PC Tools Internet Security (US$60 for up to three computers for one year as of 5/21/09) offers a decidedly mixed bag of protections. Symantec acquired the security vendor in 2008 to increase its worldwide market share with consumers in new and emerging regional markets. Since the acquisition, PC Tools maintains a separate development operation from Symantec’s consumer business unit (responsible for the Norton Internet Security Suite), and its entry in the Internet security suite market comes with strong heuristic malware detection, but it’s weaker in other areas such as traditional malware detection.

