Free AV from AOL

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yes, it's a cut-down version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAV) 6. In
which case, it should be good, even if much reduced in scope.
Click to expand...

Questions:
How do you know this is Kaspersky?
Would you use this product over NOD32?
 
badgolferman said:
Questions:
How do you know this is Kaspersky?
Would you use this product over NOD32?
Click to expand...
1. I can see from the screen shot on the web site as I use Kaspersky
myself. Also, there was a discussion about this very product in the
Kaspersky Labs forum only yesterday.
2. I think KAV (actually, I use KIS, which is KAV plus firewall) is
really good but cannot compare it with NOD32 as I've never used that
product. I can say that the support you get in the Kaspersky forum is
really good, though and was part of the reason I went for KIS.
 
badgolferman said:
Questions:
How do you know this is Kaspersky?
Would you use this product over NOD32?
Click to expand...


1) AOL Active Virus Shield
(http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=19414)

2) Depends. Are you using AOL? Both are good AV solutions. I would
probably use a _free_ version of KAV _or_ NOD32, before I would pay
for the other one, if you know what I mean.

The AOL Active Virus Shield is a stripped down version of KAV 6. Same
engine and definitions, but not the full customizability of KAV 6. And
I am not sure that it contains all of the modules --- email AV, Web
AV, PDM, etc.

Ron :)
 
1) AOL Active Virus Shield
(http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=19414)

2) Depends. Are you using AOL? Both are good AV solutions. I would
probably use a _free_ version of KAV _or_ NOD32, before I would pay
for the other one, if you know what I mean.

The AOL Active Virus Shield is a stripped down version of KAV 6. Same
engine and definitions, but not the full customizability of KAV 6. And
I am not sure that it contains all of the modules --- email AV, Web
AV, PDM, etc.
Click to expand...

I just took a look at it without "activating" it (I'm not interested
in getting their spam). It doesn't include the new v6 PDM module
or a web module. It just includes basic file and email scan modules.
Without activation, neither the updater nor the realtime/background
scanning functions are available, but they seem to be available via
activation. It has the same look and feel of a "regular" KAV 6.

Looks to me like something that could be recommended for emergency
use (tell them to be sure to activate and update) as well as a top
notch free alternative ... much better than other free av
alternatives. What's nice for emergency use is the limited scans
feature of memory, Windows files and the registry. That scan
goes very quickly and IMO is a very valuable "quick scan" feature
which likely finds active malware right off the bat.

Art
 
From: "badgolferman" <[email protected]>

|
| Questions:
| How do you know this is Kaspersky?
| Would you use this product over NOD32?

This was aksed about recently. I looked it up and yes... it uses a Kaspersky engine.

However, you must agree to be spammed and get Pop-Up advertisments !

AO-Hell ! { LOL }
 
From: "Art" <[email protected]>


|
| I just took a look at it without "activating" it (I'm not interested
| in getting their spam). It doesn't include the new v6 PDM module
| or a web module. It just includes basic file and email scan modules.
| Without activation, neither the updater nor the realtime/background
| scanning functions are available, but they seem to be available via
| activation. It has the same look and feel of a "regular" KAV 6.
|
| Looks to me like something that could be recommended for emergency
| use (tell them to be sure to activate and update) as well as a top
| notch free alternative ... much better than other free av
| alternatives. What's nice for emergency use is the limited scans
| feature of memory, Windows files and the registry. That scan
| goes very quickly and IMO is a very valuable "quick scan" feature
| which likely finds active malware right off the bat.
|
| Art

See my reply to "badFgolfer".

BTW: Did 'ya get my email ?
 
David said:
From: "badgolferman" <[email protected]>



This was aksed about recently. I looked it up and yes... it uses a
Kaspersky engine.

However, you must agree to be spammed and get Pop-Up advertisments !

AO-Hell ! { LOL }
Click to expand...

Uh, forget it then. An anti-virus product that spawns pop-ups and spam
is not doing its job properly.
 
| Questions:
| How do you know this is Kaspersky?
| Would you use this product over NOD32?

This was aksed about recently. I looked it up and yes... it uses a Kaspersky engine.

However, you must agree to be spammed and get Pop-Up advertisments !

AO-Hell ! { LOL }
Click to expand...

In spite of my own reservations, I changed my mind and decided to give
the product a fair shake. So I activated it. You don't have to agree
to the Taskbar thing during installation, which I instinctively did
not do. Later, someone on alt.comp.freeware mentioned that the
Taskbar is where the devil lies ... it allegedly causes pop ups and
other undesirable activities.

I'm not having any problems with it so far. I'm in the process of
trying to determine whether or not it contains spyware. But that
will require packet inspection sw and it might well prove to be
quite difficult. KAV 6 rules your machine down at the lowest levels
including the monitoring of (at least most) all internet traffic.

Also, some people have complained about incompatibility with
Sygate fw, but I'm not experiencing any problems along those
lines.

I'll report any problems I find here in this thread.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
From: "Art" <[email protected]>

| On Fri, 11 Aug 2006 21:55:56 GMT, "David H. Lipman"
| said:
|> Questions:
|> How do you know this is Kaspersky?
|> Would you use this product over NOD32?
Click to expand...
|
| In spite of my own reservations, I changed my mind and decided to give
| the product a fair shake. So I activated it. You don't have to agree
| to the Taskbar thing during installation, which I instinctively did
| not do. Later, someone on alt.comp.freeware mentioned that the
| Taskbar is where the devil lies ... it allegedly causes pop ups and
| other undesirable activities.
|
| I'm not having any problems with it so far. I'm in the process of
| trying to determine whether or not it contains spyware. But that
| will require packet inspection sw and it might well prove to be
| quite difficult. KAV 6 rules your machine down at the lowest levels
| including the monitoring of (at least most) all internet traffic.
|
| Also, some people have complained about incompatibility with
| Sygate fw, but I'm not experiencing any problems along those
| lines.
|
| I'll report any problems I find here in this thread.
|
| Art
| http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

I lkook forward to that report Art !
 
Art said:
In spite of my own reservations, I changed my mind and decided to give
the product a fair shake. So I activated it. You don't have to agree
to the Taskbar thing during installation, which I instinctively did
not do. Later, someone on alt.comp.freeware mentioned that the
Taskbar is where the devil lies ... it allegedly causes pop ups and
other undesirable activities.

I'm not having any problems with it so far. I'm in the process of
trying to determine whether or not it contains spyware. But that
will require packet inspection sw and it might well prove to be
quite difficult. KAV 6 rules your machine down at the lowest levels
including the monitoring of (at least most) all internet traffic.

Also, some people have complained about incompatibility with
Sygate fw, but I'm not experiencing any problems along those
lines.

I'll report any problems I find here in this thread.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
Click to expand...

Art,

I look forward to the report also. Take a look at the following
information. I've not read the EULA, so I don't know what it contains.
If the information in this article is accurate, there's more going on
than meets the eye.

<Quote>

While AOL doesn't ask for money, Active Virus Shield users have to agree
to let AOL and its partners deliver ads to them. "As a condition for
your use of the software, you agree to receive promotions and periodic
e-mail messages from us and our affiliates," according to the fine print
in the license and user agreement of the software.

Active Virus Shield collects a host of information that may be used for
marketing purposes, starting with the e-mail address required to
download and run the product, according to the fine print. Other data
collected include usage stats, responses to ads and details about the
PC, according to the AOL agreement.

Alongside the antivirus software, AOL ships an Internet Explorer
toolbar. The Microsoft toolbar includes an indicator for the PC's
security status, a password manager, a pop-up blocker and a link to a
Web site for more information on suspicious sites, the Web company said.
It also includes an AOL Web search box, which can drive traffic to AOL
Search.

<End Quote>

http://news.com.com/AOL+offers+free+antivirus+software/2100-7355_3-6102917.html?tag=nefd.top
 
Art,

I look forward to the report also. Take a look at the following
information. I've not read the EULA, so I don't know what it contains.
If the information in this article is accurate, there's more going on
than meets the eye.

<Quote>

While AOL doesn't ask for money, Active Virus Shield users have to agree
to let AOL and its partners deliver ads to them. "As a condition for
your use of the software, you agree to receive promotions and periodic
e-mail messages from us and our affiliates," according to the fine print
in the license and user agreement of the software.
Click to expand...

That's an aspect that I'll not likely be able to evaluate since my ISP
does a good job of spam blocking. I did see a different spam email
sneak throgh this morning concerning low mortgage rates that I haven't
seen in ages, but I obviously have no idea whether or not that spam
email is related to having divulged my email addy to AOL.
Active Virus Shield collects a host of information that may be used for
marketing purposes, starting with the e-mail address required to
download and run the product, according to the fine print. Other data
collected include usage stats, responses to ads and details about the
PC, according to the AOL agreement.
Click to expand...

The question is whether or not that activity requires the Taskbar
option, which I excluded.

Another question or aspect is whether or not some sort of spyware
is included "along side of" or "in addition to" or "independent of"
AVP.EXE. I looked for that sort of thing last evening and didn't
find anything unusual attempting to "call out". With the realtime
monitor temorarily disabled (AVP.EXE not running), internet
activity was dead as a doornail. On my machine, no ports were open or
internet services active. Nothing unusual was trying for outgoing
internet access that I could find.

With the realtime monitor running, the port activity, etc., looks
the same as with "the real" or regular KAV 6. AVP.EXE shows up
in the same ways using netstat, Fport and Sygate.

So I wonder about any unusual activities of AVP.EXE itself. Seems
doubtful to me that the scanner itself without the Toolbar option
included is doing anything underhanded, but who knows?
Alongside the antivirus software, AOL ships an Internet Explorer
toolbar. The Microsoft toolbar includes an indicator for the PC's
security status, a password manager, a pop-up blocker and a link to a
Web site for more information on suspicious sites, the Web company said.
It also includes an AOL Web search box, which can drive traffic to AOL
Search.

<End Quote>

http://news.com.com/AOL+offers+free+antivirus+software/2100-7355_3-6102917.html?tag=nefd.top
Click to expand...

Again, I suspect the devil is in the optional Taskbar and in the
spam resulting from divulging your email addy. If there's more
to it than that, it may well be beyond my capabilities of finding
out. We shall see.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
Art said:
That's an aspect that I'll not likely be able to evaluate since my ISP
does a good job of spam blocking. I did see a different spam email
sneak throgh this morning concerning low mortgage rates that I haven't
seen in ages, but I obviously have no idea whether or not that spam
email is related to having divulged my email addy to AOL.


The question is whether or not that activity requires the Taskbar
option, which I excluded.

Another question or aspect is whether or not some sort of spyware
is included "along side of" or "in addition to" or "independent of"
AVP.EXE. I looked for that sort of thing last evening and didn't
find anything unusual attempting to "call out". With the realtime
monitor temorarily disabled (AVP.EXE not running), internet
activity was dead as a doornail. On my machine, no ports were open or
internet services active. Nothing unusual was trying for outgoing
internet access that I could find.

With the realtime monitor running, the port activity, etc., looks
the same as with "the real" or regular KAV 6. AVP.EXE shows up
in the same ways using netstat, Fport and Sygate.

So I wonder about any unusual activities of AVP.EXE itself. Seems
doubtful to me that the scanner itself without the Toolbar option
included is doing anything underhanded, but who knows?


Again, I suspect the devil is in the optional Taskbar and in the
spam resulting from divulging your email addy. If there's more
to it than that, it may well be beyond my capabilities of finding
out. We shall see.

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
Click to expand...


Look forward to hearing more of your analysis, Art. Except for the optional
taskbar, this looks to be fairly benign. And it's refreshing to see a EULA
that openly admits to everything. Are there active banner ads displayed
while the product is in using, during a scan?


Bob
 
Look forward to hearing more of your analysis, Art. Except for the optional
taskbar, this looks to be fairly benign. And it's refreshing to see a EULA
that openly admits to everything. Are there active banner ads displayed
while the product is in using, during a scan?
Click to expand...

I've not yet let it scan my entire drive or drives. Only the "Critical
Areas" scan. No sign of any ads or anything. So far it behaves very
much like the regular KAV 6. One minor difference is that you can
disable the realtime monitor without having to supply a password as
you do with the regular KAV 6. But otherwise, you'd think you were
using the regular KAV 6 product (with the PDM and web scan disabled
since they're not present at all). Of course, the icons are different
as you'd expect :)

Art
http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
Art said:
I've not yet let it scan my entire drive or drives. Only the "Critical
Areas" scan. No sign of any ads or anything. So far it behaves very
much like the regular KAV 6. One minor difference is that you can
disable the realtime monitor without having to supply a password as
you do with the regular KAV 6. But otherwise, you'd think you were
using the regular KAV 6 product (with the PDM and web scan disabled
since they're not present at all). Of course, the icons are different
as you'd expect :)
Click to expand...

Art,

You don't have to use password protection with KAV 6.

Settings -> Service -> Enable Password Protection

Uncheck it. There are also other passwords for things like updating
through a different account, email notifications, etc.

Ron :)
 
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