Emsisoft A-Squared Free

I have for a long time used A-Squared Free as a manual infection sweeper and loved it. My real time online protection is AVG9 and Comodo Firewall Pro with Defense Plus, it works perfect. I also use Sandboxie which is about the best security you can get. You lock `em in the sandbox and there they stay, nowhere to go.

A-Squared Free has now been integrated with A-squared Anti-Malware which is a real time online program.
I do not want conflicts with my AV program. I used A-square Free very often as a manual sweeper and it was impressive, I liked it very much, but I do not either need or want yet another real time program.

Having been conned into installing A-Squared Anti-Malware and finding it is not what I want, I uninstalled every trace of it and re-installed A-Squared Free. Guess what ? When I tried to update it, I got a panel up giving me no option but to go for a 3 day trial or to register and have a 30 day trial of A-Squared Anti-Malware.

Well, I can do without Nagware and certainly can do without something I do not want. So, Emsisoft, you go on your chosen path and I will go on mine by resorting back to MalwareBytes that takes a fraction of the time to update than Emsisoft and does just as good a job.

One of the main irritations of A-squared Free was the time taken to update - I could feel myself getting older by the minute.

I fully understand the business economics of integrating a Freebie with a pay program. It tries to induce users to pay for something that is otherwise Free. The result is Nagware and updating problems. Comodo did just that with their Firewall and CIS-v4. Well OK they try their best to coax users into a "purchase" syndrome and that is commercial practice, but users are not that gullible and find an alternative.

John B
Bull

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

What you need is the new Emsisoft Emergency kit,their new portable product.

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

I had the exact same experience with A-Squared free yesterday; no option to update it, only the nag screen.
So like you, I uninstalled and kept Malwarebytes free as my only installed malware scanner.

It's really too bad top-of-the-line freeware applications such as Avira and now A-Squared are no longer designed for use; only promotion and migration to the paid alternatives.

Oh well; at least SOME quality nag-free alternatives still exist.
Who knows about this time next year.

 

When I got that nag screen on A-Squared Free, I switched to Emsisoft Emergency Kit. I then uninstalled A-Squared Free.

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

How does this get updated for latest definitions?

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

When you open the Emsisoft Emergency Kit Scanner (It is basically A-Squared Free.) you are asked if you want to update it. You can also update the Emergency Kit Scanner in the same way as you did A-Squared Free. The updated signatures are stored in the "Signatures" folder which is in the "Run" folder.

Be sure to "check" the 'don't show again' box of the Registration Nag Screen.

The exe to open the Emsisoft Emergency Kit Scanner is named "a2emergencykit.exe" and is located inside the Run folder.

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

Okay and thanks! I did have A-Squared Free for a while but the updates used to be quite large!

 

Re: Emsisoft A-Sqauered Free

It's the worst nagware I've seen in a long time (version 5 "free").. Bloated too.

 

Why bloated?
IMO it's very very good

 

OMG just learn to read! You can download the new Anti-Malware, register it and choose the FREEWARE license OR just download the portable Emergency Kit.

 

Care to take a screenshot? Do you know how much stuff it installs, in regards to processes/services?

There's no point for this program IMO since Hitman Pro and VirusTotal includes it.

 

Yeah sure, no point to install any antivirus because we have virustotal, anubis and threatfire.

 

Looks like you can't answer my questions.

 

Thank you Emsi for making the EmergencyKit available, it is ideal as a lightweight on-demand scanner, and is a better solution for quick on-demand scans than using the full-featured Emsi Anti-Malware. That they would make this available for free earns them a lot of good will from me, and I will be a paying customer soon, which a nag screen definitely wouldn't get them, quite the opposite. Of course, the fact that they make some of the best-rated security software matters, too.

 

I don't want to answer your questions. I want to help John Bull and the others to solve their problem. They want free a-squared and i told them how to get it. No need to bash a product because you think it's unnecessary.

 

Emsi A-M is full-featured security, which includes a BB, which I think may be the same as their Mamutu. For light weight o-d scans, use the new EmergencyKit. Or if you just don't like those choices for some reason, don't use them at all, and you won't have anything to complain about. But I didn't see the nagware you did.

 

Why do they advertise it as the free version then?

 

Didn't they change the name to "Emergency Kit", anyways what if they call it free, doesn't everyone do that

 

All these posts are exceptionally good. Some do and some don`t. Well that`s what life is all about, a wonderland of opinions and choice.

My own view after a long time using A-squared Free without a hitch or any Nagware in sight AND on reading all your kind and informative posts is :-

1. With AVG9, Comodo Firewall Pro and Defense + and other reputable Freebie sweeper programs off line, I no longer need this newly applied hassle and registration mandate, regardless of their tweak to get it "Free".

2. Add to that SANDBOXIE and Emsisoft becomes totally redundant. it has been erased from my computer.

My computer is as clean as a Surgeons scalpel.

John B

 

I think that's the easiest way

 

What never gets mentioned much is Hijackfree which comes as part of the Emergency Kit and AM (Emsi Free too?).It's a great aid to malware removal IMO.

 

That's what I did and it only runs 1 very small service in free mode!

TH

 

Greetings folks. I am interested if anyone has noticed that the option to use the freeware license is merely a method to bypass the 30 or 33 day trial period, going straight for the limited freeware copy and not some shortcut to get on with using another free version of what we all knew as a² free.

I had a² free installed until last Friday...had it for years. When I updated it on Friday, to my surprise, I found the antimalware had installed and during the installation it advised me to uninstall the a² free version. It also stated in one of the following steps that I could keep it if I wanted but it was useless to scan with.

As per the very words on the Emsisoft download page:

...I take that to mean the same thing that was presented to me during the installation of the a² Free version Friday update...that it was ok to keep but worthless to scan with beyond that date. Why would anyone want that?

Certainly, the programs database would include an awful lot of signatures that would allow you to detect during a scan and you can still clean those off of your system using that free version...but why wouldn't you want to use almost ANYTHING else that is current? Huh? If anyone here does have more information about this version and it's ability to keep a user's system clean beyond the 23rd of July then please keep me posted. If you can prove that, please do so as I would love to continue using this free product, but not one that is out dated. Thanks!

 

I uninstalled A-square Free, mainly because its integration into A-squared Anti-Malware turned it into a bloated monstrosity, replete with nag screens & agonizingly slow updates.

If Emsisoft thinks that trying to force-feed me bloatware is the way to get me to buy their product, they are sadly mistaken.

 

Bellgamin, not sure why you are having the trouble with Emsi A-M. I had it installed for a month, and then it became the O-D version no problem. And you do know you can just replace it with EmergencyKit? That's what I did yesterday, and it seems to work without a hitch.