VirusKeeper 2010 Pro: Antivirus and antispyware

Classic antivirus scans have for a long time been mastered by all antivirus programs on the market, and VirusKeeper is no exception to the rule as it also offers this function. The most dangerous threats currently seen in a lot of cases come from spyware, Trojan horses, worms and attacks against your browser… This is why VirusKeeper 2010 looks to detect malicious programs by analysing all of the programs installed on the machine. When a malicious application tries to penetrate the system it can perform different actions: it creates a file, hide it, look to propagate it, automatically start it with Windows or send it in spam emails. The power of VirusKeeper is in immediately detecting these actions by blocking the threatening programs by alerting the user to their presence.

There is no overall scan, which is why you should execute all of the different scans that are available, one after the other. Peripherals analysis (NAS) or scans of network drives is also not possible. On the other hand, you can execute multiple scans at the same time, although a Core 2 Duo as a minimum or a Quad processor will be required. The support of multi-cpu is a very good feature included in this program.
We can also point out that when we contacted the developer about the missing global scan, they indicated to us that the addition of this was already in the planning phase. This function should allow you to perform the entire antivirus, antispyware and antirootkit scans with a simple click. As well as this, for those that have multi-core processors (Dual Core, Quad Core), the analysis will be done in multi-thread with the tasks being divided over each of the cores, which should considerably reduce the analysis time required (according to the maker, around 20 to 30% faster when compared to launching each of the analysis successively). This new function should be integrated into the 10.1.0 version planned for release at the end of October 2009.

Immediate behavioural analysis
This is the first technique available in the Analyse menu. This doesn’t use a lot of resources (memory, processor) with it being just as effective against older viruses as the new ones with their identifiable behaviour (notably active spywares). When starting a behavioural analysis, the computers files, registry, active memory processes, spyware, and web browser integrity will be also controlled.

Antivirus analysis of files
This is the antivirus analysis which calls on detection by signature recognition. The engine updates, here in version 10.0.4, are therefore fundamental. This analysis attacks viruses, spyware and rootkits (programmes allowing a third party to maintain fraudulent access to your system). The scan engine is written in assembly language, which provides you with the advantage of greatly reducing the scan time. The user has the choice between quick analysis (only at risk files), full (all files), deep and custom (specifying the folders to scan, internal drives and external media).

As a general rule, the analysis takes up between 92 and 108 MB of memory, which is not a lot for current and older machines! We recommend that you activate the memory analysis (active processes) which isn’t turned on by default. The settings provide you with a lot of choice when it comes to the actions to perform in the event an infected file is detected (automatic deletion or confirm action before deletion).

Anti-spyware analysis
The third analysis specifically concerns spyware, malware, ToolBar, browser components and BHO… situated either in your files or registry. VirusKeeper detects in real time any attempt by spyware to install themselves onto the system. In the 2010 version, we should precise that the module has been optimised so that the process runs 20% faster than previously. By clicking on the Cookies sub-menu, you can delete all of the Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox cookies all at once.

Anti-rootkit analysis
This is the last link in the analysis modules which you can launch yourself. Here, the system is scanned deeply to look for root-kits (malicious programs which are undetected by the system through traditional antivirus analysis.)