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When you graduate from a simple antivirus to a security suite from the same company, you typically get a collection of features such as a firewall, spam filter, and parental control. Many companies offer another step up to a mega-suite that’s totally bursting with features. G Data Total Security adds backup, tune-up, password management, file encryption, and more, but these features don’t all work well and many haven’t changed in ages. It’s a more interesting choice than G Data’s entry-level suite, but neither suite has evolved significantly in years, making them difficult to recommend. Bitdefender Total Security is just as feature-packed, and its components are consistently top-notch. In the realm of security mega-suite, Bitdefender is our Editors’ Choice.How Much Does G Data Total Security Cost?You pay $49.95 for a single G Data Total Security license, which is quite a deal. Among top-tier security suites, only K7 Ultimate Security, at $35 per year, costs less. $65.95 gets you three G Data licenses, quite a bit less than most competitors, though K7 comes in at $53 per year, and ZoneAlarm edges under with $64.95 per year for three licenses. At the five-license level, G Data’s $81.95 price is closer to the middle.
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It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
If you need to protect devices on multiple platforms, Norton 360 Deluxe gives you five licenses for $104.99 per year. That may sound a little steep, but the price also includes five no-limits VPN licenses and 50GB of storage for your backups. McAfee+, $149.99 per year, doesn’t apply specific limits on licenses. Rather, it lets you install protection on every device in your household running Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS. G Data doesn’t focus on cross-platform protection the way these two do, though it does offer security apps for Macs.Getting Started With G Data Total SecurityAs with other G Data security tools, you start your journey by downloading and installing the client application. To activate the suite the first time, you enter your registration code and fill out a very detailed customer information form, thereby creating a G Data account. You’ll get a welcome email containing your assigned user account name (which consists of your last name plus a number) and password. Don’t lose these. You activate your remaining licenses by logging in to your G Data account online with these credentials.
(Credit: G Data/PCMag)
This suite’s main window features a bold red banner across the top, with a menu of icons to open configuration and status for various security features. Yes, it looks very much like the antivirus, and like the entry-level suite, just with more icons. The antivirus has icons for SecurityCenter, Virus Protection, and Autostart Manager. With the entry-level suite, you also see icons for Firewall and Parental controls. This top-tier suite fills out the row with icons for Backup, Password Manager, Tuner, Encryption, and Device control.What Features Are Shared With G Data’s Antivirus?Naturally this mega-suite includes all the features present in G Data Antivirus. Please read my antivirus review for a full run-down on those features; I’ll summarize here.
Just one of the four antivirus labs that I follow includes G Data in their tests and reports. The previous report from AV-Test Institute assigned G Data 18 points, the maximum possible score; the current report omits it. In three tests by AV-Comparatives, G Data received two top-tier Advanced+ certifications and one at the advanced level. With just one lab reporting, G Data doesn’t have an aggregate score. Kaspersky and McAfee share the top aggregate score, 10 of 10 possible points, both based on tests from three of the four labs.In my hands-on malware protection test, G Data detected 92% of the samples and earned 9.0 of 10 possible points. Of antivirus programs tested against the current malware collection, Avast and AVG are tied for top score, each with 9.9 points.
G Data scored better in my malicious website blocking test, which uses a feed of malware-hosting pages recently observed in the wild by researchers at MRG-Effitas. Its 97% protection score sounds good, but eight competitors have scored higher, and five reached 100%, among them Bitdefender, Sophos, and ZoneAlarm.G Data detected 91% of the verified fraudulent sites in my antiphishing test, not far from its previous scores of 93% and 90%. However, that score is right in the middle, with as many above as below. Guardio, McAfee, Norton Genie, Trend Micro, and ZoneAlarm all scored 100% in their respective phishing tests.
In the asset column, the exploit protection system blocked many exploit attacks in testing and identified most of them by name, outscoring other recent security programs. In addition, the behavior-based ransomware protection component detected and eliminated all real-world ransomware attacks that attempted to encrypt files, even with all other antivirus layers turned off.For those who still need a local spam filter, the antispam component filters POP3 email accounts, integrates with Outlook, and includes the option to allow-list or block-list specific addresses or domains. Other bonus features include protection for financial transactions, defense against keyloggers, and a tool to manage programs that auto-launch at startup.What Features Are Shared With Internet Security?As expected, G Data Total Security also includes everything that’s in G Data’s entry-level suite, G Data Internet Security. Here, too, I’ll summarize my findings. If you want more, read my full suite review.G Data’s simple firewall passed my port scan tests and other web-based tests. By default, its program control component allows outbound network traffic but blocks unsolicited inbound connections. When I enabled its interactive mode, it popped up queries for all manner of programs, including popular browsers and Windows components. You must choose to either accept very limited firewall protection or get bombarded with popups. In addition, it caved to a very simple technique that a malicious program could use to turn off firewall protection.The parental control system just filters unwanted content and limits screen time. It doesn’t do its job well, and it hasn’t improved significantly in years. The keyword-based content filter blocks valid sites, misses pornographic ones, and can’t handle secure anonymizing proxies without blocking every secure site, including PCMag.com. A file shredder component rounds out this suite’s feature collection on Windows.I run every security suite through a handful of tests that measure its impact on system performance. The average impact for most modern suites ranges from single-digit percentages down to a big fat zero. G Data didn’t impact file operations and just added a few seconds to the boot time of my test system; you won’t notice it.
From the My G Data dashboard online, you might think you could extend protection to your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. However, the two mobile choices aren’t available in the US. On the Mac, you get the same G Data Antivirus for Mac whether you choose Internet Security or Total Security. You can read my review for a full explanation of the macOS antivirus.Convoluted, Local-Only Backup SystemWhen I last reviewed the G Data line of security suites, both included the ability to back up files to DropBox or Google Drive; the top-tier suite also permitted local backups. However, the cloud backup simply did not work. G Data solved that problem by completely removing backup from the entry-level suite and just leaving local backup for G Data Total Security, reviewed here.The backup system is a bit daunting to start, displaying nothing but a big empty window. Most users will eventually notice the New Task button at the upper right. Clicking that button sends you on a perilous journey to configure a new backup job.As with most cloud backup systems, you create a backup job by defining what to back up, where to back it up, when to do the job, and how to do it. The first step, what to back up, uses a confusing file and folder tree display. The problem here is redundancy. Suppose you start by checking the tree item with your username, thereby selecting all your user data for backup. If you now disable the Libraries item below, you’ll find your documents, music, and so forth are no longer backed up. I strongly recommend that you review your choices thoroughly before proceeding to make sure you’ve caught everything.
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The next step is to choose where you’ll store your backed-up files. With cloud backup out of the picture, your only choices are local drives, network drives, and removable drives.Now that you’ve determined what to backup and where to store backed-up files, you must select what type of backup you want. The first backup necessarily backs up everything, a full backup. With that out of the way, you can save space by just backing up changes.
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Do you know the difference between incremental and differential partial backups? Few people do. If you choose differential, each partial backup contains all the changed data since the last full backup. Incremental backups just contain the changes since the latest backup of any kind, full or incremental. Incremental backups are smaller, but each one depends on the previous, so if any incremental backup gets corrupted, you have a problem.By default, your backup job only runs when you manually launch it. You can run a full backup on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and separately schedule the optional partial backup. For example, you might schedule a full backup monthly and a partial backup every day. By default, G Data just keeps the latest full backup and its associated partial backups, but you can set it to retain more.
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The final step involves a bewildering array of backup options. You can limit the backup archive size to what will fit on various optical media. You can balance better compression against faster execution. G Data can check the integrity of your backed-up files after each job. By default, it saves space by excluding temporary files and other junk. Fortunately, the system comes configured with defaults, which should be just fine.To restore files from backup, you pick the desired backup set from a list, choose to restore all files or just some of them, and decide whether to restore to the original location or a new location. Choosing a partial restore puts you back in a file and folder tree, one that’s less complex than the one for selecting what to back up. By default, restored files always overwrite existing files in the destination. However, you can only opt to overwrite if the two files have different sizes or last-modified times or only if the backed-up copy is more recent.
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Not all security suites limit you to local backup. For example, a Norton 360 Deluxe subscription comes with 50GB of hosted online backup, and the three tiers of combined Norton and Lifelock offer 100GB, 250GB, and 500GB of storage. At a minimum, I’d like to see this suite’s backup system streamlined and simplified to make it easier for users. Even better would be the addition of hosted online backup without reliance on third parties.Limited Password ManagerTo start using the password manager, you create a password safe that will securely hold your data. You can optionally import an existing safe. Next, you create a strong master password that you can remember but that nobody else could guess or crack. G Data rates password strength as you type using a color-coded meter, and it’s a tough judge. A 16-character password with all four character types got me into the green, just barely. I had to make it four times as long to fill the green bar to the max. In practical terms, a password that makes it into the green should be good enough.
Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure Passwords
Next, you click to install browser plug-ins for Chrome and Internet Explorer. Yes, I got the memo that Microsoft nailed shut the coffin on Internet Explorer a couple of years ago; apparently, G Data didn’t. If you use Firefox, Edge, Opera, or any browser other than Chrome, this password manager is not for you.The password manager plug-in tries to capture login credentials as you log into secure sites, though it doesn’t handle two-page logins like what Google and Yahoo use. At first, I thought it didn’t work at all, as I didn’t realize it was locked. Most password managers handle that situation with a reminder that if you want to save the password, you must unlock the password safe. If you don’t see an open padlock icon, the password manager isn’t active.
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In addition to not capturing two-page logins, I found that the password-capture process often failed. If the underlying page changed after the initial login, the prompt asking whether to save simply vanished.The password manager does have a random password generator built in, though you must dig a bit to find it. By default, it creates 18-character passwords, a good length. It always includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and digits; you can (and should) optionally include special characters. Most password generators are more flexible and helpful for sites that want all-letter passwords or number sequences. Usually, you can invoke the password generator when creating or editing an entry, but G Data doesn’t swing that way.You can also create one or more Business Cards, which are collections of personal information for filling out web forms. It took me a while to figure out that my entered data was not saved until I clicked a down-arrow link in the list of cards. That’s awkward.
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The form-filling process isn’t automated; you must click the plug-in’s toolbar button, click Business Cards, and select the desired card. In testing, I found it filled some fields using the limited information recorded, but not accurately. It filled in the last name for both first and last name, filled in USA for both country and city, and put the address into both address lines. It also entered the main phone number on the fax line, omitting other numbers. I don’t find it to be an effective time-saver.Want to use your saved passwords on another device? Sorry, while syncing across devices is a common feature in standalone password manager utilities, it’s not something G Data does. The closest you can come is exporting passwords on one device and importing them on another. You don’t get multi-factor authentication, secure file sharing, or other advanced features.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?
Most suites that include a password manager component offer a better one than G Data’s. However, none of them come close to the best standalone password managers. Rather than suffering with the limited password manager in this suite, just choose a top-tier free password manager instead.Powerful, Flexible System TunerDecades ago, security suites had a deserved reputation as resource hogs. Consumers would get irked and turn off security—not good! Suite developers caught on; modern suites have hardly any impact on performance. Many go even further, adding suite components that actively aim to enhance performance. G Data’s Tuner component performs dozens of tweaks to tune up your PC, organized into three categories: Security, Performance, and Data protection.Under Security you find settings tweaks designed to close security holes. For example, it can enable SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer, set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders, and make sure User Account Protection is turned on. The security tweaks all look good.
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Just over half the tweaks fall into the Performance category. Many of these speed access to the Registry by deleting invalid items. Others delete things like temporary files and most recent file lists. You’ll probably want to disable the option to defragment all disks, running it separately when you have plenty of time to spare.As noted, deleting some history lists falls under Performance, but in the Data Protection category, you’ll find many more. The point is to wipe out traces of browser and computer actions that could reveal too much about your habits. Other privacy-related items eliminate history, cookies, cached files, and other browser-related items. The browser-related cleanup features cover Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera, but ignore Edge.
(Credit: G Data/PCMag)
When you launch a tuning run, G Data grinds its way through the list, highlighting the current item and displaying a simple explanation for that item. I found that without the defrag task, the tuner’s analysis took about three minutes, spending most of its time on the task “Remove temporary files from all hard disks.”Note that tuning actions don’t take effect immediately. After the scan you get a chance to view what it found, and you can optionally skip some of the tweaks. But why would you? Just go ahead and let it make all the changes. In the unlikely event the cleanup causes a problem, you can roll back the entire tuning run or choose individual items to restore. Once you’re happy with the tuner, you can configure it to run automatically on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis.Separate from the main Tuner process is the Browser Cleaner. This tool lists the extensions installed in your browsers, specifically Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer (but not Edge or Opera). Of course, you can view and manage extensions in each browser without help from G Data. That’s good because the extension lists in G Data didn’t always match what was installed in the browser.G Data’s Tuner goes well beyond the simplistic cleanup offered by some competing security suites. However, Bitdefender offers an even larger collection of tune-up tools.Encryption for File ProtectionSuppose you’re drawing up a plan to (dare I say it?) rule the world. Or perhaps you’re gathering evidence to blow the whistle on your embezzling boss. You don’t want anyone else looking at your documents. Putting them into encrypted storage keeps them safe from prying eyes. Like many of its competitors, G Data lets you create one or more encrypted volumes to protect your most sensitive files.An assistant walks you through the steps of creating a new encrypted storage safe. In the first step, you choose the location and size of the file representing the safe. The default size is all remaining disk space, which is a seriously bad choice—don’t accept it. Windows needs free space on disk to function. Pick a smaller size or choose from a list including the size of a CD, the size of a DVD, and so on.In the next step, you name your safe (no more than 11 characters), and you have the option to give it a description. You can also choose the file system (NTFS or FAT32) or let G Data automatically decide. And you can choose a specific drive letter for the safe or just let G Data grab the next available letter.With most similar encrypted storage systems, you define a password that opens the safe, and that’s that. G Data lets you define multiple passwords that open the safe with different degrees of authorization. The most important choice is the option to create a password for read-only access, meaning you can let another user view the safe’s contents but not change them. With those choices made, you click Create to create and format the safe. When it’s ready, G Data offers to open the safe, which looks and acts like any other disk drive.
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As with Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and others, the capacity of the safe is fixed at creation. The similar feature in Trend Micro Maximum Security works a bit differently. You get just one safe, which grows as needed, and you can remotely seal the safe so that a hacker can’t open it even with the password.In the real world, you wouldn’t put your top-secret FTL drive specs in a safe while leaving copies lying around in the open. For maximum security of your sensitive files, you should first copy the file into the safe and then use the G Data File Shredder to delete the original securely. Kaspersky goes even further, offering to delete originals as part of the process of creating the safe.G Data can also create a read-only mobile safe on a removable drive or even a CD/DVD. It does so by copying an existing safe’s contents, which must naturally be small enough to fit on the destination drive. The option to create a safe matching a specific media size makes sense now!If you plan to open the mobile safe on a PC that doesn’t have G Data installed, you’ll need to add a few driver files; the assistant handles copying those. You can also link the safe to the specific mobile data medium—a linked safe copied to another location can’t be opened. ESET Smart Security Premium also lets you create a portable safe, but because it’s read/write, it must go on a USB drive, not optical media.Many other security suites include a similar encryption system. I do like the fact that G Data lets you define passwords for multiple users at different access levels.Device Control for TechiesIf you want to keep a computer completely safe from malware attack you need what they call an “air gap,” meaning that it is not connected to anything else. No internet, no local network, no syncing with your phone—no connections at all. But even that may not be enough. Remember Stuxnet? That attack allegedly reached the air-gapped computers through a malware-infested USB drive.Fortunately, the combined forces of nation-state cyberwar teams probably aren’t going to mount an attack on your home or business computer. However, your child (or a hapless employee) might plug in a found USB drive and thereby bring in an infection. For that matter, a snoop could copy your sensitive files to a removable device. G Data’s full-featured device control offers full and fine-grained control over access to connected devices.To start using device control, you define rules for Data media (USB drives), CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, and webcams. I’m not sure precisely what’s meant by the fifth category, Windows Portable Devices. You can ban the device type entirely or (as appropriate) force read-only access. Then, you define exceptions for specific users and specific devices in the case of USB drives. You can also set an expiry date for any rule, if you wish.Now, you can block access to USB drives in general but add exceptions for those you use yourself. That means a kid (or employee) can’t infect the network by mounting a random USB drive. Or you could make the DVD drive read-only but make an exception for your own user account so you can burn DVDs.
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I enabled this feature for testing, blocking all access to USB drives, which required a reboot. When I plugged in an unapproved USB drive, I got a warning, along with the option to release the device for a fixed time or indefinitely. Note that any user with an Administrator account can release a device from blocking, which you may not want to allow. In that case, you’ll have to password-protect G Data’s settings. With device control in Avira Prime, any user can create exceptions even when settings are password-protected. G Data does it better.As with the similar feature in ESET Smart Security, using device control still may require more skill than the average consumer is likely to possess. In a small business setting, though, it can be valuable. Many business-specific security services, such as those from Trend Micro, Bitdefender, and McAfee, include some form of device control.Verdict: Bonuses in Quantity, Not QualityG Data Total Security expands on the features of G Data’s entry-level suite with an impressive collection of bonus tools. However, like the basic suite features, these haven’t evolved in some years. Password management is limited, parental control is ineffective, and local-only backup is convoluted. On the positive side, system tune-up goes beyond the basics, and the encrypted file storage system offers uncommon flexibility. If you’re determined to buy a security suite from G Data, this mega-suite is your best choice, but you can do better. Our Editors’ Choice for security mega-suites is Bitdefender Total Security. If you want a cross-platform multi-device suite that gives you protection for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, our Editors’ Choice is Norton 360 Deluxe. Bitdefender costs a little more than G Data, and Norton costs quite a bit more, but they’re both vastly better choices for your security.
Pros
Good malware blocking test score
Flexible encrypted storage
Fine-grained device control
System tune-up
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Cons
Password manager features very limited
Ineffective parental controls
Limited to local backup
Device control is too complex for the average user
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The Bottom Line
G Data Total Security adds bonus features beyond the company’s entry-level suite, but some don’t work and most haven’t evolved in years.
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