PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam, Spyware, Wi-Fi Patrol]

Manufacturer:	Trend Micro
Release date:	22 October, 2004

PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam, Spyware, Wi-Fi Patrol]

Average rating: Stars

Excellent Product

It was rated high when I bought it, and it works well. I had a minor problem installing it, but I got it working okay by myself. The ratings for product support was excellent; but, when I wrote an e-mail requesting help, I never received a reply. Maybe it got lost in the mail????????

However, I've installed it on both of my machines, and it's much better than Norton, and I got a great rebate on one of them....total cost about $16.00.

PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam, Spyware, Wi-Fi Patrol] - Trend Micro

"Is he kiddin'??"

Norton Internet Security 2004 nearly took my computer hostage. Enough was enough, so I uninstalled it and did some research. What persuaded me into buying Trend Micro PC-Cillin 2005? Rave reviews from an article in PC World. Honestly, I have no agenda against Trend Micro (I'm sure they delivered the goods in past releases) nor PC World for that matter--but for the love of pete, all the praise and hype makes zero sense (a bit suspicious frankly.) For me, PC-cillin was a disaster from the start---and I really wanted to like it. After the installation, you are suddenly not allowed to register, why? It suggests the impossible-- that you are using someone else's register code. Remember Jimmy Durante in 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' after plummeting to the jagged rocks, and a witness tells him not to worry, that he has medical experience---he's a dentist. Jimmy's response..."Is he kiddin!??". Exactly. Someone else's register code??? I bought this software at CompUSA-- brand new, in a sealed box?? Now, customer service DID fix the problem by issuing me a new code, but I wasted an hour trying to figure out what was wrong and performing the changes on the phone with the rep. If you read other Amazon reviews, you'll see others experienced the exact same predicament. How could this have been overlooked by the people at TM and what does it say about other possible inconsistancies in their software? Although not as slow as Norton IS 2005, it did take almost a minute longer for my computer to boot up--not too big a deal, but then came some more problems unfortunately. Most troublesome, no matter what settings I tried, altered, etc., practically all website photos appeared as blank boxes with red x's in the corners. Tech support did try, but couldn't resolve it (you have to speak with them on the phone [and they WILL talk to you if you wait long enough], but they steer clear of your detailed emails, only sending back generic problem-solving responses that you've already tried.) Then your proxy settings get lost and you cannot access any web page (even if you keep hitting 'refresh' or 'detect proxy settings.') Worse, when you try to disable PC-cillin to see if you can get back online, it takes forever to do so. If you're lucky and succeed, don't even bother re-enabling it without a long reboot, because it refuses to open and nearly freezes your computer (although your mouse pointer will move a quarter inch every five seconds--no lie.) The spyware feature only discovered 25% of the intrusions my AdAware software detected. How could this be--AdAware is free. The firewall? Well, it seemed to be working ok the first few days, then when I performed an online update---the firewall vanished, and for the life of me, I couldn't get it running again---it was virtually non-existant. I didn't realize this until a week after my update, so I was exposed to who knows what for that long. The anti-virus seemed to be the only redeeming component--though not too user friendly, it appeared to be doing its job, but I didn't give it enough time for a fair evaluation. Like Norton IS 2004, sadly, I uninstalled Trend Micro. Perhaps most of this was just MY bad experience. Perhaps these are bugs that can be repaired in a patch. Perhaps this program will do wonders for others with better computers (mine's a Pentium III). It didn't perform well for me. I reinstalled windows, reformatted my drives and am now currently using a trial version of zoneAlarm pro. I have to be honest and say that it is working very well so far...and it is not hogging any resources, but we'll see. I suggest you download both trial versions before you buy and decide from there what will be your 'Big Dubblya.' ('Winner' I suppose.) Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Trend Micro - PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 [AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam, Spyware, Wi-Fi Patrol]

Great Product

Before this product, I used Norton Internet Security 2005. It was a big resource hog. Now that I installed PC-Cillin, my computer is only running 33 processes in the background (vs. 40 with Norton).

Also, when I went to register, the program told me my key was already registered. I called them up and the phone was promptly answered. After a few minutes for the verification that I actually just purchased the product, they gave me a new Product key and I was on my way.

As for the program itself, virus scanning is quick and updates come almost every day. The only thing is that the firewall is a little different from Norton's, so you have to configure certain ports to allow certain programs to connect through them (but this isn't too difficult).

All in all, this is a great product.