PC-cillin 2003 By Greg Alwang April 22, 2003

• Product: PC-cillin 2003
• Direct Price: $49.95 direct; yearly subscription renewal, $29.95
• Company Info: Trend Micro Inc., 408-257-1500, www.trendmicro.com

Editor Rating:

By including antivirus, firewall, PDA, and wireless protection, PC-cillin 2003 ($49.95 direct) covers all major Internet security threats and provides protection without requiring any adjustments. With a simple interface and toll-free phone support, it's a good choice for beginners, too.

Installation and the required registration are no-brainers. By default, PC-cillin checks for updates every 3 hours. Like McAfee VirusScan's Instant Updater, PC-cillin's Outbreak Alert warns you of high- or medium-risk threats. At $29.95 a year, subscription renewal costs a bit more than competitors', but it includes upgrades to the latest program version.

PC-cillin's dual-mode interface is idiot-proof. In Standard mode, beginners can easily run scans or update definitions, and in Advanced mode, experts can change settings, work with quarantined files, or view scan logs. Preset tasks let you scan programs only, everything, Word documents, or Internet-related files, or find macro viruses. Basic scans can be scheduled, but you have little control over advanced scan settings for each scheduled task.

The newly enhanced WebTrap feature detects malicious scripts, and MacroTrap monitors Word and Excel files for macro viruses. PC-cillin does not scan all file types by default, like McAfee VirusScan or NAV, but it's the sole product that scans compressed files by default. Also, unlike with McAfee's PDA protection, which scans only synchronizations, PC-cillin's scanner cleans or deletes viruses on Palm, Pocket PC, and EPOC devices. But it does not scan outgoing e-mails, as NAV does.

In our testing, PC-cillin was the only AV product incompatible with Multimedia Content Creation Winstone, producing a ridiculous performance hit of 41 percent. We narrowed the problem down to POP3 scanning. When we disabled this feature, the results were in line with those of other scanners. Since the program does not test POP3 activity, we consider this modification acceptable. On the virus accuracy tests, Trend Micro had a respectable history, with 92 percent of certifications passed at two of the independent testing labs we polled.

When your PC encounters a virus, PC-cillin defaults to cleaning, then quarantining all infected files. An effective Quarantine Guide walks you through examining the files or sending them to TrendLabs for analysis.

The integrated firewall blocks Trojan horses from ports or specific protocols and lets you configure rules. You can also block URLs using the built-in site filter. A unique Wi-Fi protection feature lets you click a button to block all incoming traffic on a wireless network connection.

Though not all reps we talked with were knowledgeable, inexperienced users will welcome PC-cillin's toll-free phone support—unique in this group of products. Web support lets you access FAQs and run an online scan of your system using the House Call feature. But nothing beats the warm fuzzies of talking to a helpful technician when you need an answer, especially if it's free.

A strong competitor of NAV, PC-cillin will appeal to many with its easy installation and interface, integrated firewall, and free tech support.