Prevx vs. ThreatFire

I was curious as to if a Prevx rep could comment on your product compared to ThreatFire (a nearly identical product offered by PC Tools/Symantec, and previous winner of PC Mag's Editor's Choice award). I have been using Norton 3.0 Premier which has performed flawlessly, unfortunately the 64-bit version of ThreatFire just now became available (after I had read the review of Prevx in PC Mag). I went ahead and installed both and received system clean banners from both programs, and now PC Tools has made ThreatFire entirely free anyway, but you are referred to Spyware Doctor for cleaning. I'm glad my system is clean and would have no problem with upgrading Prevx if necessary, but was just curious as to if your IT people could point out any significant differences between the two programs. Full disclosure, I am also an ET tester for Symantec.

Regards,

Adam Van Hook-Drucker

 

quoted from pctools forum:

read here..........http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58940

 

All the core features have always been free - the "Pro"-features have never affected a user's protection really. Please see the comparison-chart here and compare Pro with Free - to the left is SDwAV so it doesn't count.

Apart from providing that information, I won't go into the debate, at least not for now - but I'm sure Joe definitely has something to say and maybe I'll join the party then.


Hope this helps!

 

Always was free since Cyberhawk days. IIRC the only extra of the paid Pro version was the level of support available.

 

ThreatFire actually works significantly differently from Prevx and both are fully compatible with each other. We both go about accomplishing the same goal (and ThreatFire does do it very well, as shown by PC Magazine) but neither of our products are perfect which is why using both is preferred (and there should be little/no additional system slowdown resulting from it).

We always love competition and seeing other products edge over us in some tests merely makes us work that bit harder to beat them in the next one Because you don't have any active malware in your system, you may prefer to just use Prevx in the free version: it will scan your computer on a daily basis (or more if wanted) and alert you about full details on any found threats. We offer most of our functionality for free because we feel there isn't much use trying to convince users to pay for something that hasn't shown them material benefit already and offering a time-unlimited "trial" lets the user decide if Prevx really will benefit them over their current setup in the future.

Let me know how it works out for you or if you have any other questions! (also a minor note in response to support: all of our tech support is free - if you have any problems you can use this forum, private messages, our support inbox, email, or we can help diagnose and fix problems remotely in realtime if needed)

 

Very professional and informative - I like it. You definitely represent a great company and you do it exceptionally.

 

i dont know if i could compare mamutu+prevx an or threatfire+prevx,is there an advantage here?thanks

 

Some of the major differences between the two for me, and someone can correct me if I misspeak is:

1) TF is free and will remove things if needed at no additional cost.

2) TF works in a 64 bit environment (I'm using their beta) without issue.

3) Not sure if Prevx supports Windows 7 or not, but TF is running for me on a 64-bit Windows 7 RTM release currently without issue.

4) I have read that the current beta of Prevx has issues with Opera 10. Unfortunately, this is the browser I am currently using and will not replace with anything else. TF doesn't seem to have any issues with Opera 10 at all.

Edit: I have downloaded and installed the 64-bit beta of Prevx ust to see what is what. So far no issues and I have not noticed any issues in Opera 10. What am I missing?

 

You're missing that Prevx has more general support for the new Windows OS (Windows 7) and that the incompatibilities apply for the new RC and most of all the brand new feature of Prevx - proactive browser protection. 64-bit and new OS support is stable compared to TF which is currently in BETA.

 

Fair enough, but I have had ZERO problems with the latest beta from TF. Not to mention TF is completely free.

Like I said, I installed the latest beta from Prevx, but I'm just not sure how much use it will be if it can't block/remove a problem if it finds one without purchase.

That is the biggest difference between the two right now for me and a pretty important one.

 

Sorry if any offence was taken at all - I can see that my previous message was a little harsh, thought about it afterwards. Only pointing out the differences since you asked and FYI, I probably choose TF even if Prevx was free - it's simply about the approach, but I will not discuss that any further here. This is indeed the Prevx-section of this forum and the queries have been answered IMHO.

 

np Raven...no offense taken. Thanks for the response.

 

so wich combo is more secure ?
1)Prevx+threatfire
2)Prevx+mamutu
3)Prevx+zemana Antilogger

any advise?thanks

 

Haven't used Prevx long enough to know personally (and I'm not that sure I'm keeping it installed because I don't feel like paying for more security software - bought ESS and Vipre just recently), but PC Mag in their review seemed to think that TF and Prevx made a good combo and protected the user close to 100% of the time, if you want to put out the money for Prevx.

 

from: Prevx Web Security... Name?

and

 

Oh no, why would you think that? Completely serious, I suggested that name in that thread because I think that's what this feature is, currently only for browsers and one single protocol, but more importantly preventing malicious behavior proactively in an important way. It's stopping malware from carrying out certain malicious and most critical actions even though the malware itself is unknown to Prevx.

 

XP VM with Threatfire installed.

Malware sample - foto.exe - 7 out of 21 scanners reported malware - TR/Dropper.Gen

Ran the sample Threatfire threw up no warning and the vm crashed.

Installed Prevx which flagged the sample but no removal as unregistered.

Ran the sample with Prevx throwing up an active threat warning then the vm crashed again.

 

I wonder if the Virtual Machine would crash with the Paid Licensed Version of Prevx on detection of the infection?


HKEY1952

 

I am using Prevx+DefenseWall HIPS I advise you this combo. Light and very secure.

 

i used this one in one of my computers

 

The test above performed by Franklin would be a good one to try with BluePoint (as a standalone, no other products) in the vm. If you have a chance, looks like a nasty piece of malware.

 

Here we go this vs that wrong forum dude! I don't know if there is one

TH

 

i already did and BPS defeated this malware
also install.exe,foto.exe,update.exe,antiviruspro2010,braviax.exe,michaeljackson virus etc,etc nothing bypassed BPS or prevx
note:threatfire blocks some of the test but can not remove

 

Also worth noting is that he used the free version of Prevx which, by design, will not block the infection so the sample could easily have crashed the system, causing the behavior seen.

And yes, let's please try and not turn this into an A vs B

 

Wasn't there a magazine test that used a VM software where Prevx caused it to crash, and the answer to that 'problem' was that the BSoD is something Prevx automatically does in order to remove malware, but a normal user wouldn't see it (because it just appears to be a reboot) - only someone using a VM would see it?