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Computer Protection

We have been reviewing computer protection software suites because our McAfee subscription is running out. We are looking for a suite that includes virus, firewall, malware or spyware, spam, and phishing protection. We have been reviewing the following products: McAfee, AVG, and Trend Micro PC-cillin. Norton does not even make our list of products to test because it has not performed well in the past for us.

Windows Firewall is no longer acceptable to us because it only blocks incoming requests and not outgoing requests; therefore given the ever increasing attacks on computers we see the need for a better firewall.

Our review of 2007 McAfee product was not good even given that the cost for 3 users the 8 in 1 product was very low. We found that just using the setup interface causes 100 percent usage of my 3200+ AMD processor. Also it slows down the computer in general. They just about force you to use their firewall and a few other services they provide. This product just plain uses to much of the system resources; therefore we have decided that it will not be our choice.

Testing of AVG is looking very good. It does not hog system resources like McAfee does. We have been using the free version of the virus protection for about a year and it has been working great. The free version works on 300 MHz laptops; now that is a small processor in today’s standards. The firewall is bidirectional and the set up is easy to learn and has a setting saving service and it also allows for more than one profile which is needed for laptops that travel to unprotected networks. When you run a “Test” (a scan) you are checking for both virus and malware at the same time.

Trend Micro PC-cillin seems to be very close to AVG with the use of system resources and more comparable to McAfee in features. Further review is needed.

AVG and Trend Micro PC-cillin are still in the running. We are continuing our testing and checking on reselling AVG products. We will be picking a product within a few days so please look back for updates.

(Randy 11/15/2006)

Results: Trend Micro PC-cillin is the winner because it has more features than AVG and costs less also. It also cost less than we can find McAfee for.

The Trend Micro PC-cillin can be found at newegg.com for $34.99 (price as of 11/15/2006 7:54 PM CST) as a download and this is for a 3-user copy. The link is below.

original link has been replaced with new version price $43.99 (as of11-21-2007 6:19A.M.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832286009

Trend Micro PC-cillin Trial Vervision Link: trial internet security

(Randy 11-15-2006 8:18 PM CST)

Downloads

Having Trouble Reading Icon Names PDF

Network Security in Window XP PDF
Defragment Instructions PDF

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