How good is MSAS at detecting trojans?

I know it's a called MS Anti Spyware but does MSAS still find some trojans? How good is it at detecting trojans? Has anyone ever seen a list of how many trojans it will find? Can it be relied on for your main AT? Or does it only find a few trojans, and therefore you would still require a regular AT? How good is its realtime protection at finding trojans compared to a manual scan for them? Thanks if anyone knows.

 

Its does find some trojans, keyloggers, spyware and a whole other range of scumware, but there are alot of false postives, it is though pretty good at monioring system changes - there may be a thread at wilders that talks about this program.

Hope this helps

T

 

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best for trojans), I'd rate MS Antispyware at a 2...not very good at all. Excellent trojan detectors are TrojanHunter at www.misec.net, Ewido at www.ewido.com, and KAV at www.kaspersky.com. I'd rate KAV as best, TrojanHunter as No.2 and Ewido as No.3 (but improving).

Just my opinion and experience.

 

MSAS is junk. It comfortably sits in your tray and does NOTHING!! While my avast home definitely stops a few trojans from creeping in.

 

The target of MS AntiSpyware are NOT trojans.

Like the name already explain: it is anti-SPYWARE.

Take a look here

 

Junk?

In my tray it sits not only, it have waked up me up a few times with warnings about spyware.
Analyze of the warnings: no false positives, really spyware.

BTW: about junk, the Babylon dictionary say:

n. material which has been thrown out or discarded, trash, refuse, something which is useless or worthless; heroin or other narcotic (Slang)

n. flat-bottomed Chinese sailing ship with square sails

v. throw out, get rid of, trash

 

Ahhhh....but just wait until you decide to uninstall it. That's when it will rear it's ugly head and be a royal pain! Seriously, this is one of the more difficult software apps to completely remove and uninstall from your PC. I thought that Norton and AOL were bad, buuuuut.....

 

Couldnt agree More!!

 

Could you elaborate on your difficulties?

 

I didnt have any trouble uninstalling it. It took all of 2 minutes and didnt cause any problems :")



One more thing....it is free.


Trekk

 

Any software that isn't able to uninstall itself properly, makes itself ridiculous and indicates already a poor programming.
No way to whitewash this, not for me.

Once the uninstaller of a program is started by the user, the uninstaller should close the program completely and automatically and then start the uninstalling procedure.
Alot of (ignorant) users forget to close the program FIRST, when they start the uninstaller. If that happens the uninstaller should take care about that.

 

In fact, the name itself is misleading.
It holds true for all AV, AT, AS.

Now let us see what these labels really mean based on what the companys are really doing now
AV = NOT only just for anti-virus, it is capable of getting trojans-related malware too.
AT = this one is really mainly deal with trojan-related software.
AS = NOT just for spyware & adware. AS also take care of trojans-related malware too.

So ignore the misleading labels and try to re-delimit their scopes.
I try to outline the scope of each type of program is focusing (ie wht aspects of malware do they mainly handle):
(Methodoloy: First, look at all programs of the same kind. Second, mark what type of malware each program of the same type can handle. Third delimit their scope based on the the results.)
AV: pre-requisite: must focus on virus(-related) threats. Also focus on macro, worms, scripts, trojans, keyloggers, dialers, and miscellaneous (harmeful**) malware.
AT: pre-requisite: must focus on trojan(-related) threats. And that's it! For other aspects, they do (very) little.
AS: pre-requisite: must focus on spyware(-related) threats. Also focus on adware, hijackers, trojans, keyloggers, dialers miscellaneous (harmeless**) malware.
** here "harmful/harmless" refers to the (intentional) damage done on the computer. Some malware may aim to screw the computer (similar to virus but the behaviour is not the same as virus). I call them as harmful malware. to the contrary, harmles malware is more to do with privacy intrusion, advertising, tracking (simliar to spyware/adware but the behaviour is different). I call them as harmless malware.


Conclusion
AV = AV&AT
AT = AT
AS = AS&AT

 

I would never trust MSAS to clean a machine of trojans. My favorites to clean out trojans are Kasperky AV and Ewido (TDS-3 use to be on this list). To prevent, I prefer Kaspersky AV, Ewido, and ProcessGuard.

Rich

 

It just did not do a clean uninstall for me (using Windows own Add/Remove). It left behind a ton of files and folders that I had to manually remove. And it wasn't just the left behind junk, but during the uninstall it seemed to be holding on for dear life and wouldn't go easily (and that was even though I had not only disabled it, but removed it from the startup programs list through WinPatrol, and completely exited the program through the sytem tray icon). I did a search through "Start>Search" and found dozens of left behind referrences to the program that I had to delete manually. Then I ran my registry cleaners which found several registry keys that had been left behind. Not a pretty experience....

 

I'm already afraid to uninstall my MSAS.
Uninstall is the opposite of install, which means that each object of the software has to be removed completely as if the software was never there.
Is that so difficult for programmers, who made the software themselves ?

 

Hi,

I feel you guys are being harsh about MSAS, it dosnt uninstall amazingly, but tell me how many other prgrams uninstall all of there files perfectly, most programs will most certainaly leave some files in programs files, start up entries and even sometimes registry keys etc, etc.

Its not that hard manually deleting these left files really is it? I know it is a pain though!!


Tom

 

I think it's called MS bashing It's very common to target the big guy on the block. Though I don't often hear any praises for MS offering a FREE anti-spyware program. Some folk are just never satisfied, no matter what they get for completely FREE. I agree that nearly every program will leave it's folder in program files, and some other stuff behind, and you don't hear them complaining about that....strange don't you think.

 

No, not really. Not from my part anyway. All you have to do is click on my username and read all of my previous posts, and you'll see that I have stated several times that I am NOT a part of the "bash Microsoft" crowd, and I have defended Microsoft more often than not. But when it comes to MSAS, I just realize that there are major problems with the uninstallation.

And Tom, you're right.....several programs do not do a clean unistall....but some are worse than others. MSAS fits into the "much worse" category.

 

Do you call that a good excuse ? No wonder that so many softwares have a bad uninstall program.
Even the knowledgeable users don't even care.

Don't these programmers have any respect for themselves and do it right like real professionals do in stead of acting like amateurs ?
They just don't care about quality.

Free or paid has nothing to do with the quality of a program, those programmers were paid to write a free program and MS has money enough.

Deleting manually isn't that hard ? For you maybe, but not for ignorant users (the majority).
They don't even know what registries are, when those are not deleted by the uninstall program.

Bashing MS ? No, not at all, I have PITY with MS that doesn't even know how to use all that money in the benefit of the users.

 

To be honest i havnt had that many problems with MSAS, but then i havnt unistalled it yet. I wasnt trying to say that you were 'Microsoft Bashing' but i do think it is a nice addition ' for the average home user to add to his/hers protection as long as its free. When it comes to paying for it i think i might feel the same way as you guys do, but until then i will probably keep using it.

Take Care T

 

tom772,
I still use MSAS, mainly because it's free. I'm married with MS, but that doesn't mean I'm happy with MS.

We users made MS filthy rich and I expect from MS QUALITY, SAFETY and CREATIVITY in return and certainly when money isn't problem.
Not many companies have the same possibilities as Microsoft and in spite of that, these smaller companies create better softwares than Microsoft and that's what bothering me the most.
What are they doing with all that money at MS ? Spending it on drinks and lunches ? Buying companies ? Certainly not on what I want as a user.

I replaced my browser MSIE with FIREFOX and it took me a long time to do this, because I had already a browser (MSIE).
Firefox isn't only safer, but a very comfortable browser.
Why isn't Microsoft able to create such a browser, which is the most important tool to get access to the internet.
Why recommend security websites to replace MS Outlook with Thunderbird ? Because it's also safer.
Where is the spam filter in MS Outlook ?
Why do people replace the Windows Defragmenter with Diskeeper ? Because it's better.
Even Notepad and Regedit have better alternatives.
And I could go on and on.

Maybe all that money is Microsoft's biggest problem, they aren't motivated anymore to make their dreams true.

 

Well, here's one awesome thing they are doing with some of the money.

http://www24.homepage.villanova.edu/david.zawitkowski/acc1001/billgates.htm

 

Wow! 23 Billion? Not many other corporations laying down that kinda jack. I do agree though, the software is free and meant for "Johnny Enduser". If you are a "Power User" or someone who frequents these boards, you probably arent using it anyway. And if you are and it doesnt uninstall properly? ITS FREE! Get over it....


Trekk!

 

Why isn't Microsoft able to create such a browser, which is the most important tool to get access to the internet. - To answer your question, why should Microsoft it beat Netscape!! So they were last Web Broswer, so they had no reason to improve and add new features, until Firfox began taking maket share. Now look they are going to release IE 7, this summer. Microsoft are like any big Multinational Corp in America, Europe, and Britian, in other words in less they are force to update, improve they wont!

But then again , i believe MS, are trying to be a different and better company in the long term, becasue if they dont who will trust them and buy there software. Companies in Europe and Asia are already turning to Linux for there needs, at the end the day MSAS is based on a good program that they purchased, so even if it dosnt uninstall perfectly.

Take care T

 

Hey peeps,

I have used several of the non-ms based browsers over the years, and like most of you I have gone through my Microsoft bashing phase. One thing I have noticed is this; Microsoft has more issues because there are more people using the product and thus, more people to notice and point out issues. Firefox and others along that line, have issues just like any other application. We just tend to notice more of them from IE because 20 million people are using it at any given time. Hackers dont set out to crack Firefox, there just isnt any glamour in it. Thousands of them spend countless hours looking for holes in anything with the Microsoft logo. In theory; by bringing so much attention to these issues-exploits, you are in fact adding fuel to the fire and making it more appealing for other hackers-crackers. I realize Microsoft has an endless flow of cash, but we as end users dont see everything they are working on behind the scenes.

When was the last time any of you could say you were perfect?


Trekk