PC Matic Review 2024: Is It Better Than Other Antiviruses?

PC Matic Security Features

PC Matic’s malware scanner uses whitelisting to block malicious programs. This means that PC Matic has a database of known “good” or legitimate programs and blocks programs that aren’t on that database. If a program isn’t on PC Matic’s list, it’s automatically sent to the company’s testing team. If it proves to be safe, it ends up on the whitelist. According to PC Matic, this process takes about 24 hours, but you can manually whitelist a program if you don’t want to wait until PC Matic’s team tests it.

PC Matic says that blacklisting programs isn’t effective because hackers constantly come up with new threats. The logic is that it’s easier to keep track of legitimate programs than it is to keep up with new malware.

This sounds good, but there are two problems with this approach:

• 1. PC Matic regularly blocks valid programs. If a program isn’t on its whitelist, PC Matic will block it — regardless of whether it’s an actual threat or not. Sure, the PC Matic team looks into unknown programs and you can whitelist programs, but getting a lot of false positives can be annoying.
• 2. PC Matic likes to say that other antiviruses only use blacklists to prevent malware. It’s true that antivirus programs use blacklists, but they also use other advanced methods to detect malicious behavior. Premium antiviruses like Norton and Bitdefender use malware databases, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to identify and block emerging and advanced threats.

PC Matic also has a feature that detects malicious scripting activity — malware that, unlike an .exe file, doesn’t need to be downloaded. It provides some protection against brute force attacks, which is when a hacker tries to discover user logins and passwords by guessing them.

PC Matic’s approach to malware detection isn’t bad — but it’s not great either. I’d like to see PC Matic come up with a more effective way to separate safe, unknown programs from dangerous, unknown threats. However, I agree that it’s better for an antivirus program to show false positives than false negatives. And I can’t say that PC Matic’s approach doesn’t work — after all, it was excellent at blocking all types of malware during my tests.

Comprehensive System Scan

PC Matic scans devices for a wide range of problems. It looks for malware, junk files, driver updates, broken registry entries, broadband quality, and many other things that can harm or slow down your device.

I first ran a quick scan that took 15 minutes and identified various issues on my computer. I then tried running a full system scan, but annoyingly, it never finished (I stopped the scan manually after 24 hours). It did find every malware sample, though, so that’s a plus.

PC Matic has a simple-to-use scan scheduler, so you can set up scans for when you don’t need your computer. When the first system check is complete, you can schedule a scan for any device registered under your account. To schedule a scan for all my devices, I simply had to set a time and date and go through the default options to see if I wanted to make any changes. For example, I could schedule a full scan instead of a quick scan or disable automatic driver updates. I could also choose to receive my scan results by email — which is pretty useful as I like to run scans on my home PC while I’m out running errands.

In addition, PC Matic’s includes fileless malware protection. Fileless malware is a particularly nasty form of malware that dodges conventional security measures by embedding itself into your computer’s memory via system tools like Windows Powershell. PC Matic intercepts unauthorized calls to these scripting tools and stops malicious scripts from running by using proprietary heuristics. It’s honestly an excellent inclusion, as many lower-end antiviruses lack this sort of protection, but I don’t think it’s a replacement for some of PC Matic’s missing features.

Overall, PC Matic’s scan is decent, although I didn’t like how long it took on my PC, and I think different scan options could be made more accessible (there is only 1 scan button on the main screen that simply says “Start Scan”, and to change what exactly it does, you have to go to Options). And while its whitelisting strategy is okay and I appreciate the inclusion of fileless malware protection, I’d like to see PC Matic include more advanced malware-fighting technology, like Norton and McAfee do.

Report & Cleanup

After completing a scan, PC Matic delivers a detailed, color-coded report with explanations and recommendations. The report is packed with information that made me feel overwhelmed at first. But after thoroughly inspecting the dashboard instructions, I understood what every color represented, and honestly, it started to grow on me.

Once I inspected my report, I proceeded to fix the issues that PC Matic found. I could choose whether I wanted to fix all the problems or skip some of them. Annoyingly, SSD disk users aren’t warned that they should uncheck the disc defragmentation option before fixing their issues. This seemed wrong to me because it’d be easy to miss that box, and SSD disk users shouldn’t use defragmentation. It surprised me that PC Matic even offered me this option because it recognized that I had an SSD disk during the scan. Still, I like that I had the choice to disable this option.

PC Matic resolved all the issues in just a couple of minutes. It advised me to restart my computer and do another scan to make sure there were no more problems. I followed the instructions, and PC Matic didn’t find any new issues.

I like that PC Matic gives you a detailed report, and the cleanup process is quick and simple. It’s not quite as in-depth as TotalAV’s system cleanup process, but I like how you can select whether to fix all the problems or just some of them.

SuperShield

SuperShield is PC Matic’s real-time protection. It uses PC Matic’s “global whitelist”— all the things PC Matic thinks are legitimate — to recognize and stop malware from infecting devices.

SuperShield is easy to use and understand. I could access the SuperShield report from my dashboard, which showed all programs and apps that were running or trying to run on my device. A green circle next to an entry means it’s a good program. Yellow circles indicate unknown programs, and red circles indicate unknown or malicious programs that were blocked.

I wanted to see how SuperShield reacted to malware, so I tested it against some ransomware. As soon as I downloaded the ransomware simulator, SuperShield blocked the software. I then whitelisted the ransomware simulator and ran it on my device, but SuperShield was super persistent and wouldn’t let the individual ransomware files execute, which is great!

Overall, SuperShield does a pretty good job at stopping malware from entering your system. I tested this by putting other malware on my PC, including viruses and trojans, and SuperShield blocked them all. SuperShield also blocked legitimate programs during my tests. However, I could whitelist the programs that I knew were safe.

You should only manually whitelist programs that you are 100% certain are legitimate. Unknown programs are automatically sent to the PC Matic team for inspection. If you’re not absolutely sure that a blocked program is good, wait for the PC Matic team to inspect it and determine whether it’s safe or dangerous.

In general, SuperShield was simple to use and consistently prevented malware from executing on my device. However, it also prevented safe and unknown programs from running, which is a bit annoying. But the PC Matic team is quick to analyze unknown programs, and you can manually whitelist programs you know are safe.

Overall, PC Matic’s SuperShield is a decent real-time malware protection tool — that said, it’s definitely not my favorite (Norton’s is way better).

Whitelisting

PC Matic blocks all unknown programs regardless of whether they’re malicious or not — but you can whitelist unknown programs you know are safe. If PC Matic blocks a program during a system scan, you can easily whitelist it after the scan. PC Matic shows a list of blocked programs, and all you have to do is check the whitelist box next to the program you want to unblock.

You can use the Quarantine tool to restore files that PC Matic flags as unsafe, in the event that you still need to use them. All you have to do is open the Options tab on the dashboard, select Quarantine, choose the item you want to restore, and click Restore.

However, when I wanted to whitelist a program that SuperShield blocked, things got a bit complicated. I had to:

• Click on the SuperShield icon in the system tray.
• Hover over Protection Level > Block Notification Method.
• Select Prompt for Override (advanced).
• Open the program I wanted to whitelist.
• A window appeared and I selected Always Allow.

After I whitelisted a program, I had to return SuperShield’s settings to normal (the default option is Display Only — Recommended) to prevent it from whitelisting ALL blocked programs in the future — including dangerous ones like malware.

Whitelisting programs that are blocked during a system scan is simple, but I’d like to see an easier solution for whitelisting programs from within SuperShield. With Bitdefender, you can add exceptions for blocked programs with just a few clicks. I think it’s great that users don’t have to wait for PC Matic to whitelist programs that are legitimate — just don’t forget to return SuperShield’s setting to default when you’re done manually whitelisting programs!

Identity Theft Protection

PC Matic works with IdentityForce to offer identity theft protection (up to $1M in coverage) and dark web monitoring. From your PC Matic account page, you can click Register Dark Web Monitoring. This will activate a membership with IdentityForce, which grants you access to its services.

Once you’re registered, you can add various details to your account, such as your email, Social Security number, credit card number, bank account details, and driver’s licence. PC Matic ran a scan on my details as soon as I registered and immediately alerted me to a breach involving my email address. It gave me clear and simple advice on what to do to rectify the situation (changing the password on my account and any other places where I’ve used the same password).

PC Matic Plans & Pricing

PC Matic’s home security plans are some of the most affordable on the market. While they’re pretty basic when compared to top brands like Norton or TotalAV, they’re a decent option if you don’t need a lot of extra internet security features. PC Matic offers 3 plans, each with a 1-year, 2-year, or 3-year subscription.

Here’s an overview of PC Matic’s plans:

PC Matic Essential Security — Basic Plan

PC Matic’s Essential Security plan includes all of the above and:

• Coverage for up to 5 devices (Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS).
• PC optimization and maintenance.

Other than that, there isn’t much to this plan, although you can get several paid add-ons. There’s PC Magnum, a program that permanently deletes sensitive information from Windows devices and browsers. There’s also a Family Identity Theft Protection add-on, which protects 2 adults and unlimited kids from having their identities stolen online and includes identity theft insurance and stolen funds reimbursement of $1 million. There’s also the Support Unlimited add-on, which offers unlimited technical support for all of your devices (but it’s pretty expensive).

Priced at $50.00 / year, PC Matic is cheaper than many other antivirus programs, but it doesn’t include many of the features premium competitors offer. For example, Norton 360 comes with a VPN, a password manager, cloud storage, and more — this is a much better value.

PC Matic Personal — Best Value Plan

In addition to the features you get with PC Matic Essential Security, PC Matic Personal also comes with:

• VPN (5 active connections).
• Coverage for all personal devices.
• $1 million in identity theft insurance.
• Phone support.

This PC Matic plan costs $100.00 and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

PC Matic Family — Most Comprehensive Plan

PC Matic’s Family subscription is a great value — it only costs $199.00 / year and provides unlimited access to all PC Matic’s features listed above, plus 24/7 phone support and coverage for all devices within one household.

However, before committing, you need to be sure that PC Matic is the right antivirus for you. If you’re interested, you can try PC Matic risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

PC Matic Ease of Use & Setup

PC Matic is super easy to use — but the ease mostly comes from the fact that it’s not very feature-rich.

What I liked the most was that PC Matic does all the work for you. You don’t have to deal with complicated settings to be protected against malware. Because of this, PC Matic is a particularly good choice for beginners and non-tech-savvy users looking for a minimalistic, install-and-forget antivirus.

Installing and setting up PC Matic is simple. After I purchased PC Matic, I was redirected to the Getting Started page on the official website. There, I could go through tutorials, how-to-videos, and FAQs before installing the software.

Once I clicked on the Install PC Matic button, I was asked to choose my operating system. Even though “PC” is in the name, PC Matic works on Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.

After choosing Windows, all I had to do was click on the Download button, confirm I had removed all other antivirus software from my system, and follow the installation instructions. And that was it — installation complete!

All I had to do next was run a scan — which also didn’t take long and was just as easy.

Using most of PC Matic’s features was very easy for me. I had no trouble running antivirus scans, scheduling scans, or adding safe programs to the whitelist. However, I did find some of SuperShield’s features a bit tricky.

When I wanted to whitelist a program from within SuperShield, I had to find a tutorial. Thankfully, PC Matic’s website has a decent selection of FAQs and guides that clearly showed me how to whitelist programs that I use regularly.

Overall, PC Matic is easy to set up and use — I just had to make a purchase, download the program from the official site, and install it on my computer. I like that there are clear step-by-step guides and videos on the site with detailed instructions on installing the program and dealing with any issues.

PC Matic Mobile App

PC Matic has 2 mobile security apps: one for Android and one for iOS. There is also a PC Matic VPN mobile app.

Installing the mobile security apps was simple — all I had to do was download them (from the Google Play Store for my Android device and Apple App Store for my iPhone) and log into my PC Matic account.

The apps are pretty basic — with the Android app you get just two options:

1. Scan all of my applications.
2. Scan all of my files.

I tested both options, and both scans were finished in less than 10 seconds. The report only showed how many applications and files were scanned and how many infections were detected.

I then accessed the app’s menu, located in the upper right-hand corner. From the menu, I could access the app’s settings, scan history, web portal, and files that couldn’t be removed.

In the app’s settings, I could choose to view my whitelisted apps and schedule a scan. I could also choose to update the software only when I’m connected to a Wi-Fi network.

While the app doesn’t have many options, it works great. It’s not my favorite antivirus app for Android — I think there are many better options, including Norton. That said, I found it really easy to access and understand all of PC Matic’s mobile features, and performing and scheduling scans was very simple.

The iPhone app bills itself as a content blocker (iOS apps don’t scan for malware because of Apple’s restrictions). It’s very easy to install, with the app itself telling you exactly what you need to do to get it set up.

Once installed, you can use the app to filter certain kinds of content while you browse on Safari. There are 4 options for blocking content: an ad filter, a social media blocker, a privacy filter to block trackers and analytics, and a security filter to protect you from malicious sites. These were all pretty effective in my tests.

The iPhone app also offers the option to monitor all devices you’ve covered with PC Matic. You can check notifications and protection status for each of your devices — this is a handy extra that the Android app doesn’t have.

Overall, PC Matic’s mobile apps are decent, but they’re nothing special. Competitors like Norton and Bitdefender have far more feature-rich and customizable mobile offerings.

PC Matic Customer Support

PC Matic only offers phone and live chat support to Personal and Family plan subscribers, but it does have email support and a knowledge base with a wide range of user tutorials that all of its customers can use.

The knowledge base is only useful for basic questions about PC Matic, like how to add it to a new device or renew your license.

For complex questions, you need to send an email to PC Matic’s technical support team. I submitted a question using the email request form on the official website and received an automated email assuring they’d respond as soon as possible. I received a response in 11 hours, which is relatively fast for email support.

I also contacted PC Matic’s customer support team to request a refund. I sent them an email with my order number, and after declining 2 identical offers to grant PC Matic “an opportunity to get PC Matic running to my satisfaction,” I got a confirmation email that my refund was on its way. I was pleasantly surprised to see the money back on my account in just 2 working days.

PC Matic also has useful resources on its site, including:

• User guides that explain how PC Matic works.
• How-to videos.
• FAQs about all PC Matic products.
• Instructions on how to recognize and prevent tech support scams.

The user manuals and instructional videos are fantastic — they’re incredibly helpful if you require assistance with installing the software and are particularly valuable for those who are new to PC Matic.

Overall, PC Matic’s customer support is good. The email support is quick to respond and provides detailed answers. However, I’d like to see 24/7 phone and live chat support extended to all paid customers, not just those with one of the two more expensive plans.

Is PC Matic Any Good?

PC Matic is a decent antivirus program. Its whitelist-based malware scanner performed well in my tests, and its real-time scanner blocked all of the malware I tried to execute.

During my tests, PC Matic blocked a lot of legitimate programs simply because they weren’t in the PC Matic whitelist — but that’s OK. I think it’s better to get a couple of false positives than even one false negative. But I can’t say I’m too happy with the way PC Matic deals with unknown programs.

PC Matic also scanned my computer for performance issues and quickly resolved all detected problems. I like that it provides system optimization, but I wish the system scan reports were easier to initially understand.

I found PC Matic’s mobile apps basic but pretty user-friendly — they’re good for people who don’t want to bother with advanced options.

There are plenty of excellent resources on the official PC Matic website, and the customer support team is quick to answer questions. I received a reply to my email in less than half an hour, and the answer was really detailed. However, phone and live chat support is reserved for Personal and Family plans subscribers, which is a shame: antiviruses such as Norton or TotalAV offer all of their customer support channels to all customers.

Overall, PC Matic isn’t the best antivirus program available. While its malware detection rate is really good, it doesn’t use advanced malware detection technology, like AI or machine learning. It also lacks many of the features included in the best antiviruses with internet security. But it’s still a decent option for users who want an antivirus and system optimization scanner that’s easy to install and use, and it includes all the essential features you need to stay protected against most malware.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use PC Matic on mobile?

PC Matic works on both Android and iOS phones. The Android app is somewhat basic, but it works well. It provides malware protection, but it doesn’t have the useful device optimization tools that are included in the desktop version. Nevertheless, it’s still a good choice for users who are looking for a simple, install-and-forget antivirus for mobile.

The iPhone version is also basic but decent, with some good content blocking options and the ability to monitor your other devices that are protected with PC Matic. That said, there are better options out there — like Norton or TotalAV, to name a few.

Is PC Matic free?

There is a free version of PC Matic, but in all honesty, it’s not very good. It basically just has an anti-malware engine, and even that didn’t work properly when I tested it. If your mind is set on PC Matic, testing the premium version of PC Matic risk-free with its 30-day money-back guarantee is a much better option than the free version.

Is PC Matic secure?

Yes — PC Matic is a very secure antivirus program that uses whitelisting to detect malware. It performed really well in my malware tests, even though it doesn’t use the same technology as some of the top antiviruses on the market.

Instead of the traditional blacklisting used by most antiviruses, PC Matic has a list of “good” programs and blocks the execution of files that aren’t on this whitelist, including various kinds of malware. While this unique approach does work, PC Matic frequently blocks legitimate programs, too.

I think regularly getting false positives is pretty frustrating. Also, I don’t like that PC Matic doesn’t have many of the online security protections included in the best internet security suites like Norton 360.

What is PC Matic Magnum?

PC Matic Magnum is a program that removes sensitive information from your browser and Windows device. It permanently deletes your browsing history, download history, cache, image cache, and cookies — and can also remove MS Office and PDF files.

PC Matic Magnum can be purchased separately or as an add-on to the PC Matic package. It covers up to 5 devices, and it’s a good program, but a lot of the top-tier internet security companies, such as Norton, offer data removal tools as part of their antivirus plans.

Where is PC Matic based?

PC Matic is based in the USA. The company takes pride in its American roots, and the product was created entirely within the USA. Its research, development, and technical support are all fully US-based.