PC Tools

Am trying out the firewall, AV and TF here for fun. So far TF is great, the firewall seems passable but I haven't really tested it yet in any way or form, the AV is *painfully* slow on scanning any type of archive, especially .CAB files (even small ones!), it almost chokes on them. After an hour and 15 minutes, scanning a 40 gig HD, it's still only 77% finished. Most other AVs scan the drive in 30 mins give or take a few.. Will play with everything for a while and see what else I notice...

 

For those interested the Firewall Plus beta 3.0 is now available at http://www.pctools.com/firewall/ or the direct download at http://www.pctools.com/mirror/fwbeta.exe

Usual beta precautions should be taken, e.g. system restore point, non-critical PC, but if you've had issues in the past (e.g. Vista) we'd like to hear how those issues are behaving on the new version.

Kerodo, I'll have a look, are you using AV v3.6 beta or the current release 3.1.2?

Thanks

David
PC Tools

 

Fair enough; however, my point was that the grc test was meant to check if a firewall is capable of stealthing unused ports, and the PCT fw is incapable of doing that short of choking off your internet connection, AND the inclusion of a rule specifically designed to falsify passing the grc test.

Downloading the beta now; let's see how much things have changed.

 

Yes. Assuming a newer version of the beta hasn't been released since I tried it last month, the same problems still exist, after more than 8 months.

 

Using the current release downloaded from the web site.. Am back to another image right now, but may try out the beta at a later time.. The release version did seem to have some trouble specifically with CAB files. It took quite some time on each file, meaning close to 60 seconds sometimes for one small file.

 

I respectfully disagree. While AV-Test may be considered a credible testing lab, their results are not the holy grail, and my experiences are on 'real' computers infected by the end user. I personally clean an average of 5 infected systems each week in my shop, and Spyware Doctor (SD) fails to impress me. The poor detection rates are primarily the reason I did not renew my paid subscription.

One of the AnandTech mods, who is a malware hunter/researcher, performed a little test on his Win2k box a few weeks ago. He collected 95 malware samples, including exploits, rootkits, trojans (Zlob, DNSChanger, LoadAdv, VideoAccessCodec and others), backdoors, password-stealers, PUPs/adwares (including some DLLs, BHOs and EXEs harvested from a few live installs on his honeypot), a malicious HOSTS file, a QuickTime exploit, and a couple email worms, plus a really tough one: sneaky Frogexer images used to smuggle malicious code through the firewall. This is fresh real-world malware, hot off the bad guys' servers today 8-15-2007.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=76&threadid=2084972&enterthread=y

SD (not listed) was used a few hours ago (nearly 2 weeks after the fact) and it only detected 21 out of 95. Worse than Spy Sweeper......and both of you guys are critically acclaimed. As long as magazines and websites keep pimping your product, who really cares about detection rates, right?

 

While SD is not a top product IMHO as well, trying to imply that your personal anecdotal evidence and a test of 95 samples performed by a random person beats AV-Test in credibility is funny at best.

 

From what I gathered from the link you gave, it was not to say product A is better than product B, but rather to point out that a layered defense is the better option. Granted, SpywareDoctor has seen better days!

 

I never once questioned AV-Test's credibility. Last time I checked I was entitled to my opinion which is based on real world experiences. SD isn't a horrible program, there are simply better alternatives. I'd be delighted to post some log files comparing SAS vs. SD vs. AVGAS vs. SS on a hosed pc I am servicing as we speak.

 

Tried the AV beta last night but still the problem with hanging for 30-120 seconds on small CAB files. Not sure what's going on there, but it's not a good thing. Something is amiss... Otherwise, the firewall and TF seem fine. Firewall GUI hangs up at Windows shutdown also, which is annoying, but I can deal with that more easily than the AV scan problem..

 

What do you recommend for free real time protection? Is it a waste of my time to be installing Windows Defender on pc's I clean.

 

You could go with BOClean or Spyware Terminator.

 

Nothing on the free side. I'd rather pay $20 for SUPERAntiSpyware Pro which offers superior real-time protection that works alongside your resident AV, comes with lifetime updates, almost daily updates, and you get some of the best support in the industry. It's the best $20 you'll spend on any security app IMO.

Absolutely. Using WD is no different than relying on Ad-Aware to clean a hosed pc. A quick forum search will pull back plenty of hits on why you should avoid WD.

If you're cleaning hosed pc's feel free to check out the URL in my sig for more info.

 

tawd1992 - so we don't take this thread off topic, would you mind starting a new thread with your question. Thanks.

Snap

 

Hello,

I have read this entire thread, I hope my answers are on the mark.
I have used Spyware Doctor products in the past. For some reason, it only ever found false positives - which you could not remove in the free version.

There was a period when they offered an on-demand version capable of removal, I think it was 3.1, 3.2 or so. It was free for a certain period. On the last day of that period, false positives cropped, on two completely different, unrelated systems. And of course, you had to pay to remove the "problems."

I don't know what goes in the PC Tools labs, but I do find this ... strange.

Take it any which way you will. Before quality ever comes in regards, there's the first matter of credibility and trust.

Mrk

 

I tried TF and i like the concept,but i noticed high CPU spikes when opening a new web page with Firefox.Spikes at about 48% of the CPU,dropping down to 0% once the page is loaded.I wish i could disable the net module which i suppose is used by TF.

 

Hi, folks: They do have a very fancy menu, which offers today's specials, new items and so on from time to time. This does arouse one's appetite. But the concern is that after each consumption, one(including myself) needs to seek the rescue of PeptoBismal. Darn, it is a love and hate cycle mess. I just wish they could do something.

 

I agree totally. Not "funny" ha-ha, but "funny" in the sense that, as Mr Spock would say, "It is not logical."

I am using the beta of PCT's firewall. So far it is VERY good! Relatively easy to understand & configure. A tolerable number of pop-ups. Light on resources. Evidence of good protection. Stable -- BUT it is sometimes a tad reluctant to shut-down.

 

Yep, but some might call that a feature...

 

Ahem...Strange indeed, but your main issue was about modified Hosts File and the issue has been fixed. There is no way ALL you get can be FP's.

 

Who said anything about modified Hosts File Why couldn't they've been ALL FP

 

Hello,
My issue was never hosts file as I don't use them.
My hosts file always have a single entry - 127.0.0.1 loopback and that's it.
My issue was with various "CWS" and such entries... the false positives that are both serious and alarming to an unknowing user. The ones that might goad people into purchasing software to remove something that has never been there in the first place.
Mrk

Side note: all and EVERY security product I have used have only EVER found false positives. Keep that in mind. But some were simple and innocent mistakes, and all removable.

PC Tools SD is the only to sprout them the last day of the free version, when removal is no longer possible - and money must be paid to remove.

Sounds ... interesting.

 

Sorry there is no time to fill you in, the issue of Spyware Doctor FP's has been hotly debated on this forum since version 3. I do think it will end anytime soon.

 

I'm quite up-to-date on the FP issues, I was a customer of their's.

This was my question...if you have time.

 

Hi, folks: F.P. is the heirloom of SD. It has to be inherited from this version to the next one. No exceptions can even be contemplated. I have tested each newer version, each time results in the very same outcome---needing PeptoBismal to calm my upsetting stomach. If, if one day that tradition can be overthrown, I am willing to fork over my hard earned mooney for long term commitment. Until then everything they say are up in the air--unsettled. Good luck.