Avast Antirookit:Does it really Exist?

I have been wondering about the Antirookit protection that is being provided in the Avast Home Edition. There is no separate engine for that hence I have been trying to find some evidence about its working.

So after months of using Avast today the Avast detected a rookit.
See screenshot

 

Related Reading
Avast Antivirus Home vs AVG Free Edition
Updated Avast… Thanks to incremental updates

A World Of Free Antivirus

Why spend loads of money on an antivirus software? Or get a cracked version which do not support updates?

The two leading free antivirus softwares are available called

• Avg Free 8
• Avast Antivirus Home

These are not the mediocre types but two of the best Antivirus available. And because it is free more people download it and it naturally leads to the development of a very good antivirus scanning engine.

I have been getting a lot of search engine terms for this post of mine. lots of terms like “Which antivirus installed” , “good free antivirus”  etc…

That is the reason for writing this post. Hope you have a nice time using free antivirus softwares.

Updated Avast… Thanks to incremental updates

Its been over 3 weeks since I have updated my Avast Antivirus software and hence I decided to update it today.

It was just a matter of a minute or so.. All I had to do was to select the update iAVS button and the incremental update process will start.

Speaking of incremental updates I remembered a Software I was using previously… It was the Kaspersky Antivirus v7. I was very disappointed with its updates. Even after giving such a nice scanning engine. If we miss weekly update then there is no choice other than downloading the cumulative.zip that took around 17MB of download.

Incremental has two obvious advantages

• It will save a lot of download time since we don’t have to download the whole package again.
• It will also save Bandwidth for Internet users like me who pay Internet Bill on the Bandwidth Transfer rather than Time taken online.

Avast Antivirus Home vs AVG Free Edition

Whenever a anyone who doesn’t want to spend money on Antivirus , searches for a free Antivirus, then has has two choices.

• AVG Free Edition
• Avast Home Edition

Which one to choose? That is the dilemma most people have.

I have compared the two Antivirus softwares based on my experiences as well as the various resources available on the web.

Features

AVG Free provides only the basic protection against viruses and Version 7 does not include Antispyware protection and Antirookit protection (One can to download the free version of the Antispyware and Antirookit but these are not integrated) whereas Version 8 of the AVG Free includes integrated Antivirus and Antispyware scanning engine. But Antirookit feature is available only in the Pro version.

Avast claims to provide Antivirus and Antirookit protection included in the free package but I guess its included in the same scanner.

One more featute that is unique in Avast is the Boot-Time scan which scans the computer before the operating systems start ans viruses can be removed before its activation.

Protection

Make no mistake about it. Both provide excellent protection from most kinds of viruses. Both softwares provide above 95% detection rates as shown by various Independent Antivirus testing Organizations.

Avast Provides additional protection like P2P Shield,Web Shield, Network Shield etc. AVG also provides Web Scanner and E-Mail Scanner.

Memory

Both AVG and Avast uses about 14 to 18MB of RAM. So both are light on resources.

Scanning Speed

AVG scan is faster than Avast. Avast with high protection takes a long time to scan.

Interface

AVG free is a very simple to use interface. Avast Home interface is very difficult to get used. Scan summary also is not provided in the Home Edition of Avast.

Comparison with Pro version

Rookit Scan, Spyware Scan, Firewall and loads of other options are available in the Pro Version of AVG not available. For those having extra having extra bucks Upgrade is recommended.

Avast Pro version just has some User-Interface Enchancement Features and Script Scanner. Almost all the features are available in the Home Edition Itself. Upgrade is not recommended.

Conclusion

No winner. Its a draw between the two since both provides excellent protection with lots of features. You should try both and choose whats best for you.

Update: Comment from Pat Bitton

AVG Free 8.0 (available for download at http://free.avg.com) now combines anti-virus and anti-spyware in the same engine. v8 also includes the LinkScanner safe-search technology that protects users from inadvertently clicking through on an organic or paid search result that has been infected with a drive-by download.

Download links:

Avast Home

AVG Free

Another Change Of Antivirus

This time its only for testing purposes only.
I’ve decided to test the premium version of Anti-Vir premium Edition v8.1.
I got a free testing key from Anti-Vir Websit itself so after a long time I am using a legal software.
I downloaded it from a torrent from Pirate Bay and then got the 6 months testing license from here.
I’ll keep posting about the latest results of the test.

Installed and Updated Avast Antivirus Professional

I just installed and updated Avast Antivirus Professional v4.8 since The Eset Smart Security Patch did not work. Avast do not provide firewall with its service hence I had to install ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall for that.
Now its ok and working proper for the time being.
I always end up with Avast after moving through a bunch of antivirus softwares I found that all the antivirus softwares are the same. It does not make any difference which software you are using since the response of the antivirus software is not the same while removing the viruses.
When I ended up being a victim of the avpo.exe\amvo.exe a pen drive virus which I got froma friends pen drive. I tried all the antivirus softwares but sice it was a worm and not a virus its removal became impossible in not only the avst antivirus but also other products too.
This made me realise that viruses can only be prevented from proper settings of the windows as well as taking careful precautions to see that there is no infection at all.

Damn… The Smart Security Update Failed

The Patch that I used to Update the versioon of ESET Smart Security Failed…. So should think of a new antivirus software. I think I’ll settle with Avast for a while till I get any other decent antivirus software which is more efficient and also updatetable.
I have to find a firewall too that protects me from the spyware and also the hackers in the Net( which Smart Security readily Provided)…. So have a job to do now.