Avast & Spyware Terminator - Job Wants To Use - I Think There Are Better

A company I'm working for as a tech wants to install for customers if they don't have any protection, Avast and Spyware Terminator.

Now personally with my own experience Spyware Terminator has let me down and SuperAntiSpyware picked up the pieces and blew it away, so I don't think highly of Spyware Terminator. But then recently I had Malwarebytes' out perform SuperAntiSpyware, but not by much. So for me if I'm going to give anyone spyware/maware programs it's going to be SAS and MBs' over Spyware Terminator.

Also as far as AVs go I personally think Avira's free av a better app then Avast, which is also proven many times to have better detection ratings on AV-Comparative...

So what you think guys, should I tell the manager what I'm saying here?

Tell'em you need to use Avira and SAS and MBs instead?

Or just keep my big mouth shut and let the company do what they want?

THANKS

 

well the thing is, Avira has the nag popup which is why a lot of techs don't install it.

SAS and MB don't have active defense on the free versions either, a lot of home users aren't going to go through the trouble of running scans.

 

If you want free version, you can use avast! Home and Spyware Terminator (ST), plus common sense , and use SUPERAntiSpyware with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware for on-demand...

ST has a nice real-time protection to alert user about some important changes on its system, but its signature detection isn't so good...

 

I personally do not think ST would be a good solution at all. I found its detection less than acceptable. If you must though, make sure the "HIPS-like" function is shut OFF upon installation, lest you want customers calling you about 1000 popups every time they install/change a program. Avira seems to have better detection, but I'm not sure about cleanup, which is just as important. I've had less trouble with Avast in my own case. If the worry is over not catching spyware, tell customers that Firefox and a mere 2 extensions (AdBlock Plus and NoScript) solves 99.9% of that issue, not to mention driveby downloads and everything else.

 

First, I hope your company installs security applications only after getting approval from the customer.
If unauthorized installs were performed on my computer, I would be totally pissed !

-That said;

If not properly configured or if it's settings are inadvertently changed, Spyware Terminator will drive the user nuts with pop-ups; not a great way to satisfy a customer !
Additionally, Spyware Terminator still has a comparatively low detection rate and slow scans.
I believe the far better option would be (following customer approval) to install Spyware Blaster and (also) Malwarebytes or Superantispyware; the latter's free version allows for scheduled scanning if I remember correctly.

For Antivirus, either Avira or Avast will provide excellent protection. Having used both, I don't believe a meaningful difference exists.
Why not give your customer the choice as well as their choice of firewall ?

Actually, this looks to be a great opportunity to sell a Security Suite.
Most people are not activists regarding security and much prefer a "one stop solution" that will do as much of the work as possible without user intervention. For that convenience, there is a price.
Why not consider offering individual freeware applications or a security suite for your cost plus- say- $20.00 for installation and set-up ?

 

Seems a reasonable idea on the face of it, but I would imagine it could violate the EULA's of the freeware programs.
The contract would have to be very clear that the cost was based on the technicians' hourly rate for the set up, and nothing more.
And if there is a subsequent glitch with the functioning (or improper user response) with one of these programs, that could open a can of worms.

Personally I think SpywareTerminator is not the program to be installing on users' computers without their express approval, maybe even a tutorial. If the HIPS component were activated, the popups would just confuse most folk.

Pick a few fairly tame, yet effective applications, give the customers a choice.
These could include Avast Home, Avira, SpywareBlaster, maybe a hosts file, maybe a check-for-updates program like Secunia PSI.

 

I think thats a tuff call you may want to present sum suggestions and see if the manager is open to them first,If not lips sealed let him burn his own bridges so to speak.Maybe the new manager in the makes is Dasfox

 

I think either avast or avg are good overall choices for the average user. They both cover spyware and both have email scanners. Although avira is excellent as well it doesn't cover spyware or have an email scanner. Maybe you could use comodo boclean instead of spyware terminator?

 

I concur with the confidence in Avira and although i haven't used AVG in a long time, i did find when i did that AVG's "Guard" was much more aggressive then either SAS or MBAM's supposedly resident guard protections if theres any comparison someone can draw from this. When i trid to start a potential dangerous .exe AVG's guard simply ignored it as in disallowed it to even start.

Dunno if AVG still uses that great guard or not but i was always impressed by it. I seen neither mentioned AS's "guards" as STRONG as AVG's resident guard when i used to run AVG.

Maybe someone can refute or confirm that AVG's "Guard" is still an integral element in it's latest release.

EASTER

 

How about DriveSentry only runs realtime, its free, ondemand scans, easy to use HIPS present, provides update notifications, seems to do rather well in tests and is wellrespected on this forum.