Software Reviews
Trojan Removal and Anti-Malware Software
| a-squared Anti-Malware | by Emsisoft scans for and removes or quarantines Trojans, Worms, Adware and Spyware, plus others. It works using both signature scanning, as well as their special Malware Intrusion Detection System (Malware-IDS). They also provide their basic scanning and cleaner software for free for those who require immediate assistance to remove trojans and other malware from their computers. Click here to download the free cleaning software. |
| Ease of use |
We found it easy to install and an initial scan picked up 91 items ranging from low to high risk in our system. The low risk cookies we ignored, the medium risk items were quarantined, and the high risk (after doing some more online research using the a-squared links) were deleted. The daily scans and updates provide good protection, but as it checks every program you open, you will most probably notice a slow down in your system. |
| Summary | Well worth it for comprehensive security software for your computer. We liked that Emsisoft gives their software away for free for those who require urgent trojan removal, and would recommend its purchase to prevent further infection. |
| Mamutu | Also by Emsisoft, Mamutu is a behaviour based malware blocker. Behaviour based blockers work on recognising typical signatures exhibited by malware, and block suspicious websites or software on that basis. |
| Ease of use |
We found Mamutu had good installation instructions, with useful suggestions such as removing the program help and additional language options if you were running on a slower connection. It took only a few minutes to download on broadband however. The comments on each of the installation screens were clear and written in straightforward language. It provides the basic understanding needed for the average user. I liked the option of having community-based alerts, where if Mamutu picks up software behaving suspiciously, it will tell you if the majority of the online community have allowed or denied the software to run on their computers (should the information be available). Mamutu also has a processes screen which, if you familiarise yourself with the processes running on your computer (which you should anwyay!), then when you see anything suspicious you can quarantine or kill it. |
| Summary | A great little program. It sits quietly in the background without any perceptible system slowdown, and only alerts on suspicious behavior. |
| Malwarebytes Anti-Malware | Malwarebytes also provide their scanning and cleaning software for free for those who require immediate assistance for removing trojans and other malware. Click here to download the software for free. |
| Ease of Use | Malwarebytes screens are easy to follow, and reliably detect and remove trojans and other malware on your computer. While we have not yet personally tested this software, we have used it to assist others to clean their computers, and found it cleaned up the trojans and made their system operational once again. |
| Summary | If you want to keep your PC trojan and malware-free, we would recommend purchasing the upgrade for this software. |
Anti-Virus Software
| Avira Anti-Virus Software | is available as either a free (for personal use only) or commercial version. |
| Ease of use |
The free version we found easy to install, and easy to run. The results from a scan were simple to understand. The basic free version provides protection against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers. The paid version also includes protection against AntiSpyware, AntiAdware, AntiPhishing, MailGuard (POP3 and SMTP), WebGuard for safe surfing, RescueCD and more. They also provide a selection of free tools for personal use. |
| Summary | An easy to use software that sits in the background and runs fairly seamlessly. Apart from the odd advertising screen you get with the free version, and a slight slowing of the system while it does its daily scan, it has no other seroius impact on the day to day running of your PC - except to help keep it safe. |
| AVG Free Anti-Virus | The non-commercial, free version of AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft provides you with basic protection against viruses and spyware. It has an email scanner, a Resident Shield that scans files you are working with on your computer, and it updates regularly. It is however, not as comprehensive as the commercial versions of AVG. |
| Ease of use | Up until the latest release our AVG free worked quietly in the background, but when we installed AVG Free 8, we found the link scanner slowed our search engine page loading times so much that we disabled it. Good idea, but it gets annoying. One of those choices you have to make between better security and daily irritation! |
| Summary | AVG Free is a good and very popular product that works well. |
Spyware Removal Software
| Uniblue Spy Eraser 2 | provides a free scan for spyware. When we scanned our system, it found two low-threat cookies, and provided a reasonable explanation of what they were, and why they were only a low-risk. However, to remove or quarantine the cookies, the software must be purchased and registered. |
| Summary | Easy enough to use, and useful to have on your system to perform an occasional scan, but apart from the information you may obtain, it's not a lot of use unless you purchase the software. |
