Webroot Internet Security Plus Review

The world today is increasingly built to run with internet-connected devices and PCs. So, having strong system protection against viruses and malware is a necessity. In this post, we do an in-depth review of Webroot Internet Security Plus.

About Webroot Inc.

Webroot Inc. was founded in 1997 and is located in Broomfield, Colorado. The company began making antivirus software in 2006. They operate internationally and provide antivirus, antimalware, and firewall software products for desktop PCs.

The internet has billions of web pages, and many new ones are created each day. Webroot scans the internet to detect the newest online threats and provide security measures for its users.

About Webroot Secure Anywhere Internet Security Plus

Internet Security Plus provides security for many types of devices, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, and tablets. One of which is its capability to protect a user’s identity while they shop online.

It offers the following protections:

Anti-phishing
Anti-trojans
Anti-worms
Anti-adware
Anti-spyware
Anti-rootkits
Webcam protection
Password management
Data security
Anti-ransomware
Harmful site blocking
Firewall and network connection monitor
Fast scanning
Smartphones and tablets security
Account logins and passwords protection

If you use an android smartphone, you also get the Webroot Mobile Security & Antivirus app included with Internet Security Plus. Just download the app from the Google Play Store and use your security code.

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GUI / Interface

Webroot Internet Security Plus has a main program window with a “Scan Now” button located in the middle.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review Main Window

Scan My Computer

Clicking this will scan your system.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review Scan

There are scan options available for:

Quick Scan, a surface scan of files in active memory

Full Scan, scans all connected local hard drives.

Deep Scan, scans for rootkits, trojans, and other threats.

Custom Scan, scans only selected files and folders

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review PC Security Custom Scan

The right side menu has the following drop-down selections:

PC Security
Identity Protection
Backup & Sync
Password Manager
Utilities
My Account
Support / Community

These selections also open up to their own windows when the gear wheel is clicked on the right side of the option label.

PC Security

Opening this side menu option shows the following:

Scan & Shield
Quarantine
Block / Allow Files
Whitelisted Scripts

Scan & Shield allows for scanning options, including Quick, Full, Deep, and Custom Scans. The right side of this window allows for On/Off selections of the following:

Realtime Shield
Rootkit Shield
Web Shield
USB Shield
Offline Shield
Firewall

Also shown is View Active Connections.

Quarantine allows the user to view and manage threats detected by the program. A checkbox is next to each threat with the option of deleting or restoring them.

Block / Allow Files allows the user to choose which files to block, allow, or monitor.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review PC Security Block Files

Whitelisted Scripts shows the files and folders that are whitelisted.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review PC Security Whitelisted Script

Identity Protection

Clicking on the gear wheel icon next to this selection provides the following items:

Online Protection
Application Protection

Online Protection

This shows On/Off choices for the Identity and Phishing Shields.

Application Protection

Webroot Application Protection has options to Protect, Allow, or Deny applications from accessing your personal data and potentially sharing it without your consent.

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Utilities

The Utilities option window shows the following sub-windows:

Antimalware Tools
Reports
System Control
System Optimizer

Anti-Malware Tools

This has the tool check boxes that allow for desktop wallpaper and screensaver resets.

There also is the option of performing a manual threat removal by selecting specific files

On your drive. If a Webroot support agent has provided a removal script for your program to fix a particular issue, you can run that script here as well.

Reports

This window option provides the following saving/viewing options:

Scan Log
Threat Log
Protection Statistics
Execution History
Submit Files

System Control

This shows the following options:

System Analyzer
Control Active Processes
SafeStart Sandbox

System Analyzer

Webroot System Analyzer detects problems on your system with a system scan.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review System Analyzer Results

Control Active Processes

This option gives the user the option to allow, block, or monitor active processes on your system.

SafeStart Sandbox

This allows for controlling suspicious programs and how they interact with the system and online resources.

System Optimizer

The System Optimizer allows for freeing up of hard drive space, removal of unnecessary files and internet tracks. The date of last optimization and space recovered is also presented. The user can also choose to schedule the system optimizing process.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review System Optimization

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My Account

The user can upgrade or renew their account by entering the keycode into the text box. There is also the option to check for software updates and view the Webroot privacy policy in the About SecureAnywhere window.

Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings window provides many additional operating choices for the user. These include:

Install Settings
Scheduler
Scan Settings
Shields
Firewall / Web Shield
Access Control
Proxy
Heuristics
Import / Export
System Optimizer
Secure Erase

Install Settings

This window allows for automatic downloading of updates as well as icons and shortcuts on the desktop, start menu and system tray.

Scheduler

This allows the user to set a time and day scheduler for both the Scan and System Optimizer. There are specific options such as scanning at bootup also available.

Scan Settings

This has options for which areas of your system you want to scan.

Shields

This window has checkbox options for blocking certain files, program activity, and data access.

Firewall / Web Shield

This has Web Shield and browser extensions options for online activity. You can also choose to block dangerous websites.

Access Control

Here the user can enable password protection.

Proxy

This allows for Proxy server and authentication options.

Heuristics

This allows for the enabling and disabling of heuristics (sped up problem-solving) with regards to file detection.

Import / Export

This allows for configuration settings backup for reinstallation of the program or to copy them to or from another system.

System Optimizer

This allows for choosing which folders the user wants to be scanned and cleaned when System Optimizer runs, such as temporary folders and the recycle bin.

Secure Erase

This allows for controlling the level of security applied to scanning and removing dangerous files. The ranges include Normal, Medium, and Maximum.

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Webroot PC Security

PC Security includes these protections:

Realtime Shield
Web Shield – to identify and prevent Internet attacks
Firewall – to protect your computer from network attacks
Identity Shield – for identity protection
Phishing Shield – to ward off phishing attempts

Backup & Sync

This provides the option of storing music, files, and photos in the cloud for access across mobile devices. This may require additional services to setup.

Password Manager

This allows for managing computer and device passwords remotely and securely. Having a Password Manager included is a big bonus of Webroot.

My Account

This provides the keycode, product version, and Webroot web console for managing all your devices online.

Support / Community

You can access Webroot’s online customer support and user community to get answers to your questions and solutions for any issues that pop up.

Webroot Internet Security Plus Review Support

Webroot System Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Microsoft® Windows® XP 32- and 64-bit SP2, SP3
Windows Vista® 32-bit (all Editions), Windows Vista SP1, SP2 32- and 64-bit (all Editions)
Windows 7 32- and 64-bit (all Editions), Windows 7 SP1 32- and 64-bit (all Editions)
Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 – both 32- and 64-bit
Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion®)
Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion®)
OS X 10.9 (Mavericks®)
OS X 10.10 (Yosemite®)
OS X 10.11 (El Capitan®)
macOS 10.12 (Sierra®)
macOS 10.13 (High Sierra®)
macOS 10.14 (Mojave®)

Hardware Requirements

Intel® Pentium®/Celeron® family, or AMD®K6/Athlon™/Duron™ family, or other compatible processors
128 MB RAM (minimum)
10 MB Hard Disk Space
Internet access

Browser Requirements

Google Chrome® 11 and newer
Internet Explorer® version 11 and newer (Windows XP IE8)
Microsoft Edge® (partial support)
Mozilla® Firefox® version 3.6 and newer
Safari 5 and newer
Opera 11 and newer

Android Mobile Security Requirements

Android™ operating system version 4.4 (KitKat) or higher
Android™-compatible device with 3 MB of free storage space
Data connection required

iOS Mobile Security Requirements

SecureWeb Browser and Password Management require iOS® 10 or later
Backup and Storage supported on iOS® 10 or later
Compatible with iPhone®, iPod touch®, and iPad® mobile digital devices

Wifi Security Requirements

OS X 10.10 (Yosemite®) and newer
Windows 7 32- and 64-bit and newer (excluding Windows 8 and Windows 10 S)
Android™ operating system version 6 and newer
iOS® 10 and newer

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Our Webroot Internet Security Test

We ran a live Webroot Internet Security test on our standard antivirus test machine with these specifications:

Desktop PC Model: HP Pavilion 595
Processor: 8th generation Intel Core I5-8400
RAM: 12 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM Memory
Hard Drive: 1 TB 7200 RPM HD, 128 GB PCIe Solid State Drive
Video Card: Intel UHD Graphics 630
Operating System: Windows 10
Software: Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, included pre-installed software on the system.
File types: xls, txt, doc, mp3, mp4, jpeg, jpg, bmp, png, pdf, docx, exe, wav, wma, bat
Average file size: 4.4 MB

Webroot Internet Security Test Scan Performance

A Full Scan took 1 hour and 14 minutes.

Total files scanned: 565,104

A Deep Scan took 29 seconds on our system.

Total files scanned: 7,612

Total Processes: 201

A Quick scan took 6 seconds to complete.

Total files scanned: 1,142

Processes: 199

A Custom scan only on the documents folder took 5 minutes, 8 seconds.

Total files scanned: 83,451

PROS of Webroot Internet Security Plus

Webroot Internet Security Plus does very fast scans. The only scan that took longer than 6 minutes was the Full scan of our system.
Webroot Internet Security Plus has many options for users beyond just normal or custom scanning.

CONS of Webroot Internet Security Plus

It is somewhat tedious to find the Custom Scan options. The user has to go 2 clicks deep into the main window to get a Custom Scan started. The main window has an easy scan set to Deep by default. Other antivirus programs make finding and setting up a custom scan more obvious. With Webroot the average user may never notice there are more advanced scanning options available.
The program options are a little hard to understand. The gear wheel icons and change of window types makes quickly learning these more difficult versus other programs.

Webroot Internet Security FAQs

For frequently asked questions and answers about Webroot Internet Security, see our Webroot Internet Security FAQs page here.