Author Topic: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?  (Read 7833 times)

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #15 on: September 07, 2016, 08:54:33 PM »
This was posted in 2009, cloud features is further developed since then and today evryone use it it one way or another

Arguments against cloud-based antivirus
http://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/malware/arguments-against-cloud-based-antivirus/

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Insides-of-Panda-Cloud-Antivirus-111793.shtml

It's a very old article and besides, I recently asked their support about it and this is what they had to say. Please check the article at the link below

http://support.pandasecurity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=5757&p=24843&sid=ec4a99fc2cec4584f22a29263b7b2dc5#p24843

If you check, the moderator stated that the "minimum knowledge cache" provides "basic" protection when the AV is offline.

Now although he did provide those old links, the words "minimum" and "basic" are not very convincing

« Last Edit: September 07, 2016, 09:57:47 PM by partha_user »

Offline Eddy

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #16 on: September 07, 2016, 08:57:43 PM »
As I said, they do work offline but limited.
I know for sure since I've tested them.

Although nowadays a lot is done online, off-line protection is needed as well.
Think about portable media (usb stick, cd-r, dvd-r, external hd etc).

I can recommend to put (besides avast), McShield on that off-line system as well as Malwarebytes.
Haven't checked McShield, but Malwarebytes offers (just like avast) to download the definitions so you can install them on a off-line system.

The "minimum knowledge cache" is like the avast VPS.
Sure it has a lot of detections in it, but not the latest ones as they are not (yet) released but found in "real time".
CyberCapture - better detection of unknown and unique files via our cloud technology

But why isn't the system online ?
« Last Edit: September 07, 2016, 09:01:20 PM by Eddy »

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #17 on: September 07, 2016, 09:03:20 PM »
As I said, they do work offline but limited.
I know for sure since I've tested them.

But that is not true for Zemana's antimalware products. I have their lifetime license and used it. I also have emails from their support staff explaining how it works.

Please try this. Install Zemana's antimalware, disable the Internet and try running a scan with it, and let me know what happens
« Last Edit: September 07, 2016, 09:17:04 PM by partha_user »

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2016, 09:14:33 PM »
The "minimum knowledge cache" is like the avast VPS.
Sure it has a lot of detections in it, but not the latest ones as they are not (yet) released but found in "real time".
CyberCapture - better detection of unknown and unique files via our cloud technology

But why isn't the system online ?

I am always online but still prefer using antimalware which can provide some decent levels of offline security with the local definitions and the in-built heuristics.

I am glad that Avast Free does that. Thanks for your time.

« Last Edit: September 07, 2016, 09:20:20 PM by partha_user »

Offline Pondus

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #19 on: September 07, 2016, 10:35:03 PM »
Quote
Haven't checked McShield, but Malwarebytes offers (just like avast) to download the definitions so you can install them on a off-line system.
MCShield dont need signatures to do its work (it does contain some signatures)
It only target malware that use removable drives to spread and it mostly look at how they do it and target the malware that way

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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #20 on: September 08, 2016, 08:34:50 AM »
I don't think it is a nice idea to use more than one real-time antimalware at the same time because that could lead to conflicts and other performance issues



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Re: Is the Free Antivirus completely cloud-based or does it work offline too?
« Reply #21 on: September 08, 2016, 08:39:36 AM »
If you were referring to the use of MBAM Free along with Avast, then it's another story because MBAM Free does not have the real-time components
« Last Edit: September 08, 2016, 08:44:23 AM by partha_user »