ewido anti-malware Review
Version 3.5(Webmaster of Cyber Top Cops)
Another great security application by Grisoft. ewido networks originally developed the software, but they are now part of the Grisoft Group. Combining it AVG Anti-virus makes your system an unstoppable force against malicious software.
Installation
Easy, quick and fast installation. No additional configuration required the default settings provide excellent protection for your system.
Automatic Updating
Yes. With the trial version, you only have access to automatic updates for 14 days. You will have to initiate the update process manually after the 14-day trial period.
Real-time Protection
ewido has a resident shield that can be run along with your anti-virus real-time protection. ewido is compatible with all anti-virus applications and will not eat your system resources. The resident shield only works for 14 days in the trial version. You will have to buy ewido anti-malware for permanent protection.
Resource usage
ewido appeared a bit slow during the start-up process on the infected machine. The system is fluent and responsive during the scanning process, but can become slow if you have several applications open at the same time.
Isolation of Threats
ewido is not an anti-virus package and does not provide the isolation you get from anti-virus packages. You can still move, delete, copy and rename infected files. ewido expands the protection that your anti-virus package provides and it is not recommended you use it as the only security application on your system.
It makes perfect sense for not isolating threats and this is common among anti-spyware applications because it will cause file access conflicts with your anti-virus software. Isolation of threats is normally the job of anti-virus applications.
Interface
Easy and very simple. Many software companies can learn from the design of ewido anti-malware. It sticks to what it was designed for, battling malicious software and not for just looking good. You get the feeling with many other programs these days (not just security applications) that there is a bigger focus on the looks of the program than its effectiveness. Of course, user-friendliness should be high on the priority list, but you can't compromise effectiveness for a fancy look. It is clear that the developers of ewido kept this in mind.
Scanning & Healing
The scanning process is not completely automatic. It stops the scanning process after the first detection and asks the user to choose the appropriate action from a dropdown-list. You can instruct ewido to use the same action for all the other threats if finds.
- Fast-scan function: Yes
- Scanning of Single objects: Yes
- Customisable scanning: Yes
- Boot sector scanning: No
- Memory scanning: Yes
- Registry scanning: Yes
- System Area scanning: Yes (Fast System Scan)
ewido may not scan the boot sector, but it does scan NTFS Alternate Data Streams (only applicable to the NTFS file system).
The Fast System Scan took 12 minutes and 37 seconds to scan 70233 objects on our system. The Full System Scan took almost twice of the time by scanning 93614 objects in 26 minutes and 13 seconds. ewido anti-malware cleaned all the infected objects found on our system without any problems. The only problem encountered was an infection inside an archive. ewido cannot remove objects inside archives and gave us the option to remove the whole archive in stead. All objects removed are quarantined and can be restored after removal.
Un-installation
Easy and effortless un-installation with the option to keep scanning logs and quarantined objects. No shortcut is provided in the Start menu. You have to un-install from the Windows Control Panel.
ewido anti-malware:
| Installation: | 8 |
| Automatic Updating: | 6 |
| Real-time Protection: | 6 |
| Resource Usage: | 7 |
| Isolation of Threats: | 0 |
| Interface: | 9 |
| Scanning & Healing: | 8 |
| Un-installation: | 8 |
| Overall: | 6.5 |
The plus version will score higher in the Automatic Updates and Real-time Protection sections because the resident shield and automatic updates are permanently available. The trial version allows the user to explore the full functionality of ewido for a 14-day period. The scanner is still available after the 14-day trial period and we have to compliment Grisoft for making it available to users for free. This really helps home users to battle malware more effectively.
Note: The ewido anti-malware 3.5 product range was discontinued at the end of June 2006. It will be replaced by Grisoft's ewido anti-spyware 4.0. ewido anti-spyware was later incorporated into the AVG brand as AVG Anti-Spyware.
