Antivirus and firewall protection are the core of a security suite. We also expect to find other features including antispam, parental control, and some form of privacy protection. TrustPort Total Protection 2012 ($89.95 for three licenses) includes these expected components as well as some unusual bonus features. It’s particularly effective at detecting and blocking malware, and its impact on system performance is among the lowest. Unfortunately, not all of the components work as well as they should.
Good Malware Blocking, Poor Cleanup
For the most part, the suite’s antivirus protection is identical to that of the standalone antivirus. I’ll briefly summarize the antivirus results here. Please read my review ofTrustPort Antivirus 2012 ($39.95 direct, 3.5 stars) for full details.
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TrustPort Total Security 2012 lab tests chartTrustPort Specifications
- Type
- Business, Personal, Professional
- OS Compatibility
- Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7
- Tech Support
- Email support standard. Premium phone support available.
TrustPort detected 88 percent of the threats on my malware-infested test systems, but its alleged cleanup left many of them still running. It scored 5.4 points for malware cleanup overall, and 4.4 for rootkit cleanup. TrustPort did handle scareware well, scoring 9.5 for scareware removal. For details on how I derive these scores see How We Test Malware Removal.
TrustPort Total Security 2012 malware removal chartIn the malware blocking test, TrustPort set an impressive new record. It detected 97 percent of the threats, some immediately on sight and others when I attempted to launch them. I don’t like its default action, though. On detecting a dangerous file it simply blocks access, leaving the file in place like a time-bomb whose countdown clock is temporarily stuck. If TrustPort crashed, that file would become dangerous again.
TrustPort scored 8.6 points for malware blocking overall, 9.1 points for rootkit blocking, and 9.0 for scareware blocking. To understand how I come up with those scores, see How We Test Malware Blocking.
TrustPort Total Security 2012 malware blocking chartThe suite’s Web Protection feature, not found in the standalone antivirus, can block access to dangerous URLs. I also found that the suite detected more threats during download than the standalone antivirus. When I attempted to re-download my sample collection it blocked all but one of those still extant.
I did find that the new Application Inspector feature, which warns the user when it detects certain behaviors, was just as likely to warn about valid programs as malware. And if you accept the default action “block this operation,” it actually terminates the program and blocks it from running again. Fortunately, TrustPort includes a built-in option to let you rescue a program that was blocked in error.
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