Battle Best Free Second Opinion Scanner

jackuars

Level 27
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jul 2, 2014
1,688
Excluding real-time protection, which one of the following do you think acts as the best free second opinion scanner giving the best protection by finding and removing malware.

HitmanPro requires a pro version to clean malware so it's not included in the list.

If you can please list Pro's and Con's for each scanner it would be of great help
 

RoboMan

Level 34
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jun 24, 2016
2,399
I seriously have a long list of second-opinion scanners, including:

  • Norton Power Eraser, for the long scan types and possibilities it offers (won't work without internet)
  • Zemana AntiMalware, because of the deep efficient scans it performs on the whole system (won't work without internet)
  • EEK (because it's really good lol)

And a few adware cleaners.
 

Arequire

Level 29
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Feb 10, 2017
1,814
Usually choose Zemana due to it being effective and completely free (something I dislike HitmanPro for not being) but every scanner has it's advantages.

I generally run Zemana first and run Norton Power Eraser to clean up anything Zemana might of missed. I'd run Malwarebytes if the issue was PUPs and I update Emsisoft Emergency Kit once a week in case I'm forced to run a scan while offline. I also have Kaspersky Rescue Disk for if a PC's unbootable due to infection.
 

Winter Soldier

Level 25
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Feb 13, 2017
1,486
I would like to add something general to my previous posts.
It is best to use multiple scanners, because they are not all the same. Someone only offers fast scans, someone full scans of the system. Some scanner detects only the active threats in running processes, some other scanner detects also inactive threats. Some scanner is more skilled in specific types of malware, some other is more generalist, etc.
Using multiple scanners increases the possibility to cover the range of possible threats.
 

brod56

Level 15
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Feb 13, 2017
737
The only tool I might need is AdwCleaner, because as I'm using Voodoshield I don't get infected with Malware anyways.
Of the list I chose Zemana, the most powerful of all of them. EEK and NPE are also decent tools, Mbam is not my favorite anymore.
 
  • Like
Reactions: askmark

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
Herdprotect! Blazing fast scans! best detection rate!
you're telling the exact opposite of what I want to say :)
herdprotect has the slowest scanning speed of all well-known cloud scanners I have ever tested. It took hours to upload samples. When I tested it with 660 samples, I had to stop when <100 samples uploaded and it was 2 hours already. Scan it in my real laptop, took very long time compared to zemana, HMP, EEK and MB3. All these take maximum 10mins

herdprotect does have a good detection rate against old malwares but very low detection rate or even undetectable with new malwares. I collected many samples and scanned, HP missed many, after 1 hour, just slightly better but still missed many. ZAM, HMP and EEK detected most of the samples
 

Xsjx

Level 13
Verified
Feb 21, 2017
613
you're telling the exact opposite of what I want to say :)
herdprotect has the slowest scanning speed of all well-known cloud scanners I have ever tested. It took hours to upload samples. When I tested it with 660 samples, I had to stop when <100 samples uploaded and it was 2 hours already. Scan it in my real laptop, took very long time compared to zemana, HMP, EEK and MB3. All these take maximum 10mins

herdprotect does have a good detection rate against old malwares but very low detection rate or even undetectable with new malwares. I collected many samples and scanned, HP missed many, after 1 hour, just slightly better but still missed many. ZAM, HMP and EEK detected most of the samples
It scans for me in 3 mins LOL ( after first even less ):p
You probaly have a bad internet conection?
 

Nestor

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
Apr 21, 2018
397
Although it's an old post, i would like also to recommend Eset Online Scanner because of the great signatures and Trend Micro House Call because of the good heuristics.I think both are portable.
Cons:Long time scan in both.
 

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