Webroot AntiVirus

     For years I used Norton AntiVirus on my computers. Then about a year ago my 10-year nephew was using my laptop to play a kid’s game and a virus sneaked past Norton. Trying to reach Norton proved impossible. Phone calls placed after a Google search lead me all over the world talking to people who it turned out were not from Norton. Also, you might want to check out this review from Rip Off Report. 
     I finally gave up and took the laptop to Best Buy to get it cleaned up. In the process they replaced Norton with Webroot. AV-Test reported in their January/February 2013 report that Webroot SecureAnywhere antimalware engine was 99.8% effective against malware and 100% effective against Zero-day threats.
     Detection of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last 4 weeks was 100%(the AV-TEST reference set, with an industry average 99%. Protection against 0-day malware attacks, inclusive of web and e-mail threats was rated at 95% (January) and 97% (February) in the AV-TEST Real-World Testing.
     Webroot had the worst results out of 20 products tested by AV-Comparatives in the September 2012 File Detection Test of Malicious Software, both in terms of malware detection rates and false alarms. Webroot detected less than 80 percent of viral samples, much worse than the 94.4 percent rate of the second lowest detecting product. Among clean files, Webroot inappropriately flagged 210 of them, raising as many false-positives as the other 19 products tested combined. According to AV-comparatives, the "results and misses have been confirmed with several tests and also by the vendor".
     On the other hand, AV-Comparatives gave nine vendors, including Webroot, its highest award in its July 2012 Anti-Phishing Test, in which Webroot took 9th place among 18 products tested in regards to the blocking of phishing websites. In AV-Comparative's Performance Test for October 2012, Webroot had the best PCMark score, having the lightest impact out of 20 products tested on a Windows 7 64-bit machine. PC Magazine has awarded Webroot SecureAnywhere 12 times with Editor's Choice and Security Product of the Year, its highest award given to security and software programs. In PC Magazines's test for 2013, Webroot was recognized by PC Magazine staff as having the best score in malware blocking tests, malware removal tests, fast scans, and fast installation.
     According to a recent PC World article, “Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete ($52 for one year of protection on up to five PCs) offers an intuitive interface, very fast system scans, and a mobile security component. Unfortunately, it falls short where it counts: protection. In our real-world (zero-day) tests, Webroot blocked just 82 percent of Web and email threats and unknown viruses—a comparatively weak showing, considering that half the suites in our roundup nailed all of them, and two others stopped 98 percent of the attacks. Webroot did a better job of protecting against known malware (arising within 30 days of the testing), successfully blocking 99 percent of attacks. Microsoft Security Essentials blocked just 93 percent of known malware attacks). However, most of the other security suites in our roundup successfully blocked 100 percent of known malware attacks. Also on the down side, Webroot SecureAnywhere was overzealous in denouncing benign files as security risks, too. In our usability tests, the program flagged five legitimate programs (out of thousands tried) as dangerous.”
     Earlier this week, I renewed my Webroot suscription. A major factor in that decision was because when it was installed by Best Buy I had access to the Geek Squad which is a subsidiary of Best Buy. The Geek Squad provides services in-store, on-site, and over the Internet via remote access, and also provides 24-hour telephone and emergency on-site support. I had my second encounter with the Geek Squad yesterday. 
     For some reason my Hewlett Packard all-in-one Photosmart printer just up and quit. At first I thought it was because I had two firewalls (Microsoft and Webroot) but that wasn't the problem.  After messing with it for half a day and not getting it to work, I gave up. Yesterday morning I accessed Geek Squad's live online help at 7:30 am and in less than a minute had a rep online. He switched me to a tech and within 30 minutes (most of that waiting for a driver to download) the problem was solved. Cost - $0.

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