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Thrash
Mon Dec 22 2008, 06:02am Print
Better Smokin' Than Meth!
Thrash
Joined: Wed Feb 28 2007, 12:14am
Location: Under Your Mom's Meat Flaps!
Posts: 14372
ere's what it is/does:
ThreatFireâ„¢ AntiVirus protects when others can't

PCs are under constant attack from viruses, spyware and identity theft. Every day you hear about a new threat to your PC. They're coming faster than ever before, they're getting harder to stop and traditional antivirus products are not able to keep up.

Will your antivirus software catch the latest malware that just came out today? In most cases, no, because it simply does not know how to detect it yet. But ThreatFire's ActiveDefense technology does, and has proven to provide up to 243% more protection when combined with traditional AntiVirus products.

=============================================

If I already have antivirus software why do I need ThreatFire?

ThreatFire is dramatically different to traditional antivirus software. Normal antivirus products usually need to have first identified and seen a threat before they can provide adequate protection against it. The protection is then provided via a signature or fingerprint update, which must first be written by an antivirus researcher. This creates a large window of time where threats are undetected and can therefore infect your PC even when you have antivirus software installed.
How can ThreatFire protect me when traditional antivirus can't?

ThreatFire continually protects your PC against attacks by detecting malicious behavior, such as capturing your keystrokes or stealing your data, instead of only looking for known threats like normal antivirus software. By implementing sophisticated real-time behavioral analysis ThreatFire is able to stop never- before-seen "zero-day" threats solely by detecting their malicious activity.
Zero-day threats are usually designed to take advantage of new vulnerabilities or exploits that are currently unprotected by traditional security products. They are usually distributed in huge quantities very quickly by mass email (SPAM), website hijacks, instant messaging or over peer-to-peer networks. Because they are undetectable they are able to wreak havoc and compromise your PC even when you have up-to-date antivirus software installed.

ThreatFire's patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers protection against all types of internet threats - both known and unknown - spyware, adware, keyloggers, viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows, and other malware. ThreatFire uses its unparalleled protection to hunt down and paralyze those threats that are either too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional "signature-based" antivirus software.
Do I need to be an expert to use ThreatFire?

ThreatFire is advanced technology designed especially for people, not just experts.

We believe security software should be "set and forget" so once you install ThreatFire you won't need to answer lots of technical questions, in fact the only time you should even notice ThreatFire is protecting your PC is when we detect something malicious that requires your attention.


General information here:
[Click, Dick]

Here's the comparison between free and paid versions ...
Apparently it's just phone support, commercial allowance, and opting out of the "community" as the only differences ...
[Click, Dick]

Download (free version) is here:
[Click, Dick]


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I'm using it on a test laptop and it seems to have a small system footprint, be low resources, and, if it works, would be worthwhile to have up aside of other AV/SW's ...

Here's some objective reviews for you consideration:
[Click, Dick]
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Thrash
Mon Dec 22 2008, 06:16am
Better Smokin' Than Meth!
Thrash
Joined: Wed Feb 28 2007, 12:14am
Location: Under Your Mom's Meat Flaps!
Posts: 14372
One review:
Solid free protection supplements your existing antivirus

Your current antivirus program may offer plenty of protection, but new, unknown threats still could slip through. That's where PC Tools' ThreatFire comes in. Now in version 3.5, this free utility adds an extra layer of protection to the security software you already have. It blocks an impressive number of threats through behavior-based analysis. As can sometimes happen with security tools, however, it caused some system lockups in our testing.

PC Tools Threatfire 3.5 Test Scores
  • Overall 87


The new edition of this popular free security program, released in May, adds an on-demand signature-based scanner, a mostly just-for-fun world map that shows detected threats, and a useful system-activity monitor that provides a good deal of information on the programs and services running on your PC.

To identify a malware threat based on a positive signature match--which is still the primary method that most antivirus programs use--a lab must first obtain a sample of the malware and create a full signature for it. It that window of time, before a signature is available, your machine could be infected with the virus. By contrast, proactive detection such as behavioral analysis can detect and block brand-new threats without signatures, thereby providing immediate protection. Most antivirus programs supplement signature scanners with some type of proactive detection, but not all are as effective as ThreatFire.

In independent tests conducted for PC World by AV-Test.org, a German security-program testing operation, ThreatFire's performance was outstanding. It correctly identified 18 of 20 new, relatively unknown malware samples by looking purely at factors such as where the program came from, what changes it made to files or the system Registry, and whether the program attempted to send information to the Internet. It successfully blocked 17 of those 18 (one sample stopped ThreatFire before the block could occur), and it successfully cleaned 16 of those blocked (it left part of one infection behind).

What's more, ThreatFire didn't register any false alarms in AV-Test.org's run-throughs; this is a definite plus, since proactive, nonsignature protection is often prone to false alarms.

Version 3.5 adds PC Tools' signature-based scanner, formerly available only in the $30-per-year Pro version. Since it isn't real-time protection, it won't scan every new saved file, so you will need to schedule it or activate the scan manually. The free version also requires that you keep its community features (which send anonymous detection info to PC Tools) enabled in order to continue receiving no-cost updates; doing so improves threat detection for all users, and there's no good reason to disable it. The Pro 3.5 version allows you to disable the feature, but unless you're running a business, you have no need to shell out for Pro. The free version of ThreatFire 3.5 is for home use.

The anonymous detection data also provides info for the utility's new Threat Detection display. Red dots on a global map show infection points for selected malware and adware threats.

Though the map is interesting, the new system-activity monitor is more useful. For the programs and services that are currently running, the monitor displays in-depth background info, such as the author, the command line, a list of open windows and modules, and other details for all processes. You can stop a process, or kick off a Google search for more information on it, with a right-click on the process name.

Other changes in 3.5 include better default options for handling alerts. For one thing, you can now instruct the tool to automatically quarantine, allow, or prompt whenever it encounters a suspected threat or potentially unwanted program (known threats are always quarantined). This version of ThreatFire also has improved master boot record scanning.

While you don't have to pay for ThreatFire, installing it entails another kind of cost. The lightweight ThreatFire service and system tray process didn't noticeably impact our test system while we surfed the Web and performed common tasks, and together they used less than 10MB of system memory. But security programs by nature have to reach far into your PC, and as a result they can often conflict with other software and cause trouble. In our tests on one heavily used PC with a wide range of installed programs and utilities, the computer locked up each time we attempted to run an on-demand scan using ThreatFire's signature scanner. You don't need to run the signature scanner to get ThreatFire's worthwhile behavioral protection, but such lockups are a good example of why you should be careful about installing too many security extras.

ThreatFire's thorough behavioral protection provides a worthwhile additional layer of security, particularly for shared or other at-risk PCs. It's all the more impressive for being free. As always, however, be careful about loading your computer down with security programs.
[Click, Dick]
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Suzie
Tue Dec 23 2008, 11:07am
Living Dead Girl
Suzie
Joined: Sun Jul 03 2005, 11:25pm
Posts: 4488
I'm scared of it.
....I can't read that, so I assume the worst.
Blocks of text put me on screen saver.
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AspHole
Fri Jan 02 2009, 06:32am
Lend me your mind; I've lost my own. . .
AspHole
Joined: Sun Jan 09 2005, 01:16am
Posts: 1456
honestly.. I found it too intrusive to my gaming..... so I axed it.... I did try it for a while... but I couldn't figure out how to program the exceptions properly...
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Thrash
Fri Jan 02 2009, 05:32pm
Better Smokin' Than Meth!
Thrash
Joined: Wed Feb 28 2007, 12:14am
Location: Under Your Mom's Meat Flaps!
Posts: 14372
It's a little much, but if you disable it for gaming, it's seemingly good overall ...
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Goady
Sun Jan 04 2009, 12:38pm
Goady
Joined: Fri Jan 12 2007, 04:38am
Location: Florida
Posts: 687
I really don't like anything you need to disable for anything... I suppose it depends on what you are using that particular system for....

<--edit -->

well.. you wouldn't keep ypur company data on you gaming sys... etc... Edited Sun Jan 04 2009, 12:40pm
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