PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 is another alternative to popular suites like McAfee Internet Security Suite 2007 and ZoneAlarm. It works in a similar way to most, splitting tools into sections for each of the main elements of the package and prompting for program access as and when it's needed.

Upon installing PC-cillin for the first time you're asked whether you want to use Trend Micro's Software Rating Database Service, a regularly maintained list of applications that have been confirmed as 'safe'. Doing so makes for less work when you start using the package, since you won't have to confirm access levels for programs quite as frequently. In addition you can use the Web Site Filtering Service, which in a similar way updates your software with 'safe' sites for transferring information and content.

Once up and running you're prompted to do an initial scan of your hard drive. Scan results are conveniently split into viruses, spyware and - innovatively - a Microsoft System Vulnerabilities category. This latter informs you of any potentially dangerous security holes within Windows that you can download patches for; very useful if you're reluctant to continually update Windows with the seemingly unending stream of patches from Microsoft's Update service.

Of course antivirus updates can be regularly downloaded as and when they appear, you're informed if you haven't run a system scan for a while and you can schedule scans to run automatically at set intervals. You'll also find spyware protection here, and additional controls help protect you against phishing fraud and spam e-mails.

On the firewall side there's a wireless network monitor and tools to automatically protect and search for problems on other computers connected to your network. In terms of a personal firewall, Trend Micro has split settings into a range of profiles, making it easy to switch between various access preferences depending on the nature of the work you're doing.

Each of these profiles has its own general security level, adjusted by using a slider control to one of four levels. You can configure network settings and manage network control by monitoring active network protocols and disabling suspicious services that hackers or spyware might use. You can also configure individual program control for each application that's been set up with rules in a particular profile, changing access settings and designating specific ports or protocols.

For the average home user this might seem like a bit of a long-winded process, as you're unlikely to use more than one profile so you'll simply make all your configurations on the default. Anyone on a network, though, will benefit from being able to simply select a different profile rather than re-tuning, and this is a package that's more suited to network or small business users than home users.

PC-Cillin isn't the most straightforward software to use, nor is it particularly accessible, but it does have some nifty features for networked machines, and most users will find everything they need tucked away here somewhere.