Looking for an on-demand av virus scanner

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by cyberlost24, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    As the title states I am looking for recommendations on a ON-DEMAND only virus scanner....
    The pre-requisites I have are that it runs on XP SP3,and doesn,t need IE to run it...
    I have searched for them,and although there quite a few of them available,before I DL one I want to get honest
    opinions and thoughts from people who have them and use them on a regular basis...
    Thanks...
     
  2. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Avira PC Cleaner
    ESET Online Scanner
     
  3. Brummelchen

    Brummelchen Registered Member

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    no IE - no Windows. Windows its core components are IE (triton engine), what you name IE ist just a GUI.

    btw "malware found: windows xp - quarantined":p

    scnr

    (ESET is a fair choice)
     
  4. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Avira has the best detection on the market, right?
     
  5. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Not quite certain what you are saying here...On some scanner programs they require the IE browser to run the program..(ESET allows other browsers)...which I refuse to use..(IE)
     
  6. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Are these ones that you use,OR are they suggestions for ones you believe are good??

    Hoping to hear from people that are actually using them on a fairly regular online basis,and there thoughts on how they perform....
     
  7. Infected

    Infected Registered Member

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    HerdProtect, HitmanPro, Eset and yes I use them all...Just scanned with Eset online scanner about an hour ago..
     
  8. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    I use these regularly (weekly). Lately I haven't tested ESET Online Scanner on XP (should work), but I ran Avira PC Cleaner on a XP machine few days back.
     
  9. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    I regularly use Emsisoft Emergency Kit, Avira PC Cleaner, Malwarebytes AM and HitmanPro. All of them run great, don't install any services (some of them only temporary drivers when they are run).
    Emsisoft takes long to update but scan speed is quick. You can also configure what to scan
    Avira has quick update and quick scan time. It has only two options: whole system scan or critical areas only.
    Malwarebytes will find any PUPs included in regular installers and Hitmanpro is great for quick scan (I run it before shuting down computer).
    I don't know if all of them will run on Windows XP, though.
     
  10. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    YES...
    System Requirements
    Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000/NT

    Good to know...Have found a fair bit of documentation on the ESET scanner,but have been unable to find very little in regards to Avira,s
    PC Cleaner...ie: does it come with an uninstaller (or do you keep the .exe and run it again and it DL,s new updates)....
     
  11. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the response...Good info..
     
  12. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    With Avira PC cleaner I use a little trick. You download it and let it update and run. It will install in temp folder. Then you plug in USB stick and use "copy to usb device" option form within cleaner. It will copy all necessary files with definitions on usb stick. Then you can copy folder from usb stick on your hdd and create a shortcut to run it from your disk. You can also run uninstall shortcut created during install which will remove installation from temp folder.
     
  13. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    But doesn,t this mean you will using the same updates that were initially applied when you first DL the program,and then say you run it again the following week you still would be using the PAST updates and nothing new since then......OR am I missing something here....
     
  14. Rolo42

    Rolo42 Registered Member

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    VirusTotal Uploader if you aren't trying to scan trees
     
  15. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    No! Next time when you will launch the application, it will start updating newer definitions.
     
  16. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    @cyberlost24
    Another tool you can use: Free eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV)*
    http://www.escanav.com/english/content/products/MWAV/escan_mwav.asp
    I also use this frequently. Like Avira PC Cleaner, its use as an on-demand scanner is a bit tricky.
    1. Download the installer.
    2. Extract its contents using 7Zip to an folder.
    3. Now, whenever you need to scan, go to the folder and execute mexe.com file.

    Note:
    1.If you are under UAC, you will need to execute mexe.com with admin rights. For that open an elevated command prompt, navigate to that folder and execute mexe.com.
    2. eScan is a good AV with Bitdefender engine.
    3. The only problems with this on-demand scanner is that, often it keeps the old definitions as backup, and so the folder uses more space than it should (700-800 Mb).
     
  17. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    No it will update each time you run it as sg09 said. If you scan approx. once a week it will download around 5 MB of definitions data each time.
     
  18. sg09

    sg09 Registered Member

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    Yet another tool that I sometimes use is Sophos Virus Removal Tool.
    https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/virus-removal-tool.aspx
    It installs, downloads updates and then allow you to run scan.
    Next time you launch the program, it again download updates and scan.
    But if new version of the software is released you will have to re-download the program and install.
     
  19. RJK3

    RJK3 Registered Member

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    My personal preferences for monitoring my machines are: Sysinternals Autoruns, Avira PC cleaner, Hitmanpro, and Emsisoft Emergency Kit;

    For cleaning someone else's infected machine: the above, plus MBAM, Adwcleaner, and Rogue Killer plus other tools.


    Portable and self updating

    Avira PC Cleaner
    -http://install.avira-update.com/package/pccleanerwebloader/win32/en/avira_pc_cleaner_en.exe-
    For a portable installation:, you need to use the USB install option, then manually copy Cleaner-launcher.exe and the Avira-PC-Cleaner folder.
    Comments: Updates faster than all others, scan runs quite quickly.
    Cons: Not as effective at PUPs as ADWcleaner/JRT, and in my limited experience hasn't been effective with rootkits.

    HitmanPro

    http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro
    Comments: Very fast scan (~45-60 seconds), quite effective at trojans and rootkits, and makes a good initial scan. It uses intelligent cleanup and repair of compromised system files.

    Emsisoft Emergency Kit

    https://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/ion/cleaning_essentials.php
    Comments: Quite effective on PUPs in conjunction with adwcleaner, scan speeds much improved. Takes ~200mb
    Cons: Updates definitions quite slowly, but they've improved it markedly.

    CCE
    http://www.comodo.com/business-security/network-protect
    Comments: I rarely use, but the copycat tools Autoruns and Killswitch (equivalent of Sysinternals Autoruns and Process Explorer) are useful. Takes ~331mb.
    Cons: Very slow updates, but has been improved. Wants a restart after standard scan has finished.

    aswMBR

    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/aswmbr/
    Comments: Good for rootkits and bootkits (developed by author of gmer)
    Cons: Slow to download or update definitions, slow scan, tendency to bluescreen. Definitions download to temp folders, making it tedious to bring to infected machines.

    HerdProtect
    http://www.herdprotect.com/
    Comments: Reasonable scan speed.
    Cons: No evidence of further development, high number of false positives and often seems to forget about the false positives you tell it to ignore or report.
    Annoyances: It also makes a ridiculous number of 1kb files in the Cache folder, e.g. 8700+ (2.14mb). This doesn't sound like a problem, but it means on a USB flash drive the space on disk can be huge depending on the allocation size. E.g. 2.14mb can mean 1.07gb http://s23.postimg.org/doi05qgu3/herdprotect.png. The other problem is the time it takes to transfer this many files when preparing a USB toolkit, so the cache folder needs to be deleted.


    Portable but need to download new versions for updates:
    Adwcleaner

    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/dl/125/
    Comments: Great program. Decent scan speeds, very effective and comprehensive at finding the usual PUP crud that friends, family and colleagues tend to get. Lets you choose what to remove, needs a restart after cleaning.

    RogueKiller
    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/roguekiller/
    Comments: Great program! Surprisingly effective not just at PUPs, but also general malware and rootkits! It's found things in the past that other scanners missed and that I could otherwise only find by hand.
    Cons: Tendency to bluescreen.

    Junkware Removal Tool

    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/
    Comments/cons: Also good, but no control over what it removes once you start the scan process. I might use this as a follow-up after adwcleaner, but check the logs carefully for false positives.

    Dr Web
    https://www.freedrweb.com/download cureit free/?lng=en
    Comments: Scan speeds aren't great. I haven't really had much use for this in infected machines TBH. It's too inconvenient to have to download the whole program when you want to use it, as the download is slow for me.


    Need to install
    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
    https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/
    Comments: Does this need any introduction? One of the most effective malware scanners and cleaners around, and the go-to tool for most techies. It's the only one worth installing IMO.

    Panda Cloud Cleaner

    http://pandacloudcleaner.pandasecurity.com/facebook/
    Comments: Only used this once or twice. I prefer portable tools. Has decent detections like all Panda products, but also the tendency towards false positives. I don't know how effective it is at cleanup.

    Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool

    http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool?form=1
    Comments: I don't use this for similar reason. Have to install, and other tools are more convenient to use. Some techies like it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2015
  20. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    When it comes to the Wilder's Members' Preferences, here, it is the respective Thread
     
  21. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    BINGO !

    I have that exact same bunch in my " toolbag " ..... I've tried most of the rest , but I always keep coming back to the best .

    I'm a relative newcomer to Avira's products and I have to say .... I am really liking what I see so far .
     
  22. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    Doh ! .... I wrote my post above before I spotted this poll ..... pointy hat for me , big letter "D" on it , corner of the room .... all of that.
     
  23. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Yes, Avira has great products. Real-time and also on-demand.
     
  24. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Okay,now I understand....thanks for the tip and info...appreciated
     
  25. cyberlost24

    cyberlost24 Registered Member

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    Thanks...missed that list completely...
     
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