PCGUARDN.RVW 931227 Comparison Review Company and product: PC Guardian Security Products (118 Alto Street?) 1133 E. Francisco Blvd., Suite D San Rafael, CA 94901 Phone: 415-459-0190 Fax: 415-459-1162 800-288-8126 Brett Fhuere 800-882-7766 Data Security Plus Summary: general security program bundled with scanner (F-Prot) Cost Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation 3 Ease of use 2 Help systems 2 Compatibility 2 Company Stability 2 Support 2 Documentation 2 Hardware required 4 Performance 2 Availability 2 Local Support 2 General Description: A general security package which also has the F-Prot shareware version. Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation The program is shipped on one writable but protected 1.44M diskette. The disk label indicates that various modules are sold separately. Instructions are included to copy the program files onto low density disks. Installation is, again, only concerned with copying of files to the computer in question. Ease of use As the functions for PCGuardian fall in the middle range of general security programs, so the use is easier than some and harder than others. The program screens are generally clear but there is little discussion of the use of various options. Note that the virus checking interface is slightly different than that of the main program. Help systems Online help is available in the main program. Compatibility Some problems are noted with utilities. Company Stability Unknown. The product arrived under a different company name. The virus checking function is the F-Prot program. Frisk Software have confirmed that PC Guardian currently has license to distribute F-Prot, but only the shareware version, and that this is under review. Company Support The company's 800 number works from Canada. Because of shipping problems I called Christmas Eve: the staff were all at the Christmas party. I did receive a call back on December 27th. Documentation The documentation is clear in regard to program operation, but contains almost no discussion of security concepts. System Requirements A hard drive, MS-DOS 3.3 or higher and 512K memory. Performance PCGuardian should be suitable for protection against normal computer users up to an intermediate level. It may not be suitable protection against advanced attacks. Recovery from boot sector viral programs may be problematic, even though procedures are recommended. Local Support 800 phone number in the US and Canada. Support Requirements Intermediate users should have no problems with the program, but should have additional security training to set up security properly. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 PCGUARDN.RVW 931227 ====================== roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse. Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)