Penicillin for your PC (Trend PC-cillin offline Virus Scan)

Member Name: Meshek

Product:	Trend PC-cillin offline Virus Scan
Date:	27/06/02 (14273 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Real Time Scan, Auto Update

Disadvantages: SLows Computer Down

Introduction
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Over the past few years the threat from viruses and worms has grown ever great untill the situation that we find ourselves in now with at least about one major virus scare every single month and with the range of files these virsuses can attack and their new attacks the threat overall to ones computer from these is now real and not just a statistical chance. Because of this I deceided to buy a virus scanning program for my pc and after several recomendations from friends I deceided on PC - cillin and I have not regretted this since.


PC-cillin Specifications and Good Features
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Secures against new, unknown, and script-based viruses through enhanced antivirus scanning
PC-cillin's Personal Firewall provides adjustable security levels, a trusted site list, and port-blocking capabilities
Secures all common attack and infection points -- removable media, the Internet, email, and even Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
Protects important information stored on your Personal Digital Assistant
Friendly interface quickly familiarizes you with all of the powerful features
Self-maintaining to insure that the most current security measures are in use

(Above features are quote from the PC-cillin website)

I deceided to go for PC-cillin for a number of reasons. Firstly unlike many other virus companies this company only charges you for the softtware once and although you can buy the latest version to get more features you can still get all the latest virus updates without doing this. This immediately sets it apart from most of the other virus companies which demand an ongoing subscription fee. Another feature I like about this virus scanner is the extreme speed at which they bring out new virus patches. Wheras most virus companies take a few days to bring out an update after a new virus is released pc-cillin brings out an upd
ate after just a few hours. One reason that they can produce updates so fast is they can usually get the viruses before other companies since they offer a free online virus scan. Allthough obviously this scan is nothing like the program it does allow them to find viruses quicker. Other features this program has is a real time scan (This scans anything that is currently running), e - mail scanner and a firewall (a device that protects one from hackers).


Problems with PC-cillin
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The main problem with all this protection is that it does reduce the speed of the machine. On a new computer this is hardly noticable put on an old computer this can completely slow down your computer. If the latter is true I would definately suggest turning off the real time scanner since this is the main thing that slows ones computer down since it is running all the time. However if one does this then one should make sure the virus scanner does at least one complete scan everyday.


Conclusion
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What makes this program especially good is that it goes further than its competion as opposed too mearly doing the bear minimum. It also costs less than the competion at about £30 and that is without the need for a subscription. I would recommend this virus scan to anyone even if they have a free virus scanner since the level of protection of the free virus scanners is far less than PC-cillin and in today's world I suggest that, the level of protection of the free virus scans is too little.

Summary: