Trend Micro Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Good Enough?

Trend Micro provides an advanced anti-malware scanner for a good price, but its additional features are pretty inconsistent. Its real-time antivirus scanner uses a combination of a traditional malware database, signature-based scanning and advanced machine-learning techniques to detect malware. It performed extremely well in my testing, catching almost all of my test malware files without slowing down my PC.

Trend Micro’s additional security features include:

• Web protection.
• PC tune-up.
• Dark web monitoring.
• Identity theft protection.
• Data theft protection.
• Password manager.
• VPN.
• Parental controls.
• Social media privacy scanner.

I like Trend Micro’s social media scanner and web protection, but some of its extras are extremely underwhelming. The optimization tools don’t offer much that PCs and Macs can’t already do, and the VPN and password manager are pretty basic.

But overall, Trend Micro provides good, affordable malware protection in a user-friendly interface. It offers a free 30-day trial for all plans, and all purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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Trend Micro Full Review — Excellent Malware Protection & Great Privacy Features

Trend Micro’s malware scanner and real-time protection are excellent, and the program has some good privacy features that help improve both online and offline security.

That said, Trend Micro’s additional features don’t quite stack up against the top antiviruses on the market. However, it’s a very user-friendly product with high-performing core features, and its different plans will definitely suit the needs of most users.

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Trend Micro Plans & Pricing — Great Value for All Devices (+ Free Extras)

Trend Micro offers 5 different plans. The most basic plan, Antivirus+ Security, is available for Windows (Mac users can get the similarly basic Antivirus for Mac plan). A slightly more advanced plan is Internet Security, which is only available for Windows. Maximum Security and Premium Security Suite are the premium plans, and they both work on PCs, Macs, Androids, iOS devices, and Chromebooks.

Trend Micro doesn’t have a free plan, although it does offer a few free features, such as HouseCall (an online security scan), Trend Micro Check (spam call and text blocker), and the Browser Security extension. All of its packages must be bought on a one- or two-year subscription. However, Trend Micro offers a 30-day free trial on all plans, and all purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Here’s a quick overview of each plan:

Antivirus+ Security — Basic Paid Plan

Antivirus+ Security (and the separate Antivirus for Mac) covers 1 device and includes real-time malware protection, as well as:

• Ransomware protection.
• Secure web browser.
• Anti-phishing protection.
• Firewall booster (not included on Mac version).

While it isn’t the most feature-rich plan, Trend Micro’s basic plan is a good option if you only want real-time malware protection and web protection. However, considering that Avira offers real-time malware scanning, PC tune-up, a password manager, and a web shield with its free antivirus product, I don’t think Trend Micro’s basic plan is the best deal on the market.

Internet Security — Advanced PC Protection

Internet Security includes all of the features included in Antivirus+ Security, as well as:

• Parental controls.
• Social media privacy protection.
• PC optimization tool.
• Protection for up to 3 PCs.

This package comes at a great price considering the number of features it offers (more than the similarly priced Panda Dome Advanced package). It’s a pretty good option for a family looking to protect up to 3 PCs, but I’m disappointed that this plan is only available for Windows users — especially when competitors like Norton offer multi-platform protection on their lower-tier plans.

Maximum Security — Advanced Multi-Device Plan

Maximum Security has all of the features included in Internet Security, plus:

• Password manager.
• Mobile protection.
• Pay Guard online banking protection.
• Protection on up to 5 devices.

This plan can protect both Android and iOS mobile devices, as well as Windows, Mac, and Chromebook (yes, there are antiviruses for ChromeOS), so it’s great for those looking for comprehensive protection across multiple devices.

Premium Security Suite — Premium Multi-Device Plan

Premium Security Suite is Trend Micro’s most comprehensive plan. It includes everything offered in Maximum Security, plus:

• Dark web/ID theft monitoring.
• Anti-fraud insurance (up to $1 million).
• Lost wallet assistance.
• Credit freezing.
• 24/7 identity theft hotline.
• Credit notifications.
• ID theft affidavit assistance.
• Inform authorities of ID theft.
• VPN.
• Protection on up to 10 devices.

Unfortunately, Trend Micro’s VPN has a few issues, which slightly reduces the appeal of this premium plan. The main benefit of this plan is the range of identity monitoring tools and the anti-fraud insurance it provides, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a bit pricey.

There are similarly priced plans with much better extras — like Norton 360 with LifeLock, which includes security features like a killswitch for the VPN and 250 GB of cloud storage. Norton’s anti-theft tools also include stolen fund reimbursement and personal expense compensation. That said, Premium Security Suite allows for protection on up to 10 devices, so it’s a decent option if you’re looking for complete online security for your whole household.

Trend Micro Security Features — Comprehensive Protections (Malware Scanner, Password Manager & VPN)

Virus Scanner — Excellent Detection Rate + High Level of Customization

Trend Micro’s virus scanner provides excellent malware detection. It uses a combination of signature-based scanning (cross-referencing files against Trend Micro’s massive virus database) and machine learning. It can protect against known malware as well as zero-day threats and malware variants, which can get past traditional malware scanners.

Trend Micro provides 3 scan options:

• Quick Scan: Scans areas of your computer where security risks are typically found, such as your system folders, background processes, and registry.
• Full Scan: Scans the entire disk (not including files that are password protected or encrypted).
• Custom Scan: Scans files or folders of your choice.

To test the different scan options, I downloaded a huge malware sample archive containing viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, trojans, adware, keyloggers, rootkits, and cryptojackers. I hid all the samples in different locations, making sure some of them went into my system folders and registry.

Trend Micro’s quick scan took 3 minutes on my computer, which is pretty impressive (some other antivirus products take 10–30 minutes for a quick scan). The quick scan identified every malicious sample in my critical folders, which is impressive.

Next, I ran Trend Micro’s full scan, which took just 40 minutes — faster than McAfee, which took an hour. Trend Micro was able to detect almost all of the malware on my disk, which is pretty great (this result is almost as good as top competitors like Norton and Bitdefender). My computer speeds weren’t affected while running the scan, either — I was still able to stream HD video.

The scanner comes with several other helpful options. You can adjust the level of protection sensitivity, change the notification settings, and even ask Trend Micro to automatically delete unsafe files and PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), or choose to deactivate the machine-learning aspect of the scanner.

Trend Micro’s malware scanner is fast and powerful, and it doesn’t drain system resources. While its detection rates aren’t quite perfect, they’re close. Plus, its scanner is a lot quicker than those of other antiviruses such as VIPRE, and it includes a ton of convenient settings if you want the ability to fine-tune your antivirus experience.

Real-Time Protection — Simple & Works Well (Better Than the Malware Scanner)

Trend Micro’s real-time malware protection is basic but effective. It monitors your activity on the web and stops you from downloading any malicious files or attachments. It also monitors files on your desktop and blocks them from making changes on your computer. Similar to Bitdefender, it’s pretty customizable, with options to scan USBs when plugged in, compressed files, and more.

The real-time protection performed even better than the scanner in my tests. To test it, I attempted to redownload the same archive from my malware scan. Trend Micro’s real-time scanner detected every single malware file, preventing them from being downloaded and potentially infecting my PC.

I also tested Trend Micro’s real-time protection against WICAR’s database of web-based exploits, and I was impressed that Trend Micro blocked all of the exploit attacks before they were able to target my browser and plugins.

Overall, Trend Micro’s real-time protection is extremely effective at preventing malicious files from running on your PC.

Phishing / Web Protection — Blocks Most Websites + Easy Whitelisting

Trend Micro’s web protection is very good at blocking malicious and fraudulent websites. It does this by automatically comparing every site you visit with an online database of blacklisted sites. If the site you’re trying to visit appears on the database, Trend Micro will block access.

I tested the protection across Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. I tried visiting hundreds of sample phishing sites, and Trend Micro blocked my access most of the time. It even blocked access to websites that the default protections on web browsers like Chrome and Firefox failed to block. I only had one instance in my tests of the web protection missing a malicious site. While it’s still much better than Chrome, it’s not the best. Norton 360’s web protection flagged that website when I tested it.

I also really like how easy it is to whitelist safe sites. Trend Micro opens a little dialogue box every time it blocks a website, with the option to ignore its warning and visit the site, or even whitelist that site completely.

Trend Micro also has a Shell Shock Detector extension for Chrome, which you can download for free. The Shell Shock bug is a security flaw in Bash, a common program on Linux and Unix-like operating systems, including macOS. It lets hackers run harmful commands through it if it’s not properly fixed. Infection via Shell Shock is extremely common, so Trend Micro’s extension is a handy tool to have on your Linux or Mac device.

Overall, I was impressed with Trend Micro’s anti-phishing protection. It’s easy to use, and it blocked all of the phishing sites in my tests.

PC Health Check-Up — Multi-Functional 1-Click Optimizer

Trend Micro’s PC Health Check-Up is a Windows-only system tune-up feature that optimizes your PC in 6 ways. With one click, PC Tune-Up can:

• Fix Security Vulnerabilities. Checks if your OS is up to date and if the computer’s firewall settings are secure.
• Remove Potentially Incompatible Programs. Uninstalls programs that aren’t compatible with Trend Micro (such as other antivirus programs).
• Reduce Computer Startup Time. Changes which programs boot up when you log into your PC.
• Restore Disk Space. Empties the recycle bin, deletes duplicate files, and cleans temporary folders.
• Clean Privacy Data. Removes personal data from web browsers, Windows, messenger applications, and media players.

I wasn’t impressed with this feature. The PC Health Check-Up took just a few seconds to scan my computer, but it wasn’t able to save me any space. However, when I ran my PC’s built-in Windows Disk Cleanup app, it cleaned out almost 700 MB of space.

The Reduce Computer Startup Time feature highlights the programs you can manually disable from launching at startup in order to improve your startup speeds. But this is available in Windows and Mac by default, so it doesn’t add much value to the tune-up feature.

Overall, Trend Micro’s PC Health Check-Up isn’t that good. Many of its features are available on Windows by default, where they generally also perform better. It’s disappointing how Trend Micro offers comprehensive clean-up tools (Cleaner One Pro) at an additional cost. The fact that the tools built into Trend Micro’s antivirus program underperform doesn’t motivate me to spend extra on additional tools. The only benefit PC Tune-Up really brings is the ability to have all of your optimization features in one place, but otherwise, you could just stick with your system’s built-in clean-up features or better yet, go for TotalAV’s or Avira’s comprehensive system tuneup tools.

Privacy Scanner — Protect Your Personal Information & Social Media Accounts

Trend Micro’s Privacy Scanner uses various tools to promote privacy. It allows you to adjust your web browser and social media privacy settings for a variety of sites and browsers. To use it on your social media profiles, you need to download the Trend Micro Toolbar and be logged into the social media account you wish to scan. Trend Micro will then look at that account, and open a pop-up window that allows you to easily address any privacy concerns it finds. Trend Micro looks for:

• Who can see your personal information.
• If your social media profile appears on search engines.
• Who can look you up using your email address.
• Who can look you up using your phone number.
• If advertisers can display targeted ads based on your activity.

I downloaded the Trend Micro Toolbar and tested it. I scanned my Chrome browser and my Facebook, X, and LinkedIn profiles.

The scan only took a minute, and then listed all privacy concerns with an option to easily adjust them. Overall, it’s a convenient feature, especially because many social media sites make it pretty difficult for you to find, understand, or change your privacy settings.

The browser scanner portion of the privacy scanner did a good job of cleaning cookies and blocking trackers and ads on the pages I visited. Although hardly groundbreaking, it’s a handy feature to have in your browser.

On Firefox, Trend Micro let me decide whether to allow tracking and password saving, and I could also turn the built-in anti-phishing protections on or off. While this is useful, these features are easily accessible in the web browser’s own settings, without Trend Micro.

I was sorry to see that Trend Micro doesn’t offer anything similar to McAfee’s Privacy Protection tool, which lists all of the data brokers with your information and makes it easy to remove yourself from their directories — if you upgrade to the premium service, McAfee will even remove you from all of these lists automatically. Norton offers a similar service with its identity theft protections, and in my testing, it was also quick and easy to use.

That said, the Privacy Scanner’s social media protections are pretty useful, especially if you have a hard time finding and changing privacy settings across your social media accounts.

Trend Micro ID Security (Mobile Only) — Get Notifications for Breaches on the Dark Web

Trend Micro ID Security constantly scans the dark web and immediately alerts you if it finds any of your personally identifiable information (PII), including:

• Email addresses.
• Passwords.
• Credit card numbers.
• Bank account numbers.
• Passport information.

It’s not quite as impressive as Norton, which uses AI technology and covers additional types of information, such as insurance numbers. But Trend Micro is better than TotalAV, which just uses Have I Been Pwned’s database to scan for breached emails. Besides, Trend Micro lets you download its ID Security for free, which is rather generous.

Trend Micro’s data monitor sends leak alerts directly to your email or mobile when a breach is detected. If this happens, it notifies you about what information has leaked and instructs you to protect each leaked account with a stronger password, providing a hyperlink to the breached website so you can quickly make the needed changes.

In my experience, the email breach scanner worked quite well. To test it, I created a new email address and used it to register accounts on dozens of the internet’s sketchiest sites. Sure enough, when I used ID Security to scan for breaches, it turned up 20 different sites that had leaked my email address.

Trend Micro ID Security is only available on Android and iOS, which I found a little odd. PC and Mac users only get access to a basic email scanner through Trend Micro’s website.

Overall, Trend Micro’s ID Security is quite comprehensive. It offers more than most of its competitors’ comparable products, but it’s not as good as Norton’s. Being able to check if your emails, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information have been compromised is pretty great. But if you’re really concerned with identity protection, it’s better to choose a service with live support and protection for more types of information.

Password Manager — Unlimited Password Storage, Automatic Form Filler & More

Trend Micro’s password manager is a secure way to store sensitive data. I like that it uses 256-bit AES encryption (the best available), but I found it difficult to use and confusing overall. That said, it does come with some useful features.

Trend Micro’s password manager includes:

• Unlimited password storage (premium version).
• Password generator.
• Two-factor authentication.
• Automatic form filler.
• Password auditing.
• Biometric logins.
• Secure browser.
• Keystroke encryption.
• Secure notes.

The password manager is available as a browser extension and an app. The browser-based version is standalone or bundled with Trend Micro ID Protection, providing various privacy features and an ad blocker as well as a password manager. I’m a big fan of bundling, so I think this is great.

The app isn’t as good, though. Troublingly, I found that the app version doesn’t sync with the extension. When I added the browser version after saving several passwords via the app, I found my vault to be empty. What’s more, while the app says it’s available for Windows and Mac, I could only get the mobile version to work.

Trend Micro’s password manager operates on a zero-knowledge protocol, meaning if you forget this master password, you won’t be able to reset it. This is great for security, but it means you’ll have a problem if you do forget the password, as there are no account recovery options. In my view, this is a bit of a limitation. Other popular password managers like LastPass and Dashlane have several account recovery options, just in case you lose access to your account.

The password storage and auto-fill feature is really basic, but it works well. When you log into a website, Trend Micro will ask if you want to save your details. When you then return to a saved site, it will open a small dialogue box asking if you want to log in. It’s pretty quick and convenient, and it recognized all of my saved websites during testing.

Trend Micro also features a password generator. It allows you to generate a password consisting of 8–20 characters, which can contain upper- or lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. This is a fairly useful feature, but it doesn’t include a passphrase generator like Bitwarden does.

Trend Micro’s password manager does the basics well, but it doesn’t have a lot of features compared to the top products on the market. It has easy-to-use password saving and autofill capabilities, and I like the functionality of its password generator. However, it isn’t very intuitive, and it’s not nearly as full-featured as competitors like 1Password.

Parental Controls — Intuitive Parental Controls With Core Protections

Trend Micro’s parental controls are basic but really intuitive. That said, they lack many features included in standalone parental control tools. You can use them to:

• Block websites.
• Set time limits on internet access, specific apps, or whole devices.
• Block applications.
• Get reports on user activities.

It’s pretty easy to use thanks to the startup wizard, which will take you through the setup where you choose the websites or applications you want it to block. There are also different age presets you can select if you just want Trend Micro to set everything up for you. I created a fake profile for a pre-teen child aged 8–12, who could only use the computer for 4 hours a day on weekdays.

The website filtering worked pretty well. It can block 31 categories of websites, including:

• Adult websites.
• Communication media websites.
• Controversial websites.
• Shopping websites.
• Entertainment websites.

When I tried to visit a banned website, it wouldn’t load. Instead, Trend Micro displayed a pop-up notification in the bottom corner of my screen telling me that the website had been blocked. If you click on the “Temporarily allow” or “Permanently allow” links within the message, it asks for your account password before allowing access to the blocked website. This is a really useful feature, and I imagine many parents will appreciate the ability to temporarily whitelist websites in this way.

Trend Micro’s content filtering was pretty inconsistent. It worked on certain categories — such as adult websites — but struggled on others. For example, when I tried to filter out “weaponry,” I could still access many websites and videos about guns. However, filtering out dangerous YouTube videos is pretty tough for any parental control app. For example, Qustodio only lets you block YouTube access entirely or see what videos your kids have been watching — it doesn’t let you block individual videos. With that in mind, I recommend you check out our blog post about keeping kids safe on YouTube for some helpful tips.

Trend Micro’s image search filter didn’t work at all. With it turned on, I was still able to look at adult images on Google Images. Other parental control tools, like Net Nanny, can detect when your kid enters restricted words into Google Images and replace the restricted words with # symbols, preventing any inappropriate images from appearing in search results.

The time restrictions worked really well — I was able to limit the amount of time kids can spend on a device entirely and schedule time allowed for internet access. If your kid needs some more time online, you can easily add an extra hour by entering your password. Similarly, when their scheduled hours of computer/device use are reaching an end, a timer will appear warning them that they have 5 minutes before they’ll be logged out. You’ll then need to enter your password to regain access to the device. You can also enter your password during the 5-minute countdown to allow an additional hour.

The Program Access controls were pretty effective as well. I tried this with various applications, including video games, and each time Trend Micro successfully blocked them. I even tried to trick the app blocker by renaming blocked applications, moving them, deleting them, and reinstalling them, but none of these methods worked.

However, I was disappointed with Trend Micro’s parental controls report screen. It only reports attempts to access blocked websites — so if your kid is accessing other inappropriate websites that haven’t already been filtered, there’s no way of knowing. It also doesn’t track application use, so there’s no way to know what your kid is spending their time on (e.g., if they’re playing video games or using educational apps).

All of the best parental control programs on the market have detailed reports that show every website your child has visited, every app they’ve tried to access, and the amount of time they’ve spent in each app. These are really helpful features for parents, and it’s a shame they’re missing from Trend Micro’s product.

Overall, I’d say Trend Micro’s parental controls are only okay. The content filtering is inconsistent, and I think the report screen should be much more informative. However, on the positive side, it’s super easy to use, with customizable web-filtering presets, automatic age-based protections, and a reliable application blocker.

Trend Micro VPN — Fast Speeds & Good Features (But It Could Be Better)

Trend Micro also comes with a VPN, and it’s pretty decent. Called VPN Proxy One Pro, it’s fast and user-friendly, but it does have some problems. Namely, it lacks some key features and collects too much data. It’s only bundled with Trend Micro’s most expensive plan (Premium Security Suite), but you can also buy a subscription as a standalone purchase.

VPN Proxy One Pro has very fast speeds, especially for a VPN offered by an antivirus company. It lets you choose between the WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols, so you can pick what’s best for you. My speeds were hardly affected while connected to a local server — websites loaded right away and videos started within 2 seconds and never buffered once they began. When I connected to a server halfway around the world, my speeds were about 20% slower. Still, it only took about 2–3 seconds to load videos and files downloaded fairly fast.

Here’s my connection speed while connected to my local network and to a VPN server in Italy:

And lastly, here’s what I got connecting to a server in Phoenix, Arizona:

When it comes to security features, VPN Proxy Pro One protects your data with 256-bit AES encryption (the same used by banks and militaries). It comes with an ad blocker, and you can make it so it automatically launches when it detects an unsecured Wi-Fi connection, or you can enable the VPN to launch when it detects a specific Wi-Fi network, including your home network. VPN Proxy Pro One doesn’t say whether or not it has leak protection, but I tested each server location for leaks and never saw any — only the VPN IP address was displayed and not my own IP address.

However, there are a lot of things I don’t like about VPN Proxy Pro One. It doesn’t have a kill switch, which disconnects you from the internet if your VPN connection drops to prevent your data from accidentally leaking onto the internet. I’m also not a fan of its privacy policy, which states the VPN logs your location, your session duration, in-app purchases, and websites you visit (to protect you from web-based threats and network hacking attacks). It’s not easy to find the privacy policy for the VPN, and when you do, the language is too vague. I prefer a VPN that has a strict no-logs policy and doesn’t log any VPN traffic (like ExpressVPN and Private Internet Access).

I also didn’t like that instead of being a standard downloadable application for your computer, it can only be installed through the Windows store.

Another downside became apparent when I tried to stream. I connected to a server in my country and tried logging into my Paramount+ and Amazon Prime accounts, but I couldn’t get through. The only service that worked for me was Netflix.

Plus, VPN Proxy Pro One has a very small server network, with servers in just 17 countries. This prevents many users from connecting to a server in their home country or a nearby country for the fastest speeds. Another thing that bothers me is that the VPN lacks extra features like split-tunneling on Windows or obfuscation tools. There are other antiviruses that bundle a VPN in their internet security suites that include better security and are more feature-rich.

Overall, VPN Proxy Pro One is a fast VPN that’s very easy to use. But it lacks a kill switch, has a so-so privacy policy, and is missing extra features that you will get from a top-notch standalone VPN provider.

Identity Protection (US Only) — Good ID Protections That Are Easy to Set Up & Use

Trend Micro comes with a pretty wide range of identity monitoring and anti-theft tools designed to give you multiple layers of security against identity fraud, including:

• Credit freeze assistance.
• Lost wallet assistance.
• Dark web monitoring.
• Wi-Fi checker (mobile only).
• ID theft affidavit assistance.
• 24/7 anti-fraud hotline.
• Anti-fraud insurance (up to $1 million)

The credit freeze, lost wallet, and ID theft affidavit assistance features are pretty good. Simply go to the Identity tab on the dashboard, select what you need assistance with, and Trend Micro will walk you through it in a simple-to-understand way.

The anti-fraud insurance claims are processed by the American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida and can reimburse up to $1 million. It’s not the best, though, and while it’s available as a standalone or part of a bundle, it’s a bit expensive. For around the same price, Norton 360 with LifeLock Select contains more types of reimbursement options, including up to $25k in stolen funds reimbursement, up to $1 million for experts and legal fees, and credit monitoring tools.

It wasn’t easy to find the number for the 24/7 identity theft resolution specialists, but once I found it, in terms of service, it was easy to submit a claim and get feedback. When I gave Trend Micro a call, I only had to wait a few moments for an agent who was professional and friendly.

Overall, the identity protection tools are pretty good, but there’s room for improvement. Unlike Norton LifeLock, the insurance is only available for US customers and doesn’t include stolen funds reimbursement or credit monitoring. That said, I like how easy it is to set up and use the features. The process for submitting claims is also surprisingly simple, and you get plenty of assistance for filling out the paperwork.

Additional Features — Folder Shield, Firewall Booster, Wi-Fi Checker & More

In addition to the features mentioned above, Trend Micro comes with some decent additional features:

• Pay Guard. Opens a secure browser window for online banking or shopping (Chrome, Firefox, Edge).
• Data Theft Prevention. Blocks sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, from being sent over the internet.
• Folder Shield. Adds extra security to selected folders to stop ransomware from encrypting them.
• Trend Micro Vault. Stores sensitive files in a password-protected folder.
• Trend Micro Diagnostic Toolkit. Generates troubleshooting logs, adds real-time scanning exceptions, reboots your PC into safe mode, and more.
• Secure Erase. Deletes a file securely, so it can never be recovered (only available on the Premium Security, Maximum Security, and Internet Security plans).
• Firewall Booster. Enhances Windows’s built-in firewall and blocks botnets from hijacking your PC.
• Wi-Fi Checker. Warns you when you’re connected to an unsecured network.
• Camera and mic protection (Mac only). Notifies you if apps are trying to access your Mac’s camera or microphone.

Several of these additional features are pretty good. Whenever you navigate to a banking or finance website, Pay Guard prompts you to proceed in the secure browser to protect you from exploit attacks and pop-ups. While TotalAV and Avira feature secure browsers, they don’t offer the same one-click functionality that Pay Guard does. In my tests, Pay Guard worked for major international financial sites, but when I tried to visit my regional bank’s website, I didn’t get a recommendation to use Pay Guard.

Folder Shield is a protective feature that prevents unauthorized applications from making changes to your files, enhancing security against ransomware and other malicious attacks. It allows users to specify certain folders to safeguard, ensuring that only trusted applications can access and modify the contents within these designated areas. By default, it will protect your Documents and Pictures folders, but you can protect as many folders as you like manually.

Overall, I appreciate that Trend Micro offers so many additional features for improving security.

Trend Micro Ease of Use & Setup — Simple Interface (4 Categories Contain Every Feature)

Trend Micro is really easy to set up and use. Installing it took me less than 5 minutes, and as soon as it started up, I was taken to an easy-to-navigate user interface (UI), where the main features were organized in 4 easy-to-read icons.

Every feature is accessible in a few clicks. Through the “Device” button, you can access security settings such as the real-time scanning options, the PC optimizer, and mute mode (which temporarily disables Trend Micro’s notifications). It’s also where to go if you want to protect another device.

The “Privacy” button on the main UI takes you to the Privacy Scanner and Social Media Protection. You can also configure your Pay Guard settings here (i.e., choose which websites you want to open in Trend Micro’s secure web browser).

Finally, the Data Theft Prevention options are also available from the “Privacy” tab. As with Pay Guard, all you have to do is enter the information you want to be protected, and Trend Micro will handle the rest automatically.

The “Data” button lets you access various data protection features. You’ll find the Folder Shield, Secure Erase, password manager (opens web extension), and Vault (password-protected folder) tools. Finally, the “Family” button gives you access to the Parental Controls, which only took me a few minutes to configure.

Overall, Trend Micro’s interface is intuitive and simple to navigate. This makes it easy to access and adjust every feature in just a few clicks.

Trend Micro Mobile App — Great Mobile Apps (Excellent Anti-Theft Protections)

Trend Micro’s mobile security for Android and iOS offers solid protection. It comes included in the Maximum Security and Premium Security Suite packages, but you can also buy it separately. It includes the following features:

• Malware scanner (Android only).
• Web protections.
• SMS phishing (smishing) blocker.
• App manager.
• Anti-theft protection.
• Parental controls.
• Pay Guard Mobile.
• Wi-Fi Checker.
• Lost Device Protection.

The malware scanner worked really well during my tests. I downloaded an archive with hundreds of virus samples onto my Pixel 4 XL Android phone, and Trend Micro managed to catch almost 100% of them. The mobile web protections are pretty good as well, and I particularly like the smishing (SMS-based phishing) blocker. It works just as well as the one included in Norton’s mobile app.

I also really like Trend Micro’s theft protections; you can remotely lock your device, wipe your data, locate with GPS, and even turn on an alarm. It will email you a picture of anyone who tries to unlock the app with the wrong PIN, too. To access these functions in the event of theft, you navigate to Trend Micro’s Lost Device portal on your web browser and log into your account. All of the anti-theft features are available in a super clear UI, and the “locate device” function pinpoints your device to within around 50–100 feet.

The parental controls work on the mobile app in much the same way as they do on the desktop app. The main difference is that there’s no way to schedule usage times like you can on the PC version, and there’s also no report screen to help track your children’s app and internet usage. If you want to schedule usage times on mobile, you should consider Qustodio.

Overall, I really like Trend Micro’s mobile app. It’s got good anti-malware protections, web protections, and robust anti-theft capabilities.

Trend Micro Customer Support — 24/7 Premium Phone Support (But the Knowledge Base Isn’t Great)

Trend Micro’s customer support provides various options, including:

• Knowledge base.
• Phone support.
• Live chat.
• Email support.
• Social media/forum support.

The phone support is excellent. If you’re in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, or over a dozen other countries, there are options for standard weekday support or 24/7 premium support for those subscribed to Trend Micro’s Premium Security Suite.

I was able to get through to standard support from Canada really quickly and chat with a helpful agent who answered all of my questions. Getting in touch with the live chat agent only took me a minute, but it took a little bit too long to get my questions answered. The agent immediately asked me what my problem was and invited me to a remote session. It took over an hour, but we were eventually able to get the VPN working.

When I emailed, a customer service representative responded to me in 9 hours, which is quite speedy. However, we had to go back and forth several times before I could get any answers. Their first response wanted to know what version of Trend Micro I was using, the serial number of it, and my operating system. While they claim this was to provide better support — my question was a simple one and I felt like the representative didn’t actually need this information.

Overall, the customer support team is prompt and knowledgeable (especially the phone support), but the knowledge base is limited to a tiny number of FAQs.

What Trend Micro Can Do Better — There’s No Firewall

Trend Micro is great at stopping malware, but the extra features need improvement. I don’t have any major complaints about the base tools (the malware scanner, real-time protections, and mobile apps), but many of Trend Micro’s secondary features could benefit from an overhaul.

To start off, the optimization tools could be way better. Like the rest of Trend Micro, the interface is great, and they’re super easy to use. The thing is, they don’t do all that much. I was able to free up more space using the built-in Windows tools than I could with Trend Micro. I’d like to see more useful and effective optimization tools, like TotalAV.

Then there’s the lack of a firewall, for which the firewall booster can hardly compensate. Business users do get the firewall, so I don’t think it’s fair that Trend Micro doesn’t offer this important security feature to home users as well.

The password manager and VPN both do their jobs well but could use some tweaks. The VPN would benefit from a kill switch and a more privacy-friendly no-logs policy. Similarly, I’d be more inclined to recommend Trend Micro if the password manager added passkey support and fixed its synchronization issues. Norton has a great antivirus with a fully-featured VPN and password manager to boot, so it’s possible.

I don’t want to discount Trend Micro’s fundamental capabilities. The web protections and anti-malware engine work great. I would like to see the malware detection rate increase (it scored 97% in my tests), but as things currently stand, it’s a good antivirus.

Can Trend Micro Fully Protect You From Malware in 2024?

Yes, Trend Micro can fully protect you from malware. Its advanced malware scanner provides close to 100% malware protection and the web shield detected all of the dangerous websites in my testing. Trend Micro also comes with some pretty decent bonus features, such as a helpful privacy scanner that can secure your social media accounts, and basic parental controls that easily allow you to restrict how long your child can spend online and/or on a certain device.

However, there are some things I don’t like about Trend Micro. I didn’t think the system tune-up tools were very good, and the VPN and the password manager are mostly barebones when compared to what top standalone providers offer.

But overall, Trend Micro is a decent antivirus. It provides good anti-malware protection, a wide range of useful features, and a user-friendly interface. There are, however, a number of other companies offering better additional protections for a similar price. But all of Trend Micro’s plans come with a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try one out risk-free and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Trend Micro be trusted?

Yes, you can trust Trend Micro to keep you secure. I tested the antivirus scanner against nearly 1,000 malware samples, and it detected almost 100% of them. However, if you want to maintain total privacy, you should know that Trend Micro collects data on your malware detection records (which is pretty standard practice among antivirus developers). This is to help Trend Micro identify new threats and address them quickly, but you can opt out of data collection if you want to keep your data completely private.

How effective is Trend Micro at removing malware?

Trend Micro is one of the top antiviruses when it comes to removing malware. Its antivirus engine employs very advanced AI-based malware protection technologies to protect your computer from:

• Malware.
• Ransomware.
• Trojans.
• Phishing and malicious sites.
• Many other cyber threats.

Trend Micro’s malware scanner achieved near-perfect detection scores in my tests, and is remarkably easy to use.

Can Trend Micro detect keyloggers?

Trend Micro’s real-time protection and machine-learning technology provide good protection against keyloggers, preventing them from infecting your PC in the first place. When I tested the real-time protection, I tried to download a handful of keylogger malware files, and Trend Micro managed to catch all of them before they could cause any damage.

Trend Micro’s password manager also features keystroke encryption, which stops hackers from using keylogging malware to steal your passwords. To be honest, the password manager’s auto-fill capability should be enough to stop keyloggers anyway, but it’s still a great protection to keep your master password secure.

Will Trend Micro work with Windows Defender?

No, the majority of Windows Defender’s features will turn off when Trend Micro is active. This is good news, because you don’t want multiple malware scanners interfering with each other (they can actually cancel each other out and put your device at serious risk). However, Trend Micro’s Firewall Booster does work with Windows Defender’s built-in firewall to add an additional layer of protection.

Is Trend Micro free?

No, Trend Micro’s antivirus products aren’t free. However, all of Trend Micro’s plans come with a 30-day free trial as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can make sure Trend Micro is right for you before committing long term. If you’re looking for a free antivirus program (which isn’t something I’d usually recommend), you should check out Bitdefender, which is near the top of our list of the best free antiviruses in 2024.