PC Matic Review 2024: Will It Keep Your Device Protected?

PC Matic is an okay antivirus with long scan times and few additional features. While you will receive protection with this software, we would recommend checking out the best antivirus list for better options.

The interesting part of PC Matic is that it works differently than some antivirus products you’ve used before. Many antivirus programs use traditional blacklisting to prevent computer viruses by comparing programs and files to a list of known malware. But PC Matic’s scanner uses whitelisting technology to identify legitimate programs.

On top of that, the software has an ad blocker, patch management and driver updates, and dark web monitoring. It also removes junk files to clean up your system, and you get protection for five devices at $100.00/yr.

If you want extra features, like access to 24/7 customer service and a VPN, you'll have to upgrade to more premium plans. We also saw disappointing test results.

We’ll cover the results of our full in-depth review in this article to give you a better idea of whether this is the antivirus software for you.

PC Matic antivirus overview

Price	$60.00-$199.00/yr
Free plan	Yes, Windows only
# of devices protected	Free: 3 Personal: 5 Family: 15
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	0/3
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	No
Compatibility	Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Chromebook
Extras	Dark web monitoring, junk cleanup, system updates
24/ customer support	With family plan or Support Unlimited add-on
Details	Get PC Matic

Our experience

Our experience testing PC Matic left a lot to be desired. The scan times were long with multiple hiccups, and our in-house testing received extremely poor results.

When we first installed PC Matic, everything seemed okay. The installation process was very generic with little flare to get you excited about the project. The home page of the app was a bit messy as well, so finding the "Scan now" button took a few seconds longer than it should have.

The "current performance" section was unique, but it's not anything we couldn't find by just opening up the Task Manager, so nothing groundbreaking. The tabs on the left-hand menu were also all just links for us to buy additional features, which we didn't appreciate.

When it came to scanning, we were happy with the well laid out options allowing us to customize the scans a bit:

We started the quick scan first and were excited to see the results. While it ran, we checked out the rest of the tabs in the app, only to come back to the app showing "Scan now" again and no progress bar. Confused, we ran the scan again, and it let us know the scan had failed.

We closed the program, reopened it, and ran the scan again. This time the quick scan was able to complete in a little over eight minutes, during which time we made sure not to touch the app at all for fear of it messing up again.

Once the scan was complete, we were happy with the level of detail in the summary, including the automatic updates and junk cleanup it did:

With the quick scan out of the way, we tried out the full scan. We were not put at ease when the scan warned us that it could take up to 24 hours to complete:

Still, we were hopeful as the scan moved through files quickly and reached "Part six" in under 20 minutes. Unfortunately, that's where we remained, stuck for hours.

Overall, we'd like to see huge improvements when it comes to PC Matic scans. We don't mind longer scan times as long as the results remain thorough. But buggy scans that mess up when you use other functionality is unacceptable.

PC Matic could benefit from an improved scan interface that shows what each "Part" means, an estimated time remaining, and pause functionality. Overall, we wouldn't recommend this antivirus based on the frustration we felt during testing.

Who is PC Matic best for?

• Recommended for PC Matic is recommended for anyone who wants an antivirus with device optimization options and identity protection.

If you don’t need a firewall, password manager, or VPN, PC Matic has some other options you may like, such as scan reports. It also includes dark web monitoring through IdentityForce, which is something other antivirus products may not offer. With dark web monitoring, PC Matic scans the web for your details and alerts you if there’s been a breach that includes your email address or other personal information.

PC Matic antivirus cost

PC Matic's plans range from $60.00-$199.00/yr. You can also opt for a free plan if you're a Windows user, which gives you access to the malware scan for up to three devices.

Considering you get 5 devices covered with the lowest plan, PC Matic is very comparable to other antivirus software on the market. You can get other antivirus products for cheaper, but they may not cover as many devices. For example, Norton 360 only covers five devices with the Deluxe plan. McAfee and Bitdefender Total Security also offer coverage for only five devices.

PC Matic Home Security plans and prices

	Free	Basic	Personal	Family
Price	Free	$60.00/yr	$100.00/yr	$199.00/yr
# devices supported	3	5	5	15
Manual and auto scan
Real-time protection
Dark web monitoring
VPN
Identity theft protection
24/7 customer support

PC Matic features

Some features we think hit the mark with PC Matic include the system tune-up tools, dark web monitoring, and ad blocker. We’d love for PC Matic to come with a password manager, but so far, the product doesn’t offer that.

Here’s a closer look at some of PC Matic’s security features.

Malware detection and scan

PC Matic offers manual and automatic scans. You can schedule scans on a daily, weekly, or monthly cadence to suit your needs. You can also click the "Scan now" button to start a manual scan.

We do think the fileless malware prevention feature is good to have. Because fileless malware gets into your device through tools built into your operating system, it’s good to have an antivirus that uses script blocking to identify it.

Another feature PC Matic uses is whitelisting to detect malware. Most antivirus products create blacklists of known malware. PC Matic takes the opposite approach and creates a whitelist of known safe files. Whenever the software notices files from this list, it ignores them and leaves them alone.

This is a more cautious way to do antivirus protection. Instead of relying on a list of known malware, which can go out-of-date any second, PC Matic only trusts known applications. You may get a lot more false positives this way, but it is safer in theory.

Phishing protection

While it doesn't offer email phishing protection, PC Matic mentions that the antivirus helps protect against phishing with its default-deny feature, which is part of the application whitelisting process. The default-deny process keeps malicious processes from controlling your device but doesn’t necessarily flag potential phishing scams. So it’s still up to you to avoid clicking on suspicious files and links.

PC Matic works with a preventative approach rather than traditional blacklisting methods, and whitelisting is intended to stop intrusions before they become a problem. This is a more granular approach because it monitors your operating system in real time and screens each file no matter what publisher or software it belongs to.

Although that may sound complicated, there’s nothing for you to set up. PC Matic has a global whitelist of 12 million trusted applications and scripts that allow it to block ransomware, Trojans, and computer viruses — and it also uses its whitelisting feature to block ads. It’s a new take on how antivirus software prevents viruses.

Firewall

PC Matic doesn’t come with a firewall, but it does have SuperShield protection that can work in combination with your computer's built-in firewall.

SuperShield works with the whitelisting feature you get with PC Matic, and you can locally whitelist an application on your device in the SuperShield Allow section. You can also manually block applications.

The SuperShield Report shows you any apps that PC Matic is monitoring on your device. If any apps are blocked, they’ll also appear in the report.

Real-time protection

The SuperShield whitelist feature verifies apps in real time with a list of trusted, known programs and allows those programs to run. Anything that’s not on the whitelist gets sent to the PC Matic malware research team. The team then tests it to see if it is indeed malware.

We ran several scans with multiple browser windows open and had no issues with lag or system slowdowns. Our MacBook didn’t have any problems handling all the processes running at the same time. We also sent several emails and received emails during the scan, and nothing was blocked or added to the blocked items list under SuperShield Block.

Ransomware protection

PC Matic’s application whitelisting also includes ransomware protection. According to the antivirus, the best protection uses this process because it completely blocks malware infections on your device by allowing only trusted applications to run.

Using the blacklisting process, malicious applications may be able to run if they’re not found in the known malware database. That could mean you stand the chance of installing new ransomware that hasn’t been discovered yet. At that point, it may be too late to stop the damage.

The whitelist ransomware approach is proactive rather than reactive because it automatically blocks any unverified apps or scripts. Unknown bad files get categorized within 24 hours and removed from your device, and any future attempts to run the files are blocked.

Bonus features

Some standout bonus features included with PC Matic are dark web monitoring and identity protection through a partnership with IdentityForce. The company monitors and notifies you if your personal information, such as your Social Security number or banking data, is on the dark web.

PC Matic also includes optimization tools that free up space on your device by removing junk files and unneeded applications. You get improved speed when the tools remove startup apps you don’t need, and it disables non-critical services.

Along with those features, PC Matic can automatically update your drivers and software. That can help fix any security vulnerabilities. Another feature we don’t see often offered by antivirus is optimized broadband connections. PC Matic helps you speed up your internet connection by adjusting internet settings for better performance.

You can even check your device status to see memory (RAM) and processor (CPU) usage, along with how much disk space is available on your device. That can be helpful to know if you need to free up some space for better performance.

PC Matic antivirus test results

In order to make sure PC Matic actually protects you, we put it through a series of tests and checked out trusted third-party testers. Together, the information gathered here should be able to give you a sense of confidence in the antivirus — if it performs well.

Unfortunately, PC Matic's performance was mediocre at best. The software has also not been tested by AV-Comparatives or SE-Labs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but does show that PC Matic doesn't prioritize third-party testing.

Scan speed

• Result: Slow and buggy

While fast scan times aren't as important as being thorough, it's still important to be able to scan your device efficiently and with little hiccups.

While PC Matic's quick scan was okay, the full scan kept getting stuck in the same place for us, despite multiple restarts and reinstallations. This is not the kind of performance we can recommend.

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	8 minutes
Full scan	Infinite

EICAR test results

• Result: 0/3

The European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research (EICAR) developed a series of tests anyone can use to make sure their antivirus is working properly.

These tests consist of downloading files or visiting pages that are made to act like malware or other bad actors, while not actually subjecting your device to anything malicious.

Test	PC Matic score
Malware detection	Fail
Drive-by malware downloads	Fail
Phishing pages detection	Fail

Test results as of 08/26/2024.

Unfortunately, PC Matic did not stop the download of either "malware" file. Both were able to download to our computer without any interference. 

The phishing page we tested also was able to display without any protection from PC Matic, which happily worked away at being stuck on our full scan.

AV-TEST results

• Result: 16/18

AV-TEST evaluates security products using their default settings to see how they compare with other products. The tests focus on realistic scenarios to see how antivirus programs hold up against everyday security challenges and threats. The programs must demonstrate their abilities and they’re then given scores from 0 to 6. 

Test type	Windows 11 score	macOS Monterey score	Android 11 score
Protection	6/6	N/A	N/A
Performance	6/6	N/A	N/A
Usability	5/6	N/A	N/A
Date	Mar-April 2024	N/A	N/A
Link to test	Link	N/A	N/A

In the latest tests, PC Matic scored perfectly in all but the usability tests for Windows, where it fell short due to flagging a total of 20 false positives. The industry average across all categories is only 3, so you can see why it lost some points.

False positives happen when antivirus blocks legitimate programs by mistake. It makes sense that PC Matic doesn't do well in this category, since it's use of whitelisting rather than blacklisting means it blocks unknown applications by default to be safe.

PC Matic was only tested on the Windows 11 platform, with no tests done on the macOS or Android equivalents.

PC Matic compatibility

If you’re checking out PC Matic’s compatibility, you’re covered with these devices and platforms:

• macOS
• Windows
• iOS (iPhone and iPad)
• Android smartphones and tablets
• Chromebook

The PC Matic included ad blocker works with all major web browsers including:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge

PC Matic customer support

We were more than pleased with the response from PC Matic’s customer support. In our testing, we had questions regarding the user interface on a Mac versus Windows PC, so we emailed.

We immediately got an automated reply, which is standard for most antivirus emails. Then, in less than a few hours, we got an actual response with the information we needed. The rep was clear in their communication and let us know that the interface is different between the two systems.

There isn’t a phone number you can call for tech support unless you pay the annual $100 fee. If you fork over the cash, you get unlimited calls with a technology expert. You also have access to tech coaching by phone, chat, email, and remote assistance.

Otherwise, you can send an email or use the guides with information on using PC Matic and how to run it on your device. We would’ve liked to have a phone number to call for faster support service without having to pay an additional fee.

Top alternatives

If PC Matic isn't hitting all the right spots for you, check out these top-rated antivirus options on the market right now:

PC Matic antivirus FAQs

Bottom line: Is PC Matic any good?

In it's current state, we wouldn't recommend PC Matic over other alternatives. Its scans were buggy, most extra features are behind paywalls, and it failed our in-house tests.

While its whitelisting methodology seems to be a more robust way of stopping malware than blacklisting, it does create a ton of false positives. This could be a good thing if you'd rather be safe than sorry, but a bad thing if you only care to know what matters.

If you're looking for other antivirus that performs well on both our in-house tests as well as trusted third-party testers, check out our full list of the best antivirus software.

If you want an in-depth comparison to one of the best antivirus software around, check out Norton vs. PC Matic.