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All I can say is WOW!!!!

Looks like some very compelling evidence in the MalwareBytes forum post. They caught the IOBit folks red handed.

I did get IOBit for 2 computers during this give away a while ago. As soon as I saw the IOBit stealing I uninstalled it. I already have MBAM Pro, not to mention if they can physically steal MBAMs data what else are they going to do? They can use their update link between your computer and their server to view your info?

Except these small glitches and differences, I very much agree with the list given by Ashwin Bhaskaran

The KMPlayer is crashing too much often and also is not able to play some flv and rm files. But the clarity with which it plays and the features it offer are extremely good.

Format Factory is a great tool for video and audio conversions. It supports a large number of formats and devices and of course it is fast in doing it. I would very much recommend it as it is pretty good at what it does.

I am using Comodo Internet Security and I am very satisfied with its capabilities as firewall and antivirus. Is avira antivir better than this?

I found 7-zip to be light, simple, efficient and better at handling compression and decompression than win-RAR.

Bitcomet is faster than uTorrent, I have found it practically and it also doubles up as download manager and video downloader.

I also use EasySleep to shutdown my system at a fixed time

I am using ImgBurn as a burning software. It does not have audio and video burning but it can handle different types of image formats and is great for data burning.

Spyware Terminator is great if you are security paranoid and want any new process or thread to be started with your notification only and it also got a game mode. Of course, it also includes real time anti spyware scanner. It can also integrate clamwin antivirus database into it.

Finally I am using DriverMax to find and update my drivers.

Im going to have to disagree with a number of things here. First Bitcomet is banned on multiple private trackers now because of its false reporting of stats. Second uTorrent is the lightest bit torrent client available.

Third if you can get ahold of KMPlayer v2.9.4.1434 you wont have any issues. I had issues with the latest version as well. It refused to install in English and I couldnt get around it. I snagged the older version. Not only was it in English, but its much more stable.

Avira Antivir Free/Premium are the number 1 antivirus software with the best detection of 99.7%. They beat out NOD32, KAV, Avast, AVG, and all the other big companies. CIS doesnt even get rated in the same category because it also includes firewall and HIPs protection. I would personally use Avira and PC Tools Firewall. They are the best 2 programs in their respective categories. AV Comparatives and Matousec can both back this up. Matousec rates CIS high, but Matousec only rates on a program firewall and HIPs protection. They dont actually rate the AV section of the program. If they did Comodo probably wouldnt be so high on the list.

If you have lost your internet connection won’t any a/v potentially be out-of-date? No matter how it is described all anti-malware programs require an internet connection to keep signatures up-to-date. All are updated on some frequency decided upon by the software vendor. No anti-malware solution that I’m aware of is continuously updated.

Back to the Panda Cloud solution. The FAQ section at PANDA CLOUD PROTECTION, What is?[/url] describes deployment and update scenarios. The only thing it does not say is the frequency with which the signature file is updated.

Joe

To some extent, but Im under the impression that with a cloud based AV you dont get real time protection.

As I understand it, “O8” entries are non-whitelisted items on the IE right-click menu. I just don’t think it’s fair to say that all of these items have been “flagged as nasty” without further confirmation. Some downloaders are legitimate, and I didn’t find GetGo in these databases:

Computer Associates: http://www.ca.com/us/technology-security-news.aspx (threat search box in right sidebar)
Symantec: http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/threatexplorer/search.jsp
Trend Micro: http://threatinfo.trendmicro.com/vinfo/default.asp
Webroot: http://research.spysweeper.com/

Also, I don’t see anything obviously wrong with TinEye[/url].

As a diagnostic, it may well be a good idea to disable or uninstall these programs, but I think it’s wise to be more cautious in calling them the source of possible infections.

You didnt use a single database that is rated at the top of detection.

If you would like this is the tool I used. Run the log through this and it will give some more insight so you can see what I was seeing.

http://www.hijackthis.de/

Avira is a top 3 free antivirus in the world right now. Its detections are at the very top with a 99.8% detection rate according to AV Comparatives. Good thing is that it has a free version as well. Bad thing is it has a nag screen every day when it updates, but dont let that deter you. You can disable it easily.

The issue with cloud based AVs is that your net may go down and cause it to be out of date. If you keep an real time protecting up to date and going the loss of net wont be an issue. Everything will be up to date and accessible.

To be honest Spybot is pretty worthless. Its detection rates arent very good. The only thing its good for is its Immunize function. Spyware Blaster is a stand alone app and basically is Spybots Immunize feature.

The toolbars are a bit worry some. Alot of them open holes into your system.

Heres the list of what Id get rid of:

O8 – Extra context menu item: &GetGo Toolbar Search – res://C:Documents and SettingslynnDesktopmy Downloadsinternet pgmsGetGo Download Manager 4.2.1.309GetGo Download ManagerGGToolBand.dll/MENUSEARCH.HTM
O8 – Extra context menu item: Search Image on TinEye – file://C:Documents and SettingslynnMy DocumentsTinEye 1.0TinEye.js

Both of them have been flagged as nasty by HiJackThis own analysis engine.Basically I see atleast 3 tool bars that arent needed and most of the flagged possible infections come from the GetGo toolbar or what ever it is.

There may not be any tests out there for those 2 specific programs, but I would rank them as the top 2 on the market right now.

MBAM and Super Antispyware are both better than Spysweeper or the resource hungry Spyware Doctor.

I havent dabbled with SAS in quite some time. I feel like MBAM has the better detection of the two.

I just realized I may have had my sig turned off so the OP may not have gotten my link. Here it is just incase:

Antivirus, Antispyware, and Firewall Research Thread

Check the link in my sig for other non-biased testing sites.

As for antispyware apps its pretty much down to Super Antispyware or MBAM (Malwarebytes AntiMalware) as the top 2 and MBAM IMHO is better than SAS and it also offers a free counterpart to the paid option.

I believe KMPlayer does. Its opensource and includes the codecs to play almost any sort of media you can find.

SequoiaView
Info SequoiaView[/url]
Graphically displays file and folder sizes. Unlike TreeSize Free[/url], also scans network drives.

About KMPlayer:
I like this media player and use it myself, but the current version (2.9.4.1435) has raised controversy: the installer includes the ASK toolbar and many users reported that they weren’t offered an opt-out during installation.

I had an issue with the latest KMPlayer as well. It installed in Chinese or Korean Im not sure which. I had to use an older version. Im using version 2.9.4.1434 the version before the one you posted and havent had any issues with it yet.

Running two antivirus programs is NOT recommended by ANYONE in the security industry. Here is one of many, many articles on the subject.

Now, back to memory usage. Memory usage IS important to anyone running an older system. NOD using 91MB of memory? That’s not a big deal–if you have 4GB of RAM. If you’re running an older XP system with only 512MB of memory, that’s 17% of the system’s memory–quite a big chunk. Launch a couple of programs and your swap file is going to go nuts and your system slow to a crawl. Having that extra 85MB of RAM will let you do a whole lot more with your system. After all, we don’t buy our systems to run security programs, we buy them to do other things.

On to effectiveness:
MSE scores a Pass on the VB100
MSE scores Advanced+, Symantec Advanced, and McAfee Standard

Thank you for the links, whitedragon. It’s nice to have some third-party validation for the effectiveness of Microsoft Security Essentials.

Running 2 AVs in Real time is not recommended. The article is talking about running 2 in real time as proven by this quote:

Wrong. Antivirus applications are like PC guard dogs, sniffing around for suspicious intruders and ripping them to shreds before they can damage your files. Unfortunately, the only thing they hate more than viruses is other antivirus applications. Antivirus software works at a very low level to do its job properly; it snoops in portions of Windows, memory, and other places where high-level programs, such as Web browsers, dare not go.

When two antivirus programs start prowling around, all sorts of problems happen, ranging from program crashes to system lockups.Because these programs typically remain on all the time, they generally load as soon as Windows boots, which means if you install more than one antivirus application on your PC, both programs load automatically and lock up the system before there’s a chance to troubleshoot.

The specifically say that both programs run automatically. If you use one as real time and one as on demand and turn the other off during a scan there is NOT a single issue unless the other AV is strictly coded to detect the other AV installed.

Avira
http://www.free-av.de/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html
Current best rated free anti-virus

Agreed. Looks like someone has done their research.

and yet whitedragon 551 says “Not one single AV or Antimalware program has 100% detection which is why its better to go with a multilayered security setup.”

There seems to be a major difference of opinion here.

Real time and on demand are different. Its NOT a good thing to have multiple real time AV programs installed and running at the same time. They will conflict with each other. If however you have lets say NOD32 and KAV installed at the same time. NOD32 is your real time protection and you use only KAV as an on demand scanner thats also ok as long as you turn one off before you turn on and scan with the other.

Multilayered doesnt mean having multiple AV apps at the same time either. Multilayered includes having an Antivirus, Antispyware, and in some cases anti trojan, standalone firewall, and maybe even a sandboxing type program depending on the security softwares capability.