PC tools is fairly new to the antivirus program scene.  The company  is best known for its award winning Spyware Doctor software.  While some users complain of  false positive detection with Spyware Doctor, the software has the capability to remove some of the nastiest spyware on the net.  PC tools antivirus inherits the same user interface and similar scan settings as Spyware Doctor.

Memory Usage

PC tools antivirus clearly uses the least amount of Ram of any antivirus software that I know of.  In idle mode the software uses approximately 712 kilobytes of RAM.  This is a real feat as it beats notepad.exe by about 700 kilobytes at 1.3 megabytes.  During an Intelliscan PC tools antivirus used approximately 4 megabytes of ram.  This is several times lower than other free antivirus solutions.  This makes the antivirus software  perfect for a netbook or any computer with fewer than 512 megabytes of Ram.

Scan Selection

I have always really liked how PC tools (e.g Spyware Doctor) presented the scanning options.  One can select an Intelliscan, Full Scan or Custom.  The later are included on most antivirus programs.  However, Intelliscan is an extremely efficient way of scanning a computer for malware.   Rather than scanning an entire drive for viruses, Inteliscan will scan a computer for the only the most prevalent areas that viruses can exist.  This would include the Windows folder and the Program Files folders etc.  The best part about the scan is that it took under 3 minutes to complete and therefore could easily be performed upon a computer’s startup.

Detection and Virus Deletion.

PC tools has an excellent scanning engine and several accolades to prove it.  The software is ICSA labs, Virus Bulletin, and WestCoast Labs certified.  These are all of the premier antivirus testing companies and basically guarantee that PC Tools free antivirus has benchmark detection capability.

Updates

If you go to the PC tools website you’ll see that the free version lacks fast updates.  During the installation I noticed that the program had to download an update that was 22.7 megabytes in size.  This was for sure the largest update I have ever seen for an antivirus program.  I am also surprised that the program didnt include some these detection signatures in the download file.  The update was just for “Database Updates” not any increased functionality so I wouldn’t exactly call the updates “smart”.  The good news is that the update downloaded fast.  Maybe the speed was slightly degraded but I was still able to download the updates in less than a minute.  However, this will vary with the speed of a users connection.

User experience and Control

PC Tools Free antivirus does an excellent job of presenting a streamlined clutter free interface.  This is a perfect match for most computer users and should be applauded. The biggest complaint I hear is that users see messages on their computer and have no clue how to remedy them.   However, if your looking to tweak how the antivirus does its scanning etc.  you’ll be hard pressed to find any advanced settings.  For example, you may only get a couple of drop down boxes to configure each of the individual scanners.

Windows 7 experience.

Everything in PC tools antivirus was functional except the file guard setting.  However, I am running a beta version of Windows 7 and all that may be required is a simple elevation of Administrator Rights to the program.

In Summary, PC tools Antivirus is an excellent choice for the novice computer user.  The interface is extremely well designed and the scans are fast.  I also really like how the resource usage was extremely low making the software perfect for scanning a system on every reboot.  However, if you are a power user you might want to consider an antivirus that would give you the option of tweaking more settings.

Pros:

• Extremely Fast Intelliscan Performance
• Fast Update Downloads
• A simple User Interface (GUI)
• Very low resource usage during scans and idle
• An excellent scanning engine

Cons:

• Not a lot of tweakable options
• Not a lot of technical information about detected items