In an October 2014 examination, AV-TEST looked at Trend Micro Maximum Security 2015, the $90 top-tier version of Trend Micro's antivirus product. To assess Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security 2015's chops, we turned to AV-TEST, a German-based independent antivirus tester that regularly evaluates all major antivirus brands. The heart of any antivirus program is its actual ability to detect malware. Overall, Trend Micro has all the essentials for an antivirus program, but has comparatively fewer features than some similar entry-level antivirus programs. But it's not included, or even mentioned, in Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security 2015. Trend Micro offers a rescue disk, which can boot and clean a severely infected computer, as a download from its website. The last two icons on the home page, Data and Family, only lead to pages urging an upgrade to Trend Micro Maximum Security ($90), the company's top-tier product, which includes encrypted online data backup, multidevice data sync and parental controls, such as the ability to blacklist certain websites and programs. Clicking Configure launches the same pop-up interface as the Settings button on the home screen. Features such as real-time scanning (automatic scanning of files as you access them on your computer) are enabled by default. Under the Device icon on the Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security main interface, users can regulate their security settings. Every day, it also downloads a smaller set of definitions for the most prevalent malware, so it can detect these types of malware even when your PC isn't connected to the Internet. To identify malware, Trend Micro Antivirus+ compares suspicious programs against an enormous cloud-based database of known malware. I found it all more difficult to navigate than the smoother, more unified interfaces found in Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Norton Security 2015. Those boxes are often larger than the main interface. Smaller icons next to the Scan button indicate the Settings and Security Report features, which launch in separate pop-up boxes. Around the button is an arch, the color of which indicates the computer's protection status: green for secure, yellow if an update is needed and red if there's a problem.Īt the top of the interface are four icons categorizing Trend Micro's various tools and features: Device, Privacy, Data and Family. Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security has a compact interface, displaying a gray-and-white box with a large button for activating on-demand anti-malware scans.

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