CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 5-User

by CA Inc.

Product Details

• ASIN: B001IDTMW0
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,397 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Not tested with 64-bit Vista (apparently), March 10, 2009

By 

Neiman Alvarez (Gainesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 5-User (Electronics)

I received a copy of CA's Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 with a computer I purchased from Tiger Direct. On the CD case, it says it's compatible with 32- and 64-bit Vista, but has a footnote indicating the 64-bit version is a download from their website. So I downloaded the 64-bit version and installed it with the CD key. I was previously using Norton and uninstalled that just prior.

The product seemed to work ok in the first couple of days. The first virus scan was probably the longest I have ever seen any virus scan run on any of my PCs. When the scan finished, it said it found 4 "viruses", which were all benign tracking cookies.

Unfortunately within about 2-3 days of installing the product, Windows would not boot. (I would just get a black screen.) I could only boot in safe mode. I suspected the CA Security Suite to be the problem, so I disabled the services from safe mode and rebooted into normal mode--this time successfully. I then reenabled from safe-mode and confirmed that Windows would not boot with the CA Security Suite turned on.

At this point I decided to uninstall the product. I booted back into safe mode and used the uninstall from Vista's Add/Remove Programs. A few of the components uninstalled correctly, but the Antivirus and Firewall failed to uninstall. I tried several times, rebooting etc. with the same result. Then I searched CA's support forums and found an uninstaller program. When I ran that and reran the uninstall, the anti-virus uninstalled successfully, but the firewall still did not. I rebooted and tried again with same result.

So I searched some more forums and found a list of files and registry keys to manually uninstall the 32-bit version of the CA Security Suite. I decided to follow these instructions, but also adding the folders and keys that exist in 64-bit Vista. That appeared to have worked. But I still couldn't turn Windows Firewall back on because it thought the CA Firewall was still running (it wasn't).

To get help on the last part, I tried to use CA's remote assist feature on their website; however their remote assist software kept failing to run--no surpise at this point. So I sent them an email to ask how to finish uninstalling it. Instead of waiting for their response, I decided to download and install McAfee Security Suite (a much better product), and the final reference to the CA Firewall just disappeared. My computer has been working fine ever since. All in all, I wasted almost an entire day with this product.

The software did work for about 3 days. So here are some other observations:

1. As part of the security suite, a CA Security toolbar is installed in the upper right corner of Internet Explorer. Unlike most toolbars, there is no option to hide or disable it.

2. My CA license key had a full year subscription. But every time I opened the CA Security Center it displayed a security warning telling me to extend my subscription (to make sure I stay protected!). It clearly displayed my subscription expiration date to be one year in the future, and yet continually displayed the warning icon on the taskbar warning me to renew. Apparently, the only way to get rid of the warning is to disable all security warnings or extend my license beyond a year. No thanks, I'll pass. Security warnings should be used for actual security concerns, not for marketing.

Bottom line: If you have 64-bit Vista, do not waste your time with this.

2.0 out of 5 stars I would NOT buy this product again, January 26, 2009

By 

computer user (Northern NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 5-User (Electronics)

I had used Norton Symantec for years but thought I would try something else. Big mistake.

The CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 caused all sorts of problems on my brand new computer until I finally uninstalled it and opted for a different product, which seems to be working fine.

There did not appear to be any phone number (that I could find) where I could talk to any CA tech support person, and I think that's unacceptable.

During the one month I used this product, I got five to ten messages daily telling me the product was no longer protecting my computer, at which point I would have to stop what I was doing and open the CA program to reactivate my anti-virus protection. Finally, the CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 even started causing other actions to stop working, at which point I threw in the towel.