PC Protect Review: Can This Antivirus Software Deliver in 2024?

#1 PC Protect Review in 2024

PC Protect has been making waves in the antivirus world, and I couldn't resist taking a closer look. As someone who's always on the hunt for the best digital protection, I decided to put this software through its paces. Why? Because in today's online environment, you need more than just a basic antivirus - you need a comprehensive security solution.

In this PC Protect review, you'll discover:

• How easy (or not) it is to get started with PC Protect
• The effectiveness of its real-time protection against various threats
• The speed and thoroughness of its scanning capabilities
• Extra features that might make it stand out from the crowd
• Whether it's worth your hard-earned money

So, buckle up! Let's examine the world of PC Protect and see if it's the digital guardian you've been looking for.

In a Hurry? Here's a Quick Summary

If you're short on time, here's a quick overview of what I found out during this PC Protect review:

What You'll Like:

• Comprehensive all-in-one security solution
• Fast and effective scanning capabilities
• Included VPN for added privacy
• User-friendly dark-themed interface
• Seamless password management integration

What You May Not Like:

• Limited VPN server locations
• Average system tune-up tools
• Mediocre web protection performance
• High CPU usage during full scans

What Makes This PC Protect Review Different?

You might be wondering, "Why should I trust this review?" Well, I'm not just another tech blogger repeating information from the product's website. I've spent real time with PC Protect, testing every nook and cranny of the software.

I installed PC Protect on my trusty Dell XPS laptop, putting it through its paces for a solid two weeks. I clicked every button, ran every scan, and even tried to trick it with some nasty malware samples. Throughout this process, I captured over 100 screenshots, carefully selecting the most informative ones to include in this review.

My goal? To give you an honest, hands-on account of what it's like to use PC Protect day in and day out. I'm not here to sing praises or bash the product - I'm here to give you the plain truth, warts and all.

So, whether you're a tech novice or a seasoned pro, I hope this review will give you a clear picture of what PC Protect has to offer. Let's get started, shall we?

Buying PC Protect

Getting my hands on PC Protect was surprisingly simple. When I landed on their purchase page, I was greeted with a single option: the PC Security subscription. This package included a VPN and even threw in an extra license for free. The cherry on top? An whopping 85% discount. Talk about a deal!

I clicked "Buy Now," and a small pop-up appeared, asking me to either sign up or log in. I decided to create a fresh account, and then it was off to the checkout. Now, here's where things get a bit tricky - PayPal was the only payment option available. While this might be inconvenient for some, I personally didn't mind too much. A few clicks later, and the transaction was complete.

After the payment went through, PC Protect unleashed a flood of windows and pop-ups, offering extra protection add-ons. They had everything from security for 10 devices to a password manager and an ad blocker. I decided to stick with the base version for this review, but it's nice to know there are options to beef up your protection if needed.

Installation

After navigating through the optional offers, I found myself on the order confirmation page. From there, getting the Windows installer was a breeze.

PC Protect installation process is quick and easey.

Launching the installer kicked off a swift installation process that took just 1.5 minutes to complete. What surprised me was the lack of additional choices or steps during installation - it was refreshingly simple.

Interface

When I first launched PC Protect, I was greeted by a sleek, dark-themed interface. As someone who prefers dark mode in general, this was a pleasant surprise.

PC Protect 's main interface is very simple and user friendly.

The main window displays your device's protection status front and center. If the real-time scanning module is disabled, it'll prompt you to turn it on - a nice touch for those who might forget. There's also a prominent green button for starting a smart scan, which we'll examine later.

On the left side, you'll find a sidebar with shortcuts to various feature categories: Malware Protection, Internet Security, System Tune Up, Password Vault, Family Sharing, and Settings. Hovering over each shortcut automatically opens menus displaying features within each category - a user-friendly touch that I appreciated.

One thing that impressed me during this PC Protect review was the language options. In the General Settings, I found 12 languages to choose from. It's always nice to see software catering to a global audience.

Major Features

Let’s delve deeper into PC Protect's core functions. We’ll investigate its prominent features and understand why it could be a smart choice for your digital security.

Real-Time Protection

PC Protect's real-time protection is like having a vigilant guard dog for your digital life. It continuously safeguards against various security risks like malware, trojans, scareware, adware, ransomware, and more.

Real-time protection settings: scanning inside archives, choose file types to scan, and more.

What I really liked was the flexibility in customizing these real-time protection settings. You can adjust things like scanning within archives, enabling detailed logging (though this uses significant disk space, so use it sparingly), and selecting which file types to scan. You can even decide whether to quarantine or delete detected malware and specify the quarantine folder's location.

During my PC Protect review tests, whenever PC Protect identified threats, it displayed a notification in the lower right corner of my screen. These notifications provided details about the threat and confirmed its elimination, which I found reassuring.

Scan

PC Protect offers a variety of scan options: smart scan, quick scan, ful scan, and a custom scan. Discover each below in the next section of this PC Protect review.

Smart Scan

The Smart Scan feature is like the Swiss Army knife of PC Protect's scanning capabilities. It examines your system for malware, security and privacy concerns, PC performance issues, and even detects system clutter and duplicate files - all in one go.

Smart Scan progress: you can see the steps for scanning your device.

Initiating a Smart Scan is as easy as clicking the 'Run Smart Scan' button on the main interface. In my evaluation, the scan covered 4478 files, revealing 4 malware threats, 11 autorun startup items, 3.08 GB of junk, and examined 4 installed browsers for cached data, passwords, and cookies (discovering 3569 such items).

After the scan, you get a summary of the findings and can implement the suggested fixes directly. PC Protect also provides security recommendations based on the results. For instance, it suggested I conduct a data breach check, secure my mobile devices, and perform a full system scan.

Quick Scan

The quick scan is perfect for when you're in a hurry but want to ensure your system's critical files are safe.

You can start a new quick scan in the malware scan window.

In my tests for this PC Protect review, it searched through 4466 files in just 30 seconds. While it didn't find any threats on my system, I was impressed by its speed and efficiency.

Full Scan

For a more comprehensive examination of your computer, the System Scan is your go-to feature.

Full Scan results: over 665k files scanned in under half an hour.

During my testing, the complete scan took 26 minutes to finish, analyzing more than 665,539 files and identifying 5 threats. The scan results display provides information such as the threat name, type, and the available action (quarantine or delete). I opted to quarantine all identified threats, effectively disinfecting my laptop.

Custom Scan

If you're looking for something between a quick smart scan and a comprehensive system scan, the Custom Scan option might be just what you need.

The Custom Scan settings include choosing the folder to scan.

This feature allows you to define specific parameters for a single-use scan. You can specify the folders and files to include or exclude, decide whether to scan within compressed archives, and choose whether to exclude subfolders from the scan. I found this flexibility particularly useful when I wanted to focus on specific areas of my system.

PC Protect also offers configurable preferences for scans, including options to scan removable drives, select specific file types for scanning, and initiate new scheduled scans. You can set up scans to run daily, weekly, or monthly, specify start and end times, and determine whether to conduct scans during active hours or not.

VPN

One of the pleasant surprises in my PC Protect subscription was the included VPN service. The VPN window lists 49 supported servers across 38 territories, with the United States boasting the highest number of servers at 12.

In the VPN interface, you can see the connected server and uptime.

In the lower left corner of the VPN window, you'll find the Killswitch option. This feature is designed to disconnect your internet connection if the VPN service becomes inactive, adding an extra layer of security.

When connected to a server, you get useful information such as uptime, download speed, and upload speed. The VPN settings are relatively limited, but you do have the choice between the default IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols.

To evaluate the VPN's performance for this PC Protect review, I conducted speed tests using fast.com. Here are the results:

• No VPN: 360 Mbps download speed, 280 Mbps upload speed, 13 ms latency
• Austria: 360 Mbps download speed, 88 Mbps upload speed, 48 ms latency
• US - San Francisco: 210 Mbps download speed, 26 Mbps upload speed, 176 ms latency
• New Zealand: 83 Mbps download speed, 8 Mbps upload speed, 312 ms latency

These are impressive results, more than sufficient for most users. However, when I conducted privacy assessments using ipleak.net and perfect-privacy.com, the results were less satisfactory as my actual location was exposed. Alternative antivirus solutions like Kaspersky and McAfee fared better in privacy leak tests.

Web Protection

PC Protect's web protection functions, known as WebShield, can be accessed through the Internet Security tab. This feature is designed to prevent access to malicious websites that could potentially collect personal data or implant malware on your computer.

WebShield in action - blocking a web threat.

WebShield offers several useful functionalities, including the ability to block websites with a suspicious reputation, prohibit access to cryptomining URLs, and establish a list of permitted websites.

To test PC Protect's web browsing security, I accessed several test links on my laptop with multiple browsers. Here are the results:

• Malicious website test — blocked
• AMTSO — blocked 12/15
• EICAR — blocked 2/4

While the results were generally good, there's still room for improvement in PC Protect's web protection capabilities.

Data Breach Checker

The Data Breach Checker, accessible through the Internet Security tab, is a handy tool for determining if your passwords have been compromised in an online data breach.

In the Data Breach Checker interface, you can enter your email address and check whether it was breached or not.

Using this feature is straightforward - you simply input your email address, and PC Protect reveals what information hackers might have about you. The process involves opening a new webpage where you can view the results. In my case, I was relieved to see the result: "Good news, this email address has not been detected in any known breaches." You can perform checks for multiple email addresses as needed, which I found quite useful.

Junk Cleaner

Located in the System Tune Up tab, the junk cleaner tool scans your system for unnecessary files that consume disk space and can be safely deleted.

The Junk Cleaner results displays cached Windows updates, recycle bin data, temp files, and more.

During my testing, it efficiently scanned my laptop in under 10 seconds, identifying various junk files, including cached Windows updates, items in the Recycle Bin, temporary files, thumbnails, Windows error reporting files, and Windows logs. For each category, you can click on the number of files to inspect the selected files. When you're ready to remove the junk files, simply click the "Clean Selected" button.

Duplicate File Finder

This feature within the System Tune Up section is designed to locate duplicate files, such as images, music, videos, and other documents, that are taking up unnecessary disk space.

During my tests, PC Protect did not find any duplicates.

In my PC Protect review testing, it identified a single duplicate file, which I was able to remove with a single click. While I didn't have many duplicate files on my system, I can see how this feature could be incredibly useful for those with cluttered hard drives.

Application Uninstaller

This straightforward utility scans your system for all installed software and efficiently removes multiple unwanted applications.

The Application Uninstaller shows potential programs you can uninstall.

Upon clicking "Start Scan," the results are presented within a matter of seconds. In my testing, it identified 125 applications, and I could easily uninstall a few of them. However, it's worth noting that this feature bears a strong resemblance to the built-in App uninstaller found in Windows. Its advantage lies in the ability to select and uninstall multiple applications simultaneously.

Startup Manager

The Startup Manager actively scans your PC for autorun programs that may extend the time it takes for Windows to boot.

The Startup Manager allows you to disable programs from startup.

You can view the application, publisher, and toggle the switch to prevent each application from automatically running during system startup. While this feature is a simplified version of the native Startup Manager found within Windows Task Manager, I found it more user-friendly and easier to manage.

Browser Cleanup

This self-explanatory feature conducts a thorough scan of all your web browsers, removing private browsing data.

The Browser Cleanup results shows browser items you can delete.

During my testing, it scanned my four installed browsers for cached items , passwords, and cookies, identifying a total of 3739 items. It efficiently purified my browsers within a few seconds. This feature proved to be quite useful for maintaining privacy and freeing up some disk space.

PC Protect also offers a free browser extension called Speed & Clean Up. This extension provides shortcuts for clearing browsing history, eliminating unwanted tracking cookies, improving browsing speed, and a feature to put inactive tabs to sleep, thereby reducing CPU usage.

Game Mode

Enabling Game Mode in PC Protect allows the software to detect launched games and assign system resources to ensure continuous gaming without interference from the antivirus.

The Game Mode settings allow you to add and exclude games from the game mode.

You can enable Game Mode within the general Settings menu, and from there, you can manually add or exclude games as needed. This feature is particularly useful if you've modified default game library paths or if you have games installed in non-standard locations.

System Performance Impact

While conducting a full scan, I noticed that PC Protect used 50-60% of CPU resources and around 200 MB of RAM.

System resource usage during scan

This level of resource consumption surpasses the average (25%) when compared to other antivirus programs, but the RAM usage is lower than the average of 300 MB. It's worth noting that there are no settings provided to adjust the impact of the antivirus software on system performance. This high CPU usage during scans might be noticeable on older or less powerful systems.

PC Protect Review: Conclusions

After thoroughly testing PC Protect, I can say it stands as a complete antivirus solution equipped with a powerful anti-malware engine. Here are my final thoughts for this PC Protect review:

1. The purchasing process was simple, although the upselling of additional products might be off-putting to some users.
2. The real-time protection and scanning capabilities of PC Protect are thorough and effectively blocked nearly all threats I tested. However, the performance of the Web Protection feature proved to be subpar, allowing a few threats to bypass it.
3. The VPN service, while speedy, offers a limited selection of locations. It's a nice addition to the package but might not satisfy users looking for more advanced VPN features.
4. The System Tune-Up tools are serviceable, although they are somewhat average, as many similar features are already available for free within the Windows operating system.
5. The Password Vault is a notable highlight, functioning effortlessly with the browser extension.

In conclusion, PC Protect offers a solid set of features for those looking for an all-in-one security solution. While it excels in some areas, there's room for improvement in others, particularly in web protection and system impact. It's a good choice for users who value complete protection and don't mind a slight performance hit during scans.

If you’re in the market for antivirus protection, Norton, Bitdefender, and TotalAV are reputable options. Be sure to review our top antivirus software roundup for 2024.

Octav Fedor (Cybersecurity Editor)

Octav is a cybersecurity researcher and writer at AntivirusGuide. When he’s not publishing his honest opinions about security software online, he likes to learn about programming, watch astronomy documentaries, and participate in general knowledge competitions.