A co-worker at work managed to pick up a trojan the other day – no clue where or how, but our crusty old version of Symantec AntiVirus picked it up and quarantined so it wasn’t a complete debacle.
Now, I’m not a trusting person and tend to assume that where there’s one, there may be more…
Traditionally I’ve turned to the online scanners for second opinions. I figure they’re less likely to be compromised on install. Lately it seems like more and more of them might tell you about what they found but no longer fix it unless you pony up a credit card and buy the full version. The Kaspersky option is just one example of that. [I seem to rediscover this trend all too frequently. My memory is awful!]
I know, what do you want for free? Well, I want more. I want what it finds fixed too!
The ESET Online scanner seems to fit the bill – and it found a bit more than Symantec had found. Bonus (well, sort of). And just like that, ESET gets added to my eval list for an upcoming AV upgrade at work.
A little free service can generate a lot of good will.
Tip: Before scanning a Windows machine be sure to disable System Restore. If you don’t, you just might find your virus or trojan back after the next reboot… If running a scan via installed software go ahead and do it from Safe Mode too.
After the ESET scan I decided to give ThreatFire a shot for a third opinion. First time I’d ever tried it and I know very little about it beyond what I read in a Maximum PC review a few months ago.
Seems to work OK and didn’t turn up any additional stuff. I’ll have to play with it a bit more before I decide if this is something to invest in for the office… Anyone have any experience with it?
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June 22nd, 2008 
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I wondered how Threatfire made their money, and sure enough, Not free for business use. It is pretty cheap, but you do need to buy the licenses. That may be a hard sell to most businesses.
@Nathan yeah, I noticed that err… “after the fact” too. But dang it, I want to test these things in the real world before plunking down company money.