These days there's a large range of anti-virus options to choose from, not just Norton and McAfee. The Trend Micro brand has been around for a while (previously it was also known as PC-Cillin) and is one of the better-known competitors to those two major players.

The 2007 version of this anti-virus suite is fully Vista compatible and comes bundled with dedicated anti-spyware software that's installed with the main program. Installation went smoothly, with the suite running a pre-setup virus check before ensconcing itself on the hard drive.

As is the trend (ahem - no pun intended) lately, the interface is as streamlined as possible. There's a taskbar icon that offers quick access to order a scan or update the virus definitions, and the main control panel that consists of an overview screen giving a summary of the current level of protection, along with several tabs worth of options.

There are some thoughtful design elements here, such as a one-click option on the taskbar menu that turns the virus protection off. Yes, that's a simple idea, but surprisingly uncommon with some anti-virus suites, which force you to wade through menus when installing other software that requires you to turn your scanner off. There are a few neat touches like this, such as the ability to set your computer to shut itself down after a scan has completed, so you can just leave it and tootle off to bed while it does its business.

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Trend Micro AntiVirus also offers what's called an outbreak warning - an alert sent out by their virus boffins that warns the user when a new virus is spreading quickly over the Net. This can (and should) be set to automatically download the latest updated definitions, to ensure you're covered against any attack by said virus.

All the other expected trappings are here: you can schedule a virus or spyware scan to automatically run on a weekly or daily basis, the program can check for and download definition updates itself, and full logs are kept of any malware detected.

In our practical tests of its capabilities, the program acquitted itself with a reasonable scan time, although not the fastest we've seen. The virus definitions are regularly updated and seem solid, although we found the anti-spyware a little weak, as it missed several suspect cookies that another anti-virus suite picked up.

As with most anti-virus programs these days, you're purchasing twelve months worth of updates with the boxed copy. Re-subscription is then necessary to keep your protection up to date.

Trend AntiVirus is a solid program with some neat touches and a thoughtfully designed interface, although we're not convinced the spyware definitions are quite on a par with some of the other major anti-virus players.