3 replies to this topic

[James (Jim) Hillier]

It seems 2011 is set to be the year for new portable malware scanner/remover freeware. Redmond recently released their new addition to the ranks, Microsoft Safety Scanner and now, following on from the release of their online scanner, Comodo have followed suit with Comodo Cleaning Essentials.

The big advantage the portable scanners have over those that require installation is if/when malware prevents internet connection. The user can then download the latest portable scanner on a separate [working] PC, transfer to USB flash drive and run the software on the infected machine. In many instances, installed scanner/removers would not be up-to-date and, because there would be zero internet connectivity on the host machine, the user would not be able to update and utilise the current scan engine.

Comodo has included an extra (and unique) feature in their software which *leverages off user input via Comodo cloud scanners*; the ability to identify and stop any "untrusted" running processes.

*For those of you who are uncertain exactly what that means: It is actually the Comodo users who rank the processes, Comodo collects and compiles that information into a cloud (web) based database which is then used as a comparison point during scans.

Read more on Comodo Cleaning Essentials on the HOME PAGE.

[marko]

Problem is most often that depending on the virus it can block the user from performing any kind of cleanup, prevention is most certainly better than the cure and anything which can stop a suspicious process before it starts (and works successfully) is a step in the right direction

[James (Jim) Hillier]

Yes Marko, that is the idealistic point of view (one that I share BTW). Unfortunately it is also not terribly pragmatic.

T'would be a perfect world indeed if we could get all users to surf safely, keep security products up-to-date and heed security protocols in general.... then we wouldn't have a need for scanner/removal software at all, would we.

[marko]

I know Jimbo, ever the optimist aren't I