AV programs and trojans.

[the Tester]

I hope that this is the proper category for this topic.

There is usually some discussion about KAV and some others having excellent unpackers and trojan detection ability.
Now,I'm not doubting that and I'm not promoting any particular AT program.

BUT,isn't there one minor thing that hasn't been mentioned?

Trojan Removal!?
It's great to have any program that can detect a trojan.
But once found/detected the average user will want to remove that trojan.

I wonder if there has been any tests or reports done on trojan removal comparing the AV programs that do well in trojan detection vs. AT programs?

This could be a relevant "issue" for people that are new to computers and care about security and trojan protection in general.

Would an AV program be as effective as a good AT program in removing a trojan?
Would you generally have to do more manual removal with an AV?

I hope that I'm not missing something.
It's just that finding a trojan on your system is only part of the solution IMO.

Any links,experience,or views on this topic?

[Mack Jones]

quoting: the Tester link=board=24;threadid=13089;start=0#msg83880 date=1062260626]
Would an AV program be as effective as a good AT program in removing a trojan?

According to my experience, some AV are much better than AT to detect trojans:
KAV should be the right stuff
McAfee too !

Source:
Trojaner.
PCFlank

[Blackcat]

Very Good question, Tester .

But as there are very few recent comparative tests on the trojan detection capabilities of AV's and AT programs, I doubt whether there would be many, if any, looking at their removal/cleaning effectiveness. I hope I am wrong.

Moreover, in context, the effectiveness of AV programs in cleaning/removing viruses is generally not considered as important as some other properties in choosing the 'best' AV software.

Maybe the AT experts here can enlighten us further.

[bellgamin]

Tester raises an interesting point. I know of lots of test reports whereby the *detection* capabilities of AT &/or AV have been rated. But I do not know of a single test report whereby their *removal* capabilities have been rated.

Along with Tester I am equally concerned that a program be able to remedy any disaster that it detects. I have read some of the instructions at Symantec & other sites for manual cleaning, & I found most of them are rather intimidating. Why? Because me am a "computer doofus," that's why.

All of which explains why I am attracted to the "remover" part of the name of Trojan Remover, and the "clean" part of the name of BOclean.

[Pilli]

Tester, You make a very good point but I have yet to find an authorive test about the removal abilities of AT let alone AT v AV The testing methodology, credentials and independance of the tester would be an absolute necessity for me before I would give such tests any credibility.
Personally I believe in a layered defence, KAV, Nod32, TDS3, WG3 on the detection front. Being a natural coward I would rather stop them getting into my system in the first place. Defence is better than a cure!

[Pretender]

I'm a newbie in this area (and many other areas I'm sure). Anyhow, isn't blocking the trojan part of the detection process? If so, there wouldn't be a need for removal. As I said, I don't know much about how this works.

[the Tester]

I agree 100% that blocking trojans is the best.
There's an old phrase "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure".

I just think it's strange that there is seldom any mention that program x removes trojans easily or with less collateral damage than program y.

For those times when someone doesn't have security in place and needs to remove something.