IssViews Forum

PC Tools Internet Security 2010
REVIEW DATE:11.19.09
by Neil J. Rubenking

Spyware Doctor is the heart and soul of security protection from PC Tools. It's where they focus their major development work and it's PCMag's Editors' Choice for standalone anti-malware. But did you know the company also offers a security suite? For just $10 more than Spyware Doctor alone, PC Tools Internet Security 2010 ($49.95 direct) adds antispam, firewall protection, antiphishing and additional browsing protection. That's a good deal for Spyware Doctor fans. And, as my testing proves, it's a decent collection of security software.

As with Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010, the PC Tools suite's installation can take a while. As part of the process, it downloads a substantial database update and runs a quick Intelli-scan. After registration, it updates again, reboots, and runs another scan. On an infested system, it may reboot and rescan multiple times.

If malware causes you to experience install troubles, you can install and scan in Safe Mode. If the system is really badly infested, a scan with the PC Tools Alternate Operating System Scanner (a bootable Linux-based CD image) should clean it up enough to allow you to install the suite.

New Browser Defender
The new Browser Defender add-in installs automatically for Internet Explorer; Firefox users must download it from http://www.browserdefender.com. Browser Defender evaluates each Web site you visit and warns about any that are suspicious or dangerous. In this it's similar to McAfee's SiteAdvisor (available in McAfee Total Protection 2009 and as a standalone).

Browser Defender also actively prevents access to truly dangerous sites, much like the LinkScanner technology in AVG Internet Security 9.0 and AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9.0. Browser Defender also displays a warning bar at three levels of severity for phishing sites and other suspicious sites.

This add-in marks both organic and sponsored search results in Google and Yahoo with green, yellow, and red icons. Clicking the icon gets you a bit more detail about the site's rating, as well as a link to a full analysis at browserdefender.com. Malicious downloads and links to dangerous sites factor into a site's rating, as do browser annoyances like exploits, spam, and popups. The analysis page identifies just what sort of malicious software (if any) is present and also flags sites with content in the categories Adult, Dialers, Gambling, Hacking, or Violence.

PC Tools Internet Security 2010
* Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt
* Reviewed on: 12/04/2009
* Released on: 10/15/2009

PC Tools Internet Security 2010

Historically, PC Tools' flagship product has been the reasonably priced Spyware Doctor, but the affordable price point for PC Tools Internet Security 2010 makes it clear that the company wants users to seriously consider the full suite. At the time of writing, it retails for $49.99, $10 lower than the list price for the full suites from Norton Internet Security and Kaspersky, and $30 cheaper than Eset's offering. The full suite comes with the malware detection and removal tools that Spyware Doctor is known for as well as the recently enhanced ThreatFire behavioral detection engine, antivirus detection, spam filtering, layered browsing guards, and a firewall. In terms of raw features, it's comparable to other Internet Security suites.

Installation
Our installation of PC Tools Internet Security 2010 was generally a pain-free experience. The program installed quickly, but did require a system reboot. Most but not all competitors require a reboot for the program to function properly. When Windows is done rebooting, the program will automatically launch and run a quick scan, which took less than 2 minutes. Even on clean machines, it's likely that the program will pick up tracking cookies and other low-level threats. Uninstalling left behind desktop icons and Registry keys, and the Windows firewall had to be manually reactivated--not the most polite of uninstallation procedures.

Interface and features
The interface design is generally easy to use, but could be much better when it comes to accessing advanced settings. Five buttons anchor the left nav: Status, Start Scan, IntelliGuard, Tools, and Settings. Each one brings up a different pane of security information, but they're all unified by an easy-to-read font choice and clean design. It's too bad this design aesthetic didn't carry through to the more advanced areas, which are much harder to read thanks to an unnecessarily small font.

Product summary

The good:
PC Tools Internet Security 2010 comes with a full range of detection and removal tools, including the lauded, effective behavioral detection engine ThreatFire.

The bad:
PC Tools' speed performance was unimpressive, and could be faster. The interface is usable at the top level, but drilling down to more-advanced settings can be confusing and cluttered. Users hoping for a fully functional trial should look elsewhere.

The bottom line:
We're big fans of PC Tools Internet Security's ThreatFire component, and the overall toolset that PC Tools provides is robust, but the suite could be both faster and easier to use.

PC Tools Internet Security 2010
Monday March 22, 2010
Written by Staff Writers

PC Tools' 2009 suite was the runt of our last security Labs, coming last in that issue's malware detection test. However, the new 2010 edition convincingly turned that record around with a highly respectable score of 97% - just 1% shy of top marks.

Its web detection was quite alert too, blacklisting a good number of dodgy sites and warning us of "potentially malicious" content on others.

The Browser Defender extension remains a big waste of space, though - a single button that demands a full toolbar to itself.

The package didn't integrate with our mail client, but it filtered out infected attachments from incoming messages, raising a neat alert in the corner of the screen. However, even clean emails had a three-line PC Tools banner appended at the bottom - a little excessive.

The firewall was one of this month's least rigorous. With default settings, not only was our attacking PC able to detect open ports, it was even able to discover information about services and network shares.