▪ ZoneAlarm Suite Integrates Kaspersky Antivirus

Zone Labs, a division of Check Point Software Technologies, is planning to release tomorrow a public beta for ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7.0. This is the upgrade to the 6.0 product, which ranked sixth in our All-in-One Security suite round-up earlier this year.

While we haven’t looked at it yet, version 7.0 looks promising since Zone Labs is integrating the top-performing Kaspersky antivirus engine. (To get an idea of how it performs, read our review of Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0.) The Kasperksy engine replaces a lackluster version of the CA antivirus engine that was integrated into ZoneAlarm 6.0.

Two antispyware companies are also working in antivirus protection. PC Tools plans to offer antivirus protection as an option for the upcoming 5.0 version of Spyware Doctor. Webroot is partnering with Sophos, a well-known enterprise-level security company, to provide antivirus protection with Spy Sweeper. Depending on how nicely they play together, this coupling of targeted antivirus and antispyware components might be a better solution for people who find the large security suites too boated.