Customer Reviews

Trend Micro Internet Security Pro [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I have been using Trend Micro Internet Security for the past couple of years, and it's a good product. My license was up so I decided to upgrade to their Internet Security Pro program, which came out in September 2008. It has extra bells and whistles that improve your computer performance (much like Pitstop's PC Optimize or Norton 360) in addition to internet security and anti-virus protection.

The problem came in the installation. Because it wasn't just a simple 'add another year' to the existing license, but moving from one product to another product, the program simply wouldn't install. It hung up regularly during the install process and then automatically de-installed itself and shut down the computer. Frustrating!

I checked on multiple websites looking for a solution and tried all the ones I found. I talked twice to Trend Micro support people, and tried what they recommended and their suggestions didn't work either. Here's the list of suggestions received and tried that failed:

1. Running the Trend Micro Uninstall program (the "red-and-white lifesaver" icon) to de-install all previous versions of Trend Micro products that might be on my computer, one after another, and then rebooting the computer and trying to reinstall the program.

2. Uninstalling the program using CCLEANER or the UNINSTALL program in Windows XP Control Panel and then rebooting the computer and trying to reinstall the program.

3. Turning off the Windows Firewall and then rebooting and trying to reinstall the program.

What did finally work was to install the program using the CUSTOM INSTALL instead of the AUTOMATIC INSTALL program.

The idea came to me from watching where the program hung up when it was installing. It stalled and then uninstalled itself always at the same point in time: after the first round of the install procedure, when the console opens up with the six or seven red dots in a row, and then it installs each of the components. I realized it was hanging up always at the same point - installation of the Firewall.

So what I did was a CUSTOM install, where I UNCHECKED "install the Firewall". The whole program then loaded without a hitch - including the Firewall! I then updated the software and am "back in business".

I am posting this here because I did NOT find this method on line nor did the tech folks at Trend Micro suggest it - but it works.

As a long time Trend Micro user, I realize this review is fairly critical, but I feel its necessary because there is alot of impact on the PC running this brands product. On Critical PC's with lots of RAM and resources I find it the best overall solution. On a notebook or other mobile pc, not so much.

Trend Micro now completely ditched its PC-cillin brand, in favor of the more sober Internet Security label. The standard 2009 edition bring any major new features, but keeps parity with other packages - you get the expected malware detection and firewall, plus browser protection, anti-spam, anti-phishing and parental controls.

The Pro edition has a few unusual tricks too, with remote file-locking and smartphone antivirus.

Remote file-locking works with a simple encrypted folder, which can only be accessed with a password. If you report your computer stolen the folder is "locked" the next time the PC connects to the internet.

The smartphone package works with a wide range of Symbian phones, but as there's still little smartphone malware in the wild, it's impossible to say how effective this is.

More important than these extras is the package's impact on your system and its efficacy in detecting infections.

Unfortunately, in these crucial areas Trend Micro Internet Security lags behind. Installing it on a clean system that took 35 seconds to boot added 12 seconds - twice the impact of Norton Internet Security 2009 or Kaspersky Internet Security 2009.

Memory usage was comparatively high: one minute after booting, our bare system reported 475MB in use by Vista, which rose to 571MB with Trend Micro installed.

There were disappointments on the detection front, too. Its overall detection rate of 95% is respectable, beating Norton's 84%.

It's also worth noting that, while Norton and Kaspersky dealt silently with every threat they found, Trend Micro stopped to ask us what to do twice.

While I would like to be more positive about this package, it's expensive if you don't have three computers to protect, and the brutal fact is that both Norton and Kaspersky offer better protection with lower system overheads. If you have plenty of resources and a heavily impacted environment, this product makes complete sense.

--WE

I've used Trend Micro products before and each time installation is always a hassle. The previous program has to be completely un-installed before a new program can be installed. Even though my last software was from Trend I still encourtered this install problem with Internet Security Pro. So I knocked off one star for the annoyance of installation. The second star gets knocked off this review because my load time and memory use increased. Other then that the features and usability of Internet Security Pro are worthwhile and the cost of purchase. My only regret is that licenses are only for a year.

I don't care how effective this program is, or how modern, or how pretty to look at the nice red display might be. This thing is getting 1 star for one reason alone, and it's a darn good one.

Trend Micro will SHUT DOWN once the subscription expires. Understand that. It will not simply disallow you to update the program. The program itself, updated or not, will completely shut down and lock you out of it until you pay the full price of a new version.

I have never witnessed an internet security program do this. In the past, with other programs (Trend included), when the subscription expired, at least the program still WORKED, even if you couldn't update it anymore. At least SOME protection is better than nothing at all, until you can find the time to buy the latest version. Not the case with Trend Micro. It completely turns itself off, opening your computer to the rest of the world, until you fork over money.

So be warned...you are NOT purchasing this program. It is a 1-year rental, and nothing more. Unacceptable.

I upgraded from TMIS Pro 2008 to 2009 on a clean system (freshly loaded Vista after disk erase) and immediately started having recurring Blue Screen failures. After much investigation and tweaking reverted to 2008 and the problem disappeared. 3 days later and I am still waiting for a response from technical support. Don't buy this product until the bugs are worked out.

I have used Trend Micro Internet Security (TMIS) for the past year and even though it not as thorough as it could be (I found other 'free' programs that found a few viruses and other bad-wares that program missed) it was, nonetheless, a very reliable program. I write to warn about a serious deficiency. TMIS shuts down when your subscription to the updates has expired. Before and after this point you will get incessant reminders to renew their program. After the date passes you cannot open the program and you do not know if you are protected as the popups from TMIS warn you that you are at risk. One would think that when you buy a program it will continue to protect you without the updates, NORTON did, but not so with this program. There are also serious hassles of installing and uninstalling the program. I recommend that before you buy the program you should checkout the remarks on 'Window Vista Forums' vistax64 com. TMIS has been a good Internet security program BUT to completely block you from the program unless you put another quarter in the slot, and this is unacceptable.

The software itself deserves perhaps two stars - it is clumsy, slows down the system A LOT etc. - but one big problem downgraded my evaluation. When the "subscription" expires, you have to buy its (overpriced) extension. If you want to install the newer copy of it manually, removing the old one and installing the new is a huge pain. Moreover - and this will make you furious - if you allow the "subscription" to expire, not only it stops updating itself but also the software becomes unoperable. This includes turning off the firewall! Dishonest and dangerous.

I've used TM Internet Security for a number of years now (not the Pro version, as it only adds a few extra features which I have no need for). Overall it does a nice job of keeping out the viral crap that plagues the net and for me at least has prevented (I assume) any serious infections and intrusions on machinees running Windows ME, XP, and Vista.

The most serious difficulty I've had with TMIS was during installation (it is essential that you uninstall prior versions when upgrading) and that was pretty frustrating.

In day to day operation the package has an auto update feature which can be extremely annoying unless you have a very fast net connection, therefore I wouldn't use this product on a netbook or laptop which connects from various locations. Of course you could run it sans auto update, but - thats a risky proposition. Also, the system scan process should be done only during off-hours as it imposes aerious drain on system resources. In layman's terms it's kind of a pig. Doing anything substantial simultaneously just isn't worth the pain.

One last note: I've tried most of the well known security products and frankly they all have problems of one sort or another. It's all pretty annoying. Since I've retired from 30 years in the IT field, and I no longer need to bend over to the Microsloth trolls, I'm in the process of moving my main netbook and laptop to Linux and my next desktop build will definetly be Linux... its just a better experience in so many ways.

If you need IS then this product will do it (and so will a number of freeware titles like AVG and Avast).

This is my third up-date for Trend Micro Internet Security Software.
It has handled many attempted attacks on my computers, but I have not suffered any damage or loss of data or capability. I heartily recommend it to other computer users.

I have used many programs to protect my computers as others had. I've tried Norton, Spybot, McAfee, Adaware, and AVG Free edition as well as some other I will not mention. I stopped using Norton a year ago when my license ended and instead of continuing to run without update it demanded I pay for another year or remove it....I removed it. I use to go year without updates checking with Trends free website scans and then buy another Norton license. So I was buying Norton every other year since they started. But their new programming lost me. The only thing I do not know about this software is will it lock up at the end of its license and demand I renew or will it continue to work but not update.

I was happy using AVG Free but since I do banking and shopping online I thought this would fit the bill. And it does! I had no real problem installing it on all but one computer. It is true what everyone says; this program is a memory hog. So you better have 500MB on your Hard Drive for it and decent amount of RAM or stick with AVG Free. The old computer is still under the plethora of little programs and AVG for its protection.

Now for the two computers I have running Trend Internet Security Pro I am very pleased. It may take memory but you can remove all the other programs you were using for block popup's, scan web searches for malicious content, clean your registry, and scan emails. Trend almost takes care of everything. And to top it off, if you have children it allows you to remotely lock files; a feature I do not use.

Unlike some other programs I have used this one constantly updates its virus definitions and it is customizable by the user. It has the ability to secure documents so that if your computer is stole, the thief cannot get to them. Besides being a memory hog the only thing I noticed was a slight delay on web browsing. But not much more than if you have all the free protection running. The system does not give you the detail of what it is removing as the other software I use, but to be honest I did not always look. But I do wish they had an indicator of % scan complete (maybe that is an option I missed). Still much better than Norton and I am pleased to have it.

I would prefer to review this when the license runs out so I can see what happens. So far I am happy with it...I'd be happier if I could use it on all my computers, but I am not upgrading memory on backup and remote computers.