Simple Machine Protect is a portable antivirus product that can be loaded from any removable drive and thus scan a disk for viruses in just a few minutes.

Although the idea of having a portable antivirus solution indeed sounds great, Simple Machine Protect could make you change your mind and go for a locally installed app.

The application doesn't have the most attractive interface, but it still helps the program get the job done. With a classy and old-school look, Simple Machine Protect lets users pick the location to scan and, when the task finally comes to an end, it automatically generates a report, just like a traditional antivirus.

In addition, there a so-called “Control Administer” that enables you to select the file extensions to scan, configure the reporting service and enable or disable multiple scan options.

The “Process Explorer” screen provides an alternative to the classy Windows Task Manager, showing you details regarding every single process that's running at a given time.

Last but not least, Simple Machine Protect boasts a few other utilities, including a service manager and a system optimizer to make the operating system a bit faster and more stable.

Unfortunately, Simple Machine Protect eats most of the CPU and RAM when performing a scan and the computer is seriously stressed up especially when the task comes to end. There is no minimize button, so instead the developers have created a dedicated “Hide” tool to minimize the app to tray.

Overall, Simple Machine Protect is a great idea, but it still needs some improvements. And the fact that it doesn't have a virus definition update feature is simply unacceptable.