Conclusion; Malware either has to hit your memory or harddisk to have an effect. If webshields\Mail gaurds use the same scanning method as your normal scanner then you have nothing to gain from using them.
I get a fair amount of use out of my avast! email scanner and webshield. Most of the virus alerts I see are in stuff that ends up in the spam file from my ISP. Due to false positives, I do need to look at it occasionally. Rather than downloading it and worrying about it later, I get the virus popup before it is downloaded and delete it there. Most of these are actually embedded website URLs, so the webshield is the real actor. But there are also virus attachments to deal with in the same manner. You can always wait until they are downloaded and then try to install/execute, but seems a benefit to reject them early.
sded, the scanning is still done on your computer! When you look up images or streaming videos, they aren’t “ON” the website, they are in a temp folder on YOUR computer!
Yes, I understand that-nothing happens until the data hits your computer. But earlier in the process than when they try to install themselves or execute and get caught by the standard virus scanner. Or HIPS.
Once you get the users involved, anything can happen. At least the HIPS is reported as often being removed/disabled to go work other problems. Avast! standard scanner should still catch it, but why store it on your computer until it does? And the email scanner gives a good quick indication of the source of the virus.
I prefer having a webshield. Now I can’t into a huge technical reason why but I like Avast’s webshield because (correct me if wrong) It will detect the infection right when you click a link or start the download. :-\
The avast! email scanner is a proxy inline between your email client and the internet (via localhost). Not sure what you mean by being “the results from the main guard process”, which happens later, between your email client and the rest of the system. But agree, should be caught anyway-just a bit later.
Sorry, I can’t on Avast. I am currently trying out Nod32 30 day trial then back to Avast (Has been a couple years since I tried nod) Seems Nod32 also has a webshield.
edit: Somehow saw no difference on Nod32 while testing with webshield and with webshield disabled. Odd? :o
@goose, try it with nod32 then - with - and without a webshield.
@sded Where do you think the scanning is done using a email scanner? It isn’t done in the air… It’s done on your system… In that case the AV would detect it regardless of an email scanner.
well, it’s not that crucial but i like it.
oh and 1 day i have port 137 opened/not stealthed ??? (i disabled CFP3 and forgot to turn it back on 88) ) don’t know what it is.i got avast webshield blocking the attack.
as for the email scanner, at least it can prevent me to forward the email to somebody else i guess 88)
Hey brad… Ganda** ;D You’re thinkin bout the Avast network shield which scans activity on a few ports that are known to easily get infected or something along those lines. Also Network shield? needed? I think so.
Yeah sorry I don’t know much about avast! and it’s sheilds, I know of webshields form AVIRA and NOD32, so lets stick to Webshields and Email scanners for now.
I’d be very interested to see if you actually gain a tighter security for having them turned on, or if it’s just a marketing ploy and a waste of resources
hmm, not sure about the other but, the reason i replaced avira free with avast is NOT the mail scanner & webguard, but the antispyware feature.i didn’t think i need the mail scanner, but it’s a nice addition
Here is my opinion: I have not been using an AV for several months now. The Only Real time Security App I currently have is COMODO Firewall Pro 3 & SUPERAntispyware as a back up malware scanner. Mainly because CFP 3 deals with virtually all malware and viruses anyway and does not rely on signatures (detection), I now rely on prevention.
a) I don’t do much P2P besides Music Downloading from Frost Wire, Torrents are rare.
b) I don’t open unknown email attachments
c) I download of trusted websites
Those are MY surfing habits. Others will be different… IMO if you use email constantly, download everything off everything, even open unknown emails etc, you will probably need a Web Shield & Email Scanner. And that’s the final conclusion.
At least the HIPS is reported as often being removed/disabled to go work other problems. Avast! standard scanner should still catch it, but why store it on your computer until it does? And the email scanner gives a good quick indication of the source of the virus.