What is Antivirus RAP Testing And Why Is It Important?

Why am I still a fan of Sunbelt's VIPRE Antivirus+Antispam software?

 As I mentioned in my blog earlier, VIPRE has numerous advantages over competitors, and another independent testing has proven the value of this software. In fact, I have replaced all of free and commercial anti-malware products on my home network, recommended to all my friends and several small business owners, and installed VIPRE. I have no regrets.
 You might know that Virus Bulletin is the world's most prestigious antivirus lab. They have been testing antivirus products for years. Apart from their VB100 certification, they have another interesting test called RAP. It's for "Reactive and Proactive", and helps you form an impression of the heuristic -and- generic proactive detection capability of security software products - in particular how well products perform against malware that appears after vendors have submitted their products to Virus Bulletin for testing. They create a quadrant a few times a year, and compare all products they have tested. And as you see, VIPRE does EXCELLENT in this test in April 2010, compared to all the other products out there. Top right in the quadrant is highest quality. http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/alex/gblog/rap_detections_2.jpg

 As I have noted in another blog (The cyber-gangsters' "weapons" and the state of Internet security), there is no anti-virus program that can protect your PC from 100% of all malware, however, it should be an important part of your defense system, and it is where Sunbelt Software’s VIPRE engine (as one among the top AV products for reactive and proactive detection) shines. Virus Bulletin's RAP Testing measures products' reactive and proactive detection abilities against the most recent malware that has emerged around the world. The test measures virus/malware detection rates utilizing 4 specific sets of malware samples (look at the axles X and Y). The first three test sets reflect malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission. Shown results reflect how quickly product developers react to the steady flood of new malware emerging every day across the world. The last test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission. This test set is used to measure products' ability to detect new and unknown viruses proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques.

 You can read more (and see the comparison charts as well) at RTEK 2000 web site. I recommend VIPRE products based on my own experience and my own testing against competitors. Get VIPRE (pronounced "viper") now. I bet that small fee for this commercial product will pay off handsomely.

Why I use the VIPRE to protect my PC against malware

Following the news about a "pig virus" or "swine" as the media call it, I want to share my experience on protecting my home PCs against computer viruses and various spyware.

All of you use PCs on a daily basis and if you work for the company, it is not your headache to protect the end-user PC. Your headache is at home (PC or laptop).Since the viruses/spyware penetration level got to the degree when one anti-virus program installed on PC is ABSOLUTELY not enough, I usually recommend installing 3-4 programs.

• 1. Free ZoneAlarm Desktop Firewall


• 2. Free AVG Anti-virus software


• 3. Free SpyBot anti-spyware software


• 4. Free AdAware Personal anti-spyware and ad-watch software

Note the word "Free". Until recently, I was pretty much happy with it - what is better than free? The AVG Anti-virus program delivered great results by discovering the spyware like Trojans, key loggers, etc. I use the P-2-P networks as many of us (Torrents, eMule, and similar), browse hundreds of web sites, and download various small and large programs for testing/implementing. As you may guess, I am getting enough of "bad stuff" on my PC that must be cleaned every day.

How do I use all these programs? First of all, two programs are running permanently (Firewall and AVG). Also, I use the other 2 programs weekly to verify how good AVG on removing viruses/spyware. Of course, you have to be very careful about timely updates since the number of viruses/spyware is growing on a daily basis. So, the update check is setup on "every 4 hrs".

As my hard drive grows in capacity, the time to clean up that "bad stuff" is becoming an issue. My AVG Anti-virus program takes about 22-23 hrs to scan both of my drives taking often up to 95% of the CPU cycles and slowing down my PC to the degree that I have to pause the scan when I need to use the PC. I also want to mention that the sizable chunk of memory used by AVG is taken away from my applications.

Recently I got an e-mail from Sunbelt Software Company about their new and advanced product called VIPRE. This product has a combined protection: AntiVirus + AntiSpyware. Isn’t it a time to check what is better than AVG? I have downloaded the PC version of the software for one month of evaluation (try before buy).

To my absolute surprise, the very first time the software ran on my PC, it has discovered 11 spyware programs hidden on my hard drive (and it is after AVG + Spybot + AdAware said that everything is clean!). Needless to say, I have begun respecting this software from the first day. The fact is that it is amazingly FASTER than any other protection program I ever tried (Avast!, Kaspersky, McAfee, Symantec, etc) and takes less PC memory resources.

I am at this end of my evaluation, and I will buy this software without hesitation. I believe that $29.95 is justifiable spending to protect my PC against the "bad stuff".

I have restricted my wife against using the commonly used "social networking" web sites from the PC where she does an online banking to pay for our bills. Why did I do it? I spent totally 9 hrs to clean up her PC from multiple variations of spyware (in spite of installed AVG)!

The problem is that many known "good" web sites are the source of as we call it "malware" (or malicious software). The primary example is a Facebook, not to mention several others. The hackers inject malicious software into the known and respectable web sites such as business or entertainment sites. When you point your browser to one of infected web sites you automatically download the malicious software that silently does its damage. The Antivirus program itself cannot protect you against this type of infections even with a real-time monitoring mode enabled.

I am sure you heard about "confiker" virus (see my blog at http://securecyber.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-to-do-if-you-are-infected-with.html). The millions of PCs worldwide are infected with this virus. It may sit on a hard drive for a long time doing nothing, however, when the hackers want they may upload to your PC any other malicious program (such as password stealers, other viruses, spyware) using the confiker virus as a carrier. Total damage of confiker is already estimated by 9.1 billion dollars worldwide, and this is not the end.

I have compiled the page about VIPRE. You can find it here:

http://www.rtek2000.com/Tech/antivirus-vipre.html

Use it at your own discretion. My slogan is: "It's better to be cautious that sorry later".

Word of caution:
When you use multiple anti-malware programs, make sure they don’t conflict with each other. First of all, they may recognize the competing program as a malicious. Secondly, they often use the same areas of memory or control the same important files of your desktop operating system. If you do not temporary disable other anti-malicious programs while you ran the anti-virus or anti-spyware software your PC can be locked or even worse - the files will get corrupted.

If you want to install VIPRE, please UNINSTALL and REBOOT your PC or laptop before installation; and don’t forget to perform the regular backup of your important files (I hope you do it periodically, don’t you?).