Playing Russian Roulette with Cyber Security

One would think that the Russian security software vendors would have "it" all together regarding how best to manage their own product offerings. After all, they are supposed to be pretty smart as technogeeks--if not also in other areas--right? At least that is what I thought until recently.

For the last several years I sought to protect my Compaq/HP and Dell PC's (using 32-bit Windows XP Pro) by experimenting with all the major players, as well as several minor ones, in the security software field from around the globe. I finally settled on a little-known Russian vendor's product out of St. Petersburg as the best all-around solution for me, but this did not come easily.

I first had to wrangle with their tech support staff to find out why it would not install on my machine(s). This process involved back-and-forth email exchanges using diagnostics, memory dumps, screenshots, uninstallers, and virus removal tools. Each time I submitted more data for them to mull over, they suggested other options to try. It became obvious that they were just as much in the dark as I, and were stumbling around blindly to come up with a workable solution.

After several weeks of this, I eventually received a revelatory insight that I believe came by direct inspiration from the Lord (something with which I have been frequently blessed in my Spirit-led Christian walk spanning over five decades). After applying the Holy Spirit's "hotfix" solution, my software installation proceeded flawlessly. I didn't bother to inform the Russian IT support staff of this, since by then they had become largely irrelevant. I am still using this vendor's product on my Virtual (Windows XP) PC contained within the 64-bit Windows 7 Pro on my new Dell.

Something similar to this again happened to me just recently, as I sought to install the latest offering from another well-known Russian security firm based out of Moscow. Again I hit an installation snag (this time with 64-bit Windows 7 Pro), and again their tech support staff offered me nothing but asinine "solutions" that didn't work, after I followed their instructions to the letter and fed them with every report they asked for. In the process I also uninstalled several good supplemental security programs I have come to rely upon over the years--all for nothing!

This time, however, I ran out of my own man-hours and patience in trying to help them debug their own software--should I really be doing that for free anyway?--and went with another nation's vendor with a proven track record of reliability and user friendliness. I am left with the impression that, if I have to come up with my own solutions for using someone else's software, I may as well be paid for it as some sort of field consultant. I certainly don't need to be paying them for it!

As for the Russians' famed "intelligence"? They don't appear to be so smart after all.