AVG Anti-Virus 8.5.386 Build 1586

AVG Anti-Virus 8.5.386 Build 1586.

AVG Anti-Virus 8.5.386 Build 1586
AVG Anti-Virus offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup.Get complete protection from the most dangerous threats on the internet - worms, viruses, trojans, spyware, and adwareAntivirus and antispyware protection for Windows from the world’s most trusted security company. Use the Internet with confidence in your home or small office.

Easy to install and use

Protection against viruses, spyware, adware, worms and trojans

Real-time security while you surf and chat online

Top-quality protection that does not slow your system down

Free support and service around the clock and across the globe

Compatible with Windows Vista and Windows XPFeatures:Integrated protection

Anti-Virus: protection against viruses, worms and trojans

Anti-Spyware: protection against spyware, adware and identity-theft

Anti-Rootkit: protection against hidden threats (rootkits)

Web Shield & LinkScanner: protection against malicious websites
Easy-to-use, automated protectionReal-time protection, automatic updates, low-impact background scanning for on-line threats, and instant quarantining or removal of infected files ensures maximum protection. Every interaction between your computer and the Internet is monitored, so nothing can get onto your system without your knowledge. AVG scans in real time:

All files including documents, pictures and applications

E-mails (all major email clients supported)

Instant messaging and P2P communications

File downloads and online transactions such as shopping and banking

Search results and any other links you click on Internet use with peace of mind. The new web shield checks every web page at the moment you click on the link to ensure you’re not hit by a stealthy drive-by download or any other exploits. All links on search results pages in Google, Yahoo, and MSN are analyzed and their current threat level is reported in real time before you click on the link and visit the site.
The best Windows protection - trusted by millions of usersAVG’s award-winning antivirus technology protects millions of users and is certified by major antivirus testing organizations (VB100, ICSA, West Coast Labs Checkmark). View all AVG awards & certificationsOnly KgSize : 1.8 MB

Trend Micro HouseCall 7.1

Like Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.0 HouseCall requires almost no configuration. You can choose to turn off the "Smart Feedback" feature, which sends non-personal information about found malware to Trend Micro's analysts. And you can choose a quick scan, a full scan, or a custom scan. That's it for configuration.

Cloud-Based Detection
With no real installation required, HouseCall went to work right away cleaning my test systems. A full scan took about 40 minutes on my standard clean test system. That's a bit more than the average of 30 minutes, but not bad. According to Trend Micro, a faster Internet connection would significantly speed up the scan.

Malware on one test system actively prevented HouseCall from downloading all its components, so it couldn't remove any of that system's malware. Normally I would work with tech support to solve this kind of problem, but Trend Micro doesn't offer support for free utilities. Using my own expertise and techniques not available to the average user, I did manage to suppress the problem malware and run a scan. Still, the fact that the average user wouldn't have been able to fix this hurt the app in some scores (see below).

On completing the scan, HouseCall lists the threats it found along with their threat type and severity level. For each threat, HouseCall offers a recommended action—Fix or Ignore. It recommended that I ignore dozens and dozens of the found threats. In every case I changed the action to Fix. And in every case I had to click OK to confirm I wanted to make that change. Tedious!

Where Panda detected 100 percent of the malware threats, HouseCall recognized just 86 percent. It scored 6.3 points in the malware removal test, the same as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9.0. That score would have risen to 6.5 if HouseCall hadn't been balked by malware on that one test system mentioned above. Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 scored 7.0 in this test, the best score among recent free utilities. Panda came close with 6.7 points. Like Panda, HouseCall would have scored higher if it more thoroughly cleaned up all the malware it detected.

Do note that commercial products had considerably greater success in this test. Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010 beat the pack with 8.3 points and Norton Internet Security 2010 scored 8.0.

HouseCall was more effective at removing commercial keyloggers than other free solutions. With 5.3 points it handily beat Panda (4.5 points) and AVG (4.6 points). Here, too, the commercial solutions were significantly more successful. Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware 6.0 scored 6.8 and Norton 7.5.

HouseCall's documentation says it "can detect and clean the most complicated threats, including rootkits." It did detect almost 80 percent of the rootkit samples and disabled the rootkit technology of all those it detected. However, it scored just 5.2 points in the rootkit test, because it left behind executable files and mountains of non-executable traces. That's still better than the 4.9 points attained by Panda and AVG, but well below Norton's 7.9 points.

As for scareware (rogue security software) HouseCall scored 6.3, slightly above average. In its only real success the free IObit Security 360 got 6.7 points on this test. Panda beat both with 7.0 points.

No Malware Blocking
Panda Cloud Antivirus displayed superior protective skills when challenged to protect a clean system from malware. With 9.7 points for keeping out malware, it beat out all the commercial products. It also scored a perfect 10 of 10 points for blocking rootkits and scareware. HouseCall won't be challenging those scores because it doesn't include any real-time protection. On the plus side, because it doesn't run in the background trying to block malware it's not likely to interfere with your other security software.

HouseCall isn't an end-to-end solution. I don't suggest you use it to replace your existing antivirus. Instead, call on it for a second opinion if you suspect your security solution has let something nasty slip through

For more than twelve years, security software maker Trend Micro has offered free malware cleanup to all comers through its HouseCall online antivirus. Previously HouseCall installed as a browser add-in, but HouseCall 7.1 (free, direct) has broken free from the browser. It's now a standalone thin-client application that recognizes malware by consulting Trend Micro's "Smart Protection Network" in the cloud.

To start using, HouseCall you download a small launcher utility which, in turn, downloads the latest security components. There's no installation as such, though the tool does store components and scan results in your TEMP folder. You can save the launcher and use it again and again—it will always download newer code if available. By decoupling HouseCall from the browser, Trend Micro has eliminated browser compatibility problems and ActiveX/Java issues

Spyware Doctor With Antivirus: First Look

Shortly after we completed our current antivirus roundup, PC Tools released Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010 ($40 for a one-year, three-PC license), the latest version of its paid antivirus tool. Though it came out too late for us to include in our malware detection testing, we were able to take the program for a quick spin.

Spyware Doctor with Antivirus (SDAV) has an intuitive interface, with four buttons along the left edge to take you to the app's main functions. The status screen provides a quick overview of your current protection status. You'll know right away whether SDAV and its malware signature files are up-to-date and your subscription is active.

IntelliGuard is PC Tools' set of "real-time protection" features designed to shield your PC from various threats. Using behavioral analysis, it can block malware for which no signature exists, along with suspect files and likely phishing or malware distribution sites.

The program also includes special modes for gaming (so that active SDAV won't interrupt you when you're playing a full-screen game) and for occasions when you are operating your laptop on battery power (the application will hold off on performing any processor-intensive tasks until you have plugged your laptop into a power outlet).

If you are interested in trying Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010, you can download a trial version from PC Tools' Website.

Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.0

Every time new or newly mutated piece malware bursts forth, security vendors have to boil it down into a signature that lets their antivirus products recognize and remove the threat. Given the accelerating pace of malware creation, we could be headed for a singularity—virus signature databases so big they implode into a black hole! Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.0 (free for personal use) aims to head off disaster by pushing its malware detection activity into the cloud, eliminating the need for local signatures. Panda likes to call it "the first antivirus without an update button." It's a powerful defender against malware attacks—and it's free.

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

Cloud Antivirus is a quick download, at about 22 MB, and its streamlined installation doesn't take long. Once the installer is unpacked, you just click a big "Accept and Install" button like that of Norton Internet Security 2010. There's no lengthy initial signature update like that of Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010 and most others. As soon as installation finishes, the product is active.

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So how does this cloud-based scanning work? Cloud Antivirus starts by sending what Panda calls a "reverse signature" to the data center in the cloud, which quickly identifies each file as known good, known bad, or unknown. For unknown programs, the local program supplies more info for analysis, including information about the program's behavior and internal structure. The program caches information about known good programs, so full scans after the first one run faster. On my standard low-resource clean test system, it took an hour the first time. That's about twice the average; rescanning shaved about 15 minutes from that time.

Unique User Interface
Panda's designers clearly believe that small is beautiful. The main window offers a laconic status overview and three tabs identified by big chunky icons. On the minimalist settings tab, you can configure Internet proxy settings if necessary and optionally turn off Cloud Antivirus's automatic management of suspicious files. You don't want to turn off that automatic management, though—that's where much of the product's power comes from.

The second tab lets you run a quick scan of sensitive areas or of the whole system and the third displays an attractive pie chart showing the types of malware that have been treated. You can limit the chart to the current day, week, or month. And if the interface leaves you hungry for data, there's a link to a detailed event report.

Cloud Antivirus eliminates known malware immediately on detection. Files that aren't known malware but seem to be malicious get sent to the cloud for analysis. Until the results come back, they're not allowed to launch. According to Panda Senior Research Advisor Pedro Bustamante, the company receives about 55,000 such files per day. Their automated systems can handle 99 percent of them; human researchers analyze the rest. As for the cloud database itself, it's measured in terabyte—size is no problem when you don't have to fit it on personal computers.

To view the Recycle Bin containing those neutralized files, you click a marked corner of the main window, which performs an animated flip. Unlike the similar window-flip feature in Norton it doesn't require any special video hardware. You can also get a detailed list of all neutralized files with an option to restore any if that becomes necessary.

The user interface has a few more tricks. Even on pre-Vista systems, its frame is transparent. And when you move the window the whole thing becomes transparent. True, these UI tweaks aren't essential to the product's operation, but Panda hopes they'll please users.—Next: Powerful Malware Blocking

Spyware Doctor at the Heart of PC Tools 2010

Spyware Doctor is a household name, and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010 is our current editor's choice for standalone antivirus/antispyware. But did you know that for $10 more you can super-size your protection? Spyware Doctor is the core of PC Tools Internet Security 2010, a lightweight security suite that adds a firewall, spam filter, phishing protection and a site-rating browser toolbar.

In testing, the firewall did its job, putting all ports in stealth mode and preventing unauthorized programs from accessing the Internet. Well, it did after I tweaked its settings. The firewall blocks known bad programs and allows known good ones, but in the default Auto mode it allows access for unknown. I set it to ask about unknown programs. With help from other suite components it blocked most leak tests and handled a barrage of exploits.

PC Tools chose to go for thoroughness rather than speed in their spam filter. It took five times as long to download a thousand messages with the filter enabled. But then, most people don't get a thousand messages at a time. The filter proved to be quite good at blocking spam and not blocking valid mail.

The new Browser Defender toolbar is a little like McAfee's Site Advisor. It looks at things like malicious downloads, connections to bad sites, and spam to create a site's rating. It's also a bit like AVG's LinkScanner, analyzing the sites you visit to block malicious code. I like its spiffy warning overlay that appears when it suspects a site is fraudulent. Alas, in my anti-phishing test it didn't come close to the accuracy of Internet Explorer alone.

If you're a Spyware Doctor aficionado looking to step up your security protection this suite is just the thing. It has all the basic essentials, though not much more. Interested? Read my full review here.

Norton™ Antivirus 2010 v17.1.0.19

Norton™ Antivirus 2010 v17.1.0.19 | 90,77 Mb
Norton AntiVirus 2010 will be the fastest and lightest malware scanner Symantec has ever delivered. The Norton AntiVirus application scans faster and uses less memory than any other antivirus product on the market. Unlike free solutions from Microsoft, Norton AntiVirus includes intrusion detection to detect malicious code hidden in web sites before it can strike.
And Norton AntiVirus’s pulse updates ensure that you are always plugged into Symantec’s global security grid and you are never more than a few minutes away from the latest update. Improved Norton Safe Web technology blocks Internet threats before they can infect your PC. So you can browse, buy and bank online with confidence. Plus, unlike other antivirus products, Norton AntiVirus 2010 provides easy-to-understand threat and performance information to help you avoid future threats and keep your PC

running
Key Benefits
Stops viruses, worms, spyware, bots, and more—Keeps your system protected against all types of malicious threats.
Norton Insight—Delivers innovative intelligence-driven technology for faster, fewer, shorter scans.
Rapid pulse updates every 5 to 15 minutes—provides up-to-the-minute protection.
Prevents virus-infected emails and instant messages from spreading—Feel secure while you keep in touch.
Blocks browser exploits and protects against infected Web sites
Here are some key features of "Norton AntiVirus":
Engineered for Speed:
· Scans only files and processes at risk using Norton Insight.
· NEW! Installs in under one minute on average, requires less than 8 MB of memory
Up-to-the-minute Protection:
· Delivers up-to-the-minute protection with rapid pulse updates every 5 to 15 minutes.
· IMPROVED! Provides multilayered security through the Norton Protection System.
· Prevents bots from taking control of your PC.
· Detects and automatically removes malicious threats.
· IMPROVED! Defends against Web-based attacks.
· Automatically detects and removes spyware, viruses, Trojans, bots and Internet worms.
· Recovery tool boots and repairs badly infected PCs. Delivers our most complete, deep cleaning scan possible.
· Norton Ongoing Protection provides continuous protection updates and new product features as they become available throughout your product subscription period, helping to keep your computer protected against the latest Internet threats and risks.
· Norton Automatic Renewal Service helps to ensure that you’re protected by automatically renewing your product subscription before it expires.
Control without disruptions:
· Automatically schedules scans and updates to occur while PC is idle.
· Review the security status of every process on your PC.
· Silent mode helps ensures movies and games are never interrupted.
· Maps your wireless home network.
Requirements:
· 300 MHz or faster processor
· 256 MB of RAM (512 MB RAM required for the Recovery Tool)
· 150 MB of available hard disk space.
· Email scanning supported for POP3- and SMTP-compatible email clients.Required for all installations:
· CD-ROM or DVD drive (if not installing via electronic download)
· Support for AntiSpam feature
· Microsoft Outlook 97 or later
· Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 or later
· Browser support for Browser Protection feature
· Microsoft Internet Explorer 32-bit 6.0 or higher
· Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher
What's New in This Release:
· New and Improved Features
· Performance Enhancements
· The 2010 products improve on the very high performance bar already set by the 2009 products. The Beta builds will be regularly updated, with later builds improving on performance and functionality.
· Enhanced Norton Insight
· Norton Insight is built on the Symantec Quorum backend intelligence technology first introduced in the 2009 products. In 2009 Norton Insight only quantified trustworthiness, in 2010 Norton Insight also provides information on prevalence, age, and runtime performance data.
· Download Insight
· Download Insight is a new line of defense against the introduction of untrusted applications on your system. Download Insight monitors new application or installer downloads, automatically analyzes and classifies the application using the Quorum technology, and provides you with a trust rating for the application before allowing the application or installer to execute.
· Performance Monitoring
· The system performance ...
System requirements for all versions
Microsoft® Windows® XP (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 or later4 Home/Professional/Media Center
Microsoft Windows Vista® (32-bit and 64-bit) Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Professional/Ultimate
Minimum Hardware Requirements
* 300 MHz or faster processor
* 256 MB of RAM (512 MB RAM required for Recovery Tool)
* 300 MB of available hard disk space
Required for All Installations
* High-speed Internet connection
* USB compatible PC (if not installing via electronic download)
Support for AntiSpam
* Microsoft Outlook® 2002 or later
* Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 or later
* Windows Mail (spam filtering only)
Browser support for Vulnerability Protection and Phishing Protection
* Microsoft Internet Explorer® 6.0 or higher (32-bit only)
* Mozilla Firefox® 3.0 and later4
Email scanning support for POP3-and SMTP-compatible email clients
Important information for download customers: To create the Norton Recovery CD for Norton Internet Security™ 2010 or Norton AntiVirus™ 2010, you will need to download a special recovery .ISO file and create a recovery CD using a blank CD-R disc. Complete instructions will be provided with your purchase confirmation

Download McAfee Antivirus 2010 with Original License

Antivirus McAfee VirusScan, aunque considera un consumidor de recursos es uno de mis favoritos después de un software antivirus Kaspersky. El último producto de la industria, McAfee Antivirus 2010 ya está disponible para descarga gratuita con un año de validez 1 licencia original como parte de una promoción especial. La última versión de 2010 se afirma que es mucho más rápido y más ligero que su predecesor (2009).
Aunque por ahora, la mayoría de las características de McAfee 2010 será igual a la de la versión anterior. Esto se debe a McAfee por lo general no operan en un modelo de actualización anual y las actualizaciones disponibles como cambios graduales en todo el año. Así que no se sorprendería mucho si usted no ve nuevas características en McAfee Antivirus 2010 en comparación con su actual versión 2009. Así que puede ser esto, dijo "como" falsificación de McAfee a sus clientes es la venta de productos antivirus 2009 en un nuevo cuadro de la marca de 2010? En mi opinión, la respuesta es No, ya que los clientes actuales de la de McAfee VirusScan 2010 será empujado automáticamente la actualización de la versión más reciente tan pronto como esté disponible. 2010 o cuando sale de Beta.
Descargar McAfee Antivirus 2010 con licencia original
Ahora puedes descargar la última versión del antivirus McAfee VirusScan 2010 gratis con clave de activación de la licencia original.
Para ello ir a una página de McAfee promoción especial de VMware.
Allí se puede ver un enlace para descargar la versión gratuita de prueba adicional de 12 meses de McAfee Antivirus 2010.

Usted tendrá que registrarse para recibir el 1 año -3 clave de activación de usuarios.

Después de registrarse, descargar un archivo de configuración como muestran arriba y ejecutar la aplicación. Inicie sesión para recibir su clave de producto libre e instalar Mc Afee VirusScan plus 2010 (3 usuarios)

Instale el producto válido para 1 año y siguen siendo protegidos.
La última McAfee 2010 parece mucho más rápido que la versión anterior, pero funciona más lento en comparación con sus competidores como Kaspersky. McAfee VirusScan Plus ofrece seguridad de la PC proactivas para prevenir ataques maliciosos mientras se navega en línea y al descargar archivos.
Otras características incluidas en este producto es el más conocido de McAfee SiteAdvisor. Como su nombre indica, ayuda a los usuarios a evitar sitios Web no seguros es de acuerdo a la calificación de seguridad Web.
Características de antivirus McAfee VirusScan 2010

Te mantiene seguro en línea con SiteAdvisor
Siempre se actualiza automáticamente a la última versión.
Detiene virus, gusanos de correo masivo y los troyanos de puerta trasera.
Relojes sistema de guardias para el virus de McAfee o actividad sospechosa.
Monitoriza los cambios a los anfitriones de archivos y configuraciones del navegador.
McAfee X-Ray para la eliminación de rootkits y malwares
Evita que los piratas informáticos con la función Modo Stealth, la detección de punto de acceso para los servidores de seguridad y el tiempo de arranque escudo de protección
La tecnología McAfee QuickClean ayuda a optimizar el rendimiento del PC y liberar espacio en disco.
Requisitos mínimos del sistema para McAfee Antivirus 2010
Sistema operativo: Microsoft Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP1), Vista
Navegador: I.E 6 o posterior
Programas de correo electrónico: POP3 (Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape)
Así que utilice las de McAfee ofrece la promoción de VMware para descargar de exploración de virus de McAfee Antivirus 2010 de forma gratuita con una licencia válida de 1 año / clave de activación. Uso de esta oferta ahora mismo, ya que esto puede ser eliminado muy pronto.

Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010

A couple of years ago, PC Tools, maker of the excellent Spyware Doctor security software, acquired a behavior-based security product called CyberHawk and re-released it as ThreatFire, a free companion product for traditional anti-malware protection. Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 2010 ($39.95 direct for three licenses) incorporates ThreatFire's technology and adds other new protective features. It totally knocked my socks off!

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

Immediately Active
Installation requires your attention for a while, but it's time well spent. The installer downloads a substantial signature update and then runs a quick Intelli-Scan. Even on my underpowered virtual test systems, the update and Intelli-Scan each took about five minutes. You'll need to enter your registration code to remove any found threats.

 

 

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After registration, the software updates again, reboots, and runs another Intelli-Scan. If necessary, it reboots and re-scans again. On one infested test system Spyware Doctor repeated that cycle four times before it was satisfied. Naturally, you'll run a full scan as soon as it's convenient; the product also schedules a weekly full scan.

Spyware Doctor's installer is fully functional in Safe Mode—that's not the case with many security products. That's handy when malware screws up installation. It can also scan in Safe Mode. If all else fails, you can clean the system before installation using the PC Tools Alternate Operating System Scanner, a bootable Linux-based CD image that's not affected by Windows-based malware.

Top-notch Malware Cleanup
Installing the product on my malware-infested test systems went smoothly. I did use Safe Mode for a couple, and one required the Alternate Operating System Scanner. The initial Intelli-Scan wiped out network connectivity on one system, but PC Tools tech support reps quickly solved that problem.

A full scan of my limited-resource clean test system took 45 minutes. A second scan brought that time down to 30 minutes, which is about average. New in this edition, the product takes advantage of system idle time to make the next full scan faster. It also postpones scheduled tasks when the system is running on battery power and suppresses all interruptions if a full-screen game or other program is active.

On completion of a scan, Spyware Doctor lists what it found, including the risk level for each item and a brief description. You can drill down to see exactly what file and Registry traces are associated with the item or click a link for more details online. All this information remains available after the file is quarantined. And, unlike many similar products, Spyware Doctor really delivers those online details. Most users will just click the button to proceed with cleanup, however.

PC Tools promised even better malware detection and cleanup in this version, and has delivered on that promise. The scanner detected 100 percent of my malware samples and cleaned up all executable files for over three-quarters of them. Spyware Doctor's score of 8.3 on this test is a new record, beating 8.0 points from Norton Internet Security 2010 and pushing Panda Internet Security 2010 to third place with 7.7 points.

Spyware Doctor didn't take first place in keylogger removal, but it still did well. Its 6.5 point score is beaten only by Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware 6.0 at 6.8 and Norton at 7.5. I don't fault programs that do poorly against keyloggers but I'll certainly celebrate the successful ones.

Spyware Doctor detected every rootkit sample, disabled the rootkit technology in all of them, and thoroughly cleaned up more than half. Its score of 7.7 didn't quite beat Norton's 7.9, but it took over second place from Panda, which had 7.6 points. It also took over second place against scareware, with 8.0 points. The anti-scareware champion is Ad-Aware Pro 8.1 with 8.8 points

 

Guards Against Malware
Spyware Doctor installs a gaggle of guard components to block malware at every level. Site Guard blocks access to Web sites known to host malware. The new Browser Guard analyzes Web pages and scripts in real time to block scareware sites and sites hosting drive-by downloads.

The Download Guard component is still in beta, but users can obtain it from www.pctools.com/labs. This component scans all downloaded files and immediately quarantines any it deems malicious. It doesn't modify the browser's download dialog the way Ad-Aware does or replace it the way ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 does. It just works in the background and pops up when it blocks malware.

I tried re-downloading my entire collection of malware and keylogger samples to see these features in action. Many of the URLs are no longer valid; of those still functioning, Site Guard blocked three quarters of the malware sites but none of the keylogger sites. Download Guard blocked just one of the malware samples that got past Site Guard but blocked almost half the keyloggers. And this is just the first line of defense.

The File Guard module checks every file on access and, if the file isn't whitelisted, runs a complete scan. Rather than ask the user what to do with found malware, File Guard takes action immediately and gives the user a brief veto opportunity. A new Email Guard scans and cleans malicious attachments at the protocol level.

New in this edition, Behavior Guard uses ThreatFire technology to keep an eye on any unknown programs as they execute. If it detects a definite pattern of malicious activity it will block the program and display a warning. Behavior Guard will also warn of merely suspicious behavior and ask what to do; I found that it sometimes reported valid programs as suspicious.

To see just how effective this gaggle of guards can be, I attempted to launch my collection of pre-downloaded samples. Some products scan a file at the minimal access that occurs when Windows Explorer displays a file's data. File Guard waits for a mouse click, so I clicked on each sample. Within a few minutes, Spyware Doctor wiped out over 90 percent of the malware samples and 70 percent of the keylogger samples; that's a great start.

When I launched the few remaining samples, other guards came into play to block almost all of them. In the blocking test Spyware Doctor detected 97 percent of the malware samples, as did Norton, Prevx 3.0 and BitDefender Total Security 2010. Spyware Doctor also set a new record in the malware blocking test, scoring 9.7 of 10 possible points and edging out Norton, which had 9.6 points. BitDefender and Prevx with 9.4 got pushed to a shared third place.

Spyware Doctor detected 90 percent of the keylogger samples and scored 8.5 points at keylogger blocking, beaten only by Prevx's score of 8.9 points. Spyware Doctor detected 100 percent of the rootkit samples; its rootkit-blocking score of 9.4 points is another new record. Along with seven other products Spyware Doctor scored a perfect 10 against scareware, completely blocking every sample.

Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.0

 

Every time new or newly mutated piece malware bursts forth, security vendors have to boil it down into a signature that lets their antivirus products recognize and remove the threat. Given the accelerating pace of malware creation, we could be headed for a singularity—virus signature databases so big they implode into a black hole! Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.0 (free for personal use) aims to head off disaster by pushing its malware detection activity into the cloud, eliminating the need for local signatures. Panda likes to call it "the first antivirus without an update button." It's a powerful defender against malware attacks—and it's free.

avast! 5.0 free anti-virus faster, smaller and more features - and it wakes your computer at night

CEO Vincent Steckler told Infosecurity this week that the new version of the free avast! anti-virus includes more capabilities such as behavioural detections at the same time as being faster and smaller. It can also wake up your computer in the night to do a virus scan before putting it back to sleep.

Just like the existing free avast! anti-virus, version 5.0 will have signatures and heuristics for anti-virus. Its web shield also detects threats out of the perimeter before they get to users’ computers. Steckler said avast! anti-virus does that by looking for infections in the http streams.

“We find about 1 billion pieces of malware a month for our users. Of that 1bn, 86% are infected websites – the most part hijacked websites”, Steckler said. The infections are almost always in java script. The avast! also has a network shield blocking users from accessing malware distribution sites.

avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 wakes your computer

Steckler told Infosecurity that avast! has added ‘green features’ such as the ability of the anti-virus scanner to “wake up the computer, do its scan and put the computer back to sleep”.

Other new features in the free avast! 5 anti-virus, include behavioural detection. The anti-rootkit has been upgraded to real-time, so the security application is constantly watching for rootkit behaviour.

The updated heuristics function includes detection of potentially unwanted programmes (PUP). “This tends to be adware – it’s not really malicious, but it’s something users may not want”, Steckler explained.

The new free avast! anti-virus also introduces ‘trusted files’. Steckler said files that have not been changed or had a new exploit against them since the last scan, will not be re-scanned. Trusted files are placed in a white list, and a lot of these are signed Microsoft or Adobe files, or signed files from other trusted suppliers. This is a feature contributing to reduced virus scanning times.

The multi-threading is more granular than the previous version of the free anti-virus application. “If you scan a big file, we can split that file between as many cores on the machine as you want to use. That can really increase the scanning speed on big files and bulk scanning”, Steckler said.

The free avast! 5.0 anti-virus is also much smaller and faster, Steckler said. “In our internal tests the new product is fast in some cases by about 50%. It’s a number of cases where our speed is entirely dependent now on disc IO.”

Update sizes have also been minimised through a new way of compacting and encrypting the virus database.

In addition, the anti-virus has a gaming mode, meaning that when users go into full screen mode or gaming mode, avast! suppresses alerts.

Furthermore, Steckler told Infosecurity that avast! worked with Intel to optimise the anti-virus product to work on the new i7 chips.

Finally, Steckler told Infosecurity, the free avast! 5.0 anti-virus has a new, more modern and easy to use interface than the previous one, which “looks like a car stereo”.

Paid version and Security Suite

avast! will shortly release version 5 of its paid-for version and the new avast! Internet Security suite.

What product to choose?

Web browsing and email: avast! Free Antivirus 5.0

Online banking etc needing anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall: avast! Internet Security 5.0

Professional wanting internet security, but own firewall: avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0

The new paid-for anti-virus adds a sandbox which works in 32 and 64 bit mode. “You can for example open your browser in the sandbox and purposefully go to malicious sites or you can run applications in the sandbox and not harm the rest of your computer if you do run something malicious”, Steckler said.

The third release is the internet security suite. “This one should go on limited release any day now. That takes the anti-virus and anti-spam, two-way silent firewall and application level firewall on the outbound side”, the avast! CEO said.

AV Comparatives ranking

In a recent AV Comparatives rating on the ability of anti-virus programmes to clean up after an infection, avast! only got only ‘average’. AV Comparatives provides independent tests of anti-virus applications.

Steckler indicated that the ranking was not a worry as in a previous comparison testing detection and stopping of malware and the generation of false positives, the avast! anti-virus got very good scores.

“I ask people: ‘What would you rather have? Would you have a product that finds viruses and stops them, or do you want a product that after they’ve been found and stopped can go through and clean up your computer?’ – Most people want protection”, Steckler said.

avast! vs. Microsoft Security Essentials

Asked whether the release of Microsoft’s free internet security package Microsoft Security Essentials had any impact on the free avast! anti-virus, Steckler said: “We don’t really think it will. It takes a lot more than a free product to get users to use it, it has to be very good.”

Steckler said that Microsoft Security Essentials has not received very good scores on virus detections, false positives and speed.

Microsoft had over 2.5 million downloads by week two after it was released, but Steckler said that his is not really a bit number. Especially when considering that of the downloads around 40-50% will actually install it, of which only 25-50% will use it. avast! in comparison, has an average of 30 million downloads a month resulting in about 14 million installations.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, Steckler said threats have moved to internet and network based threats. “The challenge everyone is going to have is coming up with the new techniques to detect those threats before they get loaded into computers.”

He said avast! still has room for improvements, but that “in most of the tests our free product is testing out better than most companies’ paid products, so for us it’s just making sure that we absolutely keep quality in there and commitment to our users.

Spyware App Launched for Android Tracks all user's calls and SMSes and delivers them to the attacker

Android mobile phone users should be aware of the fact that a spyware application has been made commercially available for the platform running on their handsets, the Mobile Spy app. The software has already been released for other mobile operating systems, and now it has reached the Android platform too. What it does is to log GPS locations, calls, visited URLs, SMS messages and deliver them to the attacker. However, the application can be installed only manually, which means that the attacker needs to first have physical access to the device.

Here's how the app is described by its maker, “Mobile Spy runs in total stealth mode and no mentions of the program are shown inside the Android device. After the software is set up on the phone, it silently records GPS locations at a rate decided by the owner of the phone. The entire text of all SMS text messages, along with the associated phone number, is also recorded. Additionally, inbound and outbound call information with duration of the call is recorded. Immediately after activities are logged, they are silently uploaded to the user’s private online account.”
Mobile Spy is currently working as a malware worm, although its maker says it is only meant to “silently record SMS text messages, GPS locations and call info of your child or employee.” According to a recent post on zdnet, antivirus companies have already showed that spyware applications contain vulnerabilities that can allow anyone to access the logs. Mobile Spy's maker is proud of its vendor position, yet it might not be too long before the app is categorized as malware and treated as such. For the time being, antivirus solutions see it as spyware.
“Mobile Spy runs on all Android devices, including the new My Touch 3G by T-Mobile and Motorola Droid. The software also has a version for iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones running the Windows Mobile or Symbian OS operating systems. These devices are available from most major mobile carriers” is what Mobile Spy's maker says. If you want to learn more on this app, head over to the company's site for additional details.

Panda's Cloud Antivirus leaves beta behind

First introduced in beta in April, Panda Cloud Antivirus graduates to a stable, public release and signifies a major security vendor taking aim at the freeware competition--instead of the other way around. Cloud Antivirus was notable on its beta release for being one of the few security options available to users that contained most of its protections in the cloud. This allowed it to protect users while consuming significantly fewer resources than many competing programs.

Panda Cloud Antivirus leaves beta--photos

Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 is notable as a free security solution for two reasons: Panda is a reputable security vendor, and the program achieves its goal of freeing up system resources. In a press release, Panda Security CEO Juan Santana described Cloud Antivirus as a game-changer. It's not clear quite yet that that's the case, but at the very least the program looks to fill a niche created by resource-conscious netbooks.

As light on resources as advertised, Cloud Antivirus offers strong reputation-based protection for those who want their security program out of sight and out of mind. A third-party efficacy evaluation wasn't available at the time of writing, but in empirical testing the program only used 9 MB of RAM while idle, and only 56 MB of RAM when scanning. Many other security programs will run scans at 150 MB of RAM or more.

Despite keeping most of its database in the cloud, Panda Security's Senior Research Advisor, Pedro Bustamante, noted during an interview in October that Cloud Antivirus isn't disabled just because the host computer is disconnected from the Internet. "Panda has an offline mode that uses a small cached copy of Collective Intelligence on your local drive, it's only the most recent threats on a real time wild list." Collective Intelligence is the name that Panda gave its cloud system when it was introduced in 2007.

When you open Cloud Antivirus, the main window lets you know whether you're safe or not with a big red or green icon. Cloud Antivirus works as other antivirus solutions do, offering a Quick Scan and a Custom scan for specific folder, files, and drives, but its ancillary features are exceptionally light. The Quick Scan took 13 minutes on my Windows 7 Lenovo T400 laptop.

Dragging an active Cloud Antivirus window, in Windows 7 at least, will turn it translucent.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

You can opt out of contributing anonymous data to the cloud, but that also opts you out of automatic threat management. There's a network connection proxy option should you need it, and a reporting feature that will show you what kind of threats have been detected and removed from your computer. You can filter the report by All, Last 24 hours, Last Week, or Last Month, and there's a Recycle Bin pane from which you can recover a false positive, should you need it. Unfortunately, the Recycle Bin is hidden behind an obnoxious "flipping" screen that cheesily rotates when you need to access it.

If you're familiar with the minimalist Microsoft Security Essentials, Cloud Antivirus is even simpler. I did notice some odd interface rendering around the minimize and close buttons in Windows XP, but not in Windows 7. There are other more serious concerns about the program. Most notably, it lacks a scheduler, and it removes user input from update functions. Scans are also limited: you can tell the program what to scan, but not what to look for, so forget about toggling heuristics or rootkits. Then again, the point of this kind of security is that it's all wrapped into one.

Keeping in mind its limited feature set, and that we don't have efficacy numbers at the time of reviewing, Panda Cloud Antivirus makes good security choice for those willing to take the plunge

Nube de Panda Antivirus deja detrás de beta

Introdujo por primera vez en versión beta en abril, Panda Antivirus Cloud graduados a una versión estable, pública y significa un importante proveedor de seguridad teniendo como objetivo la competencia Freeware - en lugar de a la inversa. Antivirus Cloud fue notable en su versión beta para ser una de las opciones de seguridad disponibles para los usuarios que contenía la mayor parte de su protección en la nube. Esto le permitió proteger a los usuarios de los recursos mientras se consume una cantidad significativamente menor de lo que muchos programas de la competencia.
Panda Antivirus Cloud hojas beta - Fotos
Cloud Panda Antivirus 1.0 se destaca como una solución de seguridad gratuitas por dos razones: Panda es un proveedor de seguridad de buena reputación, y el programa logra su objetivo de liberar recursos del sistema. En un comunicado de prensa, CEO de Panda Security Juan Santana Cloud Antivirus descrito como un juego de cambiador. No está claro del todo todavía que ese es el caso, pero, al menos, el programa tiene como objetivo llenar un hueco creado por los recursos netbooks consciente.
Como la luz de los recursos como se anuncia, Nube Antivirus ofrece sólida reputación basada en la protección para aquellos que quieren que su programa de seguridad fuera de la vista y fuera de la mente. Una tercera evaluación de la eficacia de las partes no estaba disponible en el momento de la escritura, sino en pruebas empíricas que el programa sólo utiliza 9 MB de memoria RAM mientras está inactiva, y sólo 56 MB de RAM para la exploración. Muchos otros programas de seguridad se ejecutará escanea a 150 MB de RAM o más.
A pesar de mantener la mayor parte de su base de datos en la nube, Director de Panda Security Research Advisor, Pedro Bustamante, señaló durante una entrevista en octubre de ese Nube Antivirus no está deshabilitado porque el equipo host está desconectado de Internet. "Panda tiene un modo fuera de línea que utiliza una copia en caché pequeños de la Inteligencia Colectiva en la unidad local, sólo las amenazas más recientes en una lista en tiempo real salvaje". Inteligencia Colectiva es el nombre que Panda ha dado su sistema de nubes, cuando se presentó en 2007.
Cuando se abre Nube Antivirus, la ventana principal le permite saber si usted es seguro o no con un icono rojo o verde. Antivirus Cloud funciona como otras soluciones antivirus hacer, que ofrece un escaneo rápido y un análisis personalizado para una carpeta específica, los archivos y unidades, pero sus características son excepcionalmente auxiliares luz. El Quick Scan, tardó 13 minutos en mi portátil Windows 7 Lenovo T400.
Arrastrar una ventana activa Nube Antivirus, en Windows 7, al menos, a su vez, se transparente.
(Crédito: Captura de pantalla de Seth Rosenblatt / CNET)
Usted puede optar por no aportar datos anónimos de la nube, sino que también opta a salir de la gestión automática de amenazas. Hay una opción de conexión de red del proxy en caso de que necesite, y una función de presentación de informes que muestran qué tipo de amenazas se han detectado y eliminado de su ordenador. Puede filtrar el informe por todos, Después de 24 horas, la semana pasada o el mes pasado, y hay un panel de la papelera de reciclaje desde la que podrás recuperar un falso positivo, si lo necesita. Desafortunadamente, la Papelera de reciclaje está oculto detrás de un odioso "voltear" cheesily pantalla que gira cuando es necesario acceder a él.
Si está familiarizado con los minimalistas de seguridad de Microsoft Essentials, Nube Antivirus es aún más simple. Me di cuenta de algunas de representación ocasionales en el interfaz de botones minimizar y cerrar en Windows XP, pero no en Windows 7. Hay otras preocupaciones más serias sobre el programa. En particular, carece de un programador, y elimina la entrada del usuario de las funciones de actualización. Analiza también son limitados: puede indicar al programa qué escanear, pero no lo que debe buscar, así que olvídate de la heurística alternar o rootkits. Por otra parte, el punto de este tipo de seguridad es que es todo en uno.
Teniendo en cuenta el conjunto de características limitadas, y que no tienen números de eficacia en el momento de la revisión, Panda Antivirus Cloud hace buena opción de seguridad para quienes están dispuestos a dar el paso

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Panda Cloud Antivirus Available for Download

 

Windows: Panda Cloud, the constantly updated, cloud-run antivirus app that promises almost real-time protection from burgeoning web threats, is out of beta and available for a free download.

As the How-To Geek detailed in his beta write-up, Panda does most of its computing, file-checking, and threat updating on its servers, leaving a very light and agile app presence on your system. It caches its threat database offline with a minimal bit of hard drive space, and the interface is far from cluttered, as you see above. In general, it's a very polite anti-virus app, and if the Geek considers it worth mentioning, well—he's far from calmly objective on the topic of anti-virus apps, so consider it a recommendation.

During the beta process, Panda appears to have focused on tightening up CPU and memory usage even more, as well as fixing the "stuck" errors encountered by some users. If you're already running a beta, Panda recommends uninstalling that, and installing the 1.0 final.

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a free download for home users and educational groups on Windows systems only

Five Best Antivirus Applications

Five Best Antivirus Applications

Computer viruses are increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. If you can't afford to run your computer without some sort of antivirus software installed, check out these five popular options to protect your PC.

Photo by Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University Archives.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite antivirus application; now we're back with the five most popular apps to help you secure your PC and keep it running virus free.

Note: For each entry, we reviewed the lowest cost option available from the company in question. Most companies offer premium packages of varying cost and with varying additional bells and whistles, save for the always-free Microsoft Security Essentials. For the purpose of this comparison, we stuck to the free/entry level options.

Avast! (Windows/Linux, Basic: Free, Premium $39.95 per year)

Having just celebrated its 21st birthday, Avast! is an old player in the antivirus market. Avast! has built up a solid following based on their philosophy of offering dependable and effective antivirus protection for free to home users. In addition to standard antivirus scanning, Avast! offers a variety of resident protection modules that cover different aspects of your computer like instant messaging, email, P2P applications, and more.

Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows, Free)

Microsoft Security Essentials is the newest addition to Microsoft's computer protection software. It replaces the Windows Live OneCare subscription service and Windows Defender by providing more comprehensive coverage than either of the two originally provided. Microsoft Security Essentials is free for all Windows users and provides protection against a variety of threats including viruses, malware, adware, and spyware.

Avira (Windows, Basic: Free, Premium: $30 per year)

Avira is another antivirus app available for free, although the free version of Avira doesn't offer as many bells and whistles as some of the other free offerings in today's Hive. Nonetheless, you still get dependable antivirus scanning and protection from malware and rootkits. In addition to the free antivirus software, Avira also offers a Linux Live CD recovery disc loaded with Avira and other free system recovery tools to help you get back on your feet if fighting the virus infection from within Windows just isn't cutting it.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus (Windows, $39.99 per year)

NOD32 has built a large based of users over the years by having a low number of false positives and a high rate of early detection thanks to their community-sourced ThreatSense detection system. As a fun bit of trivia, American users may know the application as "NOD" and pronounce the acronym as an actual word, but the name is actually an acronym that hails from the Eastern European origins of the application. From the Wikipedia entry on NOD32:

The acronym NOD stands for Nemocnica na Okraji Disk ("Hospital at the end of the disk"), a pun related to the Czechoslovakian medical drama series Nemocnica na okraji mesta (Hospital at the End of the City).

AVG (Windows, Basic: Free, Premium: $54.99 per year)

The free offering from AVG is one of the lightest, feature-wise, among the nominations in this Hive Five. That said, if you're looking for a basic antivirus application that will scan your computer, keep an eye out for spyware, and keep you from visiting malware and virus laden websites (via their LinkScanner protection), AVG is a solid free offering

Microsoft Security Essentials A Free Anti-Virus From Microsoft

For the First time Microsoft is providing a free Anti-Virus solution the Microsoft Security Essentials. This program supersedes Windows Defender and turns the Windows Defender off when you install it. It is backed up by Microsoft Malware Protection Center.

The only problem it could elevate is that it requires you to have a Genuine Windows.

According to Windows Team Blog MSE does so far

 

• MSE is independently certified by West Coast Labs – that makes me feel good about relying on it
• MSE uses the same core engine as Microsoft’s enterprise-class AV/AM products and is backed by Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center which makes me feel even better
• When it does find something that doesn’t belong it enables you to clean or remove it quickly and easily rather than loading a big heavyweight app.
• It’s free!

It is only 4-5 MB download for Windows Vista,7 and 8-9 MB for Windows XP

Runs on Windows XP,Windows Vista,Windows 7

AVG 9.0 Anti-Virus Free Review

Introduction

AVG 9.0 promises protection and performance improvements as well as a better user experience over the previous version. Does it work as advertised? See how it fared in our testing.

Product Overview

AVG promises hassle-free protection from their 9.0 Anti-Virus Free suite. The software protects from viruses, spyware, and malware. AVG claims its newest 9.0 version has numerous improvements over 8.5, including significantly increased scan performance, protection, and ease of use. AVG claims scan times are reduced up to 50 percent. 9.0 also includes some new technologies. One of them is LinkScanner, which provides anti-phishing protection on the Internet by scanning Internet search engine results.

Also new in 9.0 is integration between the Resident Shield and identity protection modules (and the firewall module, however the Free does not include a firewall). This increases protection by allowing the modules to share information with each other and resolve unknown threats.

AVG also offers something that other security vendors do not -- free identity protection. The AVG Identity Theft Recovery Unit provides protection through Intersections, Inc. The Identity Theft Recovery Unit will provide AVG customers compromised by identity theft with a support team to help them get back on their feet free of charge.

Customer support for AVG Anti-Virus Free customers is handled through a community forum; registration is required to participate but anyone can read it.

Download & Installation

The AVG Anti-Virus Free installation begins with downloading a download manager from the company's website. The download manager handles the download of the actual program files and initiates the installer. It takes about five clicks and just a few minutes to get through the install. The steps involved include accepting the license agreement, choosing the installation type (we chose standard since that is what most users will choose), and activating the software license.

Users are given the option to install the AVG Security Toolbar, which provides the above-described LinkScanner functionality and the option to provide AVG with anonymous information about discovered threats. Although AVG claims the installation process was shortened by 50 percent, we cannot say it was any different versus 8.5. That is hardly a complaint since the install is relatively painless and is easy to click through.

Program Interface

AVG 9.0's interface is more or less identical to 8.5's. The color scheme is easy on the eyes and navigation is simple. Basic navigation is handled by tabs on the left; more detailed navigation is handled through menu options along the top. The Overview tab shows an overview of all components and their status. Double-clicking on any component in the center shows more information about it:

The scanner tab allows users to start a system scan and schedule scans. Lastly, clicking on the Update tab initiates an update. The software updates itself automatically so there is little point to visiting this tab.

Advanced program settings can be accessed through the Tools menu:

Most users will not have to touch anything in here; we did not have to.

In Use & Effectiveness

AVG Anti-Virus Free stayed out of the way during everyday tasks. The LinkScanner feature was helpful while picking through search engine results because it helped determine the safety of links displayed. Over 100 different potential threat indicators are applied to each page to determine a link's safety. A small indicator icon is displayed next to each search engine result:

To test the effectiveness of AVG I used several virus files from Eicar.org, an IT security website. The four files provided for download, which have different extensions including .com, .zip, and .txt, contain viruses. Please see the test description for extensive information on the tests. Good anti-virus software should detect these files as threats.

AVG detected all four threats; one during download and three afterwards. It did not detect them immediately upon download but a minute or two later came up with a warning and automatically removed and neutralized them. A history of detected threats can be viewed:

Overall AVG performs as expected; it protects though is not particularly pro-active. More pro-active solutions detect viruses during or even before download.

Performance Impact

We evaluate the performance impact and system resource usage of using anti-virus software in three ways:

1.    Overall system performance measured before and after installation using PCMark, a system benchmark suite

2.    Memory footprint

3.    Time it took to perform a full system scan

Our test system is an HP Pavilion dv5t:

• Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz/3MB L2/1066MHz FSB)
• 4GB RAM
• 500GB 5400RPM hard drive
• Windows Vista Home Premium x86

Overall System Performance Impact Measured with PCMark Vantage

Prior to installing AVG the notebook had the following numbers:

After installing AVG I ran the benchmark again:

The difference -- well, it essentially does not exist! AVG has a near-zero impact on system performance -- most impressive.

Memory Footprint

AVG uses about 35MB of system memory according to the Task Manager, which is basically nothing. Some antivirus suites use less (15-20MB), however the difference is so trivial considering how much memory modern computers have that it does not matter.

Time it took to perform a full system scan

A full scan of our test system's hard drive containing 122GB of data took 23 minutes, which is about twice as fast as competitors Norton 2010 and ESET NOD32. AVG 8.5 lagged behind so there were clearly performance gains made in 9.0. AVG did an optimization scan after it installed, which probably helped reduce the scan times:

Conclusion

It is difficult to complain about a free product -- even so, we have very little to complain about AVG Anti-Virus Free. While not as proactive as paid competitors' software it still gets the job done and includes nifty utilities such as the LinkScanner Internet toolbar. The free identity theft protection is an added bonus. Even though AVG Free is free, it can still compare to paid solutions. We recommend AVG Anti-Virus Free to users looking for basic protection.

PROS

• It's FREE
• Virtually no performance impact
• Identity theft protection

CONS

• Could be more proactive
• Feature-light
• LinkScanner requires toolbar