Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus Review

This program is available directly from the vendor.

Vendor's antivirus software homepage:

Pros - Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus:

• Very good virus detection record
• Easy to use
• A single icon in the system tray
• Simple to schedule scans of specific folders or hard drives, a feature missing in some antivirus programs

• Some viruses detected by an on-access scan can only be removed by running a subsequent on-demand scan
• Some options, like Web Filter & Web Security, consumes a lot of resources
• You may have trouble getting the feature to delete viruses from incoming POP3 e-mail to work
• Log file could be better
• Includes a useless firewall
• New version with timeconsuming registration process

• Some tasks are falsely reported as completed when in fact they failed.
• Only scans incoming emails, not email streams.

• Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0
• Microsoft Outlook 98, 2000, 2002
• Netscape Messenger 4.5, 4.6, 4.7
• Netscape 6.0, 6.1
• Eudora Pro 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.3
• Becky Internet Mail version 2

Our doubts aside, Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus has a better than average virus detection rate and it's very user-friendly. We are also pleased by Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus supporting several archive formats, including the most common Unix formats, however WinRAR self-extracting archives are not supported, as well as WinAce files which are not supported at all

Worse is the lack of email support. As Norman, Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus scans inbound email only, but not before you try to open your messages or save them to disk. This means you may have a virus on your computer that's not being detected. You're also in jeopardy of forwarding infected messages to others. But Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus do support other email clients than Outlook (see below).

Something that puts us off is the huge amount of RAM required to run Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus efficiently. You need at least 128 MB if you're running XP, or 64 MB if you're running Windows 2000. Our computer slowed down considerably with Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus running. So this product would be best suited for fast computers with at least 512 MB RAM. .

We are uncertain of how often Trend is updating their virus definition files. We suspect it's not often enough, which means you're more vulnerable since new viruses floods the Internet daily. Trend PC-cillin Anti-Virus also has a history of failing to detect some new viruses.

We have to say we suspect Trend of trying to tap into the lucrative antivirus market. Bundled with the product you get a firewall and a website filter (parental control), something which might look appealing for potential buyers, but both add-ons are pretty useless.

Trend Micro's PC-cillin 2002 impresses even as it disappoints. Its low price (around $40), thoughtful user interface, and extra features make it an attractive choice for the home user looking for antivirus and firewall protection. However, its mediocre performance in our lab tests keeps it from earning our strong recommendation

In addition to the virus protection, PC-cillin's software-based firewall protects against Internet intruders. Its Site Filter function further restricts access to certain Web pages, although we're not sure how this feature would be useful, since the user must manually specify the offending Web pages. In general, firewalls bundled with antivirus products tend not to be as robust as standalone firewalls such as ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0 or BlackIce PC Protection 3.5.
http://www.cnet.com/software/ 0-806174-1205-9682410.html?tag=dir-rev

VUNET Network
February, 2002
Editors rating: 3 out of 5
Groupware review (i.e. enterprise version, not the consumer version)