Win a Macbook Air, Get Malware

Trend Micro threat analysts were alerted to the discovery of spammed messages that purported to come from Media Service. The email bears the subject, “Congratulations,” and informs users that they won a Macbook Air. It also entices users to open the attached .ZIP file, which supposedly contains the details. Of course, the attachment does not hold [...]

Advanced Antivirus

Today’s vast threatscape of duplicitous Trojan horses, invisible exploits, and slithering worms make antivirus protection a must. But that doesn’t mean you have to pay top dollar for a security suite that may have features you don’t want or need.

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Top Protection: G Data AntiVirus 2010

Most security programs use a single antivirus engine, but the German-made G Data ($25 for a one-year, single-PC license, as of 11/20/09) uses two separate engines: BitDefender and Avast. That double coverage may have helped it rack up an impressive 99.95 percent block rate for traditional, signature-based detection of known malware, a rate better [...]

Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware

Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware ($40 for a one-year, single-PC license as of 11/17/2009) came in last in our roundup of stand-alone antivirus software, weighed down by comparatively poor malware detection, slow scan speed, and a seriously misguided habit of hiding what it does from the user.

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ESET NOD32

ESET NOD32 has some nice, techie-focused extras and it effectively ferrets out rootkits, but it can’t keep up with other antivirus apps when it comes to the essential task of blocking malware. It came in ninth place out of 11 in our current ranking of stand-alone antivirus software.

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