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 all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is
whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling
is that it is not crazy enough." -- Niels Bohr
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)