Product Reviews

PrevX Pro 2005 sounds as if it's the holy grail of Windows security products. Its maker claims that its "behaviour-based intrusion prevention technology" lets you use the internet with immunity from spyware, viruses, Trojans and other types of malicious software. The company's website makes some pretty powerful claims and gives the impression that this package is all you need to protect your PC. In reality, it's not as simple as that.

PrevX offers to stop hostile files from writing to important system areas, including the Windows directory and the Registry. When you run a virus-infected file or accidentally

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download some spyware, PrevX kicks into action and pops up a warning window. The program doesn't use updates and can't be sure if a program is a good or a bad one. You may find yourself in doubt about whether to allow a program or not.

Because it's not a conventional anti-virus program, PrevX doesn't prevent you downloading and running infected files. It tries to limit any damage that such a file might cause, but if you don't run a good anti-virus program in tandem you can end up with a number of email worms and Trojans running in memory. At best, this will slow down your PC. If you make the correct decisions when PrevX warns you, though, these viruses won't be able to write to your hard disk and should disappear from memory when you reboot. If, however, you make an incorrect decision, your PC will become infected.

To its credit, PrevX does not claim to replace anti-virus and firewall programs, aiming instead to provide additional security for when those other measures fail. Its low price makes it worth experimenting with if you enjoy playing with technical software, but most people will be better off investing the extra cash in upgrading their current anti-virus and firewall software.