PC-cillin Internet Security 11 review

Jeff Bertolucci CNET

Published: 12 Jan 2004

Trend Micro’s PC-cillin Internet Security 11 isn't your average anti-virus program. Sure, top-selling anti-virus utilities such as Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus 2004 and McAfee’s VirusScan 8.0 battle viruses, worms and Trojan horses, but they charge extra for firewalls and anti-spam tools. Not so with PC-cillin 11, a feature-packed virus buster that zaps spam, foils hacker intrusions and detects spyware -- all for £39.95 (inc. VAT), the same price as its lesser-equipped brand-name competitors. Our only real complaint is that PC-cillin Internet Security 11 doesn't inform you up front when your signature files are out-of-date, something that both McAfee and Norton do. That aside, PC-cillin 11 delivers excellent value for home and small-office users.

Setup & interface

Like any decent anti-virus program, PC-cillin 11 installs with minimal input from you. Its pre-installation scan checks only the most critical areas of the Windows operating system for viruses, and lasted 1 minute in our tests; Norton AntiVirus 2004, by comparison, does a more thorough scan and took 20 minutes. A thorough scan is more reassuring but not always necessary. Once setup is complete, PC-cillin 11 automatically downloads the latest virus definitions and program updates.

According to Trend Micro, you can access almost all functions within PC-cillin 11 with two mouse clicks or fewer (for the record, it took us three clicks to start a viral signature update, but we're not complaining). Plus, the firewall is considerably less intrusive than those bundled with competing anti-virus programs, such as F-Secure’s Anti-Virus Client Security. For instance, PC-cillin's firewall automatically permits popular consumer online programs, including AOL and MSN, to access the Internet; Anti-Virus Client Security, however, takes a less tolerant approach and requires you to approve Internet privileges for any program. A Trend Micro representative said that non-technical users are often baffled by repeated firewall requests, and the company may have a point.

Yet the PC-cillin 11 interface is almost too passive in other ways. For instance, the Norton, McAfee, and F-Secure main screens all use a series of colour-coded icons, such as red check marks or yellow exclamation points, to indicate when virus definitions are out-of-date. PC-cillin 11, on the other hand, gives no indication that you should update definitions to avoid compromising your PC's security. We hope to see a more proactive approach in future editions of this anti-virus utility.

Features

PC-cillin Internet Security 11 is what Norton AntiVirus 2004 and McAfee VirusScan 8.0 both strive to be: an all-around security solution for your desktop PC. Unlike Norton and McAfee, PC-cillin includes a personal firewall to fend off malicious intruders and anti-spam tools to battle junk mail. To be fair, both Norton and McAfee do offer firewalls and anti-spam tools, but you'll have to pay extra for each program. PC-cillin 11 is the first anti-virus utility to include both within its basic feature set.

When it comes to down-and-dirty virus busting, PC-cillin 11 delivers the tools you need. Its real-time scanner checks all file downloads, inbound and outbound email, and even attachments received from instant-messenger applets. PC-cillin 11 cleans zipped files by default, which is important for inexperienced users, most of whom don't check their advanced anti-virus settings to see which file extensions are scanned.

Like most anti-virus programs, PC-cillin 11 also integrates with Windows Explorer. Simply select a file within Explorer, right-click, and choose Scan Virus from the menu. We were less impressed with PC-cillin 11's own standalone Scan Files tool, however, which performs only drive- and folder-level scans.

PC-cillin virus definitions are free for one year, after which Trend Micro charges a £14.95 annual fee, which is on a par with what Norton and McAfee users pay.

Performance

In our tests, PC-cillin 2004 caused less drag on system performance than Norton AntiVirus 2004 but wasn't as efficient as McAfee's VirusScan 8.0 . Still, PC-cillin scanned our 1GB drive much faster than either McAfee and Norton. Here are our test results:

Anti-virus software: system performance degradation
	Test system	Norton AntiVirus 2004	McAfee VirusScan 8.0	PC-cillin Internet Security 11
SysMark2002 Internet-content-creation (ICC) score	233	223	234	227
Normalised score	100	96	100	97
Percentage degradation	n/a	4	0	3
Average boot time (s)	40.8	52.72	48.38	45
Scan 1GB directory; average scan time (m)	n/a	3.59	4.75	2.48

In past VirusBulletin tests, Trend Micro's PC-cillin has been tested on Windows systems six times since November 2001 and earned its coveted VB 100 percent title five times. By comparison, Norton AntiVirus has been tested on Windows systems six times since 2000 and passed each time; McAfee VirusScan has been tested and earned the coveted VB 100 percent title only once. Previous versions of PC-cillin have also been certified by the independent antivirus testing laboratories at West Coast Checkmark, ICSA Labs, and AV-test.org.

Service & support

The Help link on PC-cillin's main screen provides fast access to online assistance, including Trend Micro's support portal, with the latest virus news, a knowledge base, FAQs, and updated viral definitions and program files. The site is well organised and easy to navigate.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• Share this article:
• Digg
• Slashdot
• Del.ici.ous
• Stumble
• Reddit