My Technology Guide

My Technology Guide readers knows it very well how important computer security is for them. So, we will not stress any more over the importance of having a security suite installed on your computer. New technologies like behavioral detection and heuristics, have emerged to further strengthen the standard protection layers offered by a security suite. One such security suite that we took for a review here is Emsisoft Anti-Malware.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware is a stand-alone antivirus, anti-malware product and uses two scan engines (the Emsisoft Anti-Malware, and the Ikarus Anti-Virus engine) to increase protection and to increase the malware and virus detection. The three guards present in Emsisoft Anti-Malware protects your computer against new infections: File Guard, Behavior Blocker and Surf Protection.

Symantec announced Norton Everywhere, a three-part initiative to take Norton beyond the PC and extend trust to new devices and consumer applications. The initiative spans the areas of mobile safety, web safety across any device and embedded services on smart devices. Symantec also announced Norton DNS, a component of Norton Everywhere.

Norton DNS provides alternative DNS servers that can be used by any Internet-connected device. It has been designed to provide a safer, more reliable, and faster Internet experience by delivering a variety of basic protection services like anti-phishing, anti-malware and anti-spyware via Norton verified web filtering.

Traditionally, most security suites uses file signatures, a type of digital fingerprint or relies on blacklists to detect viruses on your computer. This means that the virus must be first known in order to create a fingerprint allowing it to be recognized. This database present on your computer is then updated online on a regular basis. Only then can the virus be recognized. But the way ThreatFire works is different.

ThreatFire does not rely on file signatures and blacklist database, but instead is a "behavior-based" program that constantly analyzes behavior on your computer to detect and block any malicious activity. This frees you from having to wait for a database update or regularly update file signature database to get protected, ThreatFire will recognize the malicious program and block it as soon as it arises.

a-squared Anti-Malware gives a comprehensive PC protection against trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, worms, bots, keyloggers, rootkits and dialers with 2 cleaning scanners (anti-virus + anti-spyware) in 1 and 2 guards (signature scan + behavior analysis) against new infections. Unlike other malware protection products, a-squared Anti-Malware was designed to run parallel with other antivirus and firewall software without troubles. In case you find a conflict with another software, the support team will help to solve the problem quickly.

a-squared Anti-Malware runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7 as well as on 2003/2008 Servers in all 32 bit editions. On x64-systems the scanner and OnExecution guard work very well, but the behavior blocking module (Malware-IDS) does not run currently. In regular guard mode are approx. 100 MB free RAM required. We suggest to use it on computers with at least 512 MB RAM, best would be 1 GB RAM.

Update: Giveaway page now live, visit the offer page now.

Tom Kelchner at Sunbelt Systems reports about a rogue software (viz. Protection System) that tries to trick Windows users into uninstalling MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware. Rogue security software is a form of computer malware that deceives or misleads users into paying for the fake or simulated removal of malware. Rogue security software, in recent years, has become a growing and serious security threat in desktop computing. You will find a very long list of rogue softwares here and here. The list of legitimate software can be found here and here.

During installation, the Protection System rogue will generate the following message if it detects MalwareBytes.

"There is unauthorized antivirus software detected on your computer. It is recommended you to remove it, other it could conflict with Protection System. Press OK to remove MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware_is1".

Emsisoft, the makers of the highly regarded a-Squared anti-malware scanner are offering a free 12 month license for their “Mamutu” behavior blocker exclusively to Gizmo Freeware readers.

Mamutu is a behavior based malware blocker from Emsisoft, the makers of the highly regarded a-Squared anti-malware scanner, which blocks any malware before it can cause any damage to your computer.

Mamutu" is composed from the words "Malware" and "Mutu". The second word comes from the Maori language and means "stop". The name may sound funny but it describes exactly what the program does: Terminate all types of Malware.