Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1330 in Software
• Brand: F-Secure
• Released on: 2008-10-31
• Platform: Windows 2000
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

Keep your Windows Home Server safe
F-Secure Home Server Security automatically protects all the valuable data stored on your Windows Home Server. It integrates seamlessly with Windows Home Server, providing powerful, constantly updated automatic detection and removal of all types of malicious software. F-Secure Home Server Security is easy to use through Windows Home Server Console.

Protect your Privacy with Antispyware
Spyware can secretly track your surfing habits and profile your shopping preferences. It can even hijack your web browser or abuse your Internet connection by sending data to a third party. F-Secure Home Server Security protects your privacy by detecting and removing such software from the files accessed on your Windows Home Server.

The Fastest Protection with Automatic Updates
Antivirus software is only as good as the capability of antivirus software manufacturer to provide a timely cure for new virus outbreaks. F-Secure Anti-Virus Research Team updates virus definition databases several times a day to ensure that customers have 24-hour protection against new, fast-spreading viruses. This is why F-Secure products constantly rank at the top when compared with competing products.

Easy to Install and Use
F-Secure Home Server Security is extremely easy to install and use. It is highly automated so you do not have to understand the complexities of data security.

The Fastest Protection Against New Virus Outbreaks
Immediate reaction times and fast cures during new and emerging threats ensured by F Secure Research Team working 24 hours a day.

Multiple Scanning Engines
F-Secure Home Server Security uses multiple scanning engines, bringing you the very best in detection and disinfection. Each of the scanning engines is specialized in detecting a different type of malware. It is like having several antivirus products running in your computer at the same time!

Software in your Language
F-Secure Home Server Security has a clear user interface, including an easily accessible electronic manual. Both the software and electronic manual are available in your language.

Customer Reviews

Useful for keeping safe, secure backups of important files
Having a home server is a useful way of keeping all your files in one place. It is particularly useful for important documents, photos, music, video and, if you have kids, their homework. If a laptop or workstation computer fails then the files reside on the server so you have always have a safe and secure backup.

Security packages for full Windows servers typically cost 5 -6 times that of a normal Windows package. This costs more or less the same so it is excellent value.

Installation progressed smooothly without a hitch. The interface is simple and the tabs take you directly to the user accounts and home folders allowing you to configure the most commonly used settings. F-Secure have decided to keep it simple and you have to run a separate utility which configures the advanced setting. I found that leaving things as they were worked well.

Something to remember is that when doing a full file scan, the server slowed down considerably and it took longer for files to open at the workstation because the files are being checked twice - once by F-Secure and once by the package on the connected computer. The rest of the time the effect on speed was negligible. One thing to watch is make sure the server is not configured for a web proxy as the programme's auto update cannot work with proxies.

In conclusion, this is a straightforward and useful package only limited by the fact that Windows Home Server itself is not widely used.

Does the job, but at a fairly high annual subscription charge
F-Secure Home Server Security protects Windows Home Server against malicious content, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and riskware. Naturally you need a server PC in the home running Microsoft Windows Home Server operating system [to provide remote storage, streaming video, remote sharing of files with friends over the internet, backup of crucial files etc..]. Installation of F-Secure HS Security is easy to do with the supplied CD, and F-Secure home server security is easy to setup and use via the Windows Home Server Console. You need interet access to activate the software and for auto-updates. F-Secure Home server supports English, Finnish, Swedish, German, French, and Italian languages.

F-Secure Home Server Security helps you guard your digital pictures, archives and other valuable data stored on the central server against external content threats. When F-Secure Home Server Security is installed to your Windows Home Server, you also don't have to worry about distributing hostile content to other computers in your home network or the Internet. F-Secure Home Server Security seems to offers all the protection you need to keep your Home Server safe from malware, and the interface is easy to use and simple to set up.

F Secure Home Server Security offers Real-time scanning - whenever files are accessed on Windows Home Server, they are automatically scanned for viruses and spyware. Theres also manual and scheduled scanning of the whole system or selected folder(s). Infected files, spyware and other potentially unsafe files can be placed in quarantine where they can be reviewed, restored from and deleted. Virus and spyware definition databases as well as software updates are received and applied automatically via the internet connection. There's 'Seamless integration' with Windows Home Server, the product is installed and administered via Windows Home Server Console, and it sends notifications through the Windows Home Server Connector.

Minimum server PC system requirements are an Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz, AMD Sempron 3400+ or newer, 512 MB or more system memory, 300 MB free HD space. An Internet Connection and Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 [with SP1] is required. The F-secure Home Server has one licence for one server. Overall it appears to work well and protects your 'always on' Windows server PC with little, if any, noticable hit on system speed - although be warned F-Secure products are known to have a high footprint on the PC resources, so if your server lacks grunt real-time anti-malware scanning may become a problem when the server is very active. Only other downside is that the price is quite high [almost as much as the whole Windows Home Server OS for just one years protection]. However it is often far cheaper to buy F-Secure products via resellers such as Amazon than direct from F-Secure. So overall an essential bit of security software thats easy to set up and use on your home server. At present I'm not aware of any other trusted ant-virus company offering anything similar [e.g. Norten, McAfee].

Relatively Low Impact and Easy To Use
It's always a bonus when applications like this can run without becoming a massive drain on system resources. Fortunately, this offering from F-Secure ticks that box for the most part, the only time I've had cause to moan was immediately after installation... As I have almost 4TB of data to work with, the initial scans took a considerable amount of time and it did cause some system slowdown and intermittant 'hanging'. However, now that everything's established, things are running much more smoothly, and the only slowdown I see is when three or more people are trying to access the same file simultaneously.

As a domestic solution this is fairly good one, but it would likely buckle very quickly if it were being used by even a moderately small business.