PCProtect Antivirus Full Review: Protection and Features
Whatever your needs are, PCProtect can provide you with the right features. Whether on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop, PCProtect has all the features you need to keep your device safe from the latest viruses and malware threats.
Pros
Cons
Quick Stats
How does PCProtect fare against its competition, and is it worth it? Keep reading to find out.
PCProtect Security and Protection
The major point when buying an antivirus is how secure the product is, so we ask the question: Can PCProtect protect our devices from viruses, malware, and other causes of harm?
To answer that, we check the following regarding security and protection:
1. Third-party lab test results
Sadly, PCProtect wasn't tested by any third-party labs, which affects the overall ability to assess its protective capabilities, as this provides less comparative data relative to other competitors, which were tested against each other with unified standard tests.
2. Firewall and IDS protection
PCProtect antivirus doesn't have a firewall of its own. Rather it uses the Windows Defender Firewall to do the job and provides access to it from inside the interface.
A firewall's function is to monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic providing users with an intruder detection system (IDS) to protect users from possible threats that might harm their devices.
3. USB Rescue ToolKit
A USB rescue toolkit feature allows you to download a rescue kit as a failsafe on your USB and use it later on. In the event malicious ware infects your device and prevents it from even booting and reaching the antivirus screen, you can use the USB rescue kit to initiate a cloud-based cleaner.
A USB Rescue toolkit can be useful against malware that requires you to boot your PC to function.
While PCProtect used to have a USB rescue toolkit earlier, they ended up removing this tool which had negative feedback from users.
PCProtect Plans and Features
PCProtect provides users with a single plan only. Here is a quick summary of the features:
| Plan | PC Security 2021 Premium |
|---|---|
| Virus, spyware, and malware protection | Included |
| Ransomware protection | Included |
| Anti-phishing | Included |
| Scan for PC performance problems | Included |
| Identity theft checker | Included |
| Password manager | Included |
| Ad Blocker | Included |
| Firewall protection | N/A |
| VPN | Included/Lifetime |
| System tuneup tool | Included/Lifetime |
| Device support | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
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PC Security 2021 Premium
The Internet Security Plan is the premium version that provides users with more features in addition to the ones provided to the free version, such as:
- Real-Time Protection: Provides security protection against viruses, malware, spare, and other forms of harmful software. It is available across multiple platforms to protect you at home and on the go.
- SafeBrowsing VPN: A built-in VPN service providing encryption to your data when surfing online while masking your IP address so that you won't be tracked while surfing online, ensuring your privacy.
- Block Intrusive Ads: Blocks annoying and intrusive ads that might disrupt your browsing experience while surfing or watching.
- Anti-Phishing Protection: Blocks phishing URLs protecting you against malicious scams that might target your credentials.
- Clear Tracking Cookies: Tracking cookies are not necessarily harmful. However, they raise some privacy concerns which can be dealt with.
- Advanced WebShield: Advanced protection against malicious websites and block attempts to steal your personal information.
- Duplicate File Finder: The duplicate file finder helps you by going through your images, videos, music, and other documents to free up duplicated wasted disk space.
- Junk Cleaner: Junk files do not cause any harm. Nonetheless, they waste precious disk space unnecessarily and can be cleaned risk-free from your system.
- Data Breach Monitoring: Monitors your email and passwords in the event they have been compromised as part of an online data breach.
- Compatibility Support: Users are provided with advanced antivirus protection across their desktop computer, laptop, smartphone & tablet.
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Extra features
Among the major extra features provided by antiviruses, PCProtect stands as follows:
-
Password manager
PCProtect provides a password manager as part of its plan.
Repetitive use of the same password across multiple accounts runs the risk of getting hacked across those accounts when hacked on one. Then again, when using different passwords, one runs the risk of forgetting them. Password managers are the perfect solution.
-
Parental control
PCProtect antivirus doesn’t have the parental control feature.
Parental control allows you to set which websites and when they are accessible across different accounts on your devices to take care of your children and make sure they are surfing safe parts of the internet at the appropriate times.
If you think parental control is essential for you, I recommend using Norton 360 or Bitdefender instead.
-
VPN
PCProtect has a premium VPN service.
PCProtect VPN is meant for protection and security rather than by-passing geo-restricted content and streaming. It provides AES-256-bit encryption, so your data remains safe as you connect.
It is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
-
Backup
PCProtect doesn’t provide online backup.
The presence of encrypted online backup can give peace of mind, especially when dealing with sensitive documents relating to work, personal, and sensitive files. With the online backup, a user can find his files saved if the main files are lost, which can prove helpful.
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User Experience
In terms of user experience, PCProtect doesn't fall short, be it in the form of a simple user interface or smooth customer support. However, PCProtect tends to be a little slow relative to other antiviruses tested when it comes to the scan speed.
1. Ease of use
The user interface is friendly, with a green smart scan button to start scanning positioned in the middle with surrounding icons to navigate the application easily.
2. Customer support
In terms of customer support, the following methods of contact are available for users when they require help:
- Knowledge base
- FAQs
- Phone call
- Email
Pricing and Payments
PCProtect has a single plan. The lack of plan customizability is a major issue to consider as you can only have one single device per purchase, with an additional second as a free addon.
PCProtect prices per plan summarized in a table:
| Plan | PCProtect Premium |
|---|---|
| Initial price | $19/year |
| Renewal price | $99/year |
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Payment methods
Payment methods include:
- PayPal.
Free trial
PCProtect doesn't provide a free trial on its antivirus product.
Money-back guarantee
A 30-day money-back guarantee is available, providing a risk-free experience for you to use PCProtect until you make up your mind.
Final Verdict
Is PCProtect worth it? In terms of protection, it lacks a lot of data, especially when it comes to third-party testing.
Although a simple review with a small sample of 10- malware/viruses is possible and provides a bit of an insight, however, it's dwarfed when compared to the 10,000+ malware/domain assessment provided by third-party labs.
In terms of extra features, PCProtect provides many features for a good price, but the catch would be the renewal price which spikes up high. If you had your password saved on a password manager, then you might get stuck trying to get your saved passwords back from an expensive vendor. In addition, the lack of plan customizability is another major issue to consider.
That being said, it is still an ok choice. However, for the same price, you might get a better deal with Norton 360 by getting a higher level of protection with the addition of many more features.