PC Tools Antivirus v. 6

Anyone using the latest version of PC Tools Antivirus? I've tried it and it is one of the few AVs that runs very light and smooth on my P4 2GB XP MC SP3.

 

Only problem is the virus defs only update about 4x per week. It is VERY light though. Considering how light Comodo and the lates Avira are, I would not bother with this. Just my 2cents.

 

I'm currently using Avast 4.8 Free, Avira 8 Free, PC Tools AV 6.0 and Comodo 3.8 on various PCs.

For home use, I would first choose Avast or Avira ( I haven't tried Avira 9 yet) before AVG 8.5 Free or PC Tools 6.0. I find both the latter slow the PCs more noticeably.
For free Commercial use, I think PCTAV 6.0 has a better AV component than Comodo's, and it bothers the user less. Comodo AV doesn't do too much but it also doesn't tax system resources very much while doing it.

 

I tried PC Tools antivirus for a few weeks lately.
It ran light,but startup was slowed noticably. Surfing speed wasn't effected though.
It didn't update for 3 days so I eventually uninstalled it.

The worst part of PC Tools av is the crappy uninstaller! It would get almost finished with the uninstall and hang. It took Revo unistaller and some hunting to finally get it unistalled.

 

what is the changelog between for v6 compared to v5?

 

There's this if you haven't seen it already.

 

PC Tools AV definitely has some bugs but I've uninstalled it many times, always clean as a whistle.

 

SDA (Spyware Doctor with Antivirus is better than the standalone AV.. Though the SDA SE is 100% freeware and it gets updated daily, scans daily does everything the free AV does. http://download.cnet.com/Spyware-Do...r-Edition/3000-2239_4-10816521.html?tag=mncol

Latest one found on UK sites though.. It works on Server 2003 RD Enterprise Edition SP2. Everything they have works on it. ThreatFire I had stopped using it though.

 

Great tip "tipstir"! Thanks.
It's a superseded-but-still-supported version of SD (which may not be a bad thing bug/reliability wise). Unsurprisingly, it uses a lot more RAM but I'm running it on a couple of machines now and have yet to find a reason not to keep it.

You mention it works on Server 2003.
Including SBS?
How does it cope with multliple users?

 

Main Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition SP2

PC Tools Firewall Plus 3.0.1.14
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kkiuzmj3mmg

New! Network Plugin (Optional)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nvth4mknmig

PC Tools ThreatFire 4.1.0.25

PC Tools Spyware Doctor (Intelli-File Guard/Immuzer) with AntiVirus 6.1.0.440
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tm4ygmjyzyw

I use to have the above on every system I got active here.. PC Tools AntiVirus solo is missing Spyware protection so the one above with both is much better as you get the full free AV with two Intelli-Guards active on SE Edition which is 100% freeware.

 

Current Version: 6.1.0.25

What do you think, how effective is it nowadays?

 

I was also wondering if it made any improvements.

 

6.1.0.25 is a refinement and bug fix.

MBR cleaning added
IMAP mail scanning removed

6.X not as "light" as 5.X
Still no spyware detection

Avast & Avira remain higher preference for free/home/non-commercial use.

 

I tried the new version with Prevx and GESWall. It got along well with those two, but wasn't really necessary.

I have to agree that Avira or Avast would be the better free solution.

 

I thought it contains the Spyware Doctor engine? What about antirootkit features?

 

I saw no docs claiming rootkit protection. It doesn't guard against spyware (pctools wants you to use Spyware Doctor for that).

As part of a layered approach, it's not bad, depending on how well it runs on your PC. Slap on a HIPS or sandbox and a software firewall and you should be fine. Just remember to surf smart

 

Stay with me on this...
Its Security for Netbooks that uses a variation of the PC Tools Antivirus engine, with added Spyware Doctor definitions (no SD registry analysis) and only for certain processors.

Siimple eh.

 

Out of curiousity, what's the detection rate like these days? Last I heard it was based on the VirusBuster engine, and made ClamAV look good.

 

This may be of interest.

 

Thank you, I will stay away from PC Tools AV

 

Does anyone use PC Tools Antivirus nowadays?

 

its pointless to, no spyware protection even, but PC Tools AV + Spyware Doctor is pretty good.

 

Detection is very poor

 

not really poor. I had it for a while and the only draw back i saw was the update intervals. It updates very rarely . It is light and does what is supposed to . I had it PCTOOLS firewall free and trojan hunter.

 

Once a day?