What's your favorite virus/spyware scanner?

Hi Greg,

I use both as on demand scanners only. I think SAS is better at catching malware and better at cleaning them. But I like SSD, 1st as a cross-checking tool, and for the built in tools. If I had to pick one or the other as a resident app, I'd pick SAS.

I used to use ZA Pro v6.5.737 - still installed but stopped using it.

SSM Pro is ZA Pro on steriods as far as HIPs/behavior blocking goes with far less overhead, and since they added an outbound firewall, I just don't want to carry ZA's resource usage anymore; besides, I've come to dislike the company, which seems to make bad decisions.They still do not have a working firewall for Vista, as one example.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar - definitely agree with you on za and vista. gave them hell for not being ready with a vista version. they must have had their heads up their you know what. they have to be loosing a bundle by not having a vista version ready. have already stopped recommending them even tho i use the suite they ****** me off with no vista. going to install the sas on a new xp pro laptop and see how the client likes it and if they like it will incorporate in other systems i sell.

donniebnyc - going to try this firewall on the same machine mentioned above and see how it feels.

now if i can get a good and free spam program i'm all set for my clients. going to try the spamfighter and see how it feels.

thanks all greg

 

Hi donniebnyc,

Yes, its a great firewall, the resource usage though is, if anything, equal to greater than ZA and as I've posted above, IMO I've found a better combo with far less overhead.

I've been using SSM from its inception about 2 years ago, so I'm very comfortable with it and the learning curve has been stretched out. SSM takes about 10 MB's - 16MB's at peak usage of memory.

I run it on all my installations whether I run a 3rd party firewall or not.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar - so what really is ssm ??? from what i can tell its a spyware malware protection - true not true. or is it a firewall ??? am i reading you right in that you run more than one firewall on your installs ???

 

Its none fo those things and all of those things

It watches the registry.

It asks for permission/deny any execution on the system, so for example, if a newly installed app wants to autorun, it'll ask me to permit/deny. If an app wants to piggy back on a system process or any other process, I get asked. It also will intervene for System processes. A lot more - .dll files loading for instance.

SSM - the pro version, added an optional outbound firewall. So on one of my XP installations where I had ZA pro running, SSM's outbound firewall + XP's inbound. On the other XP installation, its Kerio + SSM w/o the outbound firewall turned on. The pro version is not for newbie's - steep learning curve.

To clear up my running multiple firewalls - I'm running four windows installations on a Desktop (dual boot XP's) and a Laptop (dual boot MCE/Vista).

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar

so a much more intense program like spybot. do you run spybot as well as ssm ??? with teatimer running does it not get a little redundant answering the prompts when things are installed or changed ???

another question - have you seen with your client base that if you put to much protection on their machines they tend to not do any of them ??? i always put spybot, ad-aware, ccleaner and spywareblaster on every machine. i also spend time with the client to show how to update it and run it but every few months i get calls and then i find that not only have they not updated the programs but usually they are deleted from their desktop. guess i cant complain to much it is repeat business.

 

I don't run SSD resident - no teatimer or Imunization.

What I have running resident per installation are: AV, Firewall, and SSM - nothing else and a locked down IE6/7.

I'm flattered by your assumption that I'm a pro

When I work on other's system I get gratitude - good eats - and good drink

But yes, you describe a widspread problem.

That's what's wrong with Vista's implementation of UAC - it doesn't learn, so the same software executions ask for elevated privilages and people get fed up with it and disable it. I hope UAC for one thing, will get revisted by MS in the forthcomimg SP.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar

just going over the ssm program and not sure if my clients would know what to do with this program. they have problems with the ones i put on their system as it is and this one looks a little over powering for the client base i work with. going to stop my teatimer and use this to see what it can do for me though.

 

Hi Greg,

The free version of SSM is not as complicated and runs on 9X OS's.


WinPatrol is also this type of program and recommended by Tmerc:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=62194

If I were in your position, I would seriously look at KIS - KAV's suite has something called PDM which also is a behaviour tool. The trend by the majors these days is toward an all encompasing anti malware tool where the distinctions between AV - AS - firewall are blurred. Lot of good tools out there, and hard to make decisions and put together a combination that is effective and that the customer would run and update and not do an end run around.

Regards - Charles

 

charlesvar

one last question for you. do you like the sas better than spybot ??? i see sas says its database is around 100,000 where spybot is only up to i think its 60,000. have always used spybot and have had good luck with it but if sas is better than i will switch myself and my clients to it.

 

Hi Greg,

My experiences with SSD and SAS are as on demand scanners only. I think SAS is better at catching malware and better at cleaning them. But I like SSD, 1st as a cross-checking tool, and for the built in tools. If I had to pick one or the other as a resident app, I'd pick SAS.

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#trustworthy At this site, scroll down a bit, you'll see links to feature comparisons and performance test on various AS apps.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Pete,

I don't know if you're aware or not, Eric L. Howe works for Sunbelt now and is the author of the AS tests linked to on Spyware Warrior.

He, along with Ben Edelman, are probably the premier AS experts that everyone else at some point cite as the authorities on this subject.

Regards - Charles

 

i am impressed that counterspy has that many definitions and the others like spyware doctor, spysweeper, spybot and even sas are not even close. i ran counterspy on my system and it found 2 high risk items one being a trojan and the other being some adult browser add-on which im not sure where that came from but non of the others found them. think i might leave counterspy and spyware doctor active to see what one finds vs the other.

 

Spamfighter

I used spamfighter for more than 6 months. In the beginning it would filter out more than 50% of the spam and 20% of the real emails.
However in the end the antispam of mt provider [tiscali] was filtering 80% of the spam and 0% the real emails.
Of the 20% that got through Spamfighter got nothing but still filtered the 20% of real emails.
What was worse is that when it switched over from the trial period I could not unblock the good emails and I was not prepared to pay with no good results. So I can't really recommend it. Go for a provider who takes care of it for you.

 

Favourites

Spyware - 1st defence Ad-aware [>weekly] - 2nd SAS very slow [<monthly]

Anti virus - 1st AVG free - 2nd MS live One Care [running for 2 months on trial]

Firewall - XP incoming - MS live One Care outgoing

General care/registry - 1st Norton Utilities - 2nd Registry Optimser

For clients I install free software Ad-aware, SAS, AVG, norton utilities.
~ 50% use adaware,
< 20% use AVG
< 10% use SAS
< 10% use Norton Utilities

 

MS Live One Care

I am also a member of PCMAG. Notice they did not feature AVG in there tests.
I am not using One Care as my main defence. I want to see if it improves with time and how much resource it takes.
I do find that it does the firewall function well. I have had problems with ZA and found there support service less than adequate and often unsupportive.
Later on I may try comodo for a firewall which has a consensus in this forum.

 

Really, what does it matter? One says Kaspersky, another NOD32, another Norton, another AVG, another ....

One says Zone Alarm, another Kerio, another Comodo, another Outpost, another...

If you have not experienced virii and a high incidence of spyware, then it would seem reasonable to simply remain with your current protection. This business of constantly searching for the silver bullet... the perfect combination is silly and a bit tiresome. In fact, it's almost a little paranoid. I've been online now for a little over ten years and in all that time I've been infected ONCE and that was only because of a momentary lapse in my better judgment some years ago. I received what I deserved through my own stupidity. Using your common sense and reasonable programs (most of which have been mentioned in this discussion) and employing safe online habits is all that is required to be "reasonably" safe, short of pulling the plug on your computer (and for some of the more paranoid types, that might be the best solution).