F-secure Safe Review 2021 – How good is F-secure Antivirus?

F-secure Safe Review 2020 - How good is F-secure Antivirus?
Post Menu and Details.

Words: 2551

Reading time: ~10 minutes

Unfortunately, it is quite common these days for your computer to be affected by some form of malware. You don’t need to despair of finding a reputable antivirus to protect your computer, as antivirus software is an absolute must if you want to use your computer on the Internet. Each of us looks for the best antivirus software so that our systems are protected from online hacking and viruses can be removed from the system. Thanks to an amazing antivirus solution like F-Secure Safe that leaves all obstacles in the way and comes with updates to keep up with new threats.

F-Secure Safe offers a multi-device security package that is available directly from the F-Secure website or various retailers.

Everything you need to know about F-Secure Safe

F-Secure Safe protects against various malware attacks and other threats that can affect the performance of your computer or even your personal information. F-Secure Safe also offers several attractive features with which you can achieve the security your computer needs. The Finnish cybersecurity company F-Secure Safe offers three clearly defined packages, including F-Secure Anti-Virus, F-Secure SAFE, and F-Secure Total. All offer a free 30-day trial. First-hand experience before making a final decision. You don’t even have to leave your credit card details, although the download does require an email address and it requires a little more work than most competitors ask.

Some of the features included in the F-secure Safe are:

  • Parental controls are available.
  • Protection for smartphones, computers, and tablets.
  • Antivirus, malware, and ransomware protection.

In this interesting article about F-secure Safe, we will be taking a look at all the available packages and prices, and also answer some important questions users want to know as well as the pros and cons of F-secure Safe.

Is F-Secure Safe Software Good?

F-Secure Safe software is good and scored well in our reviews. The mid-range SAFE package expands the company with secure bank protection, parental controls, a game mode to block pop-ups and other interruptions, and a unique smartphone locator. F-Secure also adds a VPN and a password manager to its Top TOTAL package.

Who should use F-Secure Safe?

F-Secure’s simple installation process makes it ideal for the average consumer. Simply create an account with F-Secure online and choose whether you want to install Safe on your own computer or your child’s computer. This option makes the program ideal for individuals and families.

The user interface is easy to navigate for users of all technical abilities. The main program window clearly shows whether the program is running and allows users to quickly run a virus scan. Users looking for a simple and straightforward protection suite will likely appreciate the easily accessible user interface and its tools.

Laboratory test results for F-Secure Safe

Like an anti-virus program, F-Secure Safe must protect your computer from all threats. To test this, we used laboratory results from trusted testers to find out how well antivirus can protect you from real-world malware.

With AV-Test, F-Secure Safe achieves the highest results of the three laboratories we use. All three categories such as protection, performance, and usability received the maximum score of six points. If F-Secure has consistently received high ratings and achieved all protection ratings for over six years, you can be sure that it can protect your device.

AV-Comparatives performed slightly worse, with F-Secure only earning one out of three stars for actual performance. While its malware protection earned a two-star rating, F-Secure had 25 false positives. This could become a problem for some users, and programs like Avira will have far fewer false positives without sacrificing security.

The last lab we use is MRG Effitas, where F-Secure Safe received a level two-pass and dropped its first level pass from early 2021. In fact, it has yet to detect some malware. that they do not attack.

What are the impressive features of F-secure Safe and why is internet security so highly regarded as one of the best in the antivirus industry will be listed?

List of F-secure Safe features

F-Secure Safe is easy to Use and Setup

When you first opened the software, F-Secure asked you to configure a master password and a recovery key. Most password managers do, however, so functionality is part of the course.

The software’s browser extension offers hardly any additional advantages other than the aforementioned automatic filling of the browser. All you can do through this area is lock the app. F-Secure has a versatile password import function that supports various methods. Other handlers like SplashID are severely restricted here, so it’s very nice to see. The app can even automatically detect your file format.

User-friendly interface

The F-Secure website opens with the “Business” and “Home” software options. Selecting the “For Home” section will take you to a tabbed product page at the top. Under the Product tab, a drop-down menu will appear with all of the available antivirus products and add-ons, including the Password Manager. Everything is easy to do in this window, and a single, separate window contains all of the settings you can change.

F-Secure Safe has few features, so you can easily navigate and understand the individual sections. There are also links that you can use to access the support pages or to renew your subscription.

Scanning options

Some of F-Secure’s scanning options are restrictive. Scheduled scans are limited to a single recurring scan and do not include a full scan option. The manual scans available are fine, but we would prefer more than two options here.

Individual files and folders can be scanned with F-Secure Safe. However, this is not possible in the desktop user interface. To do this, right-click on a file in File Explorer and select “Scan for Viruses”. This should be built into the main user interface, preferably with features to periodically scan a specific case.

The main type of scan that F-Secure Antivirus performs is what is known as a “virus scan”. This will quickly scan all potentially dangerous files. The first scan took a little over five minutes and 9,240 objects were scanned. After that, the scans took a little over a minute because the program knew which files to check.

You can also run a full scan. After four hours and 20 minutes, he had scanned 1,621,251 objects. This scan checked all file types for threats, but we had to manually remove all compressed files. During the scan, F-Secure used all available CPU resources.

Malicious URL filtering

F-Secure’s Safe Browsing feature uses a combination of a browser extension and network-level technologies to protect you from web threats. First, next to every link in Google, Bing, and Yahoo! a Reputation Rating icon will appear. Search results. Limit your clicks to URLs with a green checkmark for “safe” and you will immediately avoid certain risks.

The second layer of protection can block known unsafe websites as well as “suspicious” websites or anything that contains “prohibited content” (depending on possible parental controls settings). The functionality is appropriately configurable, useful when you find that legitimate websites are being blocked.

Breach Alerts notification

One cool feature that I haven’t seen even in popular password managers like 1Password is violations. While this is a basic feature, it notifies users of the F-Secure iOS or Android mobile app when a popular online service has been hacked. This will allow you to enter and change your password for that particular area.

Banking protection

Banking protection is a common feature of the Security Suite and typically involves the use of a hardened custom browser to complete your most important online transactions. However, F-Secure’s Windows Banking Protection feature works very differently.

When you visit a well-known banking website, F-Secure SAFE disconnects all untrusted applications from the Internet and prevents them from reconnecting while you are on the website. It also blocks untrustworthy websites until your transactions are complete.

Multi-Device Sync feature

Cross-device syncing is a premium feature here, though competitors like LastPass offer it for free. This could be a shutdown for many, especially since few other F-Secure features make up for it. It’s also important to note that the desktop version of F-Secure is the primary password manager, with mobile apps for iOS and Android playing a more supporting role.

However, setting up cross-device synchronization is very easy. All you have to do is click the Connect Devices option on your desktop and mobile apps. Each device will show a code that you will need to enter in the other to sync. Even those who are inexperienced in managing password managers can easily do this.

Parental Controls

F-Secure’s Family Rules technology is a basic parental control system that lets you set screen time limits, block access to websites by content type, and (on Android and iOS) find users. lost or stolen devices. The use of the device can be limited to a total time per day. It can be between 15 minutes and 8 hours. A simple content filtering system can block access to websites depending on the type. There are only 14 categories (adult, drugs, games, violence, social media, etc.) that are quick and easy to use, although you don’t have many optimization options.

F-Secure Finder is a simple anti-theft service that can help you find your lost Android and iOS devices. SAFE for Android also supports remote erase and lock devices. This is useful if you think your device will not be available again soon. Family rules are easy to use but very limited in their functionality. If you’re happy with the basics of parental controls, this might be enough, but everyone else is better off.

Password management

The last notable feature is F-Secure’s password management system, largely because it handles them very well in the free plan. All of your sentences are saved in the “Passwords” section. The software only provides a list of your saved passwords, the website link, some personal notes, and your username. The credit card section is more detailed. Here you can enter information like your PIN, CCV, card number, etc.

Status page

Like most password managers, F-Secure Safe provides an overview of the strength of your passwords. On the status page dashboard, users will be able to view the strength of their password meaning, it will show the weak passwords, are reused, moderate, and also the strong ones. However, these features don’t just apply to RoboForm Security Centre, which also provides a general strength indicator for your passwords. In particular, this area also warns you if your passwords use too many common characters.

Similar to SplashID, users have to enter and change weak passwords one at a time. There’s no automated process like there is in Dashlane or LastPass, which means changing a lot of passwords can be a chore. F-Secure does not do this and provides relatively little information.

Multi-platform

The main benefit of F-Secure SAFE is protection for Android, Mac, and iOS, as well as Windows devices. Mac and Android apps offer almost the same functions as the PC edition: virus protection, browser protection, bank protection, and parental controls.

The Android app benefits from more mobile-specific features, including anti-theft tools and an app privacy tool that is used to determine which apps can access your personal data. F-Secure SAFE for iOS is more limited, as is usual with security apps, but offers some useful features: browsing protection (when using SAFE’s own browser), parental controls, limited bank protection (an indicator highlights safe locations), and anti-basic -Theft.

None of this solves the fundamental problems of SAFE. Yes, you can run it on anything, but it still doesn’t have that many features, and what you get isn’t always great.

F-Secure Safe customer service and support

F-Secure Safe offers various support options. The website has an FAQ section, help forums, chat support, and telephone support. If you’ve posted in the chat and forum area as a user, you will get an almost instant response from the team.

It took a little longer to answer in the forum, but there are all kinds of posts looking for previously asked questions. To be fair, the forums aren’t exactly intended for developer questions, but they will be answered after a while if you post there. However, F-Secure Safe has a detailed FAQ section. Find comprehensive articles that answer questions about auto-fill, mobile app, and more.

F-Secure Safe Plans and Pricing

While F-Secure Safe doesn’t offer any useful features like autofill and auto-update of passwords, the app’s free plan isn’t bad business. If you just want to organize your passwords and find out which ones need improvement, you will be perfectly happy with F-Secure Safe.

F-Secure Antivirus

F-Secure Anti-Virus gives its users essential antivirus protection that is industry standard at their basic security level packages. This protection only applies to Windows PCs and doesn’t even include the usual monitoring and blocking of suspicious websites. This is a slight disappointment, although a link to a dangerous file can be detected before launch. A bonus feature is the ransomware protection tool that prevents untrusted applications from accessing files in certain custom folders.

F-Secure SAFE

With the medium-sized F-Secure SAFE built on top of the basic package, you get more by adding useful URL filtering functions, basic parental controls, and bank and anti-bank protection. – additional ransomware. This package also extends coverage to other platforms such as Mac, iOS, and Android. Unfortunately, there is no spam filter, no firewall, no webcam protection, or no password manager.

Total F-Secure

F-Secure Total basically uses F-Secure SAFE and extends it with unlimited use of the company’s Freedome VPN and KEY Password Manager. There are no additional features, just the fact that you get unrestricted VPN service is enough to make this package worthwhile. Plus, it only costs $ 94.7 to have this full plan on three devices for a full year or $118.3 on five devices.

Freedome VPN is an unlimited anonymity service that gives your profile more privacy and security. This is achieved using servers in 23 countries and offers features like tracker blocking and a kill switch that blocks all of your internet access if the VPN connection goes down.

F-secure Safe Pros

  • Lowest one-year subscription prices of our rated companies
  • Ability to install security features on multiple devices.
  • VPN and password manager included in premier package
  • Free security tools
  • Clear and simple interface
  • Speedy scans
  • Very easy-to-use
  • Protects Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.
  • Remote account management.
  • Cross-platform parental control with remote configuration.
  • Finder for lost mobile devices.
  • 30-day trial for all products.

F-secure Safe Cons

  • No multi-year subscription plans.
  • No identity theft account monitoring.
  • Few Apps or function-specific features.
  • No URL blocking
  • Vulnerable to attack from malware
  • Mixed results in recent lab tests
  • The protected Folders feature didn’t work.
  • Many-device licenses are expensive.
  • Parental control is limited to iOS.
  • Windows behavioral protection component failed some ransomware tests.

F-Secure FAQs


 

Is the F-Secure software safe?

F-Secure antivirus software is safe. It includes VPN and password manager in its Premium TOTAL package and parental controls in its TOTAL and SAFE packages. However, F-Secure does not provide identity theft monitoring, application-specific protection, or cloud storage.

How long does the F-Secure Safe software last?

F-Secure Safe claims that its virus and other threat databases are constantly updated and that the software checks for new database updates every hour. The software itself is also updated continuously and automatically, and users are notified when the update is complete.

How do I deactivate the F-Secure Safe antivirus software?

F-Secure Safe has the “Deactivate all safety features” button. The separate game mode also turns the system off so that games, films, and presentations are not interrupted.

How do I uninstall F-Secure Antivirus software?

The F-Secure vault can be removed using the Add / Remove option in the Windows default settings, which removes all software components.

Thank you for reading!