F-Prot and Spyware/Rootkit

After the interesting results of VirusInfo and availability of F-Prot v6 for Vista I decided it might be perfect for me. Esp. due to its small cost/volume ratio

But happiness was short-lived. I was browsing through F-Prot FAQs when I found this:
http://www.f-prot.com/support/windows/fpwin_faq/13.html

So is F-Prot cheaper because its a pure AV product ??

 

One of the last remaining, I'm sad to say.

While there is a large market for convergence software, I do not like having all of my eggs in one basket. I wouldn't be astonished or bewildered; after all, you're still getting the best licensing price on the planet for a very facile antivirus. It simply frees you to pick your own antispyware program without having to worry about duplication.

 

Sure you might want to roll your own security suite. However I don't want to have to have two blacklist scanners running on an arbritrary distinction virus/spyware. What is the difference between a virus and spyware to a user? We don't want either on our computers. Blacklist scanners should cover both.

F-prot, from memory did detect spyware and did well in an av-test.org test. I dont think it is on by default however so you will have to enable it.

 

As I see it, for non-personal use F-Prot doesn't cut it.
First (say) for 5 users I get the F-Prot AV for $29 and then I need a Anti-Spyware for 5 users. I can't think of any decent Anti-Spyware which would would provide a similar bargain for 5 users.

If you add-up, the cost is larger or equal to AV+AS products which are better integrated and provide integrated scanning for HTTP, Email, IM etc. And are easier to deploy and maintain in enterprise.

 

Duplication? Unless you're using AVG Anti-Virus and AVG AntiSpyware/Ewido, it's not duplication, but layered protection. Just like there's multi-engine AV scanners there should also be multi-engine AS scanners.

 

The new version 6 offers added detection for Spyware/adware but you need to activate this option;

It is done by accessing the Virus Scanners tab, selecting Settings under Advanced and under Other settings check the “Report possible unwanted applications” check box. This will now activate additional protection for spyware/adware.

FPAV may not be the best choice, but it does detect the more "dangerous" spyware.

However, I would not rely solely on ANY AV for spyware/adware detection/removal.

 

Like Blackcat and I have ALREADY pointed out, it does have spyware detection. If you have a look at http://www.virusbtn.com/Session-51dea0513f478cd473d58666e0814403/news/2008/03_13a.xml you will see that F-prot does detect spyware although it is not top tier.

 

It has some spyware detection, not all. And I say this based on F-Prot itself.
Please look at my opening post, the link and text quote show F-Prot Support page (http://www.f-prot.com/support/windows/fpwin_faq/13.html), which clearly mentions that they don't detect many Spyware, Keyloggers and Rootkits. And advice user to buy secondary products like WebSweeper,Ad-Aware to do the job.

Hence the thread....

 

An advanced user of F-Prot would likely choose options other than those two.

 

Personally if might choose SAS, but as I stated F-Prot support recommends:

* Spybot Search & Destroy
* Ad-aware
* Spy Sweeper
* SpywareBlaster

Hmm.... Food for thought

 

Pretty outdated or bloated tools.

 

I have read the FAQ. It says that it does detect a subset of 'spyware' which includes keyloggers and rootkits. It isn't a marketing statement that was designed to make outlandish statements about how great their spyware detection is but rather to state exactly their position and to make clear what they consider is malware.

All that says to me is that it will cover any kind of spyware that is harmful to your computer but not things like commericial keyloggers, non-harmful and easily removable adware, tracking cookies etc.

The table on http://www.virusbtn.com/Session-51dea0513f478cd473d58666e0814403/news/2008/03_13a.xml shows that it detected 92% of spyware, which is actually the same percentage as KAV.

If you are worried about harmful malware, F-Prot will do fine. If you are worried about ancilliary 'spyware' such as tracking cookies, then download the free versions of MBAM or SAS and you will be fine.

 

Thanks, huangker.

That was just the info, I was looking for. F-Prot is really a steal incase of mass deployment. I think I'll trial it and then decide.

Thanks!!