HELP!! Not so Technical NEWBIE

[Lisandro]

BitDefender Free Edition (secondary scanner)
ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses - SuperLite (secondary scanner)
eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility (secondary scanner)
a2 free

When you have time, can you compare them?
Features, update frequency, worms that avast did not detect, installation, stability... Thanks  

[bbfi]

Technical,

Just a quick reply for now.

Avast has picked up every virus and worm that has been sent to me. Every scan I have done with other software programs have been negative.

So, I really can't compare programs with how they catch viruses, since Avast has already caught them.

As for update frequency, I only use these other backup scanners maybe once a week, so I do not know how often they are updated. I think that a² free is updated at least every other day or so.

For features, most of them are fairly bare bones. Nothing special like Avast. No skins, sounds, etc. Stability is good on XP, I do not know about other operating systems. a² free is the only one of those you mentioned that is pretty professional in appearance and updates.  

When and if I get more time, I'll try to go into more detail if you like. The only one I really use on an ongoing basis is a² free. The last time I updated BitDefender Free Edition, eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility, and ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses was when MyDoom was in its prime (I've been pretty busy lately working with Spamihilator ).

[Lisandro]

BitDefender Free Edition: it's mine backup scanner, works well but very poor in skins, features, report files and so on.
eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility and ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses I never used... Maybe you can talk a little bit more, when you have time, about these two.
Thanks.

[bbfi]

ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses -
Quote from VINTAGE SOLUTIONS, INC's site -

Support Platforms -
The program can operate under Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, XP
Accurate Virus Check -
The program equips with the same anti-virus mechanism we use in the standard products and it will detect viruses, trojans, worms, backdoors and other malwares.

1) I do not recommend this program to anyone without broadband. Updates are the complete program of 3.9 mb.
2) To run the program you execute it each time. There is no installation.
3) This program does not alter your system configuration and it runs in your temporary directory. Therefore, this program behaves as the one-time virus scanner: it is not a resident scanner.
4) No skins, no sounds.
5) Website is being worked on now. Nothing fancy. Rather boring. But downloads are still available at http://www.vintage-solutions.com/English/Antivirus/Super/index.html.
6) Does "heuristics", scans compressed files, scans mail box (this is not the same as scanning emails when they arrive, it just scans the emails already kept on your computer).
7) Detailed Check is veeeeery slow. I do not recommend using it unless you have a day or two to waste. Scan without Detailed Check takes about 1.5 hours for 10gb of files on hard drive.
8 ) Viewing any suspicious files or viruses that are caught is difficult to do. You have to go through complete list of files checked.

[Lisandro]

bbfi, with your description I'm thinking that nobody will use ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses... There are almost only disavantages...

Waiting for better news of eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility.

[bbfi]

eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility -
Quote from MicroWorld's site -

MicroWorld has developed a Free eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility, that will help you diagnose if your machine is infected by a virus. This tool also cleans your registry and other system areas of the damage that a virus might have done. The best part of eScan toolkit utility, is its ability to
A. Check running processes in memory.
B. Check illegal dialers running in memory and inform the user.
C. Inform users of any background (legal) sniffers or tools running in memory.

1) I do not recommend this program to anyone without broadband. Updates are the complete program of 3.5 to 4.0 mb.
2) To run the program you execute it each time. It will unzip. There is no installation.
3) No skins, no sounds.
4) Many links on Website do not work. But downloads are still available. However, the free scanner is almost impossible to find. Direct link is http://www.mwti.net/antivirus/free_utilities.asp.
5) Powered by Kaspersky.
6) Scan takes about 1 hour for 10gb of files on hard drive.

Although both programs have disadvantages, there are some advantages for those who have broadband.
1) Both are free.
2) They do not change anything in the Registry.
3) They do not use Services.
4) eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility uses Kaspersky.

Of the two programs, eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility is better. It has a better layout, is faster, and suspicious files and viruses are shown in an easy to see Virus Log Information window.

The third one I recommended is BitDefender Free Edition which is a much better scanner, but it must be used with its 2 Service files running.

Therefore, if you have broadband and do not want to want a secondary virus scanner which uses Services, then eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility is fairly decent. ANTIDOTE for PC Viruses looks as if it isn't updated very often anymore and it is difficult to view any virus or suspicious files found. I might just remove this one from my computer after testing it out recently.

[Lisandro]

Thanks bbfi, I'll give a try to Free eScan Antivirus Toolkit Utility.
Anyway, BitDefender seems better with incremental updates. I develop a script to open the two services before I run it so, in normal conditions, the two services are stopped (not start automatically with Windows) and only when I need to scan they start.

[bbfi]

I develop a script to open the two services before I run it so, in normal conditions, the two services are stopped (not start automatically with Windows) and only when I need to scan they start.

I like that idea. Could you post that script? It's a pain to have to go into the services to start each of the BitDefender files.

[Lisandro]

I develop a script to open the two services before I run it so, in normal conditions, the two services are stopped (not start automatically with Windows) and only when I need to scan they start.

I like that idea. Could you post that script? It's a pain to have to go into the services to start each of the BitDefender files.

I can make it specially for you  
Could you give me the two path names: long and short of the BitDefender installation?
I use AutoIt 2.64 to make the script, I will zip the exe file and send it to you for test!

[bbfi]

Thanks Technical,

The path is C:\Program Files\BitDefender Free Edition\

You mentioned the long and short path names. The above is the long I believe. The short would probably be C:\Progra~1\BitDef~1\, but that is just a guess.

[Lisandro]

I'll send you by email a compiled exe of AutoIt 2.64 with these commands:

HideAutoItWin, on
Break, on
SetWinDelay, 2000
SplashTextOn, 440, 100, Loading BitDefender..., \nWait while loading the Services...
RunWait, net start xcommsvr,, hide
RunWait, net start bdss,, hide
Run, C:\\Program Files\\BitDefender Free Edition\\bdmcon.exe
SplashTextOff
WinActivate, BitDefender Free Edition
WinWaitActive, BitDefender Free Edition,, 2
WinActivate, BitDefender Free Edition
Exit

Can you test it and say if it works?
If you prefer, you can download AutoIt and make the changes you want! (http://www.hiddensoft.com). Actually, there are too independent (not compatible) versions of AutoIt: 2.64 and 3.0. Both will be supported in the future.

Note, the script only start the services, do not stop them. Anyway, next boot you won't have the services starting automatically  

[Jarron]

bbfi,

Just checked out the BBFI website.  Looks like you and CoJo have had some interesting ministries!

On the subject of freeware have you ever looked at e-sword?  I think it's a great Bible study software and maybe you or someone you minister to could use it.  www.e-sword.net.

[bbfi]

Jarron,

Thanks. Prison ministry work is extremely interesting and fulfilling. It is a large harvest field for Christians.

We have e-Sword already. Been using it since version 2 or 3, not sure. It has to be the best freeware Bible program available.

We also use Quick Verse 4 and 6. Quick Verse has the NIV translation and there are some good macros used along with WordPerfect, e-Sword does not have these. We try to use the same translations (KJV, NIV, Reina Valera) as the Bibles and New Testaments that we are able to get for the prisons. Therefore we need both e-Sword (for Spanish versions and KJV) and Quick Verse (for NIV and KJV and the macros for WordPerfect).