Titanium 2013 is Trend Micro’s premium security package for not only PC and Mac computers but smartphones and tablets to keep all your devices protected and working at their best.
Ease of Use, Performance: 4/5
Look & Feel: 5/5
Features 5/5
How much I enjoy 4/5
Total: 4.5/5 Stars
It seems like only yesterday I was cruising through internet security packages from Trend Micro and checking out how well they keep your computer safe as well as seeing how easy they are to use for consumers. This year we get a better suite of protection software from the security giant that has continued to bring us the free Housecall and HijackThis programs.
While this round of security for the PC, smartphone and tablets does cost about $100 for the top Titanium suite you get protection for up to five devices for a year which includes a lot of great features. The suite includes the various protections for a computer including antivirus, Windows firewall enhancement, password manager and monitoring of social networks but you get several handy smartphone and tablet features as well.
The Titanium package includes a SafeSync backup and restore program, a smartphone password manager, battery management app and the Mobile Security protection for Android. The smartphone protection includes the great antivirus and other security features specifically for Android protection that includes threat scanner, privacy scanner and a lost device system in case of theft or simply losing your phone.
I have come to appreciate the suites of software that companies offer instead of having to purchase separate protections for the many devices I own. The PC protection is where I will start as this is the main focus of the Trend Micro Titanium package and has plenty of the features that Trend Micro is known for.
Malware is a constant threat and no longer includes just the simple antivirus or Trojan infections so companies are just lumping terms together and calling all of the possible threats malware. Trend Micro scores very high on independent testing from AV Comparatives and AV-TEST in their tests of Trend Micro Titanium 2013 suite.
The tests performed throw viruses and other malware at the programs and see how well they block or detect but other features also make a big impact on recommendations of these types of programs. Titanium 2013 suite includes social networking privacy scanning, safe site scanning and blocking, email protection, network and firewall protection as well as parental features.
I also did a few tests like downloading a known virus called the Eicar and Trend Micro easily stopped the program and deleted it without any problems from the various types of files I tossed at it. The program handles things without much bother but you can use the handy monthly reports to find out what has been a problem.
The network scanning and firewall enhancement of Windows Firewall is a surprise to me but it makes sense to just use what Microsoft has already included as computer protection on your operating system but make sure it works better. The other features all work well and are handy in the menu system the program uses with large icons across the top for different areas of protection as well as account, support and help icons on the top and bottom.
Each area offers the controls and settings for each type of protection with easy to understand settings but if you do need help finding out what something is the program includes a help feature. When you click on the help question mark it opens your browser to the help section the program is currently open to so you don’t have to hunt through a directory of topics.
The tools and features are easy to use and a few minutes of exploring each one and the simple descriptions on each page give a clue as to what each does and more in depth help is always available on their site. If you get infected popups tell you what you need to do if there is anything to do but mostly Titanium was just letting me know it was working as it should.
I was never infected with anything the program could not handle in the month or so of use and found the program for PC protection worked very well with a few notes on features that are outstanding. The site safety feature pops up a check mark in a green circle, a question mark in a gray circle or an X in a red circle whether the site has been listed as safe by Trend Micro. You can also get your own site listed simply by answering a few questions about the site to get your site listed as safe after they check it out themselves.
Protection for your PC is great and I did not find anything that was especially difficult to use or understand and ease of use is really good with plenty of help when needed especially in new features like the social privacy. While I do have more than some with my website going on Facebook the Titanium social privacy feature did help me to understand just what the various settings in Facebook do and what I should set according to just how private and public I wanted things.
The mobile protection is a newer feature and comes in a small set of apps that you download through their website or from the Google Play market or the Apple app store and include SafeSync, Longevity battery optimizer, DirectPass password manager, Backup and Restore for Android and the Mobile Security for android. All the security and backup features work well but I only wish I had started using it before I had phone problems because I lost some contact information before getting things backed up.
I have been playing with my new smartphone and getting things setup so my main user, the wife, would have an easy time of using the phone but somehow some phone numbers got move around in the contacts. A simple restore from saved cloud based data would have fixed the issue and now I’m ready with my cloud based backups and the copy on my computer if needed.
The apps all work well and some like the battery Longevity app give important usage information that helps you know how you use your phone and what actually is draining the battery the most. The SafeSync is easy to work with and conveniently stores files like music and videos or important presentations in the cloud for use on other devices but you only get a 5 gigabyte storage space unless you pay for more.
The free back up program for Android is also a handy feature and works with your Trend Micro account to back up contacts, apps and everything else on your phone for a single place for your restore if you need it. A very good main feature of the Mobile Security is lost device location and being able to find the phone if you lose it or just lose the person who is holding your phone like wanting to know where your wife is.
The lost device protection has four settings that help you recover your device with the locate feature, a one minute scream alarm for those in the couch moments, a lock and wipe feature for a good set of all around protections. The mobile suite of apps really rounds out the Trend Micro Titanium suite of protections and includes plenty of security for your devices even if they are the smaller and less expensive kinds.
Trend Micro Titanium Security Suite 2013 is a simple to use program for the most part but with enough help and explanations on individual menu pages to help you through the toughest features. I highly recommend Trend Micro’s latest suite of computer and mobile device protection for a fully featured and multi device suite that really is affordable for the protection you get.
