Ikarus is relatively new and is widely used in Austria.  The program has a real time shield that is VB100 and PC Security Labs certified.  The engine also protects against spyware and is even used by Emsisoft A2 in their software.  There has been extensive testing in which users credit the antivirus with having excellent detection rates.  However, some users' state that the program has higher resource usage (evident in tests).  The program offers several different scanning options, scheduling, and frequent updates.

    The installation of Ikarus Virus Utilities went well.  The setup file is a tiny 15.5 megabytes in size.  The only problem is that by default the installation is significantly outdated (late 2009) and required a time consuming update (the program folder increased to approximately 175 megabytes and the update took about 25 minutes to download with a broadband connection).  The installer detects conflicting security software via registry entries.  However, some of the software detected was actually uninstalled months ago.  After the installation, the program immediately launched.

    Ikarus Virus Utilities offers four different scanning settings, the entire computer, fast system, system partition, and a removable media scan.  The unique thing is that the program displays an approximate time to completion for each scan.  For the fast scan, Ikarus stated that it would take approximately 10 minutes to complete and it actually turned out to be relatively accurate.  The program scans at a brisk 8 to 10 megabytes per second which is faster than the average free antivirus.  The scanner didn’t detect any viruses on the test system and scanned an impressive 89,948 files.  It seems that the scanner automatically goes into a background mode once the scan is minimized.  I detected a slight slow down on the test system when a folder with a large amount of files was opened.  In addition to the pre defined profiles, one can create scan profiles that can include a wide range of folders and start at a specific time period.

    Ikarus Virus Utilities is generally a pretty barebones antivirus and includes a only a handful of features.  There is email scanning but it only seems to support Outlook.  One can customize where the scan report is placed within the email and if attachments are scanned.  There is a quarantine which offers a few unique options in addition to a simple restore and delete functionality like most free antivirus.  One can temporary unblock a quarantined item which allows it to function until the next reboot.  There is also the option to save a backup of the file(s) and delete the original virus.  Settings are kind of sparce, there is the option to configure a dial up connection, create file and folder exclusions, restore the default settings, and unfortunately not much else.  However, it’s nice that there are 12 languages supported from Chinese to Turkish.

    I would like to see a few improvements in future versions, including the ability to pause a virus scan, interface improvements (I sometimes had difficulty canceling a scan), more settings to modify the scanner, and better logging formats.  

    Loaris Trojan Remover is an advanced program that detects a wide range of malicious software in addition to Trojans.  The software has definitions to protect against rouge BHO, ActiveX, Startup programs, Services, Viruses and more.  All of these modules combined have over 428,776 signatures.  The program also has a very efficient scanner and advanced file analysis tools (heuristics).  In fact, the program detected actual malware samples that major competitors failed to detect (all scans are run on the same test system).

    The installation of Loaris Trojan Remover was quick.  The download size was a modest 16.9 megabytes in size.  After the installation completed, the program automatically updated.  The program needed to download approximately 15 megabytes in updates as the original download executable seemed to be mildly dated.  However, the updates were provided at, at least 300 kilobytes per second making the update relatively painless.  After the update completed, the program immediately started a scan.

    Loaris Trojan Remover is an on demand scanner and unfortunately doesn’t provide an always on shield.  However, for the technical crowd, this program shines.  There are four scanning options the full, quick, custom, and standard scans.  All scans focus heavily on the registry and core system areas.  The scanner is very fast at approximately 10 to 16 megabytes per second.  This allowed the standard scan to finish in 17 minutes and 21 seconds (shows the percentage and an accurate time left for the scan).  Loaris Trojan Remover detected suspicious items that the standard free antivirus left behind.  For example, WinPcap or npf.sys is a driver that sits in between the network interface and the user.  While technically a false positive, it shows that the antivirus engine has excellent rootkit detection.  If one has a question as to why a virus was detected, simply head over to the log, where the actual suspicious HEX code is displayed (unique to Loaris).  The program also detected AiroWizard (a security program but could be classified as malicious) in which a Trojan.SuspectCRC was invoked.  Again, this is owed to the program’s accurate heuristic engine.  Loaris Trojan Remover did detect some false positives, CloudBerry (amazon aws ICSharpCode.SharpZip.dll) but again could be malicious given the functionality.  Finally, the program also detects broken executables which again could be malicious.  Therefore, since there are technically some false positives (could easily be malware) the program is designed for  the more advanced user.  The explore Windows modules is handy in that it auto detects safe active components etc. and displays a corresponding shield next to them.  The program detected the nps.sys and a VMware component as suspicious.

    In addition to great scanning, there are additional tools.  One can reset all settings within internet explorer, reset the host file, reset windows update, and also collect system information about startups.  In the settings area, one can enable a deep scan, do a startup scan, ignore many of the false positive detections above such as ignore packers, loaders, incomplete files, risk tools and files greater than 16 megabytes. There is also a full quarantine and the option to look up anything detected via a search engine.

    Loaris Trojan Remover’s resource usage is mixed.  Since the program only runs when launched, it does not have persistent memory usage.  The software can use anywhere from 100 to 180 megabytes when scanning.  CPU usage is anywhere from 11 to 16%.  However, the interface is very fluid and doesn’t affect other tasks on the test computer.

    As far as things that could be improved, I would like to see a real time shield and maybe a scan for novice users that has most of the ignore settings enabled.

• Download Bkav Professional Internet Security Free Directly
  

    The installation of Bkav Professional was moderate.  The initial download was 1.7 megabytes in size and then proceeded to download the full internet security program.  The setup has some problems when one wants to change the installation directory.  The difficulty is that one can’t make a new folder inside the included file browser so one will have to manually use explorer to create it first.  The installer didn’t have any problems on the Windows 7 64 bit test system (rare for new antivirus)and required a restart to finish.

    Bkav Professional has 4 different scanning options the quick, full, multiple drives, and the option to choose a directory.  Depending on the scan, options including heuristics, critical areas, startup objects, and autorun objects are selected or deselected.  One can also select whether they want the windows directory or documents folder scanned.  The virus scanner first needs to connect to the cloud which takes four to six minutes.  Once done, the program scans at approximately 3 megabytes per second which is slightly slower than the average free antivirus.  The first detection was a “junk” or unusable executable and offered to delete it.   The file, RKPavProc64.sys  was a leftover component from a Panda installation.  One annoying thing is that the status bar doesn’t indicate the progress of the scan, it simply moves.  In addition, to the customization settings mentioned above, there is the smart scan option which utilizes a memory scan.  In the advanced scanning options, Bkav Professional has a deep, rootkit, spyware and adware, keylogger, packed files scans, and remove macro option.  These settings can be customized according to one’s preferences.

    In addition, to good scanning capability Bkav Professional includes a firewall.  However, the firewall really needs some work as far as how its presented to the user.  The menu option really gives no indication of the functionality accept the ability to add or remove a process.   I would like to see what programs are auto detected as safe in future versions.   The schedule scan option is nice in that one can schedule any one of the 4 scans to run at boot or a specific interval.  There is a report and update function but otherwise few additional features.

   Bkav Professional uses about 43 megabytes of RAM while idle and doesn’t affect system operation (one will be unaware that its actually there). When scanning the program uses an additional 95 megabytes of RAM and about 12 percent CPU power.  This figures are about what the average competitor uses.

    F-Secure has just released a new beta or technology preview that is a showcase for their 2012 programs.  The technology preview TP 29 contains several new features including a new launch pad for the antivirus, upgraded deepguard 4 protection that utilizes the cloud, online safety that includes phishing and parental controls, sliders in the settings menu, and even optimizations for mobile broadband to prevent excessive use of bandwidth.  Top all of this off with the fact that the Free Beta expires in September 2011 or 6 months from the date of installation for 3 computers!  Since F-Secure has been so generous, please make sure to send in suggestions and comments.

   The F-Secure beta is now organized in a new way.  There are two main interfaces the Computer Security (the core antivirus and firewall) and the Online Safety ( parental controls and phishing protection).  In the Computer Security interface, there are three scan settings, the virus and spyware, rootkit, custom, and full system scans.  The virus scanner (engine) is still very fast and scanned at an average of 11 megabytes per second.  Even though engine performance enhancements are listed as improved in this version, it’s hard when the scanning performance already is faster than the majority of antivirus.  F-Secure Beta detected one object, a tracking cookie, on the test system.   In addition to a regular scanning there is the rootkit and the riskware (fake antivirus) scanners.  The DeepGuard 4 protection has been improved as in it properly recognizes trusted and known safe programs.  With previous versions I would be prompted constantly during normal usage.

 

    F-Secure Technology Preview also includes a fully functioning firewall.   There are now a lot of nifty profiles including mobile (blocks everything except http and vpn), office (doesn’t prompt but has specific inbound rules and allows TCP and UDP; was the default),  block all, allow all, home (TCP outbound allowed and can add own rules), and normal.  There is also specific application control and a full IPS system.  I really liked the feature on the tasks menu which gives the user the option to open a firewall port quickly.  Keep in mind that the firewall blocks IPv6 by default and one will have to navigate to the settings menu to change this. 

    The Online Safety is a whole additional set of menus which I argue could be combined into the original set.  The parental options functions are based on the windows accounts which have separate settings for time limits and web page filtering.  The browser protection toolbar checks search results for malicious websites

   F-Secure Tech Preview uses about 55 megabytes while idle and about 70 when scanning.  CPU usage varies from 7 to 14 % during scanning.  What's nice is that the scanner doesn’t hog a lot of memory when active compared to other free antivirus.  The program is also lightweight and I didn’t have a problem with intensive simultaneous usage.

   There really are no stand out problems so enjoy this beta while one can!