ad/spyware detection ability

Many AV vendors have added the ad/spyware detection module into their products. How reliable and effective are they? How do you rate on those popular AVs in this area, such as kav, norton, mcafee, trendmicro, nod32, bitdefender, drweb, avira, avast, avg?

Any comments are welcomed.

ps: Please limits the comparison to ad/spyare detection abilities (for files only, not including registry traces). Removing is another story.

Regards,

shek

 

Shek,

This is actually an excellent topic. There are some well known respected AV’s that claim to provide adware/spyware protection that I believe do not live up to the claims.

I have a system that I have imaged that I use to test various AV’s with and go to known dangerous sites to see how these AV perform. Relying on the respected test sites is one thing, experimenting on your own with ITW real malware is another.

It is easy to hype a particular AV because you like it or it has done well at AV Comparatives, etc. But if you really want to know how well an AV performs, image your system, surf the murky waters, and find out first hand how well your AV does. Now I know this is far from scientific, but it provides some real world results.

In regard to adware, one of the top five threats for many months according to Webroot’s website is 180 Solutions/Zango. You would think that most of the AV’s would have signatures for this file considering it is a top threat and is not new. The results from Virus Total are listed below.

My experience has been that the AV’s that pick up this also seem to be the same ones that have signature detection for other well known spyware and adware. This is just my experience. I encourage anyone who is curious or that may disagree to image your system and go out and test your AV in the real world (make sure you know what you are doing and how to restore your system).

Again, not trying to pursuade anyone one way or the other, this is based only on MY unscientific amateur experience.

~VirusTotal scan attachment removed as per Wilders policy....Bubba~

 

Sorry for going off-topic but it's nice to see that my recently adopted back-up AV is doing the right thing.




~VirusTotal scan attachment removed as per Wilders policy....Bubba~

 

No real world experience yet against adware/spyware using Dr.Web antivirus, but I feel confident and very comfortable using this program as your screen shot of virustotal shows.

 

Re: AV's antispyware module

Most AV's obviously not being made for antispyware are just okay in this regard. They tend to get probably about 50-60% of spyware. You still need sole antispyware tools IMO.

 

Re: AV's antispyware module

Here are test results on Castle Cops that are interesting.
http://www.castlecops.com/t165650-Malware_testing.html

I cannot recall a test where any application of any kind got up to 80% detection, and normally the AVs do not do especially well at detecting spyware.
F-Secure uses AdAware as its anti-spyware module I think, and it might be better overall at detecting spyware. I have not seen the results of a test for spyware that included it.

Best,
Jerry

 

Re: AV's antispyware module

well ye f-secure does use ad aware for antispyware but i find it annoying since it has fp's. which means it trys to block the fp's using the real time scanner. thats another reason why i want to dump it.

 

I don't think adware/spyware detection by antivirus programs is as good as a dedicated antispyware program.
I look at that detection capability in an antivirus as a bonus.

 

Personally, I think it's a plus if an antivirus can detect some of the prevalent adware/spyware one may encounter while surfing the internet. I do not think any antivirus program has the detection capability of a dedicated adware/spyware product, having said this, let me say, my current antivirus program has kept me adware/spyware free without the need for additional security software solutions.

 

I would have to recommend BitDefender for anti-virus/spyware protection.

 

i was wondering how good bit defenders antispyware protection was

 

It found the odd thing... though i cannot test it... mainly after just getting my comp fixed.... he said kaspersky and bitdefender 9 conflicted... though they were fine for like 5 months... i guess an update screwed me.... i downloaded bd 10 anti-virus (just anti-virus/spyware protection).... and got the same error... since i new it was bitdefender i fixed it this time (deleted a bunch of .dlls and then uninstalled)

though when i had bd 9 i was not sure how it worked... i did an anti-virus scan.... and an anti-spyware scan.... then later i checked on the anti-virus scan and it said spyware scan on the top of this thing.... (it didnt at the beginning of the scan)..... so im not sure if the anti-spyware starts at a certain point in the middle of the anti-virus scan...

thats all i have to say

I'm not dissing BD by the way... it's in 2nd place for my favourite anti-virus still... i use BD 8 free... i just wish they added the anti-spyware/anti-rootkit SCANNING (not protection) ability into a BD 9 free edition ... (they better make one lol)

Just dont get bd and kaspersky.