for scripts. Even if the editor does try, it's still not enough.
The Machine Learning AI didn't react, but I can't blame it because it's new.
There's still work to be done!

Final scan :
F-Secure : 0
Autoruns : 2 malicious keys (KillSwitch AutoRuns)
NPE : 0 (The file detected is a script used by KVRT - ignored)
KVRT: 4 (Infection Memory !! )
Malwarebytes : 5
Emsisoft : 5

Final opinion:

F-Secure provides relatively good, consistent protection.
However, there are still major weaknesses in the scripts as the machine is infected...
There's a will and a desire to improve, and the publisher mustn't give up and continue its efforts.
 

Bot

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Apr 21, 2016
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Thanks for the comprehensive review! It's great to see F-Secure incorporating AI Machine Learning into its security system. Your observations about its performance against scripts and the need for further development are insightful. Looking forward to your future reviews.
 

Jonny Quest

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Did you find any general performance issues compared to other AV's?

Do you mean as far as seeing the April performance summary from AV-Comparatives?

preformance april 2024.png
 
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BSONE

Level 2
Feb 17, 2024
75
Do you mean as far as seeing the April performance summary from AV-Comparatives?

Correct. This is what I was referring to: The CPU performance hit on the AV Comparatives review
 

franz

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May 29, 2021
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Would you like to test f-secure 19.4 together with PIA VPN WireGuard? I have thrown f-secure out because this combination which has never been a problem is now completely impossible. I can't access many websites, can't access banks etc. This now also applies with 19.3. A few days ago this was working but after updating it was broken. f-secure now no longer works with PIA VPN, and I wonder if this is done on purpose so that people will be pressured to use f-secure's VPN. ;)
 
F

ForgottenSeer 109138

Would you like to test f-secure 19.4 together with PIA VPN WireGuard? I have thrown f-secure out because this combination which has never been a problem is now completely impossible. I can't access many websites, can't access banks etc. This now also applies with 19.3. A few days ago this was working but after updating it was broken. f-secure now no longer works with PIA VPN, and I wonder if this is done on purpose so that people will be pressured to use f-secure's VPN. ;)
That's interesting because the last time I used PIA it was triggering "captchas" like they were going out of style. Are you positive that's not your issue?
 
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Shadowra

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Would you like to test f-secure 19.4 together with PIA VPN WireGuard? I have thrown f-secure out because this combination which has never been a problem is now completely impossible. I can't access many websites, can't access banks etc. This now also applies with 19.3. A few days ago this was working but after updating it was broken. f-secure now no longer works with PIA VPN, and I wonder if this is done on purpose so that people will be pressured to use f-secure's VPN. ;)

I don't use PIA any more :/
 

franz

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That's interesting because the last time I used PIA it was triggering "captchas" like they were going out of style. Are you positive that's not your issue?
The only thing I can answer you is that I have no problems with Avast, Norton or Kaspersky that I am currently using. My daughter has exactly the same problems with f-secure and PIA, so she now uses Avast, of course based on Shadowra's test
 
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F

ForgottenSeer 109138

The only thing I can answer you is that I have no problems with Avast, Norton or Kaspersky that I am currently using. My daughter has exactly the same problems with f-secure and PIA, so she now uses Avast, of course based on Shadowra's test
I've not used it combined with any of those, used it as a standalone, and found I had problems with certain sites and plenty of captchas. Thought I'd mention it.
 

Oldie1950

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F

ForgottenSeer 109138

Google has now solved the problem.
That's a different issue as I wasn't using Firefox and the triggering of the catchas was from shared IP address and the fact that some vpn servers are used more then others by bots.

Even PIA website has a tip to avoid these issues but it requires paying more money for dedicated ip addresses. Avoiding captchas link
 

flaubert1971

Level 2
Oct 14, 2019
71
Would you like to test f-secure 19.4 together with PIA VPN WireGuard? I have thrown f-secure out because this combination which has never been a problem is now completely impossible. I can't access many websites, can't access banks etc. This now also applies with 19.3. A few days ago this was working but after updating it was broken. f-secure now no longer works with PIA VPN, and I wonder if this is done on purpose so that people will be pressured to use f-secure's VPN. ;)

I'm not an F-Secure user but have been using PIA for years. I tried running both in windows sandbox and everything seems to work fine.

 

franz

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May 29, 2021
432
I have been using PIA for 11 years now with Firefox and have never seen this before. The problem was similar with Edge as well. What speaks against this being the problem is, I reinstalled f-secure 19.3 and then everything was fine for a couple of days, but then updates with f-secure came and then the problems started again without being updated to 19.4. I'm inclined to think that the problem is due to f-secure.
 
F

ForgottenSeer 109138

I have been using PIA for 11 years now with Firefox and have never seen this before. The problem was similar with Edge as well. What speaks against this being the problem is, I reinstalled f-secure 19.3 and then everything was fine for a couple of days, but then updates with f-secure came and then the problems started again without being updated to 19.4. I'm inclined to think that the problem is due to f-secure.
Your best bet is a little trouble shooting. I would uninstall f-secure and reboot the system then test the functions you are having issues with, if the issue persists after uninstalling f-secure you know that's not the cause and reinstallation is relatively easy. If it happens to be the issue, and your next step was already planned to change security and continue using PIA, then you are already ahead with the product uninstalled.
 

franz

Level 9
Verified
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May 29, 2021
432
Your best bet is a little trouble shooting. I would uninstall f-secure and reboot the system then test the functions you are having issues with, if the issue persists after uninstalling f-secure you know that's not the cause and reinstallation is relatively easy. If it happens to be the issue, and your next step was already planned to change security and continue using PIA, then you are already ahead with the product
I tested without f-secure and everything was fine, tested without PIA with f-secure and everything was fine too, so my conclusion after this including that my daughter with her computer had the same problems, it is f-secure that is not working right now with PIA. Maybe in a while this will change, but now I run Kaspersky instead on my main machine and it works great as it always has. Maybe f-secure will work fine with another VPN, but I'd rather replace f-secure.
 

franz

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
May 29, 2021
432
F-Secure provides relatively good, consistent protection.
However, there are still major weaknesses in the scripts as the machine is infected...
There's a will and a desire to improve, and the publisher mustn't give up and continue its efforts.
F-secure 19.5 is out now, please consider testing this version as well;)
 
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