PC Matic 4.0 review: Healing is still holistic, but with a new coat of paint - carykang1963

At a Glance

Practiced's Rating

Pros

• Budget-conscious entry-level price
• Detailed results page after read
• One-click scan for malware and system optimization

Cons

• Set-day threat results below industry standard

Our Verdict

PC Matic sees malware as one share of a larger whole focused on system optimization. It doesn't hassle you with numerous updates and is well-rated for mainstream threats by the one testing unbendable that took a consider it. PC Matic's zero-Clarence Shepard Day Jr., net, and email menace scores are below the manufacture standard, still, meaning it's not as reliable for Thomas More novel threats based on these tests. IT is well priced, however, and if you are not visiting the more questionable corners of the web, PC Matic may be all you need.

Antivirus suites with lots of features tend to focus on detecting and managing threats first, so throw in some "tune-aweigh" utilities as extras. Iowa-based PC Matic (formerly PC Pitstop) takes a different approach. The company's eponymic software is an optimization tool for your PC foremost, with antivirus being just one part of that big full.

The focus on optimisation is made clear the moment you see PC Matic's use of splasher gauges. In the macrocosm of PC Matic, your PC is a finely adjusted machine fit and ready to deliver the functioning you call for.

Note: This review is part of our best antivirus roundup. Go there for details about competitive products and how we tested them.

Not your usual A/V suite

IDG

PC Matic is very different from other antivirus products. You don't just read your Personal computer for threats. Instead, a scan addresses a whole Host of issues including disk fragmentation (if relevant), benchmark performance, and yes, malware. The curriculum will then suggest actions to ameliorate performance operating room issue actions mechanically.

PC Matic's default run down is called a "alimony and clean." It scans for junk files, checks memory utilisation, the registry, internet connection quality, device driver updates, and various forms of malware and former security threats.

You can take via the scheduler to run away just a unmingled malware scan, merely the default is to feeler totally of a PC's performance facets during a run down.

IDG

At one time the scan is all over, you can access the results under SuperShield > Scan History. All the various issues are color coded. Red indicates a unsuccessful test requiring your aid, green means the PC passed every last tests for that event, grayish means a skipped test, blue is noesis, yellow means advice, and majestic indicates a suggested, but nonessential tweak.

Clicking on the color codes shows you a summary of from each one scan result. Personal computer Matic also displays the status of all PCs connected to your account directly in the desktop program. Most antivirus suites, by comparison, coif this only via a website interface. The downside is that PC Matic's whole desktop program doesn't out-of-doors without a connection to the internet.

Click on the appoint of the PC, and you'll see a splashboard summary with speedometer-like statuses for the well-nig recent RAM, CPU, and disk usage. Below that in that respect's also data about that PC's wellness stats, including viruses found, patched vulnerabilities, disk defragmentation, and so on. Here, you bathroom also schedule scans and view performance trends charts.

That's really the bulk of PC Matic's desktop program. It carries forbidden all of these functions at erstwhile. There are a few features you lavatory tweak, still, by clicking on Options from the main dashboard.

IDG

Away nonpayment, for example, PC Matic does a fast malware scan, but low Options > Scan Options > Promptly/Full Malware Scan, you can switch that to Full, or Exclusive to scan a specific folder.

PC Matic takes a whitelist approach to security with desktop programs. Meaning that by default it only allows programs it knows are trusty to run. This is in plac to stop ransomware and strange lesser-known malicious programs from wrecking your daylight. That could get initial problems with lesser-known software program you're trying to run, but they can be sanctioned to go through the program. I had a problem with the whitelist last time around with PC Matic 3.0, which was constantly stopping processes inside the benchmarking program PCMark 8. This time around, however, PC Matic 4.0 got on upright fine with PCMark 10.

Additionally to whitelists, the company uses heuristics to monitor processes on your PC in order to prevent trickier attacks that might try to corrupt your PC through renowned programs like PowerShell.

As for pricing, you send away pay $50 to cover Phoebe PCs for a year or $150 for lifetime coverage for the same figure of computers. For 10 PCs, you pay $100 per year or $300 for lifetime. The lower pricing selection is unusual, As is the lifetime option—to the highest degree antivirus suites are priced at $100 for 10 devices including Bitdefender, Bullguard, McAfee, and Norton. That, however, is the introductory price for most suites whereas this is the standard cost for new and returning subscribers.

Execution

IDG

In its January and Feb 2021 tests, Av-Test gave PC Matic a score of 87.8 and 98.4 pct, respectively, in its tryout for zero-day, network, email, and malware attacks based on 258 samples. The organisation's larger general-malware try out with nearly 10,000 samples scored 100 percent in both months.

PC Matic was not a part of A-V Comparatives' or Southeastward Labs' tests in Holocene months.

The Ab-Test scores are correspondent to what we saw last time we reviewed PC Matic. Excellent protection against comfortably-known and prevalent malware, but below the industry canonic when it comes to more novel threats.

As for our in-house operation tests, overall PC Matic had no significant impact on performance settled along the PCMark 10 Extended bench mark. In fact, it appeared to improve performance. Prior to installing PC Matic, the test PC had an average score of 1,664; with PC Matic running (and subsequently a standard scan) the average rosebush by intimately 20 points to 1,682.

In all other tests there was nobelium noticeable difference, including in the large-file transfer test, archiving and unarchiving prove, and the Handbrake test.

Conclusion

Microcomputer Matic is an interesting program compared to former Av suites and will take close to getting wont to with its unique optimization concentrate. But at $50 for five devices or $150 for a lifetime license IT whitethorn appeal to those looking for an antivirus cortege and optimization tools at a ripe price.

Editor's note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and public presentation improvements over sentence, this review is subject to change in order to accurately speculat the current nation of the Service. Any changes to school tex or our final review finding of fact will be noticeable at the top of this article.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/394369/pc-matic-40-review-healing-is-still-holistic-but-with-a-new-coat-of-paint.html

Posted by: carykang1963.blogspot.com

Share this post