360 (Chinese AV's ) my thoughts

[rsgametech]

I always change my AV but always seem to come back to 360.

I used to love the UI of version 5 it was no nonsense and it was called internet security it had that premium look and feel for free.
Unfortunately Internet security became Essential...sounds a bit crap it should just be 360 Antivirus.

Then Total Security came out and up to version 8.0.0.146 it was reasonably good but I the latest 8.2.0.1098 has ads in the toolbox. I think the toolbox is becoming a cluster of too many apps.

The themes are also good idea but there is no customization of the colors just what they give you. I would like the classic colors of version 5.

I had a good long think about it and the following are the features that are the best and necessary.

Default:

Full check, good
Virus scan, good
Speed up, good
Clean up, good

Toolbox:
360 connect: Is this actually a thing?
Patch up, good
Sandbox, good
System Backup Cleaner, good
Browser Protection, good
Firewall, Glasswire is downloaded separate and full version is paid $49, but it is a good network analyzer.
Router Manager: does not work with all modems, should have a manual setup option to access, I have yet to see it work.

The only thing I would add or change is the following:

• No ads (I would pay Qihoo a once off fee for this).
• I would add third party application updater for flash player , java etc. (I use Secunia PSI).
• I would customize Glasswire so it's more integrated and not screaming buy me now or just remove it altogether from package if it's not an in house firewall.

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Then you have Baidu (Bitdefender) and Tencent (Avira). Baidu suffers from crap Ui and lot's of extra optional bloatwear. Tencent is pretty lean and just needs a UI overhaul. How these perform that I cannot answer.
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Glasswire at $49 is a bit much for a fancy GUI!

 

[jamescv7]

Protection is not a problem for many users, but rather privacy issues althogh those points are related to improve the products through statistical collecting. Considering they are free version hence lots of features added as unrestrictive.

 

[SloppyMcFloppy]

If they do could balance their 360 engine signatures and QVM super aggressive heuristic engine that would be great because right now it seems like they depends a lot on QVM super aggressive heuristic engine than 360 engine. Also, why Qihoo not show up on VirusTotal URL scan?

 

[jamescv7]

@SloppyMcFloppy: Likely because Qihoo does not have web scanning checker on their website which Virustotal must recognized to add another functionality. So only on scanning files is supported.

 

[Kate_L]

Tencent uses BitDefender engine, they switched a few weeks ago.

 

[Atlas147]

I think 360's super aggressive heuristics are the main reason that they are able to detect so many threats ahead of time and not just relying on signatures.

 

[Der.Reisende]

@rsgametech

"Then Total Security came out and up to version 8.0.0.146 it was reasonably good but I the latest 8.2.0.1098 has ads in the toolbox. I think the toolbox is becoming a cluster of too many apps." -> absolutely agree on that.
The Ad's can be kind of annoying, but they're popping up for me only if I run a manual scan (of a bunch of files e.g.). So this one is no big deal for me. Hey, it's one of the best free AV's out there, playing on par with the big ones

Patch up doesn't work that well with 10 for me (as Windows itself is faster installing those updates itself).

Sandbox - I have mixed feelings about that. The few times I used it, it only seemed to work with executables, and not always (might be also related to those .exe's). There might be better tools out there (can only speak about SD, the only one I tried out so far).

Themes are absolutely amazing, I love the new Rock Theme, but also really liked the cereal one (the yellow) and the grass one (though this is a bit to bright). The New Year one should be changed to 2016, it is also a lovely theme

The 1-click feature of the 360 TS works really well for me, I also felt some kind of system performance improvement after using those speedup tools (especially on Non-SSD PCs.) It replaced CCCleaner for me
Browser Protection is ok, however Chrome blocks lot's of pages itself. Last time I tested malicious links, Browser protection did not work well. However, I love the automatic background scanning when entering banking / shopping sites.

Firewall? For me: Never change a running system, had very bad experiences with ZoneAlarm (but probably <10 years ago). I rely on Win built in, however the rest of my security setup might be kinda overkill (HMP.A, ZAM, Q360 TS Security Mode, HMP --> scanning all 2 weeks or on suspicion). Tried out GlassWire, fancy, but turning out to slow down the system noticeable.

Router Protection is useless for me, did not work with the old one and also not for the new one, also not for the one my dad employs. Maybe they only support chinese ones? Those German routers (as long as they're not fancy LinkSys or FritzBox) might be no-name mainstream, offered for free with your DSL / Telephone contract.

What I'd like to add, is that I really treasure the fast (maybe to fast) upgrade cycle for (ok, that might be a negative) only 360 Total Security. What I'd love to see is an auto-upgrade to the new version, as you still need to kick it off manually. As they sometimes implement crucial new features, and most users might not push the update button, but rely on auto-update (so are my parents), it would be a very important improvement in my eyes.

Also think that 360 TS has a rock solid protection (combined with the improving M$ SmartScreen) by their super-agressive HIPS / HEUR, which could save you (not 100%) from getting encrypted by those nasty new ransomware, even if they don't have detection (signatures) for the file you run.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I would love Qihoo to improve the URL-blacklisting. You have to blacklist every page by hand. Avast (Free too I guess) had the feature to set up some wildcards, for example *torrent*, so if this showed up in any context on [Google] search, it blocked the page. Also, Avast did not have the option [as far as I remember] to still open the page, only if you removed the blacklisting. Qihoo offers the option to ignore the blacklisting. Looking forward to a future Child/Family protection feature, this one would be very welcome.

EDIT2: Sent them a feedback / suggestion on what I named in EDIT.
Here is the wildcard blacklisting feature I loved when using Avast! back then: Wildcards

 

[CySecy825]

About Heurestic my only problem is that every Steam game updates will detected by Heurestics, it is sometimes bit annoying


And Password Protection Should be in 360

 

[SloppyMcFloppy]

I think 360's super aggressive heuristics are the main reason that they are able to detect so many threats ahead of time and not just relying on signatures.

But it will generate a lot false positives on legitimate applications.

 

[Der.Reisende]

About Heurestic my only problem is that every steam game updates will detected by Heurestics, it is sometimes bit annoying

Had this one once, too
Maybe whitelist the folder? Because if you whiteliste the .exe, I'm not sure how Q will react (it is probably changed due to update)...

 

[Crystal_Lake_Camper]

I like 360 ts a lot : You get a lot features for free but it slows down your browsing and machine a bit and the high fps rate is the 2 main drawbacks for me

 

[Atlas147]

But it will generate a lot false positives on legitimate applications.

I agree but I guess you have to weigh the pros and cons to see if this AV is for you

 

[Sana]

Should have a game mode, makes life so much better

 

[minegroasprilla]

Qihoo 360, Strengths and Cautions according to this analysis: Gartner Reprint

For example, they say:
"Malware protection methods are based on rapid sample collection and signature distribution, rather than advanced techniques for detection malicious programs. A lack of global sample collection methods will hinder effectiveness at detecting regional threats".
"Qihoo leverages the Bitdefender Antivirus engine; disruptions in this relationship can affect results".