F-Secure?

I installed the 6 months trial version of F-Secure last night. No problems were encountered. I ran a system scan and it took 45 minutes. It skipped 6 files.

I am not sure, but my system took slightly longer to start up than with Avast, The update took about 5 minutes on DSL. It may be that it was a result of the first day, although it updated when I installed it. However, it has updated again a couple of times without my knowing it so I think it is not going to be a problem. I want to try it at start-up on dial up and see how long it takes to update.

I ran a scan this morning, and it scanned 140,159 files and skipped 42. I suppose the skipped files are locked or protected. I am going to post them here for examination by smarter folks than me.

* Cannot open file C:\hiberfil.sys
* Cannot open file C:\pagefile.sys
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\QosmioPlayer.iso
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_3ac.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_4a0.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_4e8.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_678.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_e0.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_f0.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\system32\bios1.rom
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\SnopFree.sys
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfsmrmsg.iso
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\default
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\default.LOG
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM.LOG
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SECURITY
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SECURITY.LOG
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software.LOG
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system
* Cannot open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system.LOG
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\WINDOWS\I386\BIOS1.RO_
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\Program Files\Sonic\DLA\install\tfsmrmsg.iso
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\Common\admin.pub
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\Common\policy.ipf
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\backweb\4476822\Users\Default\Data\chandir.dat
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\backweb\4476822\Users\Default\Data\L0000002.FCS
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\backweb\4476822\Users\Default\Data\prs.dat
* Cannot open file C:\Program Files\F-Secure Internet Security\backweb\4476822\Users\Default\Data\storydb.dat
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\MSOCache\All Users\90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9\ZF612707.CAB\REFSPCL.TTF
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.LOG
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\Documents and Settings\Default User.LOG
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\user\NTUSER.DAT
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temp\~DF956B.tmp
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat
* Scanning of C:\Documents and Settings\user\Desktop\DL fOLDER\OOo_2.0.1_Win32Intel_install.exe was aborted [F-Secure AVP]
* Cannot open a file in archive C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\hag8x2cw.default\Mail\zianet.com\Inbox
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\NTUSER.DAT
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\NTUSER.DAT
* Cannot open file C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat

Does all this seem normal and safe?

So far there have been no conflicts. I must admit that the updates, and scans take much longer than KAV 6 that I have on my desktop. F-Secure is much heavier on memory than about anything I have used. I have not added the usage accurately, and I will do it later, but at a glance it is using close to 40K. KAV uses approx 12 K and NOD 22K.
I have not found that it is slowing my system, but I need to do some more checking.

Overall I like it so far.

Comments please. That does seem like a lot of files to skip.
I wish that there was a way to track the scan progress, and also to show the size of the update.

ADDED: I checked the resource use, and found that the 13 processes running used 59,812K of memory.
FWIW Ewido uses 29,000K, and Counterspy when active uses 96,800K.


Thanks,
Jerry

 

If this is in real-time, you must really love CounterSpy to let it use this much memory

I would seriously think twice about using any program which sucked up this amount of memory in RT.

 

i didn't like the skipped files either. what were your settings for Real Time and on demand scanning?

everything's relative. i did a full scan of 540,000 files on max settings and including 2 external drives (scan all files, attachments, zips) and it took like 3.5 hours lol.
NOD32 did it this weekend in 1 hr 45 min

 

I do not run it in real time, but I must say that when I do I do not notice that my computer is slower. If it does not, then why should I care? I realize that enough large usage programs would slow down the machine, but really I have not noticed it.

The main reason I am not using it real-time is to see if it really catches anything. So far I have not found that any paid AS, including Spysweeper and Spyware Doctor ever find anything. I am not convinced that they do anything that Spyware Guard, and Spyware Blaster do not do.
For whatever reason, I never find spyware on my machine whether I run the paid AS real-time or not.

Jerry

 

Out of over 100 views, no one has any ideas regarding the skipped files?
Any experience regarding memory usage?

Where are you BigC?

Jerry

 

the skipped files are normal system file that are in use. nothing to worry about. even with memory use it shouldn't noticeably slow your normal computer use, it didn't mine.

 

JerryM

Just relax!.The files are just locked by windows.Don't worry too much about it.Believe me, you won't find better protection.It's just a matter of if it will run smooth on your system.It ran well on mine except for longer bootup and shutdown times.But every system is different so you never know until you try it out.BitDefender and Panda would absolutely not run on my machine.

 

Many thanks to you both. I suspected that was the case, but my own knowledge is very limited.
Although the memory usage seems to be much larger than others I have used, it does not slow my machine down so far.

Without a doubt it is a superb AV as detection rates go. If it continues to run as well as it has today, I will end up buying it. I thought about doing it today, but being a "cheapskate" I will wait until the 6 months trial is up.

I appreciate your help, guys, and BigC it was your assurance that gave me the confidence to install it.

It has not shown any conflicts, except it uninstalled AdAware when I installed F-Secure. I did not mind that, as I am not convinced AdAware really did anything especially useful.

Not only that, it is fun to try a new AV or application. I had my laptop pretty well set up with Avast plus the AT Ewido, and I was wishing I had something else to install and run. Now that can get me in BIG trouble at my level of expertise.

Thanks again for your excellent help.

Regards,
Jerry

 

I doubt that you will have any big surprises concerning F-secure. It really is one of the best behaved softwares I have ever used.

 

I am liking F-Secure AV better each day. I have not noticed any slowdown on my system, it updates frequently, and has no conflicts with other anti-malware applications.

It is also user friendly, and is easier to install and forget than either KAV or NOD. If AV Comparatives is any indication it is as good as the best. It does take longer to scan than either KAV or NOD, but that is not a concern for me.
I think it is a keeper.

Jerry

 

yep it is

 

I recently installed (legally, of course!) a copy of F-Secure Anti-Virus Client Security 6.01. Very impressive regarding both the anti-virus and firewall. Runs very well even with the A/V settings maxed out on my XP Pro machine. Like it better than their consumer product.

 

Peter2150 if it is doing it with both of your comps, it has to be conflicting with something you have installed on both of them. No idea what that might be though.

 

I installed the 6 month trial of F-Secure on my media machine yesterday (regular WinXP on it, but with tv card and pvr software). BSOD on boot for me as well. Safe mode worked though so managed to uninstall it that way.

Being slightly paranoid, I don't think I'll risk testing it on my main machine.

 

Peter2150

I found after using F-secure for 2 years that it conflicted with programs that ran deep in the system, e.g.- Prevx1, programs like that because of F-secure's system control which guards the registry.I recall you use programs like - Process Guard, so there definitely would be conflicts.If your ever curious, try it on a fresh snapshot if you haven't done so already.But sometimes, even doing that doesn't make a difference.For some reason, it just won't run.

 

Those programs definitely could be conflicting with F-secure.And the problem, if you can call it a problem- i don't, is that most antiviruses aren't 'pure' AV's anymore.They offer so many more features these days- look at the latest KAV release.But it makes it more difficult to achieve the layered approach that so many prefer because of the conflicts.

 

One minus that I notice with F-Secure is that the update takes much longer than other AVs. This AM the update took over 3 minutes on DSL. I am not sure how long that would have taken on dial-up, which I would be using if travelling.

Jerry

 

Recently F-Secure 6.01 Build 11441 has been locking me out from the options of scanning within compressed files in real time, scanning all files in real time, and has also locked the option of deleting viruses automatically if found.

The text for these options are dimmed out, and there is a message stating "This setting has been locked by your administrator" when leave my pointer over these options.

It has me a bit worried. Does anyone know what could be the problem here?!