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In our Trend Micro review, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the antivirus provider, including its plans and key security features.
The well-known antivirus firm has a range of anti-malware applications – such as ransomware protection, web monitoring, and a VPN – for different platforms, including Chrome OS. We’ll cover all of this in our Trend Micro review, as well as how it compares to the best antivirus solutions today.
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What is Trend Micro?
With a comprehensive selection of security tools, Trend Micro goes far beyond antivirus solutions. Their products include endpoint protection, cloud security, network defense, and mobile security solutions to thwart threats like malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Trend Micro operates cutting-edge research and development centers that make sure the company stays ahead of emerging threats.
Is Trend Micro Safe?
Trend Micro is regarded as a secure and reliable cybersecurity product. The firm uses robust AI technologies to identify and block suspicious activity with almost no impact on system performance.
Its comprehensive range of tools ensures users are defended against cyber threats, and its global presence allows the company to address cybersecurity on a broad scale. Under independent testing, Trend Micro gets consistently excellent results for its malware detection rates.
The company also engages in user education initiatives, which provide information and resources to help customers stay informed about cybersecurity best practices, empowering users to contribute to their own digital safety.
Trend Micro Plans & Pricing
Trend Micro’s pricing is competitive, though some may find its plans a little confusing.
In addition to free trials, the company also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans. It’s worth noting that plans auto-renew by default, so your trial will auto-renew unless you adjust the relevant account settings.
| Plans | Starting Price (year one) | Devices | Compatibility | Features |
| Antivirus+ Security | $19.95/yr | 1 | Windows, Mac ($29.95) | • Ransomware Protection • Email Threat Protection • Pay Guard |
| Internet Security | $39.95/yr | 3 | Windows | • Parental Controls • Social Media Protection • System Optimization Tools |
| Maximum Security | $49.95/yr | 5 | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chromebook | • Password Manager • Mobile Support |
| Premium Security Suite | $54.95/yr | 10 | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chromebook | • Dark Web Monitoring • VPN • Identity Fraud Insurance |
Antivirus+ Security — $19.95/yr (renews at $39.95)
Trend Micro’s base plan will block web threats like ransomware and help you avoid online scams by flagging malicious phishing emails and scam websites.
The Pay Guard feature, meanwhile, will protect your financial data by opening a secure browser window for online banking or shopping.
You can also sign up for the Antivirus for Mac plan, which covers one device for $29.95.
Internet Security — $39.95/yr (renews at $79.95)
This package adds parental controls, social media privacy tools, and device optimization features and increases support to three devices.
That said, if you want to cover more than one Mac, you’ll need to leapfrog this plan and go straight to the Maximum Security package.
Maximum Security — $49.95/yr (renews at $99.95)
This plan covers up to five devices and supports Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Chromebooks and is the first plan to include mobile device support.
It also adds an integrated password manager, which uses 256-bit AES encryption.
While it’s not on our list of the best password managers, it does have some useful features, such as a password generator, two-factor authentication (2FA), an automatic form filler, and a secure notes vault.
Premium Security Suite — $54.95/yr (renews at $149.95)
This is Trend Micro’s top-tier plan. It covers ten devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Chromebooks and adds dark web monitoring and a VPN. The VPN is basic, but it’s fast and easy to use – it’s nice to have, but there are better options out there.
Can I Get Trend Micro for Free?
The best way to test Trend Micro is with a 30-day free trial. The company also offers free tools for virus scans, home network scans, and performance scans.
HouseCall, the free virus scanner, will scan your device for viruses, worms, and other threats, while the home network scan will identify potential risks on your network and suggest solutions to eliminate issues.
Trend Micro Security Features
Trend Micro offers a comprehensive suite of security features to protect you from cyber threats. In the next section of our Trend Micro review, we’ll explore these features in detail.
Virus Scans
Trend Micro offers quick, full, custom, and scheduled security scans.
A quick scan will scan the areas that are most at risk of infection. These include system folders, registry items, and background processes.
A full scan will check your entire machine, but it will leave folders that are password-protected or encrypted. This will take some time to complete, though it shouldn’t impact the speed of your machine too much.
A custom scan allows you to select specific folders or files to be scanned. You can also schedule scans to run at specific times from the settings menu, or you can choose Smart Schedule and Trend Micro will determine suitable slots based on your device usage.
Real-Time Antivirus Protection
Trend Micro’s real-time protection technology tracks your web activity to identify threats as they arise. It continuously monitors your system for suspicious behavior and flags files that may contain malware – and it also blocks downloads that may be malicious.
Trend Micro’s real-time protection features will help defend against ransomware, malware, and potentially unwanted programs (PUPS).
Ransomware Protection
Ransomware attacks see hackers encrypting your data and locking your device until you pay them off. Trend Micro can help prevent this from happening with its Folder Shield, a comprehensive anti-ransomware tool.
This stops programs not on a whitelist from accessing protected files, meaning hackers can’t encrypt them.
In addition, Trend Micro will block access to malicious websites and harmful attachments in your spam, email, and social networks. You can also use it to detect and delete ransomware in your system before it activates.
Phishing Protection
Trend Micro compares every site you visit to a database of blacklisted sites. If you visit one of them, Trend Micro’s phishing protection will kick in and block access.
Every time Trend Micro blocks access, a pop-up will appear, warning you that the site is potentially hazardous. You can choose to ignore this and continue, and you can whitelist the site if you know it to be safe.
Trend Micro Pay Guard
If you have Trend Micro’s Pay Guard enabled, you’ll be automatically prompted to open a secure browser whenever you visit a banking or financial account to protect you from exploits.
It generally works well, but it seems to struggle with the interfaces of some regional bank websites. This isn’t a problem, though, as you can ask it to open a secure browser if it doesn’t automatically prompt you to do so.
Parental Controls
Trend Micro’s parental controls are fairly intuitive, but the features lack some of the functionality offered by the best parental control products.
You can use its web filter to block explicit and malicious websites, and you can block age-restricted content. Other features include activity logging and screen time restrictions, allowing you to limit the amount of time your child spends on the device or online.
Cleaner One Pro
This is a standalone product you can purchase for $19.99/yr. It allows you to manage and free up storage space on your Mac or Windows device with a single click. This helps your machine run more smoothly, and it can help optimize your system by better-managing registry entries.
That said, Trend Micro Internet Security also comes with functionality to fix and optimize systems.
Password Manager
Trend Micro also includes a password manager, which you can use to generate and store strong passwords behind robust 256-bit AES encryption. A browser extension enables one-click logins, and it comes with keystroke encryption and form-filling features.
The password manager uses a zero-knowledge protocol, meaning it’s reliant on a master password. Other password managers offer multiple recovery options in case you lose or forget your master password, but Trend Micro limits you to resetting the password – which will wipe the vault.
Ad Block One
This standalone feature is free to download from Trend Micro and works alongside its security packages. It’s compatible with Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, iOS, and Linux.
Ad Block One blocks ads, speeding up sites and reducing your bandwidth consumption. It’s easy to use, and you can make exceptions to allow ads from trusted websites.
VPN Proxy One Pro
Trend Micro offers a VPN with its Premium Security Suite, and it’s also available as a standalone purchase for $29.95/yr. This unlimited VPN comes with world-leading encryption and can make using public networks safe.
It allows you to choose between the WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols, and it’s fast and user-friendly. For peace of mind, you can also set it to launch automatically whenever it detects an unsecured WiFi network.
That said, Trend Micro doesn’t have a no-logs policy and does seem to collect some information on users. It also doesn’t have a kill switch, which is a standard feature for the best VPNs on the market.
Dark Web Monitoring
If your personal or financial details are exposed in a data breach, your information may appear on the dark web. Trend Micro will notify you if any of your details have been leaked so you can protect yourself.
ID Protection
Trend Micro offers a range of identity protection features with the Premium Security Suite, including $1m in identity fraud insurance. This covers any out-of-pocket expenses, professional service fees linked to identity restoration, and reimbursement for unauthorized electronic fund transfers made in your name.
Other services include access to a 24/7/365 identity theft resolution specialist, ID theft affidavit assistance, credit freeze assistance, and lost wallet assistance. They will also notify any creditors regarding cases of identity theft and will follow up on your behalf.
Trend Micro Performance
Trend Micro performed well during our testing. To supplement this, we looked at third-party assessments from AV-Test, an independent testing specialist. These tests evaluate the protection capabilities of a wide range of antivirus vendors, as well as their overall performance and usability.
In terms of protection, Trend Micro achieved an excellent 100% detection rate when scanning 210 zero-day malware samples and 11,859 samples of prevalent malware files.
The vendor also got full marks for performance, with a system impact that broadly matched or beat industry averages – indicating a negligible impact on device performance.
The only category where Trend Micro fell down was in usability, where it incorrectly blocked actions relating to the use or installation of legitimate software, with six false reports when testing 39 samples. This resulted in the product getting a 5.0/6.0 in this field.
Generally, the product has tested extremely well, getting perfect marks in four out of the last seven sets of tests.
Trend Micro Compatibility and Ease of Use
Trend Micro is easy to set up and use. Most of the installation process is automatic, and it can be completed in around five minutes, though it does use up around 1GB of disk space.
Trend Micro for Windows
When active, Trend Micro disables some Microsoft Defender Antivirus features to prevent conflicts, and the two work well together to add an extra layer of protection.
The user-friendly interface includes a PC health check-up, which is exclusive for Windows users and offers various optimizations.
Trend Micro for macOS
Trend Micro on Mac offers a user-friendly interface that’s similar to the Windows version and provides effective protection against malware. It’s easy to set up and includes a browser extension to protect against dangerous sites.
The main menu includes tabs for the different features and makes it clear what tools are active on your system as well as providing logs of previous scan results.
Trend Micro for Linux
Trend Micro’s ServerProtect for Linux defends against viruses and malicious software and offers real-time system protection. The web-based interface makes administration a breeze. Trend Micro on Linux is user-friendly but has limited control over scan types.
Trend Micro for Android
Trend Micro’s Android client combats malware and other threats and provides real-time protection.
The app is straightforward to set up and has user-friendly features, but continuous background processes can impact battery life, and some users have reported slow performance during scans and issues where settings need manual re-entry after updates.
Trend Micro for iOS
We found the performance of the iOS client to be particularly impressive. It’s also easy to install and has an intuitive user interface. A stand-out feature is its real-time protection, but, as with Android, you may find your battery drains faster than usual.
Trend Micro for Chromebooks
Trend Micro is one of the few antivirus products that directly supports the Chrome OS. You can download Trend Micro’s security products from the Chrome Web Store on devices with Chrome OS 79 or higher – and it has a similar interface to the Windows and Mac versions. See our full guide to the best antivirus for Chromebook for further details.
How Does Trend Micro Compare Against Other Antiviruses?
Trend Micro is a strong antivirus solution, but it’s not the only product out there. Here’s an overview of how it compares to the competition.
| Antivirus | Starting Price | Max Devices | Real-time Protection | Firewall | Scans |
| Trend Micro | $19.95/yr | 10 | ✅ | ❌ | Quick, Full, Custom Scan, Scheduled |
| McAfee | $29.99/yr | Unlimited | ✅ | ✅ | Scheduled, On-Demand, Real-Time, Individual Files |
| Bitdefender | $29.99/yr | 25 | ✅ | ✅ | Quick, Full, Custom, Vulnerability |
| Norton | $29.99/yr | Unlimited | ✅ | ✅ | Quick, Full, Smart, Custom |
Trend Micro vs McAfee
Trend Micro and McAfee are both first-class vendors that are able to provide protection against malware, ransomware, and phishing.
Trend Micro is praised for proactive threat intelligence, real-time protection, and minimal system impact, with clear, intuitive interfaces, while McAfee offers an enormous range of features. These include identity theft protection tools and encrypted storage.
Overall, McAfee scores a little higher in terms of malware detection, but Trend Micro is cheaper and slightly easier to get started with.
Bitdefender vs Trend Micro
Bitdefender leads the way with high detection rates and advanced threat protection. Both solutions are designed to have minimal impact on your system and to provide robust security without slowing down your device.
User-friendliness is emphasized by both as well, with Bitdefender offering clean designs and easy navigation, while Trend Micro offers a straightforward UI. Trend Micro lacks many of Bitdefender’s best features, though.
Overall, Bitdefender performs better, though Trend Micro is an excellent choice for beginners.
Trend Micro vs Norton
The two platforms are similar, but Norton is compatible with more operating systems. It also has higher detection rates and has a more extensive range of extra features. That said, Trend Micro is easier to use and is more affordable with basic plans.
How to Set Up Trend Micro Antivirus
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to install and activate Trend Micro on a Windows machine.
Go to the Home Page
Go to Trend Micro, and click on “Get Started.”
Create Account or Sign In
If you already have an account, sign in or register with your email and follow the prompts to create an account.
Type Your Activation Code
After purchasing a plan, you’ll receive a Trend Micro activation code. Enter it and click “Next.” If you can’t find the code, look for an order confirmation email.
Download Trend Micro Installer
You’ll then need to choose the relevant installer – click “Install” as appropriate.
Run Installer
Find the download file in your downloads folder and double-click on it to run the installer.
Complete the Setup and Run Your First Scan
Follow the remaining prompts and wait for the installation to complete. Next, open the application and click the “Scan Now” button to run your first scan.
Trend Micro Customer Support And User Reviews
If you need technical support, you can contact Trend Micro via live chat, email, or phone. You can also get in touch via social media with the firm’s Facebook Messenger account, but this is only available on weekdays.
Trend Micro has a “Poor” rating on Trustpilot, with 2.4 stars out of 5. Some 53% of reviews are one-star, while only 28% give the firm four or five stars.
Recent reviews have praised the platform for catching scams and fake websites and speak highly of its capabilities. However, many users complain that it’s hard to cancel your subscription, and others say it wrongly flags safe programs as being harmful.
Our Other Antivirus Guides
If you want more information on antivirus products, our team of experts has you covered. Below, you’ll see some of our other in-depth guides to the best antivirus products on the market.
- Best Android Antivirus Software
- Best Antivirus for Mac
- Best Business Antivirus Software
- Best Free Antivirus Software
- Best Windows Antivirus Software
- Best Antivirus with a VPN
