CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008

by zdnet.com :

The good: CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 combines antivirus and antispyware protection, and it's faster than last year's offering.

The bad: CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 lacks adequate technical support. It also attempts to download the Yahoo toolbar during installation.

The bottom line: CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 holds the middle ground this year, featuring faster code but lacking any compelling "must-have" features.

CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 holds the middle ground, neither improving nor declining with this year's offering. The code is leaner, resulting in faster scans; however, there are too few features here to warrant much excitement. Also, this is the only antivirus product we tested that attempted to download a third-party toolbar during installation. And we are puzzled why a major security company like CA doesn't provide more technical support for its consumer products. If you're looking for economy, choose BitDefender Anivirus 2008. If you're looking the best antivirus product for 2008, we recommend Kaspersky Ani-Virus 2008, our Editors' Choice.

Setup
CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 includes three PC licenses at $49.95. By comparison, BitDefender Antivirus offers its three-user license for $29.95. Kaspersky offers its single license at $49.95, and charges $59.95 for its three-user license. CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 runs on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, while Norton AntiVirus 2008 only works on XP and Vista.

There is a very good reason not to blow through the installation of CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 without reading each screen carefully. One thing we always hate to find is the Yahoo toolbar hiding within any installation, and it's lurking here. By all means, uncheck the box asking you to install it along with CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008. Worse, Yahoo also asks permission to make it your search engine by default. We prefer the freedom to choose our own search engines, thank you. CA is the only antivirus vendor we reviewed that included third-party piggyback applications within its install.

Also, we were unable to continue with our CA installation without registering. Other antivirus vendors allow you to skip registration or, in the case with Symantec, click Next three times to continue. Not with CA. Although the information collected is negligible, given the Yahoo toolbar lurking in the installer package, we didn't like handing over any additional information.

Should you want to remove CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008, there is no All Programs option to uninstall. You will need to use Windows Add/Remove Software. In doing so, a CA uninstall wizard will then ask if you want to remove the antivirus, the antispyware, or both from your machine. After reboot, we found no traces of CA products on our machine.

However, if you installed the Yahoo toolbar or made it your default search engine, you'll need to remove these separately. Removing CA alone will not change the status of these Yahoo applications.

The CA interface is consistent among all its products, but also serves to remind you of other products offered by the company.

Interface
CA uses a consistent interface for all its offerings. While we like this, we don't like the confusing up-sell that goes along with this implementation. For example, after finding out that you don't have a firewall, instead of offering to turn on the free Windows Firewall, CA takes you to a Web page that talks about why you should upgrade and install the CA Firewall. The page is dry, no graphics, no sales pitch, but might cause people to think that it's an FAQ page. It's not.

Features
With CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008, that's what you get; no firewall, no antiphishing tools, no extras.

Within the antivirus protection, the scans are faster than last year. The features touted in marketing materials--real-time scanning, advanced heuristic scanning, and automatic e-mail scanning--are standard and do not stand out from the competition.

Same with the antispyware protection. CA, which bought PestPatrol many years ago, now includes more information about the specific spyware found on your machine rather than requiring you to click to a Web site for more information. Again, none of the features--real-time protection, automatic updates, and custom scans--are standard and do not stand out from the competition.

Performance
CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 stays in the middle of the pack, sometimes trending toward the lower, faster end of the middle in our test results. On our iTunes test, CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 took the longest, at 273 seconds to complete. In our Microsoft Office test, CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 completed the fastest, at 1,191 seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and media files, CA scored 187 seconds, again, toward the faster end of our middle group. And in terms of boot speed, CA was in the middle at 36 seconds. To find out how we test antivirus software, see CNET Labs' How we test: Anivirus software page.

In terms of whether or not CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 will protect your PC, CNET uses results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 was not included in the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, for on-demand scans and retrospective/proactive tests. CA Ani-Virus Plus CA Ani-Spyware 2008 was included in the latest test results from CheckVir.com and earned a Standard rating, which means it was tested on finding but not removing viruses.

For antispyware protection, check back in November for these results.

Support
Once again, we were disappointed by CA's lack of technical support shown for its products. The built-in help file is light on details, and there is no manual. There is no online chat service nor online forums. In fact, finding the online technical support for this product is not easy (the CA Web site is primarily designed for corporate customers, not consumers). The online FAQ (once found) contains information for the 2007 version, not the current 2008 edition. And if you want to talk to someone about the product, that costs $19.95 per incident, although live telephone tech support is available 24-7.

Conclusion
Call us crabby, but CA still isn't up to speed with the competition on its consumer antivirus and antispyware offerings and thus not yet up to our standards. CA is known for its enterprise security and has over the years tried to break into the consumer market with limited success. This year's offering is a solid base, but that's it. In the future, we'd really like to see CA challenge Trend Micro, McAfee, and Symantec. We know CA has the corporate security tools, so how about bringing some of them down to the consumer level?

from http://review.zdnet.com/internet-security-firewall/ca-anti-virus-plus/4505-3667_16-32653564.html

CA Products:

CA Internet Securty Suite 2008 - includes CA Ani-Spyware and CA Ani-Virus

CA Resource Center for Free Downloads

Free Scans from CA: PC Pitstop Optimize

CA DNA Desktop Migrator 2008

CA Personal Firewall 2008

CA FREE Spyware Removal

CA FREE PC Optimize Scan

CA Anti-Virus 2008

CA Ani-Spam 2008

CA Ani-Spyware

CA PC MacLan

CA PC PitStop

Kaspersky labs Products:

Kaspersky Personal Network Security Package for Linux and Windows

Kaspersky Internet Securty 7.0

Kaspersky Open Space Securty

Kaspersky business products

Kaspersky Ani-Virus Mobile

Kaspersky Free Trial Page

Kaspersky Lab Free Trials

Kaspersky Lab E-Store

Kaspersky Ani-Virus 7.0

 

 

no-adware-spyware-solver.blogspot.com

BitDefender Internet Security 2008

BitDefender Internet Security 2008

BitDefender was an excellent performer among security suites, but it's best for experts who don't need guidance regarding security extras and pop-up alerts and who don't mind therough interface.

BitDefender Internet Security 2008 ($40 for one PC, $50 for three PCs) pairs shining success with disappointing failure. It outperformed every other suite in crucial malware detection tests, unmasked every rootkit sample.

But this stellar performance behind the scenes was seriously marred by an unpleasant user experience. From aggravations with the initial installation to difficulties with warning pop-ups, BitDefender Internet Security 2008flaws are hard to brush off.

BitDefender Internet Security 2008 did extremely well when subjected to AV-Test.org's 674,589 inactive malware samples, detecting 98 percent of them. It also did the best job of detecting new, unknown malware in heuristics tests, with a 29 percent catch rate using one-month-old signatures. And it also tied for first with Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 for the fastest response (0 to 2 hours) to malware outbreaks.

BitDefender Internet Security 2008 firewall successfully masked a protected PC against outside scans, but it displayed needless warnings when the Firefox Web browser tried to access the Internet. That program should be on any firewall's list of known (and approved) applications.

The suite offers a good array of secondary features, including antiphishing, parental controls, antispam, and data privacy. But these extras need polish. The browser-based antiphishing tool didn't block any sites until I enabled the feature's heuristic detection, which is off by default. When I enabled parental control for other users, I wasn't prompted to set a program password--but if you fail to do so and you set up your kids' accounts with administrator rights, they'll be able to turn off the parental controls.

BitDefender Internet Security 2008 warning pop-ups did a poor job of guiding us through the steps of removing a detected e-mail worm (Warezov). The pop-up alert had options for ignoring, quarantining, or deleting the file. But perhaps because ther malware was lurking inside a .zip file, the security suite's default option was to ignore the infection. Choosing to quarantine the archive failed, but rather than alerting me to the failure. the program just popped up the same window without the quarantine option. Choosing delete finally worked.

If BitDefender Internet Security 2008 interface and warnings were anywhere near as good as its virus detection engine, the suite would be easy to recommend. But its confusing pop-ups, program bugs, and high false positive rate make it best suited to a user who has strong technical skills and can at times make the right security choices without guidance from the software.

Other BitDefender Products:

BitDefender Mobile Security v2 , BitDefender Total Security 2008 , BitDefender Internet Security 2008 , BitDefender Antivirus 2008 , BitDefender Mobile Security v2

 

 

 

pcsecurityshield-software.blogspot.com

CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 Review

CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 Review

Computer Associates came with their latest and better edition of CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 to propose a step forward in quality and features. Besides firewall, antivirus, antispyware, antispam, and parental control, the suite now contains data migration and a Web site inspector to identify malicious sites.

One thing you should be aware of is that, at install, CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 offers to set up the Yahoo! toolbar and make Yahoo! your default search engine which together with CA’s own Web site Inspector causes your browser to be kind of top-heavy.

The present firewall is obviously much better than what CA presented last year when it swapped from ZoneAlarm's one to its Tiny Personal Firewall but improvement is still to be had.
According to PCMAG, CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 passed most of the port-scanning tests but failed the Gibson Research's ShieldsUp (CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 leaving from two to four less-used ports closed but not stealthed ). Opposite to using NIS 2008 or Panda Internet Security 2008’s modern styles of program control, the CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 user has to decide every time a program attempts to connect to the Internet whether to permit it.

Though it did not survive to fake mouse-clicks attack as Kaspersky and Norton products did, CA's new version security system still showed high protective measures. The firewall offers a wide range of additional features -- it can guard against malicious attachments from incoming e-mail and watch outgoing mail for behaviors, it can also block cookies, ads and script, having the ability to prevent the sending of predefined personal data in e-mail or over the Web.

As PCMAG described it, using client-side attacks from the Core Impact penetration testing utility proved itself worthy in revealing some of CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 vulnerabilities in the suite's protection system which recommends Norton Internet Security 2008 as a better candidate to your security needs.

Oteher CA Products

CA Internet Security Suite 2008, CA Anti-Spyware 2008 , CA Anti-Spam 2008 plus WebsiteInspector 2008 , CA Anti-Spam 2008 plus WebsiteInspector 2008 , CA PC MacLAN , CA Anti-Virus 2008 , Internet Security Solutions , CA Personal Firewall 2008 , CA Desktop DNA Migrator 2008 , CA PC Pitstop's Optimize , CA Anti-Spam Plus 2008 , CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 , CA Pitstop Disk MD , CA Flash Drive 2008 , CA PitStop Erase , CA ISS plus Flash Drive , CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008 , CA ISS , CA ISS , CA ISS Plus 2008 plus Free Optimize , CA ISS Plus 2008 + Flash Drive , CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 , CA AV 2008 , CA ISS Plus ?2,500 Virus Protection Coverage , CA Anti-Spyware 2008 3-user Download Buy , CA Anti-Virus 2008 3-user Download Buy

Other Kaspersky Lab Products

Kaspersky Lab Free Trials , Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 , Kaspersky Lab products , Kaspersky internet Securiity 7.0 , Kaspersky Anti Virus 7.0 , Multi-year/multi-user licenses of Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 , Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 , Kaspersky Open Space Security , Kaspersky Personal Network Security Package for Linux and Windows , Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile , Kaspersky business products page , Kaspersky business products page

Other Symantec Products

Norton Internet Security 2008 , Norton Internet Security 2008 5 User Pack , Norton Internet Security 2008 10 User Pack , Norton 360 , Norton 360 - 5 User Pack , Norton 360 - 10 User Pack , Norton AntiVirus 2008 , Norton AntiVirus 2008 5 User pack , Norton AntiVirus 2008 - 10 User Pack , Norton Confidential , Norton AntiVirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security 2008 , Norton Confidential with 1 year subscription , Norton AntiVirus 2008 - 15% Discount , Norton Internet Security 2008 - 15% Discount , 10% Discount following Endpoint Protection products: Symantec Endpoint Protection Symantec Endpoint Protection for Windows XP Embedded Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition Symantec Multi-tier Protection , 10% Discount on Symantec pcAnywhere products. coupon code: 08EPPromo , 10% Discount on Symantec Ghost Solutions Suite 2. coupon code: 08EPPromo , Norton SystemWorks Basic , Norton SystemWorks Standard , Norton SystemWorks Premier , Norton SystemWorks 2006 , Norton SystemWorks 2006 Premier , Norton Ghost 12.0 , Norton AntiVirus 10.0 for Macintosh , Norton AntiVirus 11 for Macintosh , Norton AntiVirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security 2008 , Norton Confidential , Symantec pcAnywhere 12.1 Host & Remote Standard License , Symantec Ghost Solutions Suite 2.0 Standard License , Symantec's Norton AntiBot , SMB - Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 7.0 , Business - Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business , Business - Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 , Business - Symantec Multi-tier Protection 11.0 , Symantec Home and Home Office Storefront

 

 

 

webroot-software-review.blogspot.com

PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0

PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0

PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 Capabilities
PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 permanently and easily deletes all of the following file types, and more never to be restored again!

• deleted files


• chat transcripts


• audio and video files


• temporary internet files


• image files (all formats)


• clipboard data


• search histories


• passwords


• internet history


• cookies

PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 deletes index.dat
Index.dat is a file used by the Internet Explorer web browser. The index.dat file functions as an active database, which runs as long as Windows is active. It functions as a repository of redundant information, such as web URLs, search queries, and recently opened files. Its role is similar to that of an index file in the field of databases, where a technique called "indexing" stores the contents of a database in a different order to help speed up query responses. Similarly, when the Autocomplete function is enabled in Internet Explorer, every web address visited is sorted in the index.dat file, allowing the Internet Explorer to attempt to find an appropriate match when a user types in an edit field. Separate index.dat files exist for the Internet Explorer history, cache, and cookies. from Wikipedia

Why do you need PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 ?
Because your Windows Recycle bin only deletes the file that you see ... not the actual data on your harddrive. However, until the file location on your hard disk is overwritten many times, the files can be completely recovered using many available computer programs, or even simple computer commands. Deleted files are the first thing hackers, privacy thiefs, and other computer experts look for when they are trying to recover sensitive information from your computer or discarded disks. Employers routinely search for 'deleted' files to discover information about employees.

The PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 Shred Method
PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 shreds files using the most advanced, ‘military-grade’ data deletion methods available. Indeed, the shred method used by PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 (5022.22M ) have been approved for use by both the U.S. Department of Defense (D.o.D.) and the U.S. National Security Agency (N.S.A.). PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 performs ALL tasks required by the above agencies when shredding and our proprietary shred-engine is fast.

Product features:

• 
  

  Unlimited Shredding
  Most competitor products limit the user to only 1, or to a fixed number of data wipes when shredding. WinShredder permits an UNLIMITED number of data wipes. Want to shred that file 10000 times? No problem!



• 
  

  Unlimited 'Do Not Shred' Folder Locations
  A serious flaw in most competitor products is the inability to protect important folders from accidental shredding. This disastrous problem is solved with PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0. PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 permits an unlimited number of 'Do Not Shred' folder locations to be defined, protecting them from accidental shredding.



• 
  

  Drag and Drop to the Desktop Trashcan
  PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 supports all Windows drag and drop features. You can Shred files or folders simply by dragging them to the desktop WinShredder Trashcan.



• 
  

  True Windows Explorer Integration (Right mouse-click menu integration)
  PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 integrates with all versions of the Windows operating system and appears as a new 'Delete with WinShredder' menu option, complete with icon, when right mouse-clicking on a file or folder.



• 
  

  Optional Instant Shredding
  Turn on the 'Instant Shred' option and you can start the shred process instantly just by dragging files to the desktop PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 trash can.



• 
  

  No 'lock-ups' while Shredding
  Many competitor products lock up your computer while they are shredding files. While they are shredding files, you cannot move your mouse or open another program, or, your mouse is jerky and intermittent. Not WinShredder! You can continue to work while shredding is underway, seamlessly and smoothly.

All PCSecurityShield products

PCSecurityShield MyRegistryCleaner ,

PCSecurityShield WinShredder 2.0 ,

The Shield Deluxe 2008 ,

Security Shield 2008 ,

The Shield Pro 2007

 

antivirusantispam.blog.com

STOPzilla! Review

 

 

STOPzilla! Review

 

 

STOPzilla! is an well packaged and attractive product which has seen steady improvements with each new release. Unfortunately, the protection it provides against spyware is still lacking.

Usability

STOPzilla! installed without a hitch directly from their website, even on our heavily infested test PC. After a re-boot, STOPzilla! was ready to scan for the first time.

STOPzilla! kicked off a scan automatically the first time we ran it. The confusing array of dialog windows found in previous versions have been replaced with a single window that can be used to access all of the products functions. The main tab ("Home") now contains a prominent "Start Scan Now" button, along with other buttons for quick access to common features, as well as some basic statistics about the program itself (version #, last scan, etc).

We found the interface to be very attractive and pleasing to the eye. The scan results screen in particular is well-laid out and very easy-to-understand. One problem, however, is that it tends to overstate the number of infections found. Instead of counting each malware program as a single infection, it counts each file, registry setting, and cookie. This leads to a highly inflated detection count which does not correlate to the actual health of one's PC.

Spyware Removal

Scanning was fast, taking 18 minutes on our first benchmark server. We tested STOPzilla! on four different PCs, each containing different types of malware commonly found on the internet. It detected 44% of the spyware in our test and disabled 26% of it. However, it only fully removed 11% of the threats on our PCs, which caused the program to detect the same spyware over on subsequent runs.

One area where STOPzilla! stands out is that it does a much better job of removing browser toolbars than other programs we've tested against. If you have a stubborn toolbar, this product may be worth purchasing for this reason alone.

Rollback

STOPzilla! allows you to rollback any changes made to your system if necessary. This feature can be found on the Scan Results screen. On the "Removed" tab, click the "Restore" button at the bottom of the window.

Customer Support

STOPzilla! offers online and email customer support. Telephone support is also available at 1-877-877-9944 during typical US business hours.

Other Options

STOPzilla! includes some additional protection features, such as memory monitoring, homepage protection, and the ability to block popup, javascript dialog windows, and windows messenger spam. Version 5.0 also introduces the much-needed ability to schedule scans to run during off-hours.

The popup blocker included with STOPzilla! is one of the better ones we've seen in any anti-spyware product. It not only provides you with a list of popups, but you can also look at screenshots of the popups to see exactly what was blocked. Neat.

Summary

STOPzilla! continues to show steady improvement with each new release. While the program stands out in ease-of-use and the ability to remove browser toolbars, the overall level of protection is still somewhat lacking.

 

no-adware-spyware-solver.blogspot.com