The Trend Micro antivirus company is one of the oldest around. I remember getting trend micro antivirus PC-Cillin CD’s over 10 years ago. In fact, the company actually owns antivirus.com. The company’s latest product is Trend Micro Internet Security 2010. The software offers internet security protection with antivirus, antispyware, firewall, antispam, and parental controls. Surprisingly, Trend Micro’s Internet Security stacks up to the competition and really brings a lot of unique features to the antivirus industry.
Installation:
Trend Micro’s Installation was probably the most hassle free of any of the antivirus reviewed on this site. The actual download is about 77 megabytes in size and comes with both 32bit and 64bit options. Two things that I liked about the setup were the option to disable the firewall (if a user already has a firewall solution) and the ability to run an installation malware scan. The later is a more and more common occurrence in free antivirus installations. However, Trend Micro’s option to omit the scan is important especially if the antivirus is going to be implemented on multiple systems or for a generally fast and slick installation. The antivirus setup also downloaded additional patches automatically.
Trend Micro needed to download a 10 megabyte update after installation. The company really provides fast updates maxing out at 1.6 megabytes per second (my cable modem’s capacity). This is in contrast to AVG and Quickheal in which their download servers may be located outside the US or heavily burdened by a throb of free users.
Interface:
The TrendMicro Internet Security interface is clean yet without many perks. The omnipresent large green checkmark is presented on the main page. One thing that I think makes Trend Micro stand out is the ease of control. A user simply has to click the protection status link “Good” etc. The user will then be presented with settings menus in which all of the antivirus components can be turned off with the simple click of the button. I just want to say I really appreciate the ease of turning off individual components. I say this because often a user will want to install a legitimate program that may be interfered by an antivirus component. My previous favorite antivirus with this easy on/off functionality was Quickheal Antivirus.
The Trend Micro Interface feels mildly outdated when compared with the likes of Kaspersky etc. The menus probably need to be updated to compete with other 2010 antiviruses’ aesthetic quality. While I am personally indifferent to these artistic qualities, certain users depend on more vivid graphics to alert them to problems.
Trend Micro is interesting in that it appears to be a very simplistic antivirus. It is on the surface because a novice user can easily complete all of their tasks with just a few clicks of a mouse as explained above. However, in addition to the primary settings menu there are also advanced settings menus. The advanced settings menus are a real treat if you are really interested in tweaking the antivirus/antispyware engine. We will look at some of the tweaking capability in the Features section.
I do have one problem with the main page, the “Upgrade to Pro” button. This button will be displayed even if a user has a paid subscription. I believe this type of “advertising” is misleading to the consumer. Some users may think that Trend Micro is purposely providing reduced functionality. Ironically, most completely free antiviruses do not even have upgrade buttons i.e. free Avast.
Features:
As stated above, TrendMicro appears to be a simple antivirus but in fact, has many configuration options.
Network and Firewall Protection. The first feature that caught my eye was the advanced network protection. If a Network virus (worm, Trojan, or virus) is found, Trend Micro will automatically shutdown the internet connection. This feature is a version of IPS (intrusion prevention system) for home networks. The attack concept is that the active worm/virus may attempt to exploit remote vulnerabilities on other machines, there may be more additional worms on the infected machines (the virus/Trojan automatically downloaded additional components), and there may actively be information being stolen from the computer uploaded to somewhere abroad etc. Therefore, if an active network virus is detected shutting down the internet connection as soon as possible is crucial to mitigate damage. I know this because I have had a server that compromised by a virus and essentially became a malware ftp host. In retrospect, I wish the worm could have been shutdown sooner than it was.
I also really like the Trend Micro Firewall because of the way it controls applications and network protocols. TrendMicro Internet Security automatically detected trusted programs and I have not been alerted to any additional pop ups after initial configuration. Firewall rules can be configured with either an advanced method (specific port and protocol) or a simplistic method (allow, ask, block etc.). There is also an option to indicate if the application is an operating system component, giving it unfettered access to the internet. The network protocol layout is the most advanced I have seen in a free internet security program. Different Network Services (ftp, telnet, DNS) can all be configured for access across IPv4, IPv6, or both. This amount of configuration is really helpful if a user wants to have a gradual IPv6 migration. A user can also add an option to only warn if a connection attempt is made rather than allowing or completely blocking the connection. This is great if one wants to monitor exactly what a remote user is doing without alerting them to the administrator’s actions. Finally, all of the application and network protocols can be configured in different profiles i.e. for a hotspot, home use, and office use etc. All network activity can be disabled with the push of a button.
Unauthorized Change Prevention. Trend Micro Internet Security essentially incorporates the protection of an advanced antispyware product into its internet security program. In addition to the usual host file, active X, and LSP protection (TCP network stack) Trend Micro 2010 includes new service and Windows security policy protection. The latter two protection mechanisms are rarely seen in other antispyware / antivirus products. For example, Windows Security Policies are often used to configure a kiosk, public or school computer in that the Control Panel access or password policy etc. can be modified by the administrator. If a malicious program gets access to the security policy it can essentially control the whole computer and prevent its removal by antivirus programs. Trend Micro’s new service protection is aimed squarely at rootkits. Rootkits function by adding a stealthy Windows service to the computer. If new services are constantly monitored, then rootkits will have difficultly installing and functioning.
Detailed Antivirus Reports. The Trend Micro reports are very in depth and a user can easily trace a problem or false positive. An Unauthorized Change Prevention detected program can easily be allowed if there is a false positive. In addition, a nice graph displays the frequency of detections.
Virus Detection and Scanning:
As stated in the introduction, Trend Micro has been engrained in the antivirus business for decades. The program’s virus detection capabilities are fully certified by VB100, Westcoast, and ICSA labs. One thing that stands out with Trend Micro is its extremely fast scanning capabilities. A full system scan finished in a little over 1 hour 15 minutes when scanning 150 gigabytes of data. One thing I noticed was that TrendMicro has an excellent ability at scanning compressed files such as .zip’s or .cabs. Most antivirus (i.e.CA antivirus) really start to stutter when they attempt to unzip and scan compressed contents. There is also a quick scan option, which is actually the default scan. The quick scan finishes in about 8 minutes, which is kind of a long time for “quick scan”. I also liked the option to bring the scan to the background. This is useful if a user needs to work on other things while virus scanning (i.e. writing this review).
The antivirus detected zero false positives (probably because the test system has had over 30 different antivirus programs installed). All of the viruses on the virus drive were detected even with the incredibly fast scanning.
Resource Usage:
Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 utilizes about 50 megabytes across 5 different processes when idle. This is on the higher end compared to most other free internet security software and antivirus. However, during a system virus scan a user will only see an additional 10 megabytes in memory usage. The full system scan CPU usage initially tends to be on the higher end range around 50 to 60% but quickly moved down to about 15 to 30% usage. These numbers combined with the speed of the scan are very impressive. In addition, if the scan is brought to the background there will be little to no impact on concurrent processes. Update: Even if a scan isn’t “Continued in the Background”, there still is minimal impact on system performance. Trend Micro receives an A+ in promoting user productivity.
Conclusion:
Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 adds some really advanced features not included in other mainstream antivirus. It’s a shame that Trend Micro has lost some ground in the consumer market because they are really offering a great antivirus technology. Download the free software below.
- Download TrendMicro Internet Security here
