PCTools Internet Security 2011 product reviews

Protecting the network of a PC with software installed on it has never been my favourite method - I prefer to stop attacks before they get to my machine. That being said - PC Tools Internet Security 2011 does a pretty good job of keeping the gremlins out.

Installation was quick and painless, as I have come to expect from PC Tools, and the default settings allowed my standard browsing and internet use without hassle. The interface has a pleasant look and feel, although it does look like each of the sections was designed by a different person. The main status window has simple status indicators and quick links to edit (and disable if necessary) two of the basic functions - antiSPAM and Firewall. The remaining sections control the manual scan options, a smattering of tools, the general settings and "Intelli-guard" controls.

General scanning performance was OK, not overly taxing on the machine, but definitely not lightning fast either. It picked up a few items on my machine, mostly minor in threat level and was able to clean/quarantine them successfully. The application window keeps popping up in the middle of the screen at odd times, where a flashing system-tray icon might have done the trick for notifications. The extra toolset is a strange addition - related but not especially useful or necessary.

Overall the product is quite impressive, although I do have a couple of niggles. One minor - always a bugbear of mine - you can't resize the application window. This is something which should be standard on any application nowadays due to the vast array of available resolutions which people may choose to set on their monitors. It also makes it very difficult to examine the history logs when trying to resolve firewall issues - and this leads me to my second issue which was definitely more serious. I had significant difficulty setting up the firewall to allow VPN's and other more complex networking to work properly - in particular a very standard Microsoft PPTP VPN connection back to the office. The way the firewall settings were laid out was confusing and difficult to follow, and some of the "override" controls just didn't work at all, requiring me to craft all of the necessary settings into the main ruleset, definitely not something to be expected of the general consumer. To be fair - once the concept of the ruleset is understood - there is some useful configuration available.

For me the heart of this product is the intelligence which is built-in to two of its main functions - the aptly-named "Intelli-scan" and "Intelliguard". "Intelli-scan" takes the best blend of protection and speed by choosing the main attack vectors and scanning all of them in one quick pass. It can be run multiple times a day if necessary as it only takes a couple of minutes, but it covers all the basic dangerous areas. "Intelliguard" has an impressive array of Guard technology that actively protects all the important areas of your machine, and each individual guard can be turned off and on and configured with specific settings/exclusions for its related functions.

With a very competitive price in its product class PC Tools Internet security 2011 puts forward a good product with a lot of features for your money - well worth a look.