a² Free is out

H

Hendrik

Guest
You will find the a² free download at:

http://updates.a-2.org/a2freesetup.exe

a² free was tested with Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003.

Its a release candidate. Why? Cause there might be still a few bugs in it and there are still signatures missing. At the moment we are doing false positive tests. If you find false positives feel free to send them to andreas.haak@emsisoft.com .

Wish you a nice day and happy downloading .

MoreInfo--->
http://forum.a-2.org/viewtopic.php?t=173
_________________
Regards, Andreas
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a² :: the future of malware protection!

We made it our business to create a completely new tool which protects your computer against Malware. So we break new grounds in software development to create a program which combines the advantages of well proven antivirus- and firewall-technology with a completely new, especially designed to protect you against harms from the internet. The result is a² personal, a software which offers the best protection against Malware on Windows systems.
5 Components Security

1. Scanner
The first step to security is to clean the computer from possible infections of Malware. To do this, use the a² personal Scanner. It searches your drives for dangerous files. It uses, like anti-trojan programs do, a signature database to detect Malware files. If a dangerous files has been detected, it is removed securely. a² personal recognizes more than 19,000 harmful programs in the current release.

2. Background Guard with IDS
The Background Guard of a² personal has several jobs. Each started program will be scanned and blocked if necessary before it gets active. The IDS (Intrusion Detection System) is always active and protects the operating system. For example, it is able to protect other program-tasks against shutdowns initiated by Trojans. The improper bypassing of desktop firewalls by tunneling through the browser can also be prevented.

3. Advanced IDS
The Advanced IDS mode is a component of a² personal which analyses the behavior of all running programs to detect harmful actions. If a program shows a Malware like behavior, the actions will be stopped. You have nearly no configuration work.

4. System-Firewall
Expert users can optional choose to use the System-Firewall of a² personal instead of the Advanced IDS mode. This works similar to common desktop firewalls. But the big difference is, that not only connections to the web are monitored. Also operations inside the operating system and the programs are watched. You can define special rights for each program. For example you can deny a specific program to write an autorun entry to the system registry or deny access to a specific part of the harddisk for another program.

5. Analysis-Tools
Also targeted to more advanced users are the auxiliary Analysis-Tools which are delivered with a² personal. The Autostart-Viewer can be used to edit all entries which are responsible to start a program, service or driver automatically at system startup. As from now you decide what is loaded and what is not. The Process-Viewer shows you all active programs, services and drivers to help you to get your system clean.
 
*Sits patiently, and awaits Enyo for a verdict :p*
Looks good though, but then i'm no Mr Cellophane. :D
 
First things first let us get our facts straight. a² Free offers only one of its five features, the scanner.

All the other features are not available unless you hand over your money and buy it.

I ran a quick scan of my test box which is infected with various trojans, viruses and worms. The scan picked up on about 65% of the items on the system.

It has no ability to scan inside archives nor does it have any kind of unpacker which makes its detection ability pretty poor.

It certainly contains a decent database of trojans which is I'm sure its strongest point as a free product.

As far as worms and virues go I would stick with your anti-virus solutions and if you buy these things, products like TDS-3 and Trojan Hunter will offer you the best detection rates.

While I'm sure its not meant to rival the main stream AVs i would like to point out its database contains 19,000 (more than after the update).

The leading AV database at this time contains 78,455 items and heuristics on top of that then add the unpacking and archive scanning AVs offer, which do you think is offering the better protection?

In short, in its free version this offers very little to someone with existing protection and as a commercial product it lacks the abilities needed to pull in the crowds.

I expect its success will be as a free anti-trojan scanner but a all in one anti-malware package it is not, at least, not yet.

Finally i will note that while fantastic trojan detection is nice to have the actual ditribution and use of most trojans is very low. A core group exisits which do the rounds a fair bit and many others are hardly ever seen. This is why most AV vendors choose not to offer huge detection databases including every trojan ever to appear, they simply are not in the wild enougth to warrent much attention which is why i feel anti-trojan scanners are more of a luxury than a necessity especially for the savvy who should be able to spot a trojan a mile off.

I credit a² for giving people a free scanner that focus on trojans and worms but ask of them that they separate the free scanner and don't include in it a load of buttons we cant press unless we pay, ive never liked that style. Also selling it as a 5 feature system when you only get one for free is pretty low stop misleading people with a slight differance in name and own up to what a² free actually does, we may be interested in you more as a company then.

I look forward to see where this goes.
 
Phew!, Thanks Enyo.
Glad I waited :p
*me sighs satiated by the level of protection on my current system*.
I agree, "free" software should be clearly seperated from part-free, or free for X days.
Others have dropped by the forums touting their wares before now, (Anyone remember GAV?) - That performed really well, but would struggle to take on the "big-boys" at their own game.
The thing to bear in mind is as Enyo has already said-
Detection Rates.
If even one malicious virus is allowed to do it's thang on your PC, then your software is rendered redundant. Agreed this can happen with any AV scanner but when you compare the amount of virii on the database between the rival products.....well, it's self-explanatory really.

Belt and Braces for me. :D
Ooh! yeah, and a full-face helmet too :p
 
thanks for the rundown enyo! I really appreciate the research you do on various softwares. /wonders in morbid fascination about enyo's evil test box :)
 
Glad you both value my opinions :)

Erbmaster: Sure do remember GAV, shame it had to come to an end really but hey, KAV (www.kav.ch) is even better. It's a commercial product however.

Leedogg: hehe :D Just a low spec system with all the Internet's junk on it really!
 
all the internets junk, how big are the hard drives??
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

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