A-Squared Anti-Malware... any informed opinions or reviews

Im trying out A2 alongside my SAS (which has 36 days to go before it runs out).

Any informed opinions about A2, how it compares against SAS, strengthe, weaknesses etc.

Many thanks,

C

 

a-squared is said to be a very thorough and effective antispyware program. There are a few occasional false positives however. Careful not to ask for comparisons as there are policies in place here at Wilders that forbid any type of this verses that threads. SAS is however, very hard to beat because of its price and its own effectiveness.









ThePheonix always rises.

 

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=210039

IME a-squared does have excellent detection/removal characteristics, but it also has some FP's that go along with it. Frequent definition updates and fast scan times are a plus.

Are you trialing SAS, or did you elect not to purchase the lifetime updates for a few bucks more?

 

I purchased it - but did not even know I could have had the lifetime license for a few £ more!

I like SAS, but notice that it never ranks very high in tests (and if anyone says "you cant go by tests" I will scream). I think it is probably top notch at detecting the real hard to root out nasties and may well detect things others wont, but it seems it does not have a database / signature base as big as some others. I may renew the SAS license (lifetime this time!) and get A2.

I run F-Secure with it set to find malware as well so I should be okay.

 

Have you thought of using Mamutu which is the IDS part of a-squared along with SAS? I feel this combination along with something like Comodo Firewall Pro or Online Armor would offer more than enough protection, and also be very light on resources.









The Pheonix always rises.

 

Hi Phoenix.

Not really as I want the added scanning / detection benefit of A2 to serve as a level of redundancy.

Im running them both as we speak and my system seems as quick as ever.

I know its probably complete overkill and F-Secure is probably enough, but I remember having faith in an old AV and then someone showing me on here how a repacked trojan could evade my AV. I want layered security so if someone targets me, I have the best chance of being safe.

 

That is not true. The thugs, otherwise known as moderators, have only restricted the use of versus threads only in the other-av forum.

 

I noticed that too, and also share your sentiments about wanting to scream when people say you can't go by tests. A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest. I think Paul Simon said that.

My experiences with a-squared AntiMalware in the past have involved an annoying degree of false positives. Maybe that's the other price you pay for software after you fork over the dollars.

 

Same here.

 

I use the free version as an on demand scanner on four different machines and have had very few FPs even on a deep scan of the entire drives.

 

I liked A2's antimalware, they were giving away a free year's license back in march and I jumped on it and used it alongside SAS pro. That being said, I've since uninstalled it, as it requires an admin account to work, at least on Vista x64.