I got the Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2010 from Amazon for free as part of the Vine program. It only comes with a license for one user and one PC. I installed on it my daughters Dell Studio SMT 116-B desktop which runs Windows Vista Home Premium. I wrote a review on Amazon but it is quite different from this one.
Installation and Problems
It took me quite a while to get Trend Micro to run on my daughter's computer. After installing I could not open the Trend Micro main consol and there was no icon in the system tray. In other words it was not running. I tried installing again but this time I got a prompt saying it was already installed and asked if I wanted to remove it (I clicked No). Restarts did not help. So I contacted customer support and after some investigation and discussion it became clear that the reason Trend Micro was not running was because the installed software somehow was messed up. The reason for that was that an old trial version of Trend Micro Antivirus 2007 interfered with the installation of the new software.
The good news was that Trend Micro uninstalled easily and completely from Add/Remove Programs. This is unlike, for example, Norton which may not entirely uninstall when you uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs. To really get rid of Norton you may need to down load a Norton Uninstaller Program.
Customer Support
Customer support is easily accessible from the start menu which I thought was convenient. Customer support is also unlimited and free. However, like all software companies they tried to get you to try the most costly option last so what you'll see first are various links that you can use to try to figure out the problem on your own. In this case there was nothing that matched my issue so I sent an email. In the email I mentioned that there was an old trial version of Trend Micro on the computer which I suspected could have something to do with the problem and I also included a system information file (requested by Trend Micro). I tried this three times and the responses took 2-3 days each time and they were nonsensical as if they did not read my email. So I tried calling and this time I was able to talk to a customer support representative and we came to an agreement that it must be the trial version that interfered with the proper install of the new version. I uninstalled Trend Micro and started over and this time it worked. If you call make sure you call before 8PM PST on a weekday, they don't have 24-hour phone support.
Features
Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware is a fairly plain software package. You don't get identity protection, firewall, antispam, antiphishing, backup/restore, on-line storage space, device access control, PC performance tuning, parental controls, web page security check, image spam blocker, Wi-Fi Advisor, and you don't get the Trend Micro Vault which secures confidential files in case your computer is stolen. Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 3.0 costs $32.00 and will give you all of those missing features and Norton Anti Virus 360 3.0, which does not cost much more than that, will also give you similar features, and in both cases you can install them on three computers, not just one. So Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2010 looks like a bad deal unless you really don't want those features and you only own one computer. I got it for free so I am not complaining, however, if you buy it you may complain.
These are the features that you do get; it protects against viruses, Trojan horse programs, worms, spyware, rootkits, and it scan email and prevent unauthorized changes. It also cleans up cookies and the browser history. This is the basic stuff that most antivirus software includes (including free antivirus software).
Operation
After I installed Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2010 I started a quick scan and it cleaned up four cookies on my daughter's computer. The quick scan was done in a matter of minutes. Next I did a full scan of all drives and no threats were found.
The user interface is basic, very red looking, and somewhat ugly in comparison to, for example, the interface for Norton Antivirus 360 3.0. You can use it to, for example, schedule scans. I set it up to do a quick scan every day, a full scan of the C: drive once every two weeks, and a full scan of all drives once a month, and another full scan of all drives once a month but at a different time. That was pretty close to the default by the way. One quite noticeable item on the user interface is a big Update button. With this edition you only get the basic stuff but if you press that button you get Trendmicro Pro which includes a ton of features and protection for three PC's for only $30. The button seems to be there to tell you that you are a sucker for buying this software; however, it appears that you are no longer a sucker if you press the button.
I like the fact that Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2010 is unobtrusive. Norton has become much better in that regard with the latest Norton 360 3.0, however, this software is still significantly less obtrusive in comparison. There are no annoying alerts and it runs quietly without taking up any significant resources (as far as what is noticeable). I should add that the fact that the software is so basic makes it easier for it to be unobtrusive. If you upgrade that may no longer be the case.
Other
I have not had any issues with this software. However, I have not had it for very long. I will come back and update if that happens. I can add that I have had issues with previous versions of Trend Micro including an older version of Trend Micro Pro being a real resource hog while scanning and also finding viruses that weren't there (false positive). This caused me some embarrassment when I accused someone of sending me viruses when he wasn't.
Final Recommendation
For $20 and only the very basic features and one PC this software is probably not worth it. The fact that a previous Trend Micro installation could mess up the new installation is also a negative. However, I still would like to unenthusiastically recommend this software to those who have only one computer and do not want all the other features common today.
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