PC-cillin Internet Security 2004 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam, Spyware]

Rating:
Summary: Everything as promised (...)
Review: Changed to PC cillin from Norton because of price/value and my old software's generally a complicated and difficult renewal process. In contrast, PC cillin was clear, easy and competitively priced. It was very easy to install PC-cillin just as advertised.

Everything works nicely including email filtering, antispam, automatic updates and etc. I remember reading a review saying that automatic update was not automatic. Not true. PCcillin update is automatic but you must set your preferences to auto.

The only con so far is that I would like having the firewall more obviously working with an indicator or something; That would be nice but is unnecessary.

After using this software for several weeks I am very happy with it and would choose it again.

I am writing this review because I have benefited from user reviews so much myself. As long as I am passing kudos, Amazon has been very good to work with and I have found they usually offer comparable or better prices for very reliable service and good followup if there is a problem. This is especially true when you factor in shipping (...).

Rating:
Summary: Great Anti-Virus Software
Review: I am running Windows XP Home Edition on 2GHz machine, and I have been debating for months whether to switch from McAffee 7.0 to PC-Cillin. Well, I finally did and I wish I had done it sooner. The list of positives goes on and on. Competitively low price, extremely easy install, light on system resources, and no annoying pop-ups. I also have a laptop that came pre-intalled with McAffee 8.0 and I hated the annoying pop-ups. There was no way to turn off the "Your virus definitions have not been updated recently" pop-up even though I had specified that I would manually update the virus definitions when I felt they were need (It's a laptop without a wireless connection and when I am not connected to the internet I do not plan on updating my definitions, a concept that McAffee doesn't seem to understand). But enough ranting about McAffee, if you are looking for a straight forward anti-vius program than this is the product for you.

Rating:
Summary: PC-Cilln Inertnet Security Not Compatiable with XP SP2
Review: I downloaded a copy of PC-Cillin Internet Security and it would not allow my computer to access my internet connection. Trend Micro Tech Support informed me that their firewall is not compatible with Windows XP SP2 and needs to be removed for the software to work.

A patch is planned for the future, but for now I opted for a refund on the software.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent Software!
Review: I have tried over the past years, several name brand Security Suites and individual utility softwares. Norton has been consistant on being a resource hog and non-compatible with other types of software. I also had more computer conflicts and BSOD with Norton, than any other software. I tried installing the recent 2004 NAV and received the same problem as 2003, non-installable and constant reboots automatically. Mcafee is a major AD promoter and using it, makes me feel like I'm looking at a newspaper page, I have to find the specific item to read among all the other garbage on the page. Computer Associates EZ Armor is fast and uses very little resources, but it has a confusing homepage and confusing anti virus scanner. It has very little accessories attached to be more specific on the scans. I would recommend this one, before McAfee or Norton.
PC-Cillin worked from the initial time I installed, no conflict or BSOD. The scan for virus's is fast and the firewall passes all the firewall tests I had thrown at it. Except the leak test by Gibson's site. For the price, this suite is excellent. I highly recommend it. Norton and McAfee are only getting worse, even though each year they add something else on to their software.


Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I purchased this product based on reviews I read at this site. I installed it on a 400 mz Pentium 2. I loaned the computer to my son apparently virus free. When I got it back 4 weeks later it was crippled with torjans and adware. The fault lies with him. I used PC-cillin in an attempt to clean it up. Nearly 200 trojans and much adware was identified and with some help from the Trend Micro site I was able (after tedious efforts on my part) to delete or quarantine all but one. I sought additional help from customer support. After several emails back and forth, I was asked to send a copy of the virus report to them. I did. After 4 weeks of no further reply, I purchased McAfee virus scan and Firewall. McAfee identified an additional 338 trojans and 4 adware files. These were all handled by the software with none of the additional actions on my part that were necessary with PC-cillin. I have experienced no slowing of my system as reported in some of the reviews of McAfee that I read here. Retrieving updates is a slower process with McAfee. I use DSL so I can understand that someone with dial up may think that their system was frozen but patience would probably have been successful. I doubt very much that McAfees firewall prevented a connection to their own site as suggested by one reviewer. I have used Norton in the past and felt that it was a resource hog which is why I opted for McAfee after my disappointment with PC-cillin. I believe it would be a foolish waste of money to purchase the Trend Micro product. I am extremely pleased with McAfee.

Rating:
Summary: BUY THIS INSTEAD OF NORTON - I DID A COMPARISON
Review: I read how the buyers of Norton 2004 Internet Security watched their computers turn into processing sloths, bought a copy and watched my 2.4 Gig XP Pro processor slow down below the level of my 750 Meg 2000Pro laptop! At the same time I bought PC-Cillin for the laptop and what a slick product! My laptop actually sped up from Norton 2003. Seems to me that Norton has added so much feature content that it dominates your computer.

So now, when we type, half the time the Norton XP Pro 2.4 Gig PC lags behind the input, sometime by 10 characters!

Symantec should give us all a refund and apology! I will NEVER buy their product again at this rate, and neither should you.

GET PC CILLIN AND BE HAPPY you didn't spend what I did to see the difference!


Rating:
Summary: Strong Antivirus and Firewall Combination
Review: I recently switched from Norton Internet Security to PC-Cillin after having been a NIS customer for several years. I made the switch for a variety of reasons, mostly because of memory footprint and speed issues. Overall, it has been a smooth and painless transition, although there have been a couple of small surprises.

I had used Trend's antivirus several years ago, and I remember it as one of the fastest scanners on the market. It is still very fast, much faster than Norton and McAfee (which I have also used), and the coverage of viruses is top-notch. It takes less memory and is done in a quarter of the time on my present system, which is a huge plus for me. I have encountered no compatibility issues at all, which was a small concern I had when I started using it but has since been proven to be no issue at all.

The firewall that comes with the suite is more simplistic than Norton's firewall, and it takes a little getting used to after having had to tweak and fiddle every little setting over the last several years. The major settings are accessed through a simple slider - the protection level can be set to low, medium or high. Once you have made your choice, it works quietly in the background for all intents and purposes, only alerting you where there is a major issue requiring attention or when the level is set to high and a port access is made that you have not yet approved. There is also facility for setting ranges of IP addresses to ensure that you can play nicely on the network in the office, which is a very important feature present in most firewalls.

My biggest complaint with the firewall is more a matter of personal preference and habit - I would like more feedback from it, as I got from Norton's firewall. However, I can always check the logs and see what has happened, and I am confident that it provides the same coverage you get from Norton without all of the notifications of such.

A wonderful feature is the "Emergency Lock", which allows you to lock your system down - nothing comes in, nothing goes out. That can be extremely helpful if you are in a network environment and a security breach (such as a network virus) begins to spread. One click and you are isolated.

The suite also has a built-in antispam tool. I will confess that I do not use this feature, as I have something else I have used for a while that is very good. From the documentation, the standard operation for this feature is to flag a message as spam before delivering to your inbox, much like Norton does. Personally, I find this feature unhelpful. Better would be to capture the message and hold it for review before delivery. In my opinion, the objective should be to keep it from arriving in your mail client at all, not just flagging it.

The weak spot of the package is the URL filter list. The list is initially unpopulated, and you may add URLs in two ways - one at a time, or through the browser cache. This is not helpful as a parental control. Another issue is that this list will not work with the Opera Browser or with Mozilla/Firefox - it works ONLY with MS Internet Exporer - and when it blocks a page it tells you what to do to unblock it (although you can specify a password to block access to the list so that it cannot be changed). This feature could use some help.

One thing I had with Norton that does not come with the Trend product is an Ad blocker function. I got very spoiled with Norton's ability to silently block ads, and I took the feature for granted until I uninstalled NIS. Suddenly I got piles of ads that I had never seen on what I had assumed to be clean websites. Hopefully Trend will add this kind of feature to their suite in the future, but for now you either need to put up with ads or find an alternative method of eliminating them.

Updating the software is easy and painless. There is a section in the main window that allows you to select updats, and everything else is automatic once you have started the query process. Very clean, smooth, and effortless.

Overall, this is a very nice package and I can heartily recommend it. It does lack a little polish in a couple of areas, and there are a few things that I would like to see added or improved, but overall it's a good package for the money. It is definitely faster and smaller than the "big guys" while accomplishing the same primary objectives, and if that's important to you, this package is sure to please.

Rating:
Summary: Good overall internet security package
Review: I tried demo versions of several internet security packages, and this one seemed to be the best, based on features, usability and value, so it was an easy choice. I've found that it's pretty easy to use, and it's good at staying up-to-date on the latest virus definitions.

Oh, and I have Windows XP Professional with SP2, and it works great, so I'm not sure what the other reviewer's issue was. I use the anti-virus and firewall features of PC-cillin, no problems at all.

Rating:
Summary: Not a resource hog and easy to use product
Review: I use Trend's Corporate OfficeScan at work and Norton Internet Security 2004 at home. In addition I provide pc and network support at work and to my friends.

I have found Norton to be a huge resource hog on older operating systems - it runs fine on my WinXP without using parent controls where it can again cause system slow downs.

I also read PC Worlds review and I plan to change to PC-cillin Internet Security when it is time to upgrade again. With my experience with Trend at work I want to give it a try.

Regarding the reviewer who stated his computer was full of trojans and adware after loaning it to his some I have this to say. No AntiVirus programs have caught up with spyware and adware fully yet. That is why PC World recommends using Spyware Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware 6.0 in addition to an AntiVirus Program. I use both of these along with Norton at this time without conflicts.

The term "Malware" covers all 3 - virus, spyware & adware so until a package comes out that STATES it covers all 3 use common sense and install additional protection.

Rating:
Summary: Lean mean fighting machine!!
Review: I've gone the Norton and McAffee route for over 10 years the most recent of which have been with Norton's bloated memory busting System Works 2005. Since the 2003 version I have noticed a significant slowing of my computing but have been unable to identify the source.

I ran four different anti-spyware programs, I "cleansed" the system using all of Norton's utilities and still my computer was painfully slow hanging up on startup and shutdown. My problems grew progressively worse until I read somewhere that Norton might well be causing my problems.

At first I discounted this possibility out of hand - I mean, after all, this was a premier program that had been around for years! Surely, IT couldn't be the source of my problems. But out of frustration I took Norton off of my computer and VOILÀ my problems went away! I couldn't believe it. No more computer crashes, no more slovenly performance, no more hanging up on shutdown and interminable startup times.

I was then confronted with finding another program to supplant Norton. I searched Cnet and came up with PC-Cillin! This program works great. I does not degrade performance one iota! No hanging up on shutdown or interminable startup times. This program works silently in the background and is literally updated daily in 3 - 5 seconds. I couldn't possibly be more pleased.

For the life of me I cannot understand how a company as distinguished as Symantec could fritter away all their goodwill and reputation by putting out a program that is quite simply awful.

Do yourself a favor. Forget Norton and McAffee. PC-Cillin is incomparably better. My computer, for the first time in 18 months, works like it was brand new.