PC Tools AV(Free&Pro) Update To New-Version!

From PC Tools Forum:

What's new in PC Tools AntiVirus 6 ?

Better protection, better scanner, less impact
Our focus for PC Tools AntiVirus 6 was to provide enhancements in protection, detection and scanning.

This has been achieved through the introduction of next generation sliding signatures, specifically designed to better cater for the significant numbers of threat variants in the wild. PC Tools' next-gen sliding signatures have also delivered performance improvements to scan time and system impact with a further reduced memory footprint and overall system impact during scanning.

Detection and Removal of MBR
PC Tools AntiVirus 6 has advanced functionality for detection and removal of boot sector viruses that infect Master Boot Record (MBR).
Link

 

Note that setup file has now swelled to 43mb.........looks like good release.....will try later this evening....

 

Hm, "sliding signatures". Never heard of that kind of signatures.
I guess i'll have to ask guys at PCTools but i think they meant something like generic signatures.

 

'Sliding signatures'... but still only 'prompt' for updates.

 

You could be on the right track.

*Sliding signatures are a PC Tools technology with the ability to detect threats known to frequently modify or morph. They are designed to find the common patterns within these types of deceptive morphing threats and promptly alert Spyware Doctor.

Look out! "Polymorphic Sheep" may well be on their hit-list.

 

Thanks for the heads up Legend. I always liked how lite this program was. Hopefully is detection is moving in the right direction.

 

The installer includes a trial of Registry Mechanic. Probably explains the growth.

 

a trial for registry mechanic...........strange...

 

Genuinely curious, why "strange"?

It also purportedly includes full AV database and Google Toolbar.

 

Is this still a virus buster engine av?

 

That's what it was developed from but it's almost unrecognizeable as such now.

 

no google toolbar.

 

Curious? http://www.pctools.com/forum/showpost.php?p=202413&postcount=2

 

I am 95% certain I did not get an options for google toolbar. I remember getting on for Reg Mech though.

 

Yeah, I just tried it on a machine that once had a previous version of PC Tools AV, and I didn't get a Google prompt either.

 

what do you think about this release. is it stable? how effective is it ?

 

No they have moved over to Ikarus. Now they are saying that they will develop it themselves so with time the difference between their engine and Ikarus will grow.

I trust them as EICAR already gives different detections.

It is very very slow (not sure if Threatfire is the culprit).

 

That's funny, I don't find it slow at all, in fact this version is very mild on resources, for the first time, at least on my rig(s)


Cheers

 

Runs light here, along OSS with OnAcess disabled.

Maybe a problem with MBAM. Not shure about it yet.

Still no HTTP scanner

Thanks. Do you know if they use Ikarus signatures too? Found one false positive, not detected by Ikarus at VT.

 

IKarus! That's a surprise. A Symantec subsidiary outsoucing an Austrian AV engine??

Can you be more specific as to the details of this arrangement?

 

Yea, I don't remember hearing that they switched from virus buster to Ikarus. I thought maybe they might incorporate some stuff from Symantec.

 

My personal experience with this Antivirus software has been rather negative. It didn't do a good job in preventing trojan infections on my virtual machine I tested it on. I'm not saying draw all your conclusions on a virtual machine test, but it was a little unnerving to see 2 out of every 3 viruses get through.

Normally I would be Ok with this if the company was making bold moves to improve it's detection database and technologies (Comodo comes to mind). However the money maker for PC Tools is their Spyware Doctor signatures which they are purposely leaving out of PC Tools AV. In the end they are artificially crippling the program.

I'm not blaming PC Tools for anything, because I understand they are in the business to make money (And they do give away many free products). However when you have offerings with both AVG and Avast that include a wide range of malware detection capabilities, I just don't see PC Tools AV being a good value...even for free.

 

RAM comparison when scanning on-demand:

Ikarus 'guardxservice.exe' 73MB

PC Tools 'PCTAVSvc.exe' 22MB (and about 1/10 the CPU cycles of Ikarus)

 

@drkoopz
One of the brightest PCTools Antivirus points is the fact that you can also use it in commercial enviroments where avast!, AVG and Antivir are not allowed. For free of course. Not much of a choice there. Basically only PCTools and Comodo.

 

I think I recall something stating that they would work independently even though PC tools was bought by Symantec.