Advice Request What On Demand Scanner/Scanners Do You Use?

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

Evjl's Rain

Level 47
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Malware Hunter
Apr 18, 2016
3,684
There is one issue with KVRT. It does not auto update the Virus database. Once a version is expired you have to check for the latest version and download it (+/-100mb).
and the engine is outdated, not the same as the antivirus. It missed some threats that the AV can detect despite the latest update
+ it's super slow
 

JasonUK

Level 5
Apr 14, 2020
232
KVRT ~ if you try and scan using old version it will ask you to download new version first.. you don't have to check. I haven't found it super slow scanning either although like any AV a full scan can take a while :) KVRT is the only one of the multitude of secondary scanners that I've got, excluding Avast in 'passive mode', that's found anything of note that wasn't a false positive. File found by KVRT when uploaded to Virustotal was confirmed by other engines as suspect... Defender which was main AV at the time didn't raise any alerts at all. Like all AVs individual end-user's experiences differ which is why we don't all use the same one!
 

cruelsister

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Apr 13, 2013
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When choosing an on-demand scanner, one must ask oneself if the product so chosen is sub-optimal (does it actually suck?). Normally one can test the product against a malware pack (God, kill me now) or perhaps test by a different method. To this end, I did a little dance with some common second opinion scanners against malware that hide themselves by various mechanisms (persistence). The test proceeded as follows:

1). malware- a dozen cuties that persisted by various methods (via Registry changes, DLL Search Order Hijacking, COM hijacking, and by addition to Scheduled tasks) were selected.
2). On a W10H2 64 bit system a second opinion scanner was installed and malware was run. The system was then rebooted and checked to insure all malware were present and active. The scanner was then run and results noted. A reboot and re-scan was done.Once finished that system was wiped out, a new system was then setup as above with a different scanner (rinse and repeat).
3). The 2nd opinion scanners used were: HMP, MB. KVRT, Norton Power Eraser, Eset Online Scanner, EEK and F-secure Online Scanner.

Please note that this test is against mechanisms and not specific malware, so a fail would indicate a poor showing against an entire class of malware and not a specific file. That being said, products will only get either a Pass of Fail for the entire test.

Results:

1). Fail- MB. HMP, Eset, F-Secure
2). Partial Fail (33% effective)- EEK
3). Pass- NPE, KVRT

of those that Passed, NPE was the quickest leaving the system clean after the first pass. KVRT after the first pass rebooted and re-scanned without user input (it found a few more items, suggested deletion, and requires a further reboot). On final analysis system was clean.

Anyway, so although not quite a normal test and far from an inclusive one, hope this helps members in the choice of a 2nd opinion scanner.

(And that's all I have to say about that...)
 

The_King

Level 12
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Aug 2, 2020
542
When choosing an on-demand scanner, one must ask oneself if the product so chosen is sub-optimal (does it actually suck?). Normally one can test the product against a malware pack (God, kill me now) or perhaps test by a different method. To this end, I did a little dance with some common second opinion scanners
This is why we look at the results in the Malware HUB and second opinion scanners used by the Malware Hunters.
Also in Videos by @Shadowra and even that PC Security channel guy etc. ;)
 

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