IObit Advanced SystemCare adds antivirus protection

PC maintenance specialist IObit has released the first public beta of Advanced SystemCare with Antivirus 2012. Which, as you’ll guess from the name, not only now caters to all your PC maintenance needs, but also includes a full antivirus package as well.

The beta takes a dual-engine approach to protecting your PC, using both IObit and BitDefender technology to detect and block threats. And essentially it provides all the features you’d expect from a basic antivirus package. So you can run quick, full or custom scans; a simple scheduler allows you to configure scans to run automatically; and conveniences like a Silent Mode reduce unnecessary alerts when you’re playing games or other full-screen applications.

The inclusion of a full antivirus module in Advanced SystemCare seems like a natural progression for the package, but it does also introduce some potential problems, in particular the possibility of conflicts with other security tools that you might have running. These are generally detected during installation, when you’re given the possibility to run the program in “Compatibility Mode”, which essentially turns off real-time protection to reduce the chance of issues. But, of course, if you’re not going to use the program’s new real-time antivirus protection then there’s probably not much point installing it in the first place.

Still, Advanced SystemCare does have plenty of other features on offer. As with previous releases, the program can automatically clean the Registry, delete your Windows and application tracks, clean junk files and more; and there are stacks of tools to clean away unnecessary junk, optimize your system performance, repair problems, detect and fix security issues and more. Despite the “beta” tag everything seems very stable, so if you’re interested in the package then download your copy of Advanced SystemCare with Antivirus 2012 beta now.