Cloud and Antivirus (Africa poor internet)

adrien

New Member
Thread author
Aug 22, 2015
6
Hello all,

I am a Belgian citizen living in Malawi. I have started a new job a few days and I was asked to find a good Free Antivirus.

There are a lot of them but as I looked into it it seems that a lot of them work on cloud and it seems that they are less accurate when the computer is not "online".

We have many problem with Virus here and the internet connection ( very slow if not existant) is really bad. Most of the people get virus from USB key and visiting not safe websiste.

Could you tell me if the non constant internet connection is a problem and which would be the best Anti Virus to answer the issue.


thanks a lot,

Adrien
 

Atlas147

Level 30
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jul 28, 2014
1,990
Hello! Welcome to MalwareTips!

First of all for your antivirus solution, many people recommend Avast! free antivirus, although there are pop ups time to time, it is entirely worth the free protection. If you do not like pop ups there is another solution called Bitdefender free antivirus, which does not have popups, has amazing protection as well, and also is very easy to use. Please find the links for both of them below
Thank you for downloading Avast antivirus software
Free Antivirus Software - Download Bitdefender Antivirus Free

As for your USB malware problem, there is this free solution called MC shield, which I am using as well, it would scan all USB devices when they are plugged in for malware. If malware is detected it will be automatically removed and there would be no transmission of malware whatsoever. It has been a very effective tool, I cannot count the number of times this software has caught malware when I plug in my friend's USB device. Check it out the link is below
MCShield ::Anti-Malware Tool::

I hope you find what you are looking for in this forum, have a great stay here :)
 

jamescv7

Level 85
Verified
Honorary Member
Mar 15, 2011
13,070
Likely you need to consider a virtualization program like Toolwiz Time Freeze or if you can afford a budget for Shadow Defender which will help to isolate any changes done. Just a little bit of tweaks for exception.

You still need a protection like mentioned by @Hanmin147 where McShield design to detect and eliminate any known/unknown autorun attacks. *

* Likely you may need to put in the exception list of a virtualization program the whole folder of Mcshield for continuous updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mustolaf

Online_Sword

Level 12
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 23, 2015
555
I like discussing this problem because sometimes I am also worried about my internet connection to the cloud servers of antivirus.

In my opinion, for people who have a poor internet connection, Bitdefender would be a good choice.
Here are some reasons.
  1. To the best of my knowledge, nearly all the components of Bitdefender do not depend on the cloud.
    Yes, Bitdefender has its own cloud "B.R.A.I.N". But only the on-demand scan launched in the main interface, including quick scan/full scan/customize scan, would communicate with BRAIN. In fact, this communication is not essential because Bitdefender has an excellent local virus signature definition.

  2. When you have a poor internet connection, you may not be able to update the virus signature definition of your antivirus frequently. In such case, you would need an antivirus that can provide behavior-based proactive defense.
    In my opinion, the AVC/IDS modules of Bitdefender could provide the best behavior-based proactive protection. It has been the champion of the Heurist Bahvioral Test conducted by AV-Comparative for three years until 2015 (in 2012 it just won the second place). In this test, it could block nearly all the threats.
    Please note that this test is carried out offline!

  3. Bitdefender has a good or great protection against malwares spreaded by USB. By default, when a USB disk is detected, Bitdefender will perform a full scan on it. A bit boring although...

  4. Bitdefender is not freeware. But you can always find 180-days trial license of Bitdefender Internet Security or Total Security.
 

adrien

New Member
Thread author
Aug 22, 2015
6
Hello all,

thanks for your answer.

My first impression was going for either Avast, avira or botdefender free. It seems that I was not really far from the right decision.;)

I also wanted to ask you:

The computer here are usually a medium to low range. they are not really powerfull and an heavy software can slow things considerably and, at the end, push people to uninstall it (conter productif). Moreover, they dont really know anything about computer, I am looking for something more friendly to use. Finaly, I have avira on my laptop and it seems relatively slow at scanning the computer. It is the same for all of them?

Will any of these antivirus would be better than the other with these new problems?

Last little question, I was thinking of instaling Malwarebytes on the computer as well. Would the two be enugh for a "general" protection?

@Hanmin: thanks for this USB protection software. I was definitively looking for something like that.

thanks and have a nice weekend,

Adrien
 

Azure

Level 28
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Oct 23, 2014
1,712
For free, I would recommend Avast free antivirus.

If you want signature based give Emsisoft Anti Malware a try. ;)
This would be an excellent choice if he could afford paying for it. In fact another good one would be ESET and Kaspersky

I like discussing this problem because sometimes I am also worried about my internet connection to the cloud servers of antivirus.
  1. Bitdefender is not freeware. But you can always find 180-days trial license of Bitdefender Internet Security or Total Security.
But Bitdefender has a free version.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Online_Sword

adrien

New Member
Thread author
Aug 22, 2015
6
I like discussing this problem because sometimes I am also worried about my internet connection to the cloud servers of antivirus.

In my opinion, for people who have a poor internet connection, Bitdefender would be a good choice.
Here are some reasons.
  1. To the best of my knowledge, nearly all the components of Bitdefender do not depend on the cloud.
    Yes, Bitdefender has its own cloud "B.R.A.I.N". But only the on-demand scan launched in the main interface, including quick scan/full scan/customize scan, would communicate with BRAIN. In fact, this communication is not essential because Bitdefender has an excellent local virus signature definition.

  2. When you have a poor internet connection, you may not be able to update the virus signature definition of your antivirus frequently. In such case, you would need an antivirus that can provide behavior-based proactive defense.
    In my opinion, the AVC/IDS modules of Bitdefender could provide the best behavior-based proactive protection. It has been the champion of the Heurist Bahvioral Test conducted by AV-Comparative for three years until 2015 (in 2012 it just won the second place). In this test, it could block nearly all the threats.
    Please note that this test is carried out offline!

  3. Bitdefender has a good or great protection against malwares spreaded by USB. By default, when a USB disk is detected, Bitdefender will perform a full scan on it. A bit boring although...

  4. Bitdefender is not freeware. But you can always find 180-days trial license of Bitdefender Internet Security or Total Security.


Hello Online Sword;

thanks for your answer.

I think I will go with Bitdefender (it seem to be more straightforward and simple to use). However, do you know if the free version is the same (same tool/Behavior) as you describe above?

thanks a lot;
 
  • Like
Reactions: Online_Sword

Atlas147

Level 30
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jul 28, 2014
1,990
@Hanmin147 I Just checked MCshield and it seems that It has been updated the last time in April 2014.

is it correct?
That is correct, the programme itself is quite outdated but it has been receiving updates for its signatures every few days to every few weeks! What's great about it is that it heavily relies on their heuristics which means that even if you have not connected to the internet for days, it should still be able to detect zero day threats because of the strong heuristics.

They also have a cloud scan option that is enabled by default, it's extra protection but I have yet to see it in action because almost everything was caught through their normal signatures and heuristics for me!

Feel free to contact me if you have any other issues :)
 

Online_Sword

Level 12
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 23, 2015
555
However, do you know if the free version is the same (same tool/Behavior) as you describe above?

Sorry, I know little about the free version of Bitdefender...
According to the official website, the free version also has the features including "active virus control"(AVC) and web protection.
However, I hear that all these components are old, and have not been updated for a long time.
And its interface is too simple, and provides very few options to configure.
So I guess it might not be a good choice.:(

If you need a license of Bitdefender Internet Security / Total Security, I hope you can take a look at this thread: Extended trial - Bitdefender Giveaways [New Thread]
According to my experience, people can always find a trial license of at least 180 days in the promos listed in that thread.
This means that we can use Bitdefender IS / TS for free. That is why I forgot the free version.:p
 

Van2r

Level 1
Verified
Oct 14, 2013
30
i just wanted to help but most options have been said already.
anyway i believe there is no internet connection more worse than my own country (Iran) anyway its growing these days i still think cloud is useless for it sometimes our country block them idk for what! sometimes they do maybe its about embargo options not solved yet.
for usb i think its better to find solution in usb protection programs not just antiviruses anyway with poor network you cant reach to infected sites :D like mine xD
 

adrien

New Member
Thread author
Aug 22, 2015
6
Hello All,

Thanks again for this really fruitful talk. I tried to take your ideas in consideration and bring it with the reality of computer behavior here.

I guess, I am gonna have to go on a different layers protection, tell me what u think about it;

1. McShield for the first layer. Usb protection.

2. Bitdefender free edition. I looked at Avast and it seems that there is many pop-up and settings. It might disturb people and bring unnecessary confusing. People will definitively uninstall it here if it is too disturbing. ( avira scan is too long)

3. Malwarbytes for the weekly scan.

Thanks again for your advice,

Have a nice weekend,

Adrien
 
  • Like
Reactions: Online_Sword

Online_Sword

Level 12
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 23, 2015
555
Hello All,

Thanks again for this really fruitful talk. I tried to take your ideas in consideration and bring it with the reality of computer behavior here.

I guess, I am gonna have to go on a different layers protection, tell me what u think about it;

1. McShield for the first layer. Usb protection.

2. Bitdefender free edition. I looked at Avast and it seems that there is many pop-up and settings. It might disturb people and bring unnecessary confusing. People will definitively uninstall it here if it is too disturbing. ( avira scan is too long)

3. Malwarbytes for the weekly scan.

Thanks again for your advice,

Have a nice weekend,

Adrien

If my memory is correct, during the installation of Bitdefender free, it would uninstall other security products automatically. This problem does not appear in the paid versions like IS and TS.

So if you decide to use BD Free with other security products, I think you may need to install BD free first before you install the others.
 

adrien

New Member
Thread author
Aug 22, 2015
6
@Van. Good luck with i
Sorry, I know little about the free version of Bitdefender...
According to the official website, the free version also has the features including "active virus control"(AVC) and web protection.
However, I hear that all these components are old, and have not been updated for a long time.
And its interface is too simple, and provides very few options to configure.
So I guess it might not be a good choice.:(

If you need a license of Bitdefender Internet Security / Total Security, I hope you can take a look at this thread: Extended trial - Bitdefender Giveaways [New Thread]
According to my experience, people can always find a trial license of at least 180 days in the promos listed in that thread.
This means that we can use Bitdefender IS / TS for free. That is why I forgot the free version.:p

Hey thanks for that.

Managed to get the 6months for the total securtity.

Will help as I am the one zith the most uSB/exchange file.

thanks
 
  • Like
Reactions: Online_Sword

Online_Sword

Level 12
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 23, 2015
555
@Van. Good luck with i


Hey thanks for that.

Managed to get the 6months for the total securtity.

Will help as I am the one zith the most uSB/exchange file.

thanks

Hi, the only differences between total security (BDTS) and internet Security (BDIS) are that BDTS provides about 2GB online space for backup and it can encrypt files. I have never used these functions until now.
So, in my opinion, BDIS can provide the same protection as BDTS.
I mean, you could use any one of IS and TS, and get the same protection from Bitdefender.;)
 

jamescv7

Level 85
Verified
Honorary Member
Mar 15, 2011
13,070
@adrien : Yes that's the exactly build version, actually it doesn't mean the developments are stopped cause there are no bugs or any glitches that should work on which why no program updates are covered. But signatures are still on the go. (Mcshield)

Works from XP to 10.
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top