VirusInfo Testing: July 2008

Well the Defender looks good to me already.

 

1. You dont know they will win the tests- you can assert that but it means nothing until empirical testing is done.

2. Your analogy is flawed. A car with problems is fixed by the original manufacturer under the warranty and they can be held liable for damages to your and others property if the car caused it. Microsoft issues patches, but if your system was wiped out by malware admitted by a leaky Microsoft OS, they don't stand liable, don't cover costs, and then you blame your AV.

 

Are you giving up Avira and switching to One Care?

 

Actually, its probably less conspiracy and more not wanting to be slapped with another antitrust lawsuit

Seriously. If they were to incorporate OneCare into the Windows Product, don't you think the Symantecs, Trends, etc. of the world would sue? Hell, look at the grumbling when Vista first came out over PatchGuard and other kernel protections.

Also, I believe it does have heuristics (there is an option to look for virus-like behavior in the app) - How good they are, I dunno. The only thing I'd love to see is an app vulnerability check like Secunia's PSI and KIS. Something like that could be included in the "Other Software" option of Windows Update and would probably make a big difference in personal PC security.

 

They don't need another netscape vs IE 'pre-bundle' episode in the media again so OneCare will remain separate from OS.

But I'm wondering how well their new service, Microsoft Equipt, will go bundling office and onecare into a flat rate fee?

It works out at around $6 per month, includes all new updates, and can be used on three home computers. Could be a worry to other AV companies? Couple of articles discussing it here and here.

 

Never, thats sacrilegious.

I have added Defender to the PCs I have with free Avira for AS protection and HIPS, for my main PC its Avira premium only and nothing else.

 

I read something about it where this is actually a decent deal for users (cheaper than buying an AV and Office version at full price), and it gives Microsoft a recurring revenue source. Since its not bundling with the OS, the package is no different than what Symantec does with NIS and SystemWorks, etc. Not much the AV companies can do about it I think.

Do I think its a big worry for them? Probably not - There will be plenty of people getting this purely for the Office subscription.

 

Well, that's what I heard too.
For now, MSAV is concentrating on detection its seems. But their cleaning ability is REALLY BAD !!
But as you say its only time ..... Micro-Sloth may be slow, but its one hell-of-a juggernaut ...

By the way, if I remember RAV actually had pretty good heuristics. Guess, MS is sitting on it for the moment

 

Interesting - I thought I remembered seeing the opposite actually on one of the AV-Test papers: OC found a little less than some others, but for the ones it found it cleaned well.

The reason I wonder about their heuristics is this: While their signature detection seems to be really good in these tests, they were given an F in March for their response times to new threats (the Sunbelt Software analysis). If that's still the case, I'd have expected to see SOMETHING for heuristic detection if it worked well.

 

This test is completely based on Virustotal results therefore I cannot consider it reliable.

 

I agree, using VT is not same as a testbed. But if co-relate with AV-Test or AV-Comparitive results, you can make some good deductions.

Like MS OC did pretty well in AV-Comparative May'08 and in VirusInfo. So I guess, its vindication that MS OC is improving on detection.

And the cleaning remark, it due to my own personal experience. My pal with MS OC got infected with Spyware & Trojan. OC detected it, but hanged on cleaning. Finally DrWeb CureIT and SDAV removed the critter !! This happened about a month back ...

 

I do not buy those kinds of cars. Do you?

Before I traded in my last 4 cars, they all had much more than 200k miles on them, & all I ever did was change oil, filter, tires, & timing belts.

 

let me put it another way my friend.

Why would any company offer a warranty if their product was made flawless to begin with. Microsoft is no different. Their AV is their warranty for what might go wrong. Like it or not, it is a reality. One of which, they are getting good at. Just think what they could do, if they put the same energy into making their main product. lol

 

Warranty is there mostly for the consumer not for the company anything that is a serious flaw or a hurt design is covered by a recall or a update. same thing goes with software. you cant control the IQ of the person using the computer. and 90% of the time when something gets screwed up its the fault of the user clicking something he should not of in the first place. not the company's product. this is not 3rd grade you don't have someone siting over your shoulder going bad boy.

people seriously need to a take a course how not to click Yes. and learn wtf they are doing and quit blameing the software companys for there own mustakes.

People complain all the time about these products are to "shiney or bloated" ever think maybe they do this so people would pay attention to the popup's or watch what they are doing. people complain all the time they dont want bloat or anything to bloat there system but most of the time those are the people I see here complaining they got infected by XYZ that could of been stoped with a Annoying Bloat layer of XYZ software package.