Security for everyone - Review Trend Micro Maximum Security

Trend Micro is a company with a solid reputation in the computer security market. Their products usually offer reliable protection, while at the same time keeping a low profile regarding system requirements. They are also popular among users who want security products that are simple and easy to use. Their most complete security product for consumers is called Trend Micro Maximum Security, and it promises to give its users protection against viruses of all kinds, ransomware, dangerous websites, network threats, etc. We wanted to see exactly how good it is for protecting your Windows computers and devices, so we have used and tested it for a week. In this review, we will share our opinion about Trend Micro Maximum Security and the results of our tests:

What is Trend Micro Maximum Security good at?

Trend Micro Maximum Security is a good security product for:

• People who want a security suite with a simple user interface that is easy to understand and use
• People who want to be protected efficiently against dangerous websites, regardless of the web browsers they use
• People who want good anti-malware protection

Trend Micro Maximum Security vs. Trend Micro Internet Security

The top security products for home users from Trend Micro are Trend Micro Maximum Security and Trend Micro Internet Security. The core security components you get from both are the same. However, there are a few essential differences between them. For starters, a Maximum Security subscription lets you install it on up to five devices, while the Internet Security can be installed only on three devices. Additionally, the Maximum Security also bundles a password manager and can be installed on mobile devices. Considering that, at the time this review is written, Trend Micro Maximum Security has the same price as Trend Micro Internet Security, it is evident that the better deal is Trend Micro Maximum Security.

Pros and cons

Overall, Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security product with plenty of positive features:

• The antivirus engine is good at detecting and removing malware threats from Windows
• The web shield is highly efficient at protecting you from dangerous websites
• The user interface looks good, and the simple design makes it easy to use by beginners
• Most of the additional tools can be useful to their users

On the other hand, there are also a few negative aspects:

• Trend Micro Maximum Security does not have its firewall module, and it relies on the Windows Firewall to protect you against network attacks. This means that you get average firewall protection.
• You cannot set Trend Micro to scan removable drives automatically when you plug them into your computer
• It lowers the boot time of your computer a bit, as well as the speed of your network transfers
• It is slower at scanning your computer for malware than other similar products
• There is no VPN service included with this security suite

Verdict

Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security product that has as its primary target users who want an antivirus product that is simple and efficient. It has a capable antivirus engine, a good web shield and a user interface that is incredibly easy to use. If you are a beginner or a non-technical user, you will definitely like Trend Micro Maximum Security. On the other hand, if you are looking for the best security product there is, with many advanced protection features, a firewall module that is better than Windows Firewall and lots of advanced customization options, Trend Micro Maximum Security might not be what you are looking for, and you should try other security products.

The download and installation experience

To get Trend Micro Maximum Security on your computer, you must first download its installer. It is an executable file called TrendMicro_12.0_HE_Full.exe, with a size of 299 MB. Unlike other security companies, Trend Micro does not require any personal information if all you want is to download a trial version of its products. We like this approach. We noticed during its installation that Trend Micro Maximum Security needs a rather long time to unpack its files. However, in two or three minutes you should see that coming to an end. You can select the language used by the suite, a custom install location, and also whether you want to install the bundled Password Manager or not. After the installation is done, you can provide Trend Micro with an email address that will be used for sending you news and offers. This is optional, and that is a good thing. After everything is installed and working, Trend Micro Maximum Security launches a welcoming presentation and asks you if you want to "Set Up Folder Shield", a tool which can protect you against ransomware. If you want to do it, you must choose the folders that you want to be protected against unauthorized use. Take note that you can also close this presentation and deal with the ransomware related settings later. Then, Trend Micro loads its user interface and starts updating the virus definitions database. This is a good thing, and it means that you will have up-to-date protection right from the start. On our test computer, the first update meant we had to download another 66 MB of data. Downloading and installing Trend Micro Maximum Security are easy and straightforward processes. We appreciate that the company does not ask for any personal information during these steps.

Integration with Windows, web browsers and universal Windows platform apps

When you install Trend Micro Maximum Security, the security suite disables Windows Defender to eliminate the possible issues and conflicts that could appear when you try to run two similar security products. However, it does not disable the Windows Firewall. The reason is that Trend Micro Maximum Security uses Windows Firewall to protect you against network threats. We were curious to see if there is anything added to the default set of features in Windows Firewall. While digging through its settings, we found that Trend Micro has a feature called Firewall Booster, which promises to "enhance the protection given by the Windows Firewall and detect botnet programs that can hijack your computer by remote control." Because Trend Micro Maximum Security relies on Windows Firewall it means that you should have no issues while using the networking features from Windows. We had no problems when creating or joining a homegroup, or when we used universal Windows platform apps. When it comes to the online security, Trend Micro Maximum Security chooses to automatically scan and filter all the internet traffic that goes on your computer. That means that you are protected in any web browser you might prefer using. The security suite also bundles web browser extension called Trend Micro Toolbar, which you should be able to use in the supported web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. If you enable it, the toolbar should provide you with additional security information related to the websites that you visit and the web searches that you perform. Trend Micro Maximum Security has some negative effect on computer performance. To get a better idea on this matter, we checked whether our test laptop increased its boot time after installing the security suite, with the help of a tool called BootRacer. Our computer's boot time went up by 2 seconds, which is an 11 percent increase. We also took a look at how much RAM is required by the security suite to run its processes, and we found out that it needs about 125 MB, which is not a big deal for any modern Windows computer. To check whether the internet or local network speeds are affected by Trend Micro Maximum Security, we also ran a few tests with Speedtest.net and with LAN Speed Test. The results we got with Speedtest.net showed no changes to the internet speeds. However, the tests we ran with LAN Speed Test showed that the local network upload speed was slower by 6 percent, and the download speed was 5 percent slower after we installed Trend Micro Maximum Security. Trend Micro Maximum Security is a product that is well integrated with Windows and all its networking features. However, the main reason for that is the fact that it relies on the Windows Firewall, instead of offering a firewall module of its own. This product can lower your PC's boot time and network transfer speed.

Ease of use and configuration

Trend Micro is a company with a reputation for building simple and easy to use security products, and that is confirmed by the user interface we get in Trend Micro Maximum Security. The central console is divided into a few main sections that try to cover all the essential aspects regarding your security: Device, Privacy, Data, and Family. What grabs your attention though, is the big popping-round button sitting in the middle of it all: the Scan button. Click or tap on it, and Trend Micro Maximum Security immediately starts scanning your system for malware and other threats. The user interface also tells you right from the start whether your Windows computer is protected or not. If all is fine, you see messages displayed in relaxing green colors, and when something is wrong, the messages quickly turn to red. If you want to configure something about the way the security suite works, click or tap on the cog-wheel icon next to the Scan button. All the settings available are configured by checking or unchecking options or by moving sliders. Everything is easy to find and set, even on a device with a touchscreen. The features, options, and settings you get in Trend Micro Maximum Security are all simple, so there is little chance that someone does not understand what something does. However, if something is unclear, you can get more information by hovering your mouse cursor on the information icons scattered around the user interface. If you need detailed help and support, you can find documentation, request help via email, live to chat with a support engineer or even call Trend Micro on the phone. Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security product with such a simple user interface that we did not expect it to offer detailed logs. However, Trend Micro gives its users not only visually appealing statistics, but also detailed logs that share plenty of details on the state of your security, and that is an excellent thing. During the time frame in which we used Trend Micro Maximum Security, we saw alerts not just about malware threats but also other types of notifications. Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security product with a simple user interface. It is targeted at people who like simple and discreet antivirus software to take care of their security. On the next page of this review, you can see how capable Trend Micro Maximum Security is of protecting your Windows computer from network attacks and malware. You can also see what additional features are included in this security suite, and check our recommendations for what settings you should adjust.

Firewall protection

Unfortunately, Trend Micro Maximum Security does not offer a firewall module of its own. Instead, it uses the default Windows Firewall, on top of which it adds its Firewall Booster. Trend Micro says that this piece of software can "enhance the protection given by the Windows Firewall and detect botnet programs that can hijack your computer by remote control." We wanted to see if the Firewall Booster has any visible effect on how good your protection against network attacks is. So we ran a couple of tests with Nmap and Nessus, two well-known network vulnerability scanners. When we set our test laptop to use a private network profile, Nmap found 9 open ports, while Nessus found 7 open ports and vulnerability to man-in-the-middle attacks. On a public network profile, there were 3 ports left open. The only other interesting information both scanners could read in any scenario was the MAC address of our laptop. However, revealing this information is not a security risk. Trend Micro Maximum Security has an impressive name, but the truth is that it does not offer you the "maximum" security you would expect from a complete security suite. For us, "maximum" would have meant that we would also have gotten a firewall module other than what is included in Windows, one that is better than the Windows Firewall.

Antivirus and antispyware protection

We started by checking whether Trend Micro Maximum Security protects you while browsing the web. The good news is that this security suite scans and filters all the internet traffic going on your computer, meaning that you should get the same protection in any web browser you use. However, to be sure, we tested it: we used Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Opera and tried to navigate on a series of dangerous websites. We could not land on those pages because Trend Micro Maximum Security stopped us each time we tried. That is an excellent result. Trend Micro Maximum Security also offers a Trend Micro Toolbar for a few web browsers: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It is designed to provide you with additional information about the state of security of the websites that you are visiting, as well as that of the results you get in your web searches. Although you do not need it, if you happen to use one of the web browsers it supports, you might like the bits of information it offers. Unfortunately, on our test computer, this browser extension was not available for Google Chrome, which is strange considering that the company says it should be. Considering that Internet Explorer is a deprecated browser, the end conclusion is that Trend Micro Toolbar is useful only if you are also a Firefox user. Next, we wanted to see what Trend Micro Maximum Security does when you use removable drives. We took a USB memory stick, we copied a dozen viruses on it, and we plugged it into our test laptop. Unfortunately, Trend Micro Maximum Security did not automatically scan the USB memory stick for malware, nor did it ask if we wanted to. It just did not react. However, when we opened the malware folder from the USB memory stick in File Explorer, the security suite started to clean the infected files on its own. It is not the most proactive approach if you ask us. Also, although we wished that the result was no viruses on the memory stick, the harsh reality is that three dangerous files were not identified by Trend Micro Maximum Security immediately. They were, however, blocked when we tried to execute them. Then we installed Windows 10 on our test laptop, we infected it with a lot of viruses, including ransomware, and asked Trend Micro Maximum Security to install and clean it. The antivirus engine worked flawlessly and, in a couple of minutes, there was no virus left on our computer. It is an excellent result that shows that the antivirus engine offered by Trend Micro Maximum Security is efficient. Although being efficient is mandatory, being reasonably fast is also an important aspect when you evaluate an antivirus engine. That is why we also measured how much time it takes for Trend Micro Maximum Security to scan our 126 GB system partition with 35 GB of data on it. On average, it took it 7 minutes to do a full system scan. This is an average scan time. We also looked at what other independent security organizations had to say about Trend Micro:

• AV-TEST awarded Trend Micro Internet Security with their top score of 6 points out of 6 for protection, and 5.5 points for performance and usability.
• AV-Comparatives awarded Trend Micro with their Advanced badge in their "Real World Protection Test" and "Performance," and with the Standard badge in the "Malware Protection Test."
• Virus Bulletin did not test Trend Micro's security products.

Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security suite that has no problems in protecting you when both online and offline, thanks to its good web shield and efficient antivirus engine. However, the security suite does not have a proactive approach regarding removable drives, and the antivirus engine scanning speed is only average.

Extra features

Trend Micro Maximum Security bundles a series of additional tools that might prove useful to its customers:

• PC Health Checkup - optimizes your computer's performance by searching and repairing security vulnerabilities, cleaning your drives of unnecessary files, helping you configure which programs are allowed to run at Windows startup and so on.
• Privacy Scanner - includes Social Network Privacy and Web Browser Privacy. Social Network Privacy checks your privacy settings on social networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn, and Web Browser Privacy checks the privacy settings of your browsers.
• Social Networking Protection - checks the links on social networks, and tells you which of them are safe and which are not. It works only if you have the Trend Micro Toolbar installed and it is available in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
• Data Theft Prevention - stops hackers and spyware from stealing sensitive data from you.
• Folder Shield - lets you specify a folder that contains personal sensitive files and blocks ransomware from stealing your data.
• Secure Erase - delete files permanently so that they cannot be recovered easily.
• Password Manager - stores your passwords in a securely encrypted wallet and automatically fills in the details of your online accounts. To be able to use Password Manager, you have to have a Trend Micro account. If you do not already use another password manager, such as LastPass, this could be useful to you.
• Cloud Storage Scanner - scans the files you have saved in the cloud by sending temporary copies of your files to Trend Micro. Although it seems like an interesting feature, unfortunately, we could not test it, because it is available only to customers who bought Trend Micro Maximum Security, not those using the trial version.
• Vault - encrypts and password protects a folder in which you can store sensitive files.
• Family - a Parental Controls tool that allows you to limit the time your children spend online, block inappropriate websites, images and so on. This feature works well and is easy to configure. If you are a parent, you will probably like this module.

Trend Micro Maximum Security bundles quite a few additional tools and some of them can be useful to their users.

Default settings you might want to adjust

Although Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security suite that is well configured by default, we found a few things that we believe you might want to adjust:

• If you use Outlook as your desktop email client, Trend Micro Maximum Security can "Filter out unsolicited advertisements and other unwanted email messages from your Outlook inbox" and "Check for threats in files attached to email messages." These options are not enabled by default, but you can enable them manually, in "Protection Settings ->Internet & Email Controls -> Spam & Emailed Files."
• Trend Micro Maximum Security does not have a firewall module, but it can warn you when you connect to potentially unsafe networks. Although it does not do it by default, if you want to enable this option, go to "Protection Settings -> Internet & Email Controls -> Network" and enable the setting that says "Display a warning when connected to potentially unsafe wireless networks or hotspots."

Trend Micro Maximum Security is a security suite that is configured well by default. The two recommendations we have for you are small improvements you can make.

What is your opinion about Trend Micro Maximum Security?

As you know by now, Trend Micro Maximum Security has a lot of good things to show off with, but it also has some negative aspects. We like its antivirus engine and its straightforward user interface, but we do not like the fact that it lacks a real firewall module. What do you think? Is Trend Micro Maximum Security worth buying? What is your experience with this product?