PCMag reviews A2 AntiMalware 4.0

PCMag has reviewed EMSIsoft's A-Squared Anti-Malware 4.0.

Looks like A2 was plagued with malware cleanup woos and FPs.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2334419,00.asp

 

"You can get better protection for the same price with Webroot or Spyware Doctor" - In every test I have seen, A2 beats every AM and AV, whereas all other "malware scanners" catch only a tiny fraction of samples.

True A2 suffers with FPs - generated by the Ikarus engine - but these are greatly reduced now. I tested it through beta stage and had about 12 FPs when scanning my system, but now I have none as they are gradually sorting them out through user feedback.

A2 may not be suited to the novice at the moment, but nothing touches it for its ability to detect and block obscure / modified or running malware.

 

I personally tend to question the results of such reviews posted by major magazines. I'd hate to sound like some guy wearing his tin-foil hat but I do often find these reviews recommending products from closer to home

They do provide some food for thought true, and some general info about the product in question.

Mind you, I do treat local printed media with same distrust, as it often seems F-Secure receives good word from reviews - Finnish magazines, Finnish company ... you do the math

 

The high false positive rate may be true, still I don't think that the product deserved 2/5. It's just impossible to get a decent rating if it's not Spyware Doctor or Symantec, on Pc Mag.

 

Regarding the review, more serious then the false positives was the quarantining of Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, etc. As Neil pointed out, the average user is not going to know why the taskbar has disappeared or how to recover it. Incorrectly identifying and mishandling critical Windows applications and processes is unacceptable IMHO.

 

I have never had it do this, nor had any reports of it ever having done this for anyone else. Sounds somewhat odd to me....

 

It happens many times, It happened to me...
See Remove-Malware.com, video review of A-Squared 4.0 available on www.youtube.com/mrizos

He too had the same issue. Plus Although A2 stated as detecting infection, its cleanup was not so effective. Leaving many malware still active, which was later caught with SAS. ( you can find the log from remove-malware.com ).

In all A2-Antimalware in my experience is a good 2nd scanner, but not yet mature to be no.1.

 

All I can say is I have never come accross this or ever heard about it. All the tests I have seen put it at No1, with a detection rate of over 99% - higher than Avira and the usual suspects and many times better than the AMs most people think of as being top notch.

 

Just found this test - new today - of free AM software. Again A2 is No. 1
http://ssupdater.com/modules/Forums/index.php?showtopic=3938

 

This site is POS and their tests are completely worthless, end of story.

 

Really? How are the tests worthless? please explain.

 

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=223873&highlight=SSUpdater

But please let's not discuss this again.

 

A program may have a 99% detection rate, but if it does a real poor job in actually cleaning-up an infected system, then in my book the program is bad.

Also when Emsi Software itself explains the following:

Although I don't totally disagree with such a philosophy, but if I were to read such a philosophy then I wouldn't buy the program anymore. I expect that when an anti-malware program detects something, that it should also be able to remove it.

I know that PC Mag reviews aren't popular here at Wilders, but I think this review should make you wonder about a company like Emsi Software.

 

agree 100% take for instant avira's example in a clean pc envioroment it is a virus killer but try to install it in a badly infected system and you will see bad results and surprise so the way to go is proactive

 

EMSIsoft was practically giving away A2 AntiMalware/Mamutu for free on a couple of web pages such as GOTD this year. The offer was good for two or three days straight. I would have thought they would be able to deliver a more polished product.

I would definitely give them an A for the eye candy and the neat Trojan spinning around while my hard drive slows down to a crawl.

I have three months left until my Mamutu license expires. I'm not sure if I would pay 30 bucks to renew. Do they offer cheaper discounts for previous accounts?

 

I'm pretty sure they do -- 30% as I recall (but I have a poor memory). To be sure, ask this question over THERE.

Also, there's a 20% discount for *anybody* at RegNow (very reputable outfit).

 

I paid $26.95 for another license for Antivir Premium on my Vista laptop earlier today. I will just have to wait and see if it is worth the extra money when the Mamutu license expires! Thanks for the links though.

I still have a couple of free licenses for A2 AntiMalware. I can turn off the real-time scanner and just use the Malware - IDS component?