AVG Technologies has yet to go through with their Initial Public Offering ( IPO) (it’s still business as usual on both the London Stock Exchange and Warsaw Stock Exchange, despite this!) http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html for more information), Nonetheless, while the AVG Technologies IPO has been on hold, they have been busy.
On November 10, AVG Technologies announced the acquisition of DroidSecurity, a provider of tools and services to protect Android devices. On November 19, AVG Technologies announced that they were they were going to partner with Google broaden the search functionality of AVG’s Security Toolbar and AVG LinkScanner. http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-284377 http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-197
A December 30 AVG Technologies blog discussed, in part, how companies like AVG are working to make sure that additional security is available to protect smart phone users. http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2009/12/how-will-smart-phones-and-social-networking-affect-cybercrime.html This acquisition jumpstarts AVG’s role in protecting users on the Android™ operating system.
Prior to the DroidSecurity acquisition, mobile protection was a gap in AVG Technologies' product portfolio. Competitors have been offering protection for awhile (not for Droid obviously). For example, as paid products - Trend Micro offers Trend Micro Mobile Security (Symbian), Symantec offers Norton Smartphone Security for Symbian and Windows Mobile, Avast Mobile Edition (Palm, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile 5), Kaspersky Mobile Security (Windows Mobile, Symbian (on Nokia).
Protecting Android devices presents a nice opportunity for monetization (cutting to the chase, revenue!. According to Digitimes Research - Smartphones, tablet PCs and notebooks will all become the mainstream terminal devices in the mobile Internet market in the future with smartphone shipments having a chance to reach 800 million units in 2013. This is more than double from 2010, with tablet PCs at 100 million units and notebooks at 300 million units. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20101118VL201.html
DroidSecurity has both free (over 4.5 million downloads) and paid ($9.99 US) version of their product. The pitch to upgrade:
• Complete protection from SMS spam, scams and phishing attempts
• VIP support
• No disruptions or advertising
DroidSecurity is a provider of mobile security solutions, for all Android™ devices (smartphones, e-readers, tablets and appliances). For more information on DroidSecurity http://www.droidsecurity.com/
AVG Facebook Fans, Pleased With the Switch to Google, Not As Pleased With Toolbar
There were a number of people clicking “like” on AVG’s fan page regarding the announcement (the flip side of this is that there are people who will click like on anything. There is no dislike option). For those taking the time to comment, there were a number of people pleased that Yahoo will no longer be the search engine installed with the security toolbar. There was also a significant number of people (around 25%), who had less than positive comments regarding toolbars, in general.
One Facebook fan commented, "Having "search" functions in tool bars are redundant. All browsers have selectable search bars built in now. All most ‘toolbars’ do is eat up memory and take up space.” Toolbar users will be able to use Yahoo on the AVG Security toolbar for another six months. Based on fan comments, though, it looks as if people will switch sooner rather than later.
Note that when people install AVG products, the box to install the toolbar is pre-checked. So people must actively opt out in order to not have it installed on their laptop/PC. It is an optional install and there are support pages on the AVG site and the web explaining how to uninstall it, for those who don’t wish to use it.
Possible Reasons for the Switch from Yahoo to Google
• From a business perspective, the Google search engine is a superior engine.
• The Google search engine has 2/3 of market share in the US. Yahoo has only about 1/6 of the market. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/11/comScore_Releases_October_2010_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings
• This may increase AVG user’s installing/retaining/using the toolbar for searches and other purposes on the bar.
• AVG’s monetization opportunities, after product revenue, including OEM revenue, are on the toolbar, to a large extent.
It would be interesting to be able to compare the Yahoo contract to the Google contract to see whether AVG Technologies will accrue less revenue from Google on a “per something” basis, but will make up for it in volume. Customer satisfaction with the toolbar should increase. In negotiations, Google probably was the 800 pound gorilla.
For more information on the AVG Security Toolbar, go to http://www.avg.com/us-en/special-toolbar-first-run-tlbrc-v2-mcr7
Showing posts with label linkscanner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linkscanner. Show all posts
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Oct 2011 Add. , Best Antivirus Software for 2011 - PC Magazine Antivirus Review (Round-up) - Avira softwareload.de Addendum at End
Oct. 2011 Addendum. - For Beat Antivirus Software for 2012 - go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html
Original Post
PC Magazine's Neil Rubenking has been busy putting 20 consumer antivirus 2011 editions through his tests and summarized the results in his November 10 round-up, “The Best Antivirus Software for 2011”. These are a mix of free and paid antivirus products. Webroot’s product and Panda Cloud Antivirus were PC World Editor’s Choice recipients for paid and free antivirus in the "Best Antivirus Software for 2011" round-up. The complete antivirus review can be viewed at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372364,00.asp
For his antivirus review, Rubenking defined an antivirus product as a “utility that protects against all kinds of malicious software, not just viruses…. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware”. In the security world, these each have a unique definition.
Also see, Best Internet Security Suites 2011 at http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html
Many of the products have their own unique twists, according to Rubenking. Panda’s product operates in the cloud. Others include a firewall; others include some intrusion prevention protection. Others help protect against phishing attacks. For this reason, it’s important to go to the antivirus review itself when taking a detailed look at the products.
Summary Scores - Best Antivirus Software for 2011
In the table below, products are listed numerically, highest to lowest, and reverse alphabetical order (important)!
Score/Product
4.5 - Webroot AV With Spysweeper
4.0 - PC Tools Antivirus
4.0 - Panda Cloud Antivirus*
4.0 - Double Anti-Spy Professional
4.0 - Ad-Aware
3.5 - Panda AV Pro
3.5 - Norton AV
3.5 - McAfee AV Plus
3.5 - Malware Bytes*
3.5 - Kaspersky AV
3.5 - Comodo*
3.5 - BitDefender AV
3.5 - AVG Anti-Virus *
3.0 - F-Secure AV
3.0 - eScan AV
2.5 - Outpost AV
2.5 - Immunet*
2.5 - Bullguard AV
2.0 - Trend Micro Titanium AV
2.0 - Digital Defender*
* = free
Avast! and Avira did not have their free antivirus 2011 edition products released as of the time this round-up was published.
Two great charts to look at in the round-up are the 2011 Antivirus Malware Removal Chart, and the 2011 Antivirus Malware Blocking Chart. These show the details for each of the products tested. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372369,00.asp
Third party sites to go to for additional test results include Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.org ) AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org ) and AV-Test (www.av-test.org ). Note that some of these sites may still have 2010 version products tested. Others may have tested the business edition of a company’s antivirus solution. Rubenking’s tests are for 2011 products, consumer version.
What does the above show? There are a number of solutions to choose from for the home user. The “best” product isn’t necessarily the most expensive product, though in a couple of instances, you do seem to get what you pay for. Look at the products, also, on the basis of additional features you may want. For any of the above solutions, it’s possible to add an additional layer of safe surfing protection by downloading McAfee’s SiteAdvisor or AVG Technologies LinkScanner products. These work with most home security solutions. To look at the results for internet security 2011 solutions from October, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/10/avg-internet-security-2011-review-rush.html As always, to learn more about testing standards, go to Anti-malware Testing Standard Organization's (AMTSO) webs site, www.amtso.org
Table of PC World Top Internet Security Suites of 2011 Combined With PC Magazine Information
Go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/pc-world-battle-of-security-superpowers.html to view a summary table combining information on PC World's and PC Magazine's takes on top internet security suites for 2011.
Avira Premium Security Suite Named "Software of the Year 2010" in softwareload.de Online Poll
From the Avira website - Tettnang, October 22, 2010 – Over 800,000 Internet users took part in the Softwareload.de online poll, which ran between September 1 - 30, 2010, to select the "Software of the Year 2010." Voters picked their favorites from 18 software categories. Avira Premium Security Suite won first place in the "Security" category leaving nine competitors in its wake.
Given where Avira is located, there may have been a little “hometown influence”. Avira is also currently doing a promotion where individuals who purchase the premium Premium Security Suite receive TuneUp Utilities free (usually €39.95).
http://www.avira.com/en/press-details/nid/477/news/software-of-the-year-2010
Original Post
PC Magazine's Neil Rubenking has been busy putting 20 consumer antivirus 2011 editions through his tests and summarized the results in his November 10 round-up, “The Best Antivirus Software for 2011”. These are a mix of free and paid antivirus products. Webroot’s product and Panda Cloud Antivirus were PC World Editor’s Choice recipients for paid and free antivirus in the "Best Antivirus Software for 2011" round-up. The complete antivirus review can be viewed at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372364,00.asp
For his antivirus review, Rubenking defined an antivirus product as a “utility that protects against all kinds of malicious software, not just viruses…. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware”. In the security world, these each have a unique definition.
Also see, Best Internet Security Suites 2011 at http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html
Many of the products have their own unique twists, according to Rubenking. Panda’s product operates in the cloud. Others include a firewall; others include some intrusion prevention protection. Others help protect against phishing attacks. For this reason, it’s important to go to the antivirus review itself when taking a detailed look at the products.
Summary Scores - Best Antivirus Software for 2011
In the table below, products are listed numerically, highest to lowest, and reverse alphabetical order (important)!
Score/Product
4.5 - Webroot AV With Spysweeper
4.0 - PC Tools Antivirus
4.0 - Panda Cloud Antivirus*
4.0 - Double Anti-Spy Professional
4.0 - Ad-Aware
3.5 - Panda AV Pro
3.5 - Norton AV
3.5 - McAfee AV Plus
3.5 - Malware Bytes*
3.5 - Kaspersky AV
3.5 - Comodo*
3.5 - BitDefender AV
3.5 - AVG Anti-Virus *
3.0 - F-Secure AV
3.0 - eScan AV
2.5 - Outpost AV
2.5 - Immunet*
2.5 - Bullguard AV
2.0 - Trend Micro Titanium AV
2.0 - Digital Defender*
* = free
Avast! and Avira did not have their free antivirus 2011 edition products released as of the time this round-up was published.
Two great charts to look at in the round-up are the 2011 Antivirus Malware Removal Chart, and the 2011 Antivirus Malware Blocking Chart. These show the details for each of the products tested. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372369,00.asp
Third party sites to go to for additional test results include Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.org ) AV-Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org ) and AV-Test (www.av-test.org ). Note that some of these sites may still have 2010 version products tested. Others may have tested the business edition of a company’s antivirus solution. Rubenking’s tests are for 2011 products, consumer version.
What does the above show? There are a number of solutions to choose from for the home user. The “best” product isn’t necessarily the most expensive product, though in a couple of instances, you do seem to get what you pay for. Look at the products, also, on the basis of additional features you may want. For any of the above solutions, it’s possible to add an additional layer of safe surfing protection by downloading McAfee’s SiteAdvisor or AVG Technologies LinkScanner products. These work with most home security solutions. To look at the results for internet security 2011 solutions from October, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/10/avg-internet-security-2011-review-rush.html As always, to learn more about testing standards, go to Anti-malware Testing Standard Organization's (AMTSO) webs site, www.amtso.org
Table of PC World Top Internet Security Suites of 2011 Combined With PC Magazine Information
Go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/pc-world-battle-of-security-superpowers.html to view a summary table combining information on PC World's and PC Magazine's takes on top internet security suites for 2011.
Avira Premium Security Suite Named "Software of the Year 2010" in softwareload.de Online Poll
From the Avira website - Tettnang, October 22, 2010 – Over 800,000 Internet users took part in the Softwareload.de online poll, which ran between September 1 - 30, 2010, to select the "Software of the Year 2010." Voters picked their favorites from 18 software categories. Avira Premium Security Suite won first place in the "Security" category leaving nine competitors in its wake.
Given where Avira is located, there may have been a little “hometown influence”. Avira is also currently doing a promotion where individuals who purchase the premium Premium Security Suite receive TuneUp Utilities free (usually €39.95).
http://www.avira.com/en/press-details/nid/477/news/software-of-the-year-2010
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Antivirus and Internet Security 2011, Sophos Introduces Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition
Sophos entered the home Mac antivirus marketplace on November 1 with the introduction of Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition. It’s a free product targeted for the home user. Their positioning on the product is that it provides full protection from viruses, Trojans and worms and that it stops all threats, including those designed for Windows. http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/free-mac-anti-virus/
Among the three internet security vendors more well known for their free antivirus products, AVG Technologies (AVG LinkScanner for Mac), and Avast! (Avast! Mac Edition) offer Mac antivirus solutions. Avira doesn’t seem to have one. AVG Technologies LinkScanner for Mac has probably contributed to their 100k plus Facebook fans. However, AVG Technologies currently has no consumer paid antivirus Mac product to migrate to. PC Tools (owned by Symantec) has a frequently downloaded IAntiVirus product with 250k downloads from the CNET download site as of November 1.
As with the other vendors with a free antivirus product, support for Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac product is via a user forum, help documents, and videos. There is no phone or email support for Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac.
Other Vendors Providing Antivirus Protection for the Mac
There are a number of vendors providing antivirus protection for the Mac. Panda (Panda Antivirus for Mac) Symantec (Norton Antivirus for Mac, Norton Internet Security for Mac), ESET (ESET Cybersecurity for Mac) (Trend Micro (Smart Surfing for Mac), McAfee (McAfee Internet Security for Mac, McAfee Family Protection for Mac, and McAfee Family Protection for iPhone), and Kaspersky (Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac) offer paid internet security/antivirus solutions for the Macintosh. Offering multiple Macintosh solutions has probably contributed to their 300k Facebook fans.
There is “sort of” a migration path to a paid product. Home users can purchase Sophos Anti-Virus. However, the minimum purchase is 3 licenses, for a total cost of about $145 US. Migration and monetization will probably be limited. Sophos’ website implies that the functionality is the same.
“The main motivation is to create lasting fans of our brand,” says Sophos marketing vice president Chris Kraft. “If we [give away] tools that we’re not intending to commercialize, things that people will like and that will let them experience the quality of our security, more customers will emerge over time.”
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/02/antivirus-for-apple-hits-the-right-price-free/
Sophos may have also felt compelled to offer something for home users since many of the major security vendors offer a Macintosh solution. They may be planning on offering some kind of paid solution for the Macintosh that is more clearly positioned for home users, Kraft’s comments notwithstanding (or other Apple products, iPhone, iPad in the future?). Depending on how the product's functionality compares to other Mac solutions, Users wanting a more robust solution may need to migrate to one of the other vendors mentioned above. However, Sophos states that this is a business strength product. Reviews will probably begin appearing in the near future.
Among the three internet security vendors more well known for their free antivirus products, AVG Technologies (AVG LinkScanner for Mac), and Avast! (Avast! Mac Edition) offer Mac antivirus solutions. Avira doesn’t seem to have one. AVG Technologies LinkScanner for Mac has probably contributed to their 100k plus Facebook fans. However, AVG Technologies currently has no consumer paid antivirus Mac product to migrate to. PC Tools (owned by Symantec) has a frequently downloaded IAntiVirus product with 250k downloads from the CNET download site as of November 1.
As with the other vendors with a free antivirus product, support for Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac product is via a user forum, help documents, and videos. There is no phone or email support for Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac.
Other Vendors Providing Antivirus Protection for the Mac
There are a number of vendors providing antivirus protection for the Mac. Panda (Panda Antivirus for Mac) Symantec (Norton Antivirus for Mac, Norton Internet Security for Mac), ESET (ESET Cybersecurity for Mac) (Trend Micro (Smart Surfing for Mac), McAfee (McAfee Internet Security for Mac, McAfee Family Protection for Mac, and McAfee Family Protection for iPhone), and Kaspersky (Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac) offer paid internet security/antivirus solutions for the Macintosh. Offering multiple Macintosh solutions has probably contributed to their 300k Facebook fans.
There is “sort of” a migration path to a paid product. Home users can purchase Sophos Anti-Virus. However, the minimum purchase is 3 licenses, for a total cost of about $145 US. Migration and monetization will probably be limited. Sophos’ website implies that the functionality is the same.
“The main motivation is to create lasting fans of our brand,” says Sophos marketing vice president Chris Kraft. “If we [give away] tools that we’re not intending to commercialize, things that people will like and that will let them experience the quality of our security, more customers will emerge over time.”
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/02/antivirus-for-apple-hits-the-right-price-free/
Sophos may have also felt compelled to offer something for home users since many of the major security vendors offer a Macintosh solution. They may be planning on offering some kind of paid solution for the Macintosh that is more clearly positioned for home users, Kraft’s comments notwithstanding (or other Apple products, iPhone, iPad in the future?). Depending on how the product's functionality compares to other Mac solutions, Users wanting a more robust solution may need to migrate to one of the other vendors mentioned above. However, Sophos states that this is a business strength product. Reviews will probably begin appearing in the near future.
Monday, June 21, 2010
AVG LinkScanner for Mac Announced by AVG Technologies - 6/24 addendum
On June 14th, AVG announced AVG LinkScanner for Mac. Like AVG LinkScanner for Windows, it is a free download, designed to protect people in real time from malicious threats as they surf the web. Most of AVG’s security solutions also include AVG LinkScanner for Windows.
*****
June 24th addendum - http://download.cnet.com/mac/security-software/ CNET's top Mac security downloads for the week ending June 20th.
*****
AVG promotes the LinkScanner for Mac as providing real time protection while surfing the web. This should make it attractive to Mac users, even though the world has yet to see a massive virus outbreak among Mac users! AVG CTO Karel Obluk has an informative blog about how LinkScanner works at http://obluk.blog.avg.com/2009/10/index.html. The AVG LinkScanner demo on the LinkScanner download site inaccurately states that LinkScanner “looks at every single website.” That would take awhile!
There is no migration path to a traditional Antivirus or Internet Security suite solution for the Mac. AVG currently doesn’t offer these. Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, among others have Mac Antivirus and/or Internet Security solutions. A Mac offering may be in AVG’s future. However, neither Avira nor Avast (the other two of los Free Amigos) offer a Mac solution, either. Those desiring a free Mac AV solution can check out PC Tools iAntiVirus at http://www.iantivirus.com/
AVG LinkScanner for Mac had an impressive number of downloads during its first week of availability. Below are the number of downloads for the product and for other standalones that promote safe surfing. The below is for the week of June 13 and lists downloads, total downloads, and from which date. These figures are from download.cnet.com and reflect downloads of a particular version. It’ll be interesting to see how weekly downloads change over the next month.
AVG LinkScanner for Mac 2094/2094, 6/13/2010
AVG LinkScanner for Windows 504/73k, 11/04/2009
McAfee SiteAdvisor 660/25k, 12/23/2009 (free version)
Web of Trust (IE) 286/45k, 3/07/2010
Web of Trust (Firefox) 301/65k, 5/05/2010
Finjan, now part of M86 Security – offers Finjan SecureBrowsing™ as a free download (IE and Firefox) http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/. They promote this as scanning web pages in real-time, much like AVG LinkScanner.
Solutions that promote “real-time” and then mention accessing a database may be playing fast and free with the phrase “real-time”. People may want to watch for this.
*****
June 24th addendum - http://download.cnet.com/mac/security-software/ CNET's top Mac security downloads for the week ending June 20th.
*****
AVG promotes the LinkScanner for Mac as providing real time protection while surfing the web. This should make it attractive to Mac users, even though the world has yet to see a massive virus outbreak among Mac users! AVG CTO Karel Obluk has an informative blog about how LinkScanner works at http://obluk.blog.avg.com/2009/10/index.html. The AVG LinkScanner demo on the LinkScanner download site inaccurately states that LinkScanner “looks at every single website.” That would take awhile!
There is no migration path to a traditional Antivirus or Internet Security suite solution for the Mac. AVG currently doesn’t offer these. Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, among others have Mac Antivirus and/or Internet Security solutions. A Mac offering may be in AVG’s future. However, neither Avira nor Avast (the other two of los Free Amigos) offer a Mac solution, either. Those desiring a free Mac AV solution can check out PC Tools iAntiVirus at http://www.iantivirus.com/
AVG LinkScanner for Mac had an impressive number of downloads during its first week of availability. Below are the number of downloads for the product and for other standalones that promote safe surfing. The below is for the week of June 13 and lists downloads, total downloads, and from which date. These figures are from download.cnet.com and reflect downloads of a particular version. It’ll be interesting to see how weekly downloads change over the next month.
AVG LinkScanner for Mac 2094/2094, 6/13/2010
AVG LinkScanner for Windows 504/73k, 11/04/2009
McAfee SiteAdvisor 660/25k, 12/23/2009 (free version)
Web of Trust (IE) 286/45k, 3/07/2010
Web of Trust (Firefox) 301/65k, 5/05/2010
Finjan, now part of M86 Security – offers Finjan SecureBrowsing™ as a free download (IE and Firefox) http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/. They promote this as scanning web pages in real-time, much like AVG LinkScanner.
Solutions that promote “real-time” and then mention accessing a database may be playing fast and free with the phrase “real-time”. People may want to watch for this.
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