INTERNET SECURITY: Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security 2004

This software is meant to safeguard personal computers against viruses, hackers and other Internet-based threats. Its key features are: anti-virus, personal firewall, network virus protection, URL filter, privacy data protection, anti-spam and virus-outbreak warning system. 

The outbreak-warning system proactively warns you of new virus threats so that you can get time to update the virus definitions before your system gets infected.

Another new feature is spyware blocking, ie, Trend Micro blocks spyware from being installed on your computer by including spyware in real-time scan.

The personal firewall comes with four default network profiles: Direct Connection, Home Network, Office Network and Wireless Network for different locations where you can use your system. You can also add new profiles according to your needs. Each profile can have low, medium or high security levels and a list of TCP (UDP)/IP connections that are allowed or blocked from and to your system. Each time you switch between different networks, you need to just select the appropriate profile and start working. But, unlike Norton Personal Firewall 2004, Trend Micro does not auto switch the network profiles.

You have to do it manually.

The PDP (Privacy Data Protection) feature of Trend Micro makes sure that your personal data, such as credit-card numbers, doesn't go out of your system through e-mail or Web forms. Though personal data can be protected by a password, a drawback that we found is that once you log in as a different user in the same system then you cannot access the PDP options until you provide the password set by the previous user. In essence, it can protect data for a single user only.

Now, if we compare this product with the Norton Internet Security 2004, a few extra features of Norton are multiple user profiles with each having different personal settings and access control, pop-up blocking and a real-time monitor to know which applications are accessing the Internet. On the other hand, the features those give Trend Micro an edge over Norton are outbreak-warning system, simple and intuitive interface and quick configurability. Although it is not as configurable as Norton, it is ideal for novice users who do not want to tweak a lot. 

Overall, Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security 2004 has a number of good features and is well priced at Rs 1,900. A good buy for users who want to keep their systems safe without getting into technical hassles.

Ankit Kawatra