I am not personally familiar with the Verizon product. But I can tell you this much - any product that tries to be and do everything can't possibly do all of them expertly - most such packages don't even do one level expertly.

However, given your computer use, it is likely that you do not need any level to be done that deeply. Thus, while the Verizon product may not be so great, looking at it its thoroughness, it is likely adequate for your particular situation.

There are a number of other things to consider when choosing security options. I have already mentioned resource usage - which is essentially memory. Trying to cover all possible levels and cover each of those levels thoroughly is going to result in too many programs that hog too much memory. The Verizon suite may have relatively high memory usage for one product (maybe not, but I would be surprised) - but since it covers so much of your security needs, then it might actually be a bargain in terms of memory.

And there are other factors yet to consider. Ease of use and configuration are often very overlooked. You can have a great security thing installed, but if you do not know how to use it and configure it properly, it is a waste. So it is important to install a product that is going to be relatively easy to setup and use. It should either have a couple of interfaces, such as simple and advanced, or else it should be easy to understand how to use it at your own current level of knowledge, or perhaps slightly ahead if you are willing to invest some learning time.

I assume you are using Verizon as your broadband provider. So also using their security suite could help in that you should have tech support available to you. Verizon is supposed to have better support available than most of the other folks - don't know myself - but that could be an advantage. Given your skills as a communicator, I think you could easily find yourself a skilled Verizon techie and have them help you configure your suite for best use.

Oh - I almost forgot - about Sbybot. One of the great things about it, is that it is a scanner. It is not installed on your system so you just have it check your system every so often. Then you can get rid of potentially harmful stuff as well as help prevent slowdown. I think almost all users should use this or something similar - it will definitely find things that the basic security suites and programs miss. It is designed to do a more thorough check and analysis. Really just a good, easy way to keep things running better and avoid nasty future surprises.

Surfing habits have a lot to do with security needs. In other words, if you are a user who travels around the net quite a bit and downloads music, movies, and whatever from where ever, then you your security needs are quite high.

But even if you spend a lot of time on the computer, but you are visiting safe sites (like this one) - then you are just not at that high of risk. This is especially true in terms of picking up a virus. So it makes sense to concentrate a little more on the other threats. And that is exactly what Spybot does.

Finally, here are a few well-regarded test sites. You can use them, if you are so inclined, to check antivirus, email, popups, and the some other stuff:

GFI Email Security Testing Zone
Shields UP!
PC Pitstop
Popup Check

rfinney