Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security
This comprehensive security suite is one of the easiest to use, but there are better performers.
Narasu Rebbapragada
Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 is a full-featured suite that runs light on your system. Its security protection is good, although not as stellar as that of some of its competitors.
Trend Micro's $50 (as of 4/15/06) suite is one of the most full-featured packages around. It offers solid antivirus, antispyware, and firewall protection, plus antispam capabilities, Wi-Fi-network protection, privacy settings, and parental controls (under the name Web Site Filter) that many users will find useful. PC-cillin Internet Security also has network-security features that can scan remote computers (assuming you buy one of the multilicense packs), as well as an antifraud toolbar for safer Web surfing.
I found PC-cillin Internet Security one of the easiest security suites to use. Its personal firewall configures quickly for a home network. Its antivirus settings pack a lot of options, such as how deep within compressed files you want to scan. The suite also explains some intermediate-level options--for example, while most programs let you choose whether to scan within compressed files, PC-cillin Internet Security takes the extra step to explain that a .zip file is an example of a compressed file. The malware warning dialog boxes that I encountered were clear, and each provided a file name, file path, and action taken. However, though the software does attempt to describe the malware, I wish it used layperson's terms in case the detection name--such as "ADW STATBLAST.A"--didn't mean anything to me.
In performance tests conducted by AV-Test.org, Trend Micro's suite ranked eighth out of the ten security suites we looked at. It failed to detect two file viruses on the WildList, a published list of malware that any security product should be able to detect completely. Other than that, PC-cillin Internet Security didn't tank on any specific test; it just didn't shine in any particular respect. The lone exception is speed, as PC-cillin Internet Security offered the second-fastest scan speed among the suites we tested (Panda's software was the fastest).
Overall, Trend Micro's suite is solid and easy to use, but some of its competitors are better at detecting today's malware.
Narasu Rebbapragada
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