Av-comparatives April results

Tsast42 "Chromebox leaves you in pretty much the same position of having unknown malware on your system sitting dormant."
Chromebox only arrived on the market today, and you know this about it how ?

 

Because any system that allows saving email attachments to physical media is susceptible to the same storage of malware within those files.

 

I repeat, you know this how ? Provide a link that tells of a breach in the security of the Chrome OS, any link will do. Betcha can't ?

 

Logic.

Nor do I need to as I have not suggested a breach in the security of the Chrome OS. It is a statement of the obvious that where an email attachment containing malware can be saved, malware can be saved. A secure OS doesn't automatically obliterate all potentially malicious code it is just immune to it. And as long as such malware is inert on ChromeOS it isn't a threat to that system. It is still on the other hand a potential threat to others were you to forward it.

 

After following this thread with interest over the past days:

A: Possibly the best support I have yet to see.

B: I though I was a patient man but Ye Gods, I would have lost it some time ago with a certain person.

C: It's just reinforced my opinion that WSA is well worth using, & if things go wrong i know where to come!

 

As you rightly say, the Chromebook is new, but given time and more exposure I'm sure the malware authors will find ways to target that OS. After all, Macs were also said to be immune to viruses until recently.

 

TonyW "As you rightly say, the Chromebook is new, but given time and more exposure I'm sure the malware authors will find ways to target that OS."
Chromebox is new, Chromebook is not, and the OS which keeps them both safe from harm is positively ancient in computer years.

 

Hear, hear!

 

For some reason I thought you said Chromebook. My apologies. In any case, I think my point still stands that the popularity of an OS will determine how much it gets targeted. Only time will tell.

 

All of you guys whining about tests and having an 86% are aware nothing will detect 100% of everything?

 

I think most of us are aware of that and is why many use layered approaches to security. Having said that, Webroot [and other vendors] will strive to achieve the highest results possible.

 

Not sure if you were one of the whiners as I didnt read the whole thread, but if many of the users are aware of that then why are they throwing such a little tantrum?

 

PrevxHelp has conceded the April results were not as good as they'd have liked and investigations have taken place to find the cause. The following post from this thread explains they've found some answers. Making changes to rulesets and system logic takes time to get it right for everyone and to perform better in future tests.

 

It's OK that their honest but in the end Webroot failed the AV test and has let some nasty things into my system. 86% is pretty poor if you ask me, it's bordering on being worthless as a AV tool when others get 98% which is what you should aim for.

I know Webroot is designed with the goal of being lightweight and low on system resources but I think the best AV products need a HIPS element & features. For the sake of a better product I'd take the performance hit, but I doubt they will go in that direction.

The firewall is poor IMHO, not enough features like blocking port scanning, port knocking & being able to block ICMP ping of death. No dns poisoning protection or spoofing protection, no disable java, active x or flash option. No 2 way firewall which is pretty poor, All ports open by default, it needs a stealth mode like Comodo. They are just some features I'd like implemented, if they don't I will move on I think if it doesn't improve.

 

WSA has HIPS based in its core and can be configured to show you prompts if you like. The firewall can be configured as much as you like as well, but the Windows firewall does a perfect job at inbound protection - there is nothing any other vendor could do on top of it besides duplicate effort.

 

Hmmm I will take a further look but I still don't see lookup DNS queries & ICMP blocking option.

 

Hello No_script,

Several of us WSA users are running more "robust" firewalls along with WSA. I have found that Privatefirewall and WSA work GREAT together ; others are having good luck running Look-n-Stop together with WSA.

IMHO, many security suites (Kaspersky is an exception) don't include great firewalls in their suites. I happen to think that WSA's firewall isn't bad; it just needs a little "shoring-up" as we say down here in Texas.

Just my $.02 worth...

 

Nothing wrong with WSA's firewall. They are now like the ONLY security vendor that's finally being honest enough to admit that you don't need to keep replacing things that Microsoft has done right in the first place.

You don't see inbound stuff because it has NONE.

Inbound is Windows Firewall.
Outbound is Webroot SecureAnywhere.

Combined, you have full protection.

Learn how the product works before you bash it please.

 

There seem to be three things that this fella doesn’t understand that even I who am pretty computer-ignorant and computer-dumb have cottoned on to some time ago:

1. WSA insists strongly that Win 7 Inbound Firewall cannot be improved on
2. Prevx/WSA has always been fundamentally HIPS based (at least that’s what I’ve rightly or wrongly understood ever since I moved to Prevx in 2006 )
3. When Prevx/WSA is combined with another AV product (and this is one of the reasons why it is about the only AV product on the market that WILL coexist with other AVs), if the other product finds the malware, Prevx/WSA will remain quiet, giving the totally false impression to those that haven’t taken the trouble to understand the product that Prevx/WSA missed the baddie.
   
4. Oh yes, and another thing, if you ever get a baddie their programme can’t get rid of (given my experience—see below—I sometimes ask myself, has this ever happened??), WSA/Prevx guarantee to remotely take control of your computer, and get rid of it completely free of charge!! (Btw this also shows how much confidence they have in their product)

Also harking back to Music4Ever’s post, reaction times and helpfulness of advice at Prevx’s support seem to be equally good as here on Wilder’s, if that be possible… In the past, I have found that I have had to wait an average of a mere 1½ hours for a response from them!!!! How's that for speed!? Webroot are unfortunately not yet quite so nifty, but then maybe they are having teething problems getting WSA up to par, designing the Prevx->WSA migration tool etc etc. With the active encouragement of Joe and once they clear their backlog, I’m sure they’ll get there.

Regarding AV tests, I used to have an AV programme that shall remain nameless but let us say has a name that starts sometimes with S sometimes with N, and gave me no end of problems. Trouble is, it always seemed to top the AV test charts and computer magazine reviews. Since changing to Prevx/WSA (in 2006), I can honestly say that I’ve had a trouble-free time.

Our friend, although he clearly seems to know far more about computers than I do, also seems to have had much worse luck than me, despite apparently only having installed WSA a matter of weeks ago. I would be curious to know how this is…

 

You do realize that Webroot is designed to work alongside Windows Firewall. Webroot's firewall provides only one way protection.

 

As has been said elsewhere, the firewall in WSA isn't like other software firewalls. It is what is termed a "firewall extender"; it adds outbound protection to the inbound that Windows firewall already provides. The two can work well together, but some users have said [see post #171] that other software firewalls can be used in conjunction with WSA. Obviously, the Windows firewall would be disabled in that instance.

 

'm tired of beating a dead horse but you have yet to prove Webroot let anything in. The few logs you provided showed nothing. You claim "I know it was there but can't remember the name...etc" Keep banging your drum while I try to find my harmonica...sheesh...

 

In my opinion Webroot needs to improve their product. If they want to stand out from the crowd it must be better than this stuff their putting out.

 

Yes, you made your point. You are not happy with WSA. Good, but now please stop posting 'no-sense' and leave this thread in peace

 

~Off topic comment removed~ You have 0 to offer. I payed good money for this I want to see better security features enabled so it actually does what it is supposed to do.