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Trend Micro PC-CILLIN Internet Security 2006 - 3-pack

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Pros
Well designed interface
Cons
Malware detection could have been better

Trend Micro PC-CILLIN Internet Security 2006 - 3-pack Review

by Narasu Rebbapragada

This comprehensive security suite is one of the easiest to use, but there are better performers.

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.

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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

User Reviews for Trend Micro PC-CILLIN Internet Security 2006 - 3-pack

Reviewed by: DKJenkins

Duration of ownership: 8 Months

Strengths: Nice layout, reasonable easy to use, but....

Weaknesses: Customer service the worse I have ever experienced! If you have problems with Trend Micro programs and need technical support you are toast!

Overall Evaluation: Worked reasonably well for ~3 months, then the anti-spam wouldn't load properly. Response from customer service typically took 5-7 working days. Solutions offered for anti-spam problem did not resolve issue. After 2 months of going back and forth I suggested, in consideration of all the time spent on trying to find a solution, they upgrade me to 2007 version. Trend Micro agreed, provided the link to the upgrade, but my old license number would not work. The Trend Micro solution to this was to go back to 2006 -- which, of course, was unstable from before. The customer service guidelines for correcting problems were typically written for different versions of the product or for different products completely. I am off to a competitor and would not recommend Trend Micro under any circumstances.
Reviewed by: jpemmert

Duration of ownership: 5 Months

Strengths: No better than other products of the same nature.

Weaknesses: Pop up update screen disrupted work in progress. Update and scans did not work in the background and slowed machine to a crawl. Continued calls to customer support brought no help. Refused to refund when I gave up.

Overall Evaluation: There are much better products. This product caused me continual grief. The tech support was weak and never went to whatever was causing the problem. First they told me to download the program again. When that didn't work they wanted me to start removing any other programs I might have on my machine which were involved in removing spyware, viruses, etc. In other words, remove all my other defenses in hopes that their program would ultimately work.When I removed the program, and installed another program, all my problems disappeared. I recommend checking other reviews of this program before investing in it. My experiences were not unique.

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