PC Tools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 2010

Founded in 2003, PC Tools is best known for its Spyware Doctor utility.

In recent years, the company has attempted to build on its success with the spyware-killing product by combining it with anti-virus capabilities, and Spyware Doctor with Antivirus 2010 is the latest version.

All types of malicious programs are scanned for, including spyware, adware, viruses and worms, while the software also protects against threats that come up when browsing the web, such as phishing websites and rogue pop-ups. One of the few security features it doesn’t include is a firewall – for this, you’ll need to buy PC Tools Internet Security, which costs an extra £10.

In general, PC Tools has done a good job in terms of usability. The home screen is easy to understand and gives a quick overview of what security services are running and when the last update took place. Things get more complicated if you click on the Intelliguard button, which displays the various individual security components, and the software uses a lot of technical jargon without fully explaining what it means.

Although most users will simply want to leave everything switched on, a comprehensive glossary of technical terms would have been good. We were also disappointed to find the full manual is online-only, which isn’t much use if a virus has disrupted your internet connection.

When we tested the software (Windows 7, Vista and XP are all supported) we were a little surprised to find the initial full scan took just under one hour. Subsequent scans using the Intelliscan engine were much faster and took an average of four minutes.

However, Intelliscan only checks running processes and commonly-infected locations, so full scans will still need to be run from time to time. On completion, the software details any threats along with an indication of their severity. After a full scan it found four threats and 221 infections on our test PC, though it was honest enough to admit that all were relatively tame in terms of the risks they posed. It’s then just a case of clicking a button to clean and remove them.

As with other modern security software, emphasis here is on real-time scanning using the program’s updated Threatfire scanning engine. Unlike scans that rely on detecting threats by comparing them against a known list, real-time scans monitor for suspicious behaviour, in theory protecting against new and unknown viruses.

With a wide range of security features, Spyware Doctor with Antivirus is good value at £40, which includes one year’s updates and a license that allows it to be installed on up to three computers.

However, it’s worth checking out Norton Internet Security 2010, which at the time of writing is available for £35 (three-user license) and includes a firewall.