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Test of 16 Anti-Virus Products Says None Rates "Very Good"
An anonymous reader writes "AV-Comparative recently released the results of a malware removal test in which they evaluated 16 anti-virus software solutions. The test focused only on the malware removal/cleaning capabilities, therefore all the samples used were ones that the tested anti-virus products were able to detect. The main question was if the products were able to successfully remove malware from an already infected/compromised system. None of the products performed at a level of 'very good' in malware removal or removal of leftovers, based on those 10 samples."
They said AV-Comparative.org in the article. Try going there and see what happens. The correct site is av-comparatives.org.
Of course, half of the software they tested is not anti-Malware software (Avast, for example, is an AV, not an Anti-Malware).
They also did not test MalwareBytes, probably because it would make all of the others look bad.
for the regular user, I can understand wanting the "feeling" that you're protected. however, when even the shittiest and lamest rogue-AV programs like WinAntiSpyware, Antivirus2009, System Protector Pro, Police Pro, and all the other bogus products can't be stopped by even the best of AV software, ya gotta think. these scanning programs don't do shit and make you feel like they have. so, understand how your system works. use Sysinterals Autoruns to see what shit is being loaded on your system. and become familiar with our dear friend combofix provided by Bleeping Computer. It is the only tool worth a damn that can also get rid of severe rootkits. Sometimes for the real bad ones you'll need to use the Windows Recovery Console to delete files hidden from the Windows API as well as disable infected drivers/services. AV will still be a joke since the bottom line is, you can still get infected. especially if you are prone to getting viruses anyway due to your browsing habits.
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
Testing online (meaning running the removal program on a running, infected, system) removal seems kinda silly. You are fighting a war there and the malware has the upper hand being there first. On a compromised system you generally want to work on it offline. You either boot a live CD or take the hard disk to another computer. That way the malware can't be running. You can then use tools to track it down and remove it.
Running a scanner on a live system is more of a preventative measure and a detection measure. You have a realtime scanner looking for threats coming in. If it finds them, it can block them before they have a chance to do anything. This is 99.9% of the good a virus scanner does. It stops them before they ever infect the system. It can then also help in terms of alerting you if a system is infected.
However counting on one to be good at removal on a live system seems silly. Take the system offline, fix it, and bring it back up.
Its even past that. It used to be kids who were out to knock off someone's machine on a local BBS. Then it became the legion of professionals who went blackhat due to cash.
Now, you have well heeled groups, from criminal organizations to whole governments who have immensely deep pockets who spend billions in order to search through every Windows and UNIX executable just to find the single buffer overrun, race condition, or other small goof that can be used in an elaborate attack. The payoff is big, and not just economics.
Of course the attacks are nastier and nastier.
Best defenses? After the obvious firewall and network IDS, two of the best system level out there are virtualization with a hardened hypervisor and jailing of apps. After that, an OS based IDS that can detect known signatures and unknown suspect activity. This way, something that gets access to the OS via an unjailed browser or plugin hole is stopped.
Your mom has a potty mouth.
Agreed...
They should have instead tested:
And then maybe considered testing some of the lesser-known or that I believe to be outdated and/or quite ineffective: