Posted: 14 Jul 2010 12:36 AM PDT

Mail security and software utilties company GFI Software has bought independent US antivirus company Sunbelt Software for an undisclosed sum.

GFI already offers a range of security products that use third-party antivirus engines from companies such as Kaspersky and BitDefender to make up the scanning element of its mostly SME-oriented products such as the GFI MailDefense suite. The Sunbelt Software buy gives the company access to an antivirus engine of its own for the first time.

GFI will now integrate Sunbelt's heavily revised 'Vipre' detection technology across the range of its own products. The software has a good reputation for innovation and was rewritten from the ground up just over a year ago.

"We were impressed by the high quality and innovative technology that underlies Sunbelt's Vipre line of products and immediately saw strong synergies between the two companies," said GFI CEO, Walter Scott.

GFI will also get its hands on a malware detection engine that is already licensed to third-parties, generating standalone revenue of its own. Increasingly, merely selling antivirus and anti-malware is only one part of a business that depends on third-party licensing to stay afloat.

Sunbelt also has a distribution business, which is not part of the sale and will remain a separate entity, GFI said.

Smaller, independent antivirus companies selling out has been a steady trend, and is set to continue. The cash needed to keep development and marketing on track is getting harder to sustain at a time when free antivirus from Microsoft and others is taking away sales.

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Trend Micro AntiSpyware + AntiVirus 2010 Review

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:16 AM PDT

By Charles P. Jefferies

This home protection suite from Trend Micro features protection against the latest Internet threats and comes with a money-back guarantee. Is Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 worth its asking price? Read our review to find out.

Product Overview

Aimed at home users, Trend Micro AntiSpyware + AntiVirus 2010 provides basic protection against malicious software including viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. Free phone, email, and online chat support is included -- most providers charge for phone support.

The product comes with a 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee.

Download & Installation

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010's installation starts with downloading an install manager from the company's website, which downloads the appropriate files when launched. In total Trend Micro was just over 90MB to download, which is larger than we are used to seeing. After the straightforward install, the program had to update, prompting another 90MB download. A more compact installer would have been appreciated.

There are no options during the install to select the type of user (beginner/advanced); Trend Micro takes a one-size-fits-all approach. A restart was not required to complete the install.

Program Interface

Trend Micro has a simplistic interface with an aesthetically pleasing red color scheme. Only essential information is displayed -- a good thing in my book.

An icon at the top of the screen indicates overall protection status; I find that icon-driven interfaces are the way to go -- the green check mark is a clear indicator everything is in order. If everything is not OK, a button appears to "fix it".

Navigation is handled on the left and has just three sections: Overview (the main screen), Virus & Spyware Controls, and Other Settings & Subscription.

The Virus & Spyware controls section allows users to control protection and create custom settings related to protection. For example, users can set up program exception lists and schedule scans. Most people will not need to dig around in here.

The Other Settings & Subscription section has additional settings not directly related to virus and spyware controls; again, most people will not have to go in here. Power users on the other hand can tune this program to their heart's content -- just about everything about its behavior can be modified.

On the whole the interface is easy to navigate; even basic users should be able to understand it.

In Use & Effectiveness

I did not notice any slow-downs or extra lag after installing Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010. Unlike some other antivirus programs, my computer's hard disk activity light was not on or blinking all the time; processor usage was also normal.

Updates were automatic and completed without any intervention.

To test the effectiveness of Trend Micro I used several virus files from Eicar.org, an IT security website. Please see the test description for extensive information on the tests.

I was able to download the infected files without warnings. Once on my hard drive, Trend Micro found the infected files and promptly removed them. This program is not as proactive as I had hoped since it allowed me to download the files; other antivirus programs we tested blocked them before I clicked download.

Performance Impact

We evaluate the performance impact and system resource usage of using anti-virus software in three ways:

1. Overall system performance measured before and after installation using PCMark
2. Memory footprint
3. Time it took to perform a full system scan

Our test system is an HP Pavilion dv5t.

Overall System Performance Impact Measured with PCMark05

The PCMark benchmarks as measured before (left) and after (right) the Trend Micro install are shown below:

Somehow the performance actually increased after I installed Trend Micro -- just about every other antivirus application we tested has shown a system performance decrease. I suppose there is a first for everything, right?

Memory Footprint

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 had a 5.7MB memory footprint, which is lower than most competitors.

Time it took to perform a full system scan

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 scanned our test system's hard drive in one hour and five minutes, which is on par with competitors.

Conclusion

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 is an adequate protection suite for home users, providing protection against malicious Internet threats. In our tests it was not as proactive as competing security solutions such as Norton and Webroot.

The one area Trend Micro excelled in was system performance -- it barely slowed our system down at all, which is not something I can say about several antivirus applications I tested recently.

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware is recommendable overall however does not have any standout features next to competitors.

PROS