Now that you have a great product- time for AV

[robinb9]

Time for a good antivirus program.

Well you gave the world a great antispyware program now it is time for a great antivrisu program

robin

[SUPERAntiSpy]

Time for a good antivirus program.

Well you gave the world a great antispyware program now it is time for a great antivrisu program

robin

Thanks for the suggestion We are going to stay focused on anti-spyware as they say..."jack of all trades, master of none" - we are choosing to stay "masters" at anti-spyware

[Seth]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

[SUPERAntiSpy]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

[Seth]

BUMP for relevant discussion regarding my previous post.

[EliteKiller]

There are at least a dozen quality Anti-Virus apps, but there are only a handful of quality Anti-Spyware apps. Since spyware/adware/trojans are more of a problem than your average "virus", IMO it only makes sense to stay where the action is at.

[Seth]

There are at least a dozen quality Anti-Virus apps, but there are only a handful of quality Anti-Spyware apps. Since spyware/adware/trojans are more of a problem than your average "virus", IMO it only makes sense to stay where the action is at.

Agreed.

Which is precisely why AV vendors have desperately been adding signatures for the above in the last couple of years.

IMO, current "AV" products are now geared for everything BUT viruses.

[Seth]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

Following this logic Nick, then SAS is also an AntiVirus application. Correct?

[SUPERAntiSpy]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

Following this logic Nick, then SAS is also an AntiVirus application. Correct?

Not in the typical sense, we block virus installers when we receive them, but we don't "disinfect" files, meaning taking viruses "out" of a file.

[Joan Archer]

Well my opinion for what it's worth is stick with what your good at.

I think that when some of these programs try to be the one's to do everything they end up with too much bloat and fail to do what they are supposed to do and that is stop the baddies

From what I've heard and seen so far I think SuperAntiSpyware should stay doing what it does without getting into the bloat of all-in-ones and then turning out to be less than efficient

[Seth]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

Following this logic Nick, then SAS is also an AntiVirus application. Correct?

Not in the typical sense, we block virus installers when we receive them, but we don't "disinfect" files, meaning taking viruses "out" of a file.

That seems to contradict your previous statement of:

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

[SUPERAntiSpy]

Lately, the whole issue of malware classification has become confusing.

It seems that it's evolved into a gray area. That is, despite a product being labeled as an AV or an AS, they are both now often designed to detect all classifications of malware.

I've also noticed that very frequently, malware is often referred to as a "virus", yet most of the time it's a Trojan Horse.

SAS is obviously not an AS app, but rather an AntiMalware app, as it detects a heck of a lot more than Spyware. For marketing purposes however, the average end user has heard of Spyware, but not "malware".

Nick,

If a Pro user submitted a sample that SAS couldn't remove, would you ever respond with, "We're sorry, but SAS isn't designed to remove such malware"?

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

Following this logic Nick, then SAS is also an AntiVirus application. Correct?

Not in the typical sense, we block virus installers when we receive them, but we don't "disinfect" files, meaning taking viruses "out" of a file.

That seems to contradict your previous statement of:

If we receive a sample, we of course will process it and do our best to remove it and any traces it leaves behind.

There is no contradiction - viruses that attach to other files and those that don't are very different. To clarify - if we receive a virus installer we will process it and if it installs files and/or traces (data files, registry, etc.) we will clean those up - we will not remove a virus that attaches itself to other files on the system.

[dellyfry]

...if we receive a virus installer we will process it and if it installs files and/or traces (data files, registry, etc.) we will clean those up - we will not remove a virus that attaches itself to other files on the system.

Nick,

Do you ever see the time when you might have to develop technology to disinfect a file?

I personally am seeing an increasing amount of file infectors, typically once reserved for the classic virus such as klez. These are now used for spam bots, rogue applications, etc.

SAS often sees the infection but resolves itself to removing the entire file. Often, various Windows and startup applications are infected and SAS answer is to remove the entire file - causing both Windows and the application in question to be seriously maligned (and sometimes not boot). Unless I do an external antivirus scan with disinfection abilities, I generally have to go back and replace the files by hand.

Of course, that is the benefit of a multi-layer approach anyway I guess.

Keep up the great work.

[SUPERAntiSpy]

...if we receive a virus installer we will process it and if it installs files and/or traces (data files, registry, etc.) we will clean those up - we will not remove a virus that attaches itself to other files on the system.

Nick,

Do you ever see the time when you might have to develop technology to disinfect a file?

I personally am seeing an increasing amount of file infectors, typically once reserved for the classic virus such as klez. These are now used for spam bots, rogue applications, etc.

SAS often sees the infection but resolves itself to removing the entire file. Often, various Windows and startup applications are infected and SAS answer is to remove the entire file - causing both Windows and the application in question to be seriously maligned (and sometimes not boot). Unless I do an external antivirus scan with disinfection abilities, I generally have to go back and replace the files by hand.

Of course, that is the benefit of a multi-layer approach anyway I guess.

Keep up the great work.

I can't say exactly what we will be doing, but we will be handling the situation soon