BOClean, ewido, and Trojan Hunter

I can't speak for TH or Ewido as I have never tried either of them. I do have BOClean however and its a nice little program and minds it's business unless it happens upon a trojan or some other nasty.

I too have the CPU spike(s) with Process Guard and BOClean running together. Also PG starts up kinda slow with BOClean enabled on startup.

To stay on topic, it's up to you and what kind of protection you are looking for. I got BOClean as a backup to my AV which is NOD32. So far, it has not picked up anything but it's nice to know that I have it in my arsenal to fight the malware out there.

HTH,

Jag

 

Fellow Creatures,
BoClean is the one program that has always been on my system. I have changed AV and firewalls, Adaware, and Spybot have all had their space at one time or another. BoClean has always been consistantly running.

All the talk about a scanner, on the childrens machine I decided to use A Squared (free) as a backup for scanning. The only thing it ever caught was a tracking cookie. BoClean does it's job!

BoClean=Trojan Defense!

Wow, so that's what he looks like, always thought he was a lot younger. Cool!

 

BOClean has saved me more than once, when my virus scanner has missed something. I esp. like their licensing, and have recommended it to anyone who would listen

 

Why fight for space..when you have already won the "important race" OK..so I am a choochoo nut myself..the goal is too deliver all the passengers and cargo safely on every ride and session you boot the PC, no matter who tries to grease the tracks..if you want to go "train spotting" use another method.

Just don't start collecting logs..unless you understand them as well as the trained fireman.

 

Duh, you're right of course, Topper. Thanks, i have the beta installed and couldn't remember the correct wording in the official release, just that the option is there.

 

Yep, thats it, after the manual scan is finished and as Topper says, it's actually called "Show Statistics".

 

Hey Blue, I read the EULA, and now I'm a little confused (LOL). I thought I had heard from others that BOClean was a ONE-TIME fee (the initial purchase), but now I'm not so sure. Could you (or anyone else) confirm whether it is a one-time or yearly pay model? Thanks...

 

As we are still in version series 4, it's a one time.

 

Thank you, Nancy, guess I should have checked "other sources" a little more first and I then would have known for sure

Oh well, I guess at least others who may be considering the product know for sure now, though, huh?

 

I'm also a little curious how "taxing" these three are on the system resources (resource hog, light, etc.), as well as if anyone has had any "conflicts" with any other software when using one of these apps......

 

Karnac says version 5.0 of BoClean & TDS-4 will be released on the same ecact day

Or was that Mr. Wizard that said that? LOL

Then we will know if we have to pay for the new version for sure.
It sounds like BoClean will charge.

con

 

All,
I am prepared to pay again for version 5 and then pay again several years later for 6, if quality of product and level of service remains as it is, excellent!

I do hope the price will not increase. One should not expect one time fee for ever. Not that any of you were saying that. Just wanted to make the point.

 

When is BOClean 5.0 due to be released, mercurie, and what improvements (if any) or changes have you heard will be forthcoming?

 

Hi i am a licensed user of all these products except TrojanHunter
i did use the trial versions for a while.

BOClean
ewido security suite
TrojanHunter
TDS-3

Near my personal opinion, i can only recommend Ewido, because it finds
a lot of extra malware that are just as serious as Trojans,
and in most cases your AV doesn't find these.

I've been testing and using the others for some years now, and
if you use NOD32 or Kaspersky (am also a licensed user of them)
I noticed that NOD32 and Kaspersky until now, have always found
all trojans that these Anti-Trojan-Specific programs found,
BUT found these faster and found MORE !!!

Boclean have never found a thing, that any AV did not find.
I also am a licensed user of F-Secure and Panda (it is part of my job)
and even these mid-range AV's find more trojans then Boclean did (here).

TDS-3 is one of the oldest AT' there is and it is the best specific AT there is,
but is the most computer resource consuming program i have (in general)
if TDS-3 is running a full scan, go eat your lunch, because your system is
fully taken over by this.
But it sure does find the most AT.
And it has a lot of other features that you might like (test the trial)
But then again, Kaspersky and NOD32 (Anti Virus) find more trojans..
And if you are thinking about buying TDS-3, just wait a few days,
because TDS-4 will be out last January (this is not a typo)
It had some delay, and i am waiting for YEARS for this announced release.

TrojanHunter does what is says, it is a Trojan Specific scanner,
but does not find as much Trojans as TDS-3 does at this moment.

So my personal conclusion, if you have a good AV,
and you would buy all the above, and run them on your system,
i'll guess that you can only find extra malware with Ewido!

But perhaps it is wise too have a look at Process Guard,
which gives you more protection (that is why it was released Before TDS-4)

Or look at Tiny Personal Firewall 2005 Pro, which is (for some VERY) complicated but has all the features that ProcessGuard has,
has the best firewall, has Registry protection and file protection etc. etc.

Further more i do like A2 (or A squared) which has a lot of potential,
but has some problems with False Postives at this moment.
(but perhaps that is no problem for you).

And have a look at REGRUN GOLD and Regdefend

Please take your time, install the trial versions, and test with them,
or even better install a testpc if you can,
and download it with malware (P2P etc.)

and run the progs above, see for your self WHO find WHAT.

There is no good independant Anti Trojan Review website,
like you have virusbtn.com for Anti virus progs.

And in most cases, people that have (1) license of one kind of product,
are always very positive.

Search this forum and try to find info from people that not only give you the PRO's of a product but also the Contra's.

I personnaly don't trust reviews from someone who is only positive on all product from 1 company (get he or she payed for that?)

Look in other forums as well, almost each Anti malware company has/is active in a forum..

Gooed luck

 

Hi,

I can ditto tuatara's conclusions. Pretty much dovetails what I have experienced.

I purchased all of the ATs for redundancy protection/scans at one time or another. But nowadays, I would say a package like KAV (or similar) with PG provides more redundant+extra protection. I would also say WormGuard (or similar) should be thrown in there for script protection - if needed.

Rich

 

I think this is some terrific feedback, tuatara, with some great personal testimony and examples. I agree that most users with a licensed copy are likely going to be more positive in most instances, but I also think it is easier for people to give negative feedback in a lot of instances as well. I'm sure you're familiar with the old saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"! It refers to those complaining the loudest and being heard getting a response, while those with no problems not receiving the same attention because they're not being heard (in other words, satisfied customers usually don't speak out, because the product is doing what they EXPECT it to do). With that in mind, I do think that people are somewhat quick to provide negative feedback in regards to a lot of products, especially if they have PAID for them. At least, that is what I am finding out from frequenting various different forums.

One AT review that I came across which seems to be somewhat independent and give some rather good feedback/review is one from Tech Support Alert, and their findings are not all that different from your's. The top 3 are TDS, TrojanHunter, and ewido (which seem to be your's as well), only the order was a little different. According to their tests, the results were a little different as well, although very, VERY similar.

But I do think that your post provided some really good and helpful hints, and I appreciate you taking the time to respond in such detail.

 

IMO the only anti Trojans worth mentioning are a2, Trojan Hunter, BOclean, TDS-3 and Ewido. I have tried all of them (not all on my machine though) except BOclean and still cannot decide on which to purchase as a backup for NOD32. Here are my quick thoughts…

A2 - I only have the free edition installed on my computer but I overall like the program. For me the interface is too simple, there are no real options to adjust (this may be different in the paid version). Does not update enough, usually weekly it seems. Scan times are fairly long and it has never found anything on my computer, which is no surprising at all based on my habits. I cannot comment on the guard but from what I have heard it is good and runs very lightly. Price is fair at $40, I would say as of right now it is last on my list.

Ewido – I again only have the free edition of this installed on my computer. Not a big fan of the interface but it gets the job done. Frequent updates, pretty much daily from what I have seen which is very good, and has a big sig base. Scan speed is very good for me; the most Ewido has ever found is a tracking cookie, which is good because it tells me it also detects spyware, and if it detects something as minor as a tracking cookie that it probably detects more major spyware as well. Price is very fair at $30, I would say this is number 1 on my list right now, esp. with the new version on the way. Only thing is I never bothered to install the guard during my 14 trial period, which I now regret because I would like to see how it runs on my computer resource wise. But maybe I will be able to trial the new version and install the guard.

TDS-3 – I installed the trial of this on my parents computer. I personally hated the interface and thought it looked extremely dated and it would also be very daunting for a novice user. Daily updates which is great. Very slow scan speeds, which it probably partly due to the fact the computer is slow. Found a few riskware items, no Trojans. Trial does not contain a guard, but from what I have heard it is fairly heavy resource wise. Pretty expensive at $50. I really want to see TDS-4, and if it turns out good it would probably be number 1 on my list, but for now TDS-3 is number 4.

Trojan Hunter – I am currently running the trial version of this on my parents computer. Very nice “windows like” interface with a good deal of options to play with. Have not had it installed long enough to see update frequency. Pretty decent scan speeds, full scan found nothing on their computer. The guard seems good and does not seem to chew up resources even though it is a slow machine. I tested it with their Trojan simulator program and it took about 5 seconds to detect it which makes sense because I guess the guard checks the memory every 10 seconds or so. So far I like this program a lot but the $50 price tag is a bit much, number 2 on my list.

BOclean – Again I have no first hand experience with this but I really like what I have heard about it, which is that it runs silently in the background using very little resources while still offering great protection. The only problem is that I have heard of CPU spiking issues when process guard is present and since I plan to install PG soon this is a problem. The price is ok at $40, but it does not include an on-demand scanner, this is number 3.

Honestly with my habits I would probably be fine with just NOD32 and using A2 and Ewido free as on-demand scanners to check up on it periodically, which is what I am doing now. But I am a security freak and would like to add a real time AT to my setup, but for me it is a very hard choice. Hell if I had the money to throw around I would buy all of these and keep the one that ran the lightest for real time duty and the rest for on-demand scans!

 

Matt_Smi,

Sounds like you and I have had very, VERY similar experiences. Almost "Twighlight Zone" deja-vu type stuff!

I haven't had a chance to check out BOClean either. And I haven't used A2 or TDS, which you have. But I did download a trial version of ewido on my primary PC, and a trial version of TrojanHunter on another machine in my household....just to try both out. Your assessments are spot on, because I can personally attest that everything you encounted and thought, I did as well. The only difference is that I have run ewido in real-time, but it hasn't found or alerted me to anything. The initial scan picked up a few cookies, but the guard (which I do run in real time) has not picked up anything since. TrojanHunter found nothing in it's initial scan on the other machine, or with the guard either. But in all fairness, I had just updated all of my anti-spyware apps on that puter and had ran a scan with Microsoft Anti-Spyware before installing and running a scan with TH (MSAS found nothing either). But I can add this....the TrojanHunter guard used about half the system resources that ewido does in real time. IF (big IF) Trojan Hunter stays as a one time purchase fee, and the renewals for ewido are around the same as they currently are, then within two years there really wouldn't be any difference concerning the price (and in 3 years, would favor TH).

But that's about the only thing that I can add to your very well said post.

 

JRCATES, that’s funny that your experiences reflect mine. And that is a very good point about renewal fees. I totally forgot to take that into account, Ewido is $20 a year which is not bad IMO, but I am defiantly more for one time fees with unlimited updates, and that is something that would influence my final purchase. A2 is also $20 a year, I am pretty sure that TDS-3 and BOclean are one time fees but I have no idea about Trojan Hunter, I could not find out from their website. I will check out their forums, if it is a one time fee than TH is looking good and I may trial it on my machine soon to see how the guard runs. Then again I may also wait until the new version of Ewido is out (which may not be for a long time) so I can compare it to that.

 

all 3 you mentioned are one time fees only

 

Nice thanks for the info, well looks like TH and BOclean are the top two contenders now. I would rather only have to worry about paying for one program annually, which is NOD32. I feel that if I have to pay for my anti Trojan yearly I may not renew it. And the more I think about it I would probably be better off not buying Ewido, since I already have the free version of it adding another AT like TH would give me even more coverage for on-demand scans as I am sure that each finds thing the other may miss, where as if I just bought Ewido I would not get that extra coverage that another different program provides. I need to start researching this BOclean/Process Guard CPU spike issue more now…

 

LOL....again, looks like we are thinking alike . Those are factors in my decision as well.....as well as the ease of use, reliability, etc,. But I am researching all of this....that's why I posted this thread in the first place! I've learned a ton of very helpful and useful information from others already....

Much thanks to everyone for their input and advice

 

JRCATES wrote:

yes, you have a point there, but i only refered to the people that
made ONLY positive remarks about ONE Company.

------

Of course it is important if you have to pay anunually for a prog or not.

But near my personal experience, is that if you have a good AV

Like Kaspersky,NOD32,Sophos or G-data
you will not have much more protection with the AT-only's.
So perhaps you have to try that before you buy.

The Anti-Malware (not AT-only's) like Ewido AND A2 will find more,
but you have to pay for them each year.

If i had to choose 1 annually and 1 one none-anually i think i
choose a good AV and ProcessGuard
and see if there was any money left to buy RegDefend or RegRun Riva Gold

Or wait, since Microsoft is buying Security Software Companies like ...

Now there is a free Firewall, Free Anti-Spyware perhaps, in the near future,
these products will be better, and perhaps they also introduce a Anti Trojan
or Anti Malware prog as well.
This can be expected (or am i the first to say this here?).

 

where did you get that?

i'm 100% sure that either tds, TH or boclean will find as many
all of these could be called anti malware.. whats the difference between trojan s and malware

regarding anti viruses and their abilities to detect trojans:

i dont know hoe experienced you are with trojans but there has been many occasions where a dedicated anti trojan like tds, th, ewido or boclean has saved the day after the av failed to detect a packed/modified/hexed/etc trojan. this includes kaspersky based av's

 

After testing for a couple of years, my personal findings where
that Ewido and A2 find more extra malware (dialers etc) when combined
with a GOOD AV then a AV with a AT-only.

And of course, in some cases your AV-only can find Trojans
that Kaspersky or NOD32 did not find.

But in all the thousends of malware i found on my testsystems
here, and i am sorry to say, was this not the case.
The AV's in most cases found more trojans then the AT-only's.

TDS-3 (on Demand part) however is a different case, this is the ONLY one of them, that did sometimes found Trojans that the AV missed.
Especially BOclean which i am using for years DID NOT IMPRESS ME at all!
But on a Celeron 2.4 Ghz with 512MB intern, a scan can't be done,
while working with the system (so i have to start these before a stop working, and look the other day what was found).


But i am sure that others will have diff. results.

Further more, i recommend my customers a layered defence.

Like TPF2005Pro,NOD32,Anti-Spyware and Registry protection.
These are the products i like best:
Cisco Router
Nod32/Kaspersky/Sophos for AV
Ewido/A2 for Anti Malware
Regrun Riva Gold and Regdefend
Tiny Personal Firewall 2005 Pro (for my customers, they don't have to manage their firewall thereself)
Tiny is a Host protection system which has a firewall process protection Registry protection file protection etc. etc.
ProcessGuard (when not using TPF2005Pro)
SpyBot S & D / Spy Sweeper and Counter Spy. for anti Spyware
Mailwasher Pro for Anti Spam.
Never use Internet Explorer but: FireFox Mozilla or Opera
Not use outlook (any version): but THE BAT, Thunderbird or Mozilla

And use a good backup prog like Acronis True Image

For Encryption..

files: CryptoSuite
Passwords: Password Depot
USB devices etc: Lock'n'Go
Complete folders etc: Deslock Plus