- Trend Micro Maximum Security Reviews
- Trend Micro Maximum Security 10
- Trend Micro Maximum Security 2017
- Trend Micro Maximum Security Support
Trend Micro Maximum Security is rated 4.6 out of 5 by 5602. Rated 3 out of 5 by Michaelfalke from Good coverage with a caviat I am disturbed that I paid for an antivirus program that promised me coverage for up to and including 5 of my devices. Trend Micro™ Maximum Security provides comprehensive multi-device protection so you can enjoy your digital life safely. Key benefits and features include: Keep your valuable files safe from ransomware with Folder Shield. It allows only authorized applications to access the. The excellent Trend Micro Maximum Security gives you five licenses for use on Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS devices, though you get a much richer set of features on Windows and Android. TREND MICRO MAXIMUM SECURITY. For Mac: TREND MICRO ANTIVIRUS FOR MAC. Once downloaded, double click the installer to get started and follow the installation steps. When prompted, enter your serial number to activate the software. Android™ Installation Instructions. Maximum Security Support - - Home and Home Office Support| Trend Micro. Trend Micro Security 10 (2016) Antispam Toolbar is not working in Microsoft Outlook.
$89.95
- ProsExcellent scores in our antiphishing and malicious URL blocking tests. Many useful bonus features. Comprehensive Android security. Protection for macOS beyond the basics. Unusually rich iOS support.
- ConsParental control easily foiled on some platforms. Poor score in hands-on malware protection test. Some problems with social media privacy scanner.
- Bottom LineTrend Micro Maximum Security offers protection for your Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS devices, though you get a richer set of features on Windows and Android.
By now, anybody who's been paying attention has installed an antivirus or security suite on every PC. (You have, right?) Many have also gone ahead and extended protection to their Macs. But we spend plenty of time on mobile devices, and they need protection as well. That's where a cross-platform suite like Trend Micro Maximum Security comes in. This suite provides advanced protection on Windows and Android, and more than basic antivirus for macOS. It also does more than many to enhance security for iOS devices. It's an impressive suite, though not every feature works perfectly.
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Your $89.95 yearly subscription gets you five licenses; $10 more raises that to 10. You can use those licenses on Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS devices. Bitdefender and Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security also give you five licenses for just under $90. For $109.99 per year, you get 10 cross-platform Norton licenses, along with 25GB of online storage for your backups. Is your household bursting with devices? McAfee protects them all, on all platforms, for $99.99 per year. With Kaspersky Security Cloud, you pay $149.99 per year for 20 licenses, which is quite a bargain on a per-device basis. Overall, however, Trend Micro's pricing is in line with the competition.
If it weren't for the program title at top left, you couldn't distinguish the Windows protection of this mega-suite from Trend Micro's entry-level suite or, for that matter, from the standalone Trend Micro antivirus. A big Scan button in the middle anchors the main window, and four icons across the top give you access to four groups of security features. This suite's added PC features, the Cloud Storage Scanner and the file-encryption Vault, both appear on the Data page.
Features Shared With Antivirus
Each tier in Trend Micro's product line contains all the features of the previous tier, meaning that everything from Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security also shows up in this suite. For a full rundown on those shared features, you'll want to read my review of the antivirus. If a brief summary is what you need, read on.
Lab Test Results Chart
Malware Protection Results Chart
Phishing Protection Results Chart
Performance Results Chart
Malware Protection Results Chart
Phishing Protection Results Chart
Performance Results Chart
All four of the antivirus testing labs I follow include Trend Micro in their reports, and it scored well in all tests but one. It did fail the banking Trojans test conducted by MRG-Effitas, but then, so did about half the tested products. Its aggregate lab score of 9.2 is quite good. Also tested by four labs, Kaspersky and Avira Prime managed to reach 9.6 and 9.9 points, respectively. Bitdefender holds the top aggregate lab score, a perfect 10, though that's based on just three labs.
Trend Micro didn't fare nearly as well in my hands-on malware protection test. With a score of 7.9 points, it's near the bottom. However, when my tests don't line up with the labs, I give more weight to the labs. Tested with this same collection of malware, Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete scored a perfect 10, and G Data came close with 9.5 points.
For a look at how each antivirus handles the very latest malware, I use a collection of 100 malware-hosting URLs detected in the last few days. Trend Micro prevented 99 percent of the malware downloads, almost all of them by keeping the browser from coming near the site. That puts it at the top for this test, sharing the honor with Norton and Bitdefender Total Security.
Trend Micro also managed 99 percent protection in my antiphishing test, once again matching Bitdefender. Kaspersky Security Cloud and McAfee are the only products to score higher, each with a perfect 100 percent. Interestingly, Trend Micro's macOS antivirus, tested at the same time with the same samples, only managed 64 percent protection.
This product offers three distinct layers of ransomware protection. Its Folder Shield prevents unauthorized programs from making any changes in the folders you choose to protect. It monitors all processes for signs of ransomware-like behavior. If ransomware manages to damage files before the behavioral system wipes it out, it restores those files from encrypted storage.
Other shared features include: the new Pay Guard, a hardened browser for financial transactions; Mute Mode, which suspends all security-related interruptions; a booster for Windows Firewall that targets network-level attacks; and link markup to identify iffy or dangerous links search results and social media. That impressive collection of features is what puts the 'plus' in Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security.
Shared Suite Features
Trend Micro's pricing isn't as flexible as most competitors. The antivirus comes as a single license, with no multi-license discount. Upgrading to Trend Micro Internet Security gets you exactly three licenses. If you want more than three, you must upgrade again to a five- or 10-license subscription for this mega-suite, which naturally includes all features of the entry-level suite. Do read my review of that suite for all the juicy details; I'll summarize here.
The suite's PC Health Checkup examines your system to find opportunities for improvement in security and performance. That includes junk files wasting space, traces of your browsing history, and startup programs that slow the boot process, among other things.
For another take on privacy, the social media privacy scanner checks your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts, reporting any settings that might jeopardize your privacy. In testing, it didn't work for Facebook, and its Twitter advice would have cut me off from my public audience.
Parental control in Trend Micro is limited and partly ineffective. It lets parents control when and for how long kids can use the internet, and it can put time limits on programs to, for example, prevent game-playing during the homework hour. But the content filter proved completely porous, vulnerable to a simple combination of a secure anonymizing proxy and a less-common browser such as Opera. A component designed to cover up naughty images proves likewise ineffective.
With the entry-level suite you get a file shredder utility that can delete files so thoroughly that even forensic hardware can't bring them back. This becomes much more important in this mega-suite, where you can use the shredder to eliminate plain-text copies of files that you've put into encrypted storage.
There are some things that you just don't want shared online, whether it's your kids revealing your home address or a spyware program trying to send your credit card data back to malware HQ. You can configure Trend Micro to prevent any transmission of data that you define as private.
That's about it for the entry-level suite. Despite offering an impressively broad collection of features, it had almost no impact on my hands-on performance tests.
Cloud Storage Scanner
Click the Data icon on the main window and you'll find a couple of new features, ones not present in the entry-level suite. One is the Cloud Storage Scanner, which you can use to scan the Microsoft Office files and PDFs that you've stored in the cloud. Well, those you've stored in OneDrive or Dropbox. In my previous review, I noted that support for Dropbox was marked as beta. I was surprised to find that now, nearly two years later, it's still beta.
When you sign into your cloud storage, you give Trend Micro full access to your account. It can read and write files, read your profile, read your mail, and more. It needs those permissions to do the job. Once you confirm its access and launch a scan, it goes through your files and sends every Office document or PDF to a Trend Micro server for analysis, isolating any that prove to be infected. Naturally it deletes those copies from the server when finished.
You can watch the scan as it happens, but you don't have to. You can even turn off the computer, since all the action happens on Trend Micro's servers. When the scan finishes, you get an email with the results.
Those obsessed with privacy may have cringed when I mentioned that the scanner sends all your cloud documents to Trend Micro's servers. That's a legitimate worry. It's not the same as having the local antivirus running on your PC, scanning local files. If you're concerned, just don't use this feature.
Encrypted Vault Storage
Also on the Data page, this top-tier suite adds a file encryption system that it calls Vault. This kind of file protection is a common feature in security suites. Bitdefender, ESET, G Data Total Security, Kaspersky, and McAfee are among the suites that offer file encryption. They all let you create multiple encrypted storage containers, with the capacity fixed at creation time. Trend Micro takes a different approach, as I'll explain.
For starters, Trend Micro creates just one Vault, and its capacity expands as needed. The first time you use the Vault, you define a password to protect its contents. There's no need to enter a name or capacity the way you do with the others. When the Vault is open, you use it like any other folder, with one minor exception—you can move files into and out of the Vault, but you can't use the right-click menu to create new files in the Vault. Lock the Vault and you've blocked all access to the encrypted files.
Ensuring maximum security for your files is a two-step process. First, you copy the file into the Vault. Second, you use Secure Erase to eliminate the original. If you don't do that, a snoop (or a government agency) might be able to recover the unencrypted file.
Here comes the best part. If your laptop gets lost or stolen, you can log into Trend Micro online and seal the Vault, so that even the password won't open it. That laptop thief can try guessing passwords for all eternity; it won't work. If you're fortunate enough to recover the laptop, you can log back into Trend Micro and unseal the vault.
Limited Password Manager
Keeps your eyes open while installing this suite. On the License Agreement page, there's a subtle checkbox that tells the installer to also add Trend Micro Password Manager. You can install it later, but if you want it, this is the easiest way to get it.
The question is, do you want it? I've reviewed the product as a standalone tool, and found it lacking. Yes, it handles the basics, and it can sync data across all your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. But it lacks advanced features such as password inheritance and secure sharing. True, it's free with this suite, but the best free password managers outperform it.
Security for Your Mac
If you have some licenses left after protecting all your PCs, you can use them to install Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac. It's not as feature-packed as this Windows suite, but it includes features beyond the bare-bones basics. Read my review for a full understanding of Trend Micro's macOS protection.
Trend Micro is one of the few products with top scores from both the antivirus testing labs that evaluate macOS products; Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Intego also managed this feat. Folder Shield on the Mac works just the way it does on the PC, though it doesn't get help from other layers of ransomware protection. A few of the other features don't quite stack up. As noted, phishing protection on the Mac proved ineffective. The content filter that makes up the entirety of parental control can't handle secure HTTPS sites. As on Windows, the social network privacy scanner couldn't handle Facebook. And the webcam privacy monitor, new since my last review, is so limited that it's not useful. Again, read my review for all the details.
Mobile Security for Android
Trend Micro Internet Security supports both Windows and macOS devices, while Maximum Security, reviewed here, adds support for Android and iOS. At the bottom left of the main window is a link titled Protect Another Device, and the app frequently adds a tooltip reminding you how many licenses remain. Click that link, click one of the available slots, choose the device type, and you're ready to go. There's also an option to scan the local network for devices that could benefit from Trend Micro's protection.
For Android devices, you get three sharing choices. You can have the app send a link via email, copy the link to the clipboard to share in some other way, or scan a QR code. I scanned the code and quickly had Trend Micro installed on the Moto G5 Plus I use for testing. I did have to log into my Trend Micro account to activate full protection; the account connection isn't baked into the URL.
As with most Android security tools, I had to give the app a raft of permissions, but it walked me through the necessary steps with great finesse. It also took me through enabling parental control and lost device protection, thereby finishing its to-do list of things to fix. At that point, the Scan button on the main window turned from yellow to green, and the status indicator showed I was protected. Tapping that button launched a malware scan, which finished in mere seconds.
Below the scan button, the app's main window scrolls to reveal panels representing nine main security components: Security Scan, SafeSurfing, Wi-Fi Checker, Pay Guard Mobile, System Tuner, App Manager, Parental Controls, Social Network Privacy, and Lost Device Protection.
Security Scan shows you settings for the malware scanner. There's a slider to change overall protection from the default Normal to High or Low, and checkboxes to enable real-time protection and memory card scanning. This is also where you configure updates and check scanning history, if you're so inclined.
SafeSurfing is the mobile app's component to keep you away from malicious or fraudulent websites. As with the main malware scan, you can crank it higher or lower than the default level, but I'd leave that setting alone. On my test Android, it automatically applied protection to Messages and Chrome. I used the AMTSO Features Check page to verify that it works. The app also offered to protect Gmail; enabling this feature required activation of Trend Micro's VPN-based component. This isn't an actual VPN. Rather, it uses VPN technology to monitor web traffic.
Enabling Wi-Fi Checker triggered a scan of my local Wi-Fi hotspot, which came up clean, no security issues. Pay Guard Mobile proved a bit more interesting. On the PC and Mac, Pay Guard is a protected browser that you use to protect your personal finance transactions online. The Android edition works differently. When you launch a banking app or other protected app, it checks that the environment is safe. It makes sure that you're not on an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot, that the device isn't rooted, and that the app itself is legit. I don't do banking on my Android test device, but Pay Guard did add PrimeNow to its protected list.
Like the PC Health Checkup on Windows, the System Tuner app aims to optimize your device's performance, but its goals are a bit simpler. To start, it frees up unused memory, reporting how much it freed and how much battery life you gained. You can also use the App Freeze to force selected apps to stop all at once. If you're approaching zero battery, you can enable Just-a-Phone mode, which turns off features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth while leaving the device able to make and return calls. Also in the system performance arena, the App Manager lists all your apps along with the resources they're using. If necessary, you can bulk-uninstall apps, or reversibly disable pre-installed apps.
Under Parental Control you'll find a dual approach. App Lock lets you lock up any apps you wouldn't want triggered while your kid is playing with the phone; by default, it locks Settings. Unlocking requires your fingerprint or Trend Micro password. Bitdefender, Norton, McAfee, and others offer a similar App Lock capability. The parental Website Filter blocks access to inappropriate websites matching the selected age: Child, Pre-teen, or Teen. There's no option to fine-tune those settings, and since the filter can't handle secure HTTPS sites, a clever child can evade it by using a secure anonymizing proxy.
The Windows and macOS editions include a Social Network Privacy scanner that checks for configuration problems in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. That same feature on Android only checks Facebook. On Windows and macOS, the scanner didn't successfully check Facebook. On Android, it reported no problems found, without going into detail.
That brings us to Lost Device Protection, which is just as important for Android security as antivirus scanning. From the Trend Micro portal online, you can locate, lock, or wipe a lost or stolen device. If you've just misplaced the gadget around the house somewhere, triggering its loud alarm can help find it.
An icon marked Reset made me think that in addition to wiping your personal data from the device, you could trigger a full factory reset. In truth, that's not what it does. You can use Reset to force stop all active apps on the phone, thereby foiling a thief who got hold of the phone with those apps logged in. If it seems that the Android-napper has guessed or stolen your lock-screen PIN, you can reset it remotely.
In the app itself, you can edit the message displayed on a locked device, and enable Uninstall Protection, which requires your Trend Micro password to uninstall the app. You can also configure the Secret Snap feature. Like the similar feature in McAfee Total Protection and Panda, it secretly photographs anyone who repeatedly tries and fails to unlock the app, or to uninstall it.
Trend Micro doesn't include phone-specific features such as call and text blocking, the way McAfee, Kaspersky, and some others do. That does mean that the app works just the same on tablets and on smartphones. Other than lacking those phone-related features, it's a comprehensive Android security system with some unusual features.
Mobile Security for iOS
Handling iOS can be a problem for cross-platform security suites. The operating system itself is so thoroughly locked down that it's tough for malware too attack, but also tough for security products to defend. Some companies just skip iOS protection, while others offer a very limited set of features. Trend Micro is unusual in the breadth of its iOS coverage.
As with Android, you can add protection to an iOS device by sending an email, copying a link, or scanning a QR code. I chose the third option and quickly had the app installed. Also as with Android, I found a to-do list of things to fix for full installation. To start, I turned on the Content Shield, which promises to stop unwanted ads and trackers. I enabled its VPN component—as on Android this does not connect to a VPN server but rather provides a means for filtering content. By default, it just filters out dangerous and fraudulent websites, but you can optionally turn on parental controls. I'll come back to the parental control system.
Going to the next to-do item, I logged in to my Trend Micro account to set up Lost Device Protection. This had the added benefit of letting me register the iPad with my account, converting the installation from a time-limited trial to a fully registered installation.
The three remaining tasks involved signing in to iCloud, to let the app check my two-factor authentication status, and signing in to Facebook and Twitter, to give the Social Media Privacy scanner access. Twitter scanned just fine, but for some reason trying Facebook got an error message saying 'No Network Available.' Eventually I got through, only to find another error message. My contact at Trend Micro confirmed that this is a known problem, and that a fix is awaiting Apple's approval.
Awkwardly, the security scanner strongly insisted that I make my tweets private, prevent people from finding my Twitter account, and suppress location information—all bad ideas, for someone who, like many, broadcasts tweets for all to read. I was able to dismiss the Facebook task, but the app would not let me dismiss its bad Twitter advice. I never did get that last 'thing to fix' finished. My contact at the company stated that every item should have an X icon to let the user dismiss the task, but admitted 'the user experience may not be as good as expected.'
With all the initial tasks out of the way, the big Scan button should turn green, but that button doesn't do what you might expect. It's not a scan for malware. Rather, it thumbs through all the app's features and checks for any problems that need fixing. Below the scan button you'll find nine panels leading to various security features. Discounting the Settings panel and one that just explains the other features, they are: Content Shield, Safe Surfing, Social Network Privacy, Wi-Fi Checker, Data Usage, Device Access Status, and Lost Device Protection.
I've already discussed Social Network Privacy. Device Access Status sounds fancy, but it just checks that you've protected your device with a passcode and enabled two-factor authentication for your iCloud account. Wi-Fi Checker verifies that the hotspot you're using doesn't have security issues; mine didn't. Data Usage seems slightly archaic; it lets you enter the details and limits for your cellular, roaming, and Wi-Fi data and then warns if you're approaching the limit.
Trend Micro Maximum Security Reviews
From the Trend Micro online portal, you can locate a lost or stolen iOS device, share its location on Facebook, or sound an alarm. Yes, you can do a lot more with a lost Android, but Apple doesn't make things easy. Even the alarm, so useful when you've merely misplaced a mobile device, isn't fully function on iOS. When it's an Android device, Trend Micro can sound the alarm regardless of volume settings. On iOS, if the device is muted nothing happens except a popup that silently states 'Mobile Security remotely sounded an alarm.'
That leaves SafeSurfing and Content Shield, two features that overlap, to an extent. SafeSurfing is a separate browser with full control over the websites and pages you visit. Content Shield runs web traffic by browsers and other apps through analysis and blocks sites it knows are dangerous. Directing both to the phishing protection test page on the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) website revealed a big difference in the behavior of these two features. SafeSurfing flagged the test phishing page as dangerous, while Content Shield did nothing. That's because when used with a secure HTTPS connection, Content Shield works only at the domain level, with no ability to analyze page content.
Parental Control comes under Content Shield, if you choose to enable it. You can pick presets for Teen, Pre-teen, or Child, but unlike the Android equivalent, you can also dig into categories in four groups for a custom configuration. The content filter does handle blocking HTTPS domains by category, so your child won't evade it by using a secure anonymizing proxy. Since filtering happens through the VPN component, it affects every browser and app. Note that enabling VPN-level filtering means you can't use an actual VPN to protect your online activity.
You define a 4-digit parental PIN, distinct from the lock-screen PIN, to keep the kids from turning off the content filter. Alas, there's no similar protection for the essential VPN component. A smart kid could just bring up Settings and turn off the VPN.
Bitdefender offers minimal protection on iOS, though it does include a VPN and the ability to locate, lock, or wipe a lost device. Webroot's iOS support just consists of the SecureWeb safe browser. These two are free; using them doesn't cost you one of your licenses.
Norton and McAfee filter bad sites using VPN technology, as Trend Micro does. Kaspersky offers a full parental control system, even on iOS, with advanced features like time-based geofencing. Overall, however, Trend Micro offers a more comprehensive set of security features for iOS devices than most of its competition.
Cross-Platform Protection
Trend Micro Maximum Security is a better deal than Trend Micro Internet Security. For $10 more you get five cross-platform licenses rather than three Windows/Mac licenses; another 10 bucks brings you up to 10 licenses. Its coverage is broadest on Windows and Android devices, but it does more than most for iOS devices, and its Mac protection goes beyond mere antivirus. If you're a Trend Micro aficionado, this is the one to get.
However, if multi-device security is your aim, Symantec Symantec Norton Security Premium and Kaspersky Security Cloud can be even better. Your 10-license Norton subscription comes with 25GB of online storage for your backups. Kaspersky protects up to 20 devices. These two are among the best when it comes to personal firewalls, whereas Trend Micro doesn't offer one at all. Both also offer top-notch parental control. These two are our Editors' Choice products in this category.
Sub-Ratings:
Note: These sub-ratings contribute to a product's overall star rating, as do other factors, including ease of use in real-world testing, bonus features, and overall integration of features.
Firewall: n/a
Antivirus:
Performance:
Privacy:
Parental Control:
Note: These sub-ratings contribute to a product's overall star rating, as do other factors, including ease of use in real-world testing, bonus features, and overall integration of features.
Firewall: n/a
Antivirus:
Performance:
Privacy:
Parental Control:
Trend Micro Maximum Security 10
Bottom Line: Trend Micro Maximum Security offers protection for your Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS devices, though you get a richer set of features on Windows and Android.
Trend Micro Maximum Security 2017
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