mks_vir and ArcaVir

Okay, I'm looking for some enlightenment here. Two years ago, MKS_Vir and ArcaVir used the same engine. Does this stand true today as well?

MKS_Vir offers English users a means to purchase the program, but is the support offered in English? As far as detection rates are concerned, I feel it (ArcaVir) is improving somewhat, as I have made a few strange observations about the product.

So, is there anyone here who can comment on the *latest* versions of both these products (mikesu...would be nice if you could comment )?

 

I googled it and it does seem like they use the same engine.

 

They are still identical, MKS_Vir is specific for Polish market and ArcaVir is for global market outside of Poland.

 

If that is the case, then why does the MKS website allow a way for English users to purchase the product?

I'm more interested in MKS than ArcaVir though, so I'm wondering if MKS offers English support.

 

NO - they aren't identical, they are two different companys with two different teams of people.
So - you don't have a right.

 

Thats how ArcaVir team answered me back in days when it was established.
If they have changed that lately i'm not aware of that, since i wasn't really following their progress...

 

I believe the staff was always different, but what I'm concerned about is whether the engine and detection rates are similar...

 

hello firecat,

according to the virus.gr website:

MKS_VIR uses the exact same engine as ArcaVir.

 

Virus.gr hasn't always been perfect in its descriptions, you know.

 

of course I know

but i was just pointing it out incase you missed it.

 

No. MKS has a old engine from 2004 (with small modification). And they have problems with a signatures. The MKS has completely new people and they don't have any experiences with AV programs. Propable the works very hard but it doesn't work
The Arcabit - it's "old" MKS team - this poeple create new company. They are working hard for the Arcabit
TODAY - MKS_vir and ARCAVIR are completely different programs!

So... - forget about the MKS (Oldest Polish AV company)

 

That is a strange turn of events.

 

mikesu, first of all I want to thank you for offering your insight on these 2 products.

So...The interface similarities between MKS and ArcaVir are gone now? Do the two products have totally different interface now?

Also, why is MKS using an old engine from 2004? Shouldn't MKS still have all rights to use the latest engine from ArcaBit since MKS was the original creator (and hence owns the copyright) for the engine? By this logic it would be perfectly feasible for them to use the same engine as ArcaVir?

Can you elaborate on this?

Wasn't ArcaBit formed in 2004 as a sister company to MKS?
So basically, all MKS guys moved to ArcaBit and MKS is left with almost nothing now?

Its very bad to hear this news. This is an unexpected and sad turn of events.

In past, ArcaBit had a distributor in the US called Soltech Computing Services (Stormbyte). The communication broke off it seems, and since then ArcaVir hasn't received much attention lately. Soltech now performs computer consulting services if I remember right. Old memories started to stir up within me and that is why I started this thread.

As far as detection rates are concerned, I noticed ArcaVir is getting better.

 

I tested out ArcaVir. Impressions are as follows:

1) ArcaVir for home users is available only as a suite. For corporates you get both a suite and just an AV version. One license for a home user can be used on 3 computers.

2) The purchase process is somewhat strange for me as I am used to element5 everywhere.

3) The program is EXTREMELY configurable. This is a very nice thing, there's a myriad of options you can configure for all the modules.

4) The program has grown heavier since the 2005 version. The English version seems "unfinished", due to several minor bugs, slowdown issues and some small cosmetic touches that could be improved.

5) Many strange things noticed during scanning, i.e. some files were detected by on-access scanner but not on-demand, some files were detected on-demand but not on-access (They weren't archives).

6) Scan engine is somewhat slow, and it is not able to quarantine/delete some files due to unknown reasons, but unpack engine is much better than I expected. I only noticed one packer dependent detection and that is "Trojan.Crypt.<alphabet>". The packer support is good, for example it supports FSG, UPack, ASPack, PECompact, UPX, DLLRES, NSIS (support for NSIS surprised me because I've seen some occasional BitDefender detections like "Trojan.NSIS.Gen" so this was quite a good surprise). Archive support I didn't look into though.

7) Heuristics false positives have lowered considerably compared to what I saw in ArcaVir 2005. It has excellent variant detection, and the heuristics is not so bad at all.

Signature detection is lacking somewhat though, as proven on AV-comparatives' special tests, but I am hoping ArcaBit can improve on this, as ArcaVir is a product with great potential.

The ArcaHTTP scanner module seems to slow the Internet surfing down though. Overall, great promise in a good product!

 

totally agree with it..i cant trust with the descriptions form the vendor