PC Tools AntiVirus Free 7.0.0.545

I can't believe it

 

I may be wrong but in my XP machine it says it needs administrator rights to update. Correction it seems that it did update the defs. by itself as it now states last update 1 hour ago and the machine has been in limited user the whole time, however SmartUpdates requires admin rights, that's not quite as bad as my first impression.

 

View History:

12:06 Smart Update
18:06 Smart Update

It tries to update every 6 hours? Please give me details of your event history

Edit: It's really hard to find the right update button

 

under advanced settings what will ticking (Enable kernel compatibly mode) do?

 

Oh no, cookie shield is greyed out. with a stripped down database

Your better off with avast, it's got all the needed shield and avast doesn't strip down there database (you can get threatfire if need)

 

I think this isn't true any more ...

 

They use norton database now

 

HAHA! I can imagine what the basher-response will be to this one.

 

Some clarifications.

I'm not sure that "Totally sucks" is a technically sound appraisal of previous versions of PC Tools AV but "Antivirus Free 7.0.0.545" is a completely different product. At its core is 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus'.

All Spyware Doctor versions and its derivatives, including "Antivirus Free 7.0.0.545", have used full Symantec database since v.7. It's not new anymore.

All Spyware Doctor versions and its derivatives, including "Antivirus Free 7.0.0.545", update automatically with Windows XP as "User" but manual update requires "Administrator". Change the setting to update automatically (silently) to be sure.

 

One question...Are you from PC Tools?

 

Not exactly.....he's a volunteer from the PC Tools official forum. He is well-versed with the software and (AFAIK) is very helpful with users' problems at that forum.

PC_Pete, it's very nice to see you here - I do hope you stick around!

 

It's not Norton database.
I've tested it and Norton catches what PCTools doesn't , and what PCT catches Norton doesn't (they are all FP's)
So, PCT sucks

 

Have you tested with new malwares? May be Norton is giving the database at a later time.

 

No, just the files I have on my hard drive (full scan with both).

But anyway, let's face the facts here ... why would Norton give their database to free for all product ??
I can't find a good reason.

 

Why would Avira, Avast, AVG or Panda give you their database for free? Because they want to sell the AV Pro and the Internet Security. If you compare Symantec and PC Tools at AV-C you will notice very similar results.

 

Well, maybe because their product is free
If norton has product out there which is the same as their AV , why would they sell it then ?
They can in that case just ship AV for free (because they want to sell their better products )

It's simple, you have free products and you have paid products.
Choise is down to user.

 

I think that Symantec and PC Tools "internally" share databases - that is, the detections/definitions are available to both labs, but the actual addition to the product database files is done separately by the staff of both companies. This is just a theory though.....it may be true considering that the database formats and certain detections (heuristic, FP etc.) seem different between products of the two companies.

 

No. I'm not from PC Tools - but I am in the same city as someone who is and who knows "stuff" about their products.

Glad to be helpful if/when I can.
Pete

 

Why does it scan all the time even If I delete all scheduled scans?

 

I was under the impression that the only antivirus PC TOOLS has is the free one now .? So they still have the paid version then . Because all the features are not available in the free version . I wish they would get it straight .

 

I don't know. Not happening here (see attachment).
I edited the default schedule, top line is the report from a scheduled 'intelli-scan' yesterday.
Maybe if you delete all listed scans a default schedule is invoked.
Try setting a 'one time only' scan and see what happens.

 

I see

However, I'm going to uninstall PC Tools AV. Maybe someone can find out how to remove the ads - then I will try it again

 

Easiest just to forget about PCTAV 3,4,5 & 6 altogether. There is no longer any paid version or any free version of these.

There is now:

an apparently free-for-all-users version of 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus' called 'PC Tools AntiVirus Free' (currently v.7.0.0.545) with 'File Guard', 'Immunizer Guard', 'Email Guard' and 'Browser Defender' only,

a free-for-non-commercial-use version of 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus' available in some language groups via 'Google Pack' called (comparatively straightforwardly) 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus - Starter Edition' (currently v.7.0.0.545) with (from memory) 'File Guard' and 'Immunizer Guard' only,

a paid version of 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus' (currently v.7.0.0.545),

and, a paid version of 'Spyware Doctor with Antivirus' with added firewall and spam control called "PC Tools Internet Security'.

There is also 'Security for Netbooks' which I know very little about and think it might just disappear due to lack of interest and/or lack of a trial version.

 

In my eyes that business model totally sucks (just like the product itself, but flame me if you want to).
There are numerously free versions, which are all extremely crippled down. With like only three of the I don't know how many shields the pro version has. It might share signatures with Norton (which ain't true I think, probably also just a crippled down signature pack), but the free version is a total no go (it doesn't has any proactive defense, just signatures), with much better alternatives available (MSE, Panda Cloud, AVG, avast! and Avira).

 

I think PCTAV now uses Norton's AV engine. I saw the files naveng32.dll and navex32a.dll in the PC Tools "avdb" folder! That's actually some pretty good news if it's true.....