Anti-trojan Software Reviews
Anti-trojans - how we reviewed What is a Trojan Horse? About
us
Anti-trojan suggestions
A survey of the
best anti-trojan programs
from
Tech Support Alert
Most folk harbor the belief that they
are totally protected from malicious trojan
horses by their anti-virus scanner.
The bad news is that many anti-virus
scanners give only limited protection against trojans. Just
how limited can be gauged from the fact that Norton Anti-Virus 2004
missed every single trojan in the test data set we used in these
series of reviews. Other anti-virus programs didn't do much
better.
For
the best protection against trojans you really need a specialist
anti-trojan program in addition to your anti-virus software.
Simple as that.
At Tech Support Alert we
identified 44 currently available anti-trojan / trojan remover programs. After a lot of
culling and testing we ended up with only eight products we felt
were worth reviewing in detail. On completing detailed reviews
of these, we felt we could only recommend five products. To see how we reviewed, click
here.
All the recommended products listed below,
offer good protection against trojans and have powerful trojan removal capabilities.
All would make valuable adjuncts to your anti-virus program and
firewall in providing your PC with maximum protection against a
hostile attack.
We've made recommendations on the products
that impressed us most, but we suggest you read the reviews and
make your own decision. Without doubt, the best product is
the one that best suits YOUR needs.
Outstanding
Anti-trojan Programs
Trojan
Hunter Editors Choice: Best for most
users
Trojan Hunter's sophisticated multifaceted
detection capabilities allow it to detect insidious modern trojans
with an ease that is only bettered by TDS-3. Unlike TDS-3, it has a
friendly user interface which means that it can be used even by
inexperienced users. As a trojan remover its performance was
outstanding. Add to that the fact that it's fast, technically
sophisticated and is very well supported and you have a winning
combination.
Click
here for full review
Ewido
Ewido is a new product that managed to
impress us immensely with its a technically sophisticated design yet
is relative ease to use. It detects trojans almost as well as
Trojan Hunter, has a fast scanner and has an excellent trojan remover
as well. As an added bonus it has proved to be an excellent
performer in removing some difficult-to-remove spyware products. The only thing that stopped us
awarding this product the Editor's choice rating was the lack of an in-product help system and
meager web based support resources.
Click
here for full review
TDS-3
Note: This product was discontinued by the developer on 22nd July,
2005
If you want the highest level of protection
against trojans that is currently available, then you need TDS-3.
However be prepared to pay for its extraordinary level of security
in terms of product complexity and resource usage. TDS-3 is
a reassuring product for experienced
users but a daunting one for many others. Click
here for full review.
Highly
Recommended
A Squared
(a2)
We liked a2 a lot but unfortunately some of its most
attractive features are yet to be fully implemented. When these are
delivered in the upcoming version 2 we anticipate a2 will leap
directly into our "outstanding" category. As of the moment though, it
is a work in progress. Click
here for full review
The Cleaner
This is a well established and easy to
use product. The folks behind The Cleaner have, in the last 12 months,
put a lot of work in expanding the product's signature database and
this shows in markedly improved detection rate. However its slow scan
speed will be a problem for some users.
Click here
for full review.
Other Programs Reviewed
BOClean
A few years back BOClean was arguably the best
anti-trojan monitor on the market and attracted a loyal following even
though it lacked an on-demand scanner. Now other anti-trojan vendors
offer monitors that perform just as as well as BOClean and include an
on-demand scanner as well for the same selling price. However for those prepared to trade
convenience for ultimate protection, BoClean is still a viable
option. Click here for full
review.
Tauscan
Tauscan is a is an easy to use program
with a very fast scanner. It offers reasonable detection
capabilities though well below the top products. We can't help feeling
that Tauscan is looking a little dated compared to new products like
Ewido.
Click here for full review.
Pest Patrol
This program does a lot more than
detect and remove trojans; it will also detects spyware, adware and
a variety of other undesirable pests. However when it comes to the
specific task of detecting trojans, PestPatrol is largely outclassed
by the dedicated anti-trojan products covered in this review. Click here
for full review.