New Antivirus Software Viruscape 2006 - Indep Review

VIRUSCAPE 2006 REVIEW
DEVELOPED BY TERA INNOVATIONS
http://www.terainnovations.com/ - Home Page
http://forum.viruscape.com/ - Forum

INSTALLATION: -Installation went very smoothed and fast with no problems. After installation viruscape asked to update definition files. What is interesting no re-boot is required after installation as most other antivirus softwares require.

Memory Consumption - This was very impressive, I did a reboot and my resources were holding at 94%, this is the highest that I have tested so far. For older computers this is a plus factor as the footprint is very small.

Incredmental Updater - Updating from Viruscape Server is very fast and often as requaired. This feature can be tweaked from withing the main interface. As of the review the data base contains over 192,000 virus definitions and growing.

SCAN ENGINE - I ran a complete scan of my C Drive which took a total of 13 minutes and scanned 45,519 files. (prior to scan I place 5 nasties from my collection on my hard drive ) to determine detection capability, viruscape detected them all and provided a window showing the path of the infection. You are given a option to double click on the virus and delete it. The scan engine is extremely fast and performs well.

MAIN GUI - When you open the main gui the following information is provided.
Last system scan - Force Field Enabled/or Not = Date of last update and Self Integrity
At a quick glance your able to determine if everything is running ok.
There are four tabs at the left to choose from:
A. ) Scan Files - You have 3 options to choose from scan full system - scan memory and scan a folder.
B.) Update - This will enable you to update your files manually
C.) Options - Opening this feature you can tweak the various functions of Viruscape and taylor them to your needs.
D.) Help - This opens another window explaining in detail the varions features of Viruscape and support contacts.
The Main GUI is very easy to use for the novice user and advanced user.

DETECTION CAPABILTIY - This has to be determined yet. So far to date viruscape has detected every virus sample I have placed on my hard drive. Virus's ITW will determine how well and effective viruscape is. Over the next few weeks I'll be able to determine this area.

CONS-
The 3 features that I would like to see in the next version is:
1.) Email Scanner
2.) Quaranteen Feature
3.)Emergency Disk

CONCLUSION -
Viruscape is the new kid on the block. My first impression is positive and this software has great potential. Tera Innovations has set its goals high and is commited to excellence in this area. One commitment it has offered to the public is free updates for life, no charge yearly. What other antivius software offers this now??? My recommendation is to form your own opinion about Viruscape and post your thoughts and opinions on their forum as shown above. The staff at Viruscape is commited in providing the best in antiviruis software and customer support

wow..looks interesting
i'll should give it a try

OK I shall comment, I must point out that I have not tried this product yet........

Quote:

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After installation viruscape asked to update definition files. What is interesting no re-boot is required after installation as most other antivirus softwares require.

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Yes, the others might well be trying to validate the authenticity of the installation and update in case you were already infected with something that can kill AVs ?

I had a look on the site, and am not convinced by their claims for "cleaning"...........it seems that they will just delete anything suspicious.....irrespective :rolleyes:

No indication of any "repair" functionality?

;)

And .... no quarrantine?

And ... you have to double-click on a file name to delete it?

With no reboot, how does the application place the necessary tools in memory in any meaningful way? How does it protect itself from malware?

Not really a review, BTW, just a very quick, cursory look. App may be worth watching, but I wouldn't be betting the farm on it at this time!

Just my tuppence.

Hello everyone. I am a member of the support team of this program. There are a few 'mistakes' in the posting, which I will correct here.

You do not need to double click on a filename to delete it -- that just sound wrong. In our interface, you can either click on the filename (log entry) of the detected file, or you can click 'Clean all' during, or after the scan.

It places the necessary tools in memory without needing a reboot because we use a type of driver which works in kernel mode AND in user mode.

It protects itself from malware currently by preventing termination of the process and by preventing search-based attacks that are generic (i.e.- from Nyxem: searches for Virus in the title of a window).

Quarantine is really not necessary, as long as the virus can be removed. It can repair samples, but in today's world, most malware comes in the form of static bodies - worms, trojans, and spyware that do not propagate by infecting other files, so, deleting DOES work in a lot of cases. Disinfection will work for viruses tho.

We have a forum at forum.viruscape.com if you have any further questions or comments.

-Tera Innovations, Incorporated Support Team

TeraInnovations: Call me old-fashioned, but I kinda think Quarantine is necessary and is something I like in any AntiVirus software. Also, by placing the tools in memory and not having a reboot, wouldn't a problem be presented if something was already infected? Please reiterate for me.. Thanks! :)

As soon as you install (before the guards load), it gives you the option to scan the memory. Yes, you COULD reboot, but it isnt necessary. Try it with most other antivirus programs - Kaspersky works fine without a reboot, and so does NOD and Avast. It isn't recommended, but it does work.

Is there any reason to have a quarantine? Isn't it just easier to remove the files? We are interested to hear why this is a feature people like :)

-Tera Innovations, Incorporated Support Team

Well, if you're trying to market a product to a user-base that typically goes by whats "recommended", not doing so in a new product isn't "recommended".. just my opinion. As for the quarantine, the general population likes it.. gives them a sense of comfort knowing that if they have an infected file they might like or just can't afford to get rid of (for whatever reason) that it can be quarantined and kept on the computer, without providing a problem to the system via the infection.

Blah, just giving some insight (really playing devils advocate here and going by standards). I've done some work in both marketing departments aswell as some work with AntiVirus software.. so I'm just providing a little insight and opinions. :)

Thank you for your insight :) We may work on a simplistic quarantine sometime in the near future.

-Tera Innovations, Incorporated Support Team

No problem, and no worries mate :) A very simplistic one, doesn't/shouldn't take long to code either.. :)

TeraInnovations

The basic reasons for quarantine are:

1. You can review what "infections" you have had, and determine the implications. For example, if I discover I have been infected by a worm that drops a backdoor, then I must decide whether my computer has been "owned". If it has, then there could be anything on it, and the only truly safe course of action is to reformat and reinstall. I might also want to change passwords, bank and credit details and so on.

2. If you have a number of infected files that cannot be cleaned, a list of which files you need to replace is useful.

3. Some malware may contain evidence that could be used in my defence or in the prosecution of criminals. You don't want to leave it active but you don't want to destroy it immediately.

4. By examining the infection you might be able to determine its source and thereby take precautions to prevent it happening again.

:)

Well, this is very informative :) I will pass this list on to the development team and see what kind of time frame would be required for a quarantine.

Thank you very much,

-Tera Innovations, Incorporated Support Team