Can you test this? CA's Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 beta

A spokesperson for CA this afternoon confirmed to BetaNews that it is launching its registered beta program for its upcoming consumer-grade Internet security suite, and is looking for capable testers to help perfect the product.

New on CA's features list with this upcoming version is a firewall that can optionally grant or deny programs' access to the Internet without automatic notification to the user, an in-game suppression mode that stops CA from interrupting you while you're playing, and a mobile notification option that notifies you when you're about to enter a new Wi-Fi hot spot.

But CA may need to play catch-up in more than just the features set if it is to regain the confidence of major reviewers. Although last year, PC World gave the 2008 edition high marks for its firewall and its parental control, it found its anti-virus had only captured 56% of the virus signatures in the AV-Test.org suite, with the next-lowest performing anti-malware package from McAfee picking up 86%.

If you're interested in giving the 2009 edition for Windows a thorough workout, the registration page for the beta is here. We recommend you test this inside a virtual machine that you can safely "infect," hosted on a platform that utilizes a security package other than this particular beta, in order to protect not only your host system but the network to which it and the virtual machine are attached. Consider a VM that does not have a virtual connection to your main network.

The 2009 edition beta currently supports Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2, Windows XP Home and Professional editions with SP2 (note, not SP3) and Windows Vista with or without SP1.

One way you may be able to test the detection capability of your beta product without actually deploying a virus on your test system, is to deploy a text file that many anti-virus products use as a "test pattern." It's a simple text file created by the EICAR organization whose signature is recognized as though it were a virus, and which may be purged just like a virus, without actually being a virus.