Emsisoft Anti-Malware Oddity

Question

Long-time members here will recall how I have always promoted EAM (formerly a-squared) as a pretty good free anti-malware on-demand scanner.

Thus I was surprised today when WinPatrol Plus alerted me that a new Startup Program, Emsisoft Anti-Malware Real-Time Protection, wants to run in the background, from c:\program files (x86)\emsisoft anti-malware\a2guard.exe /d=60. This came entirely out of the blue.

I rejected the change, as I use MBAM Premium for this purpose. I have used EAM as a free, on-demand scanner for years (from when it was a2) without problems, so I was surprised when this attempt to sneak the Real-time program onto my Win 7 appeared. The change I rejected returned, and "replaced the automatic entry" according to WinPatrol. It says a "partner program" could be malware forcing this unwanted program into my startup.

So I checked msconfig.exe, and sure enough there was a2guard.exe /d=60 in my startup list. I could not remove it with the WinPatrol Plus startup manager.

I don't believe EAM has gone over to the dark side, but I take a dim view of any program that forces its way into my startup list and resists removal. I have fired off an enquiry to emsisoft, and will post any explanation they offer.

ky331 · Answer

Joe,

1) I trust that you use WinPatrol to DISABLE (rather than REMOVE) unwanted startup entries. [For those here who may not know the difference, DISABLE typically includes a "memory" aspect, so that a subsequent attempt to enable the same program is AUTOMATICALLY disabled by WinPatrol. In contrast, an item removed does not include this memory aspect, meaning that a subsequent attempt to enable it can proceed.]

2) I've found that CCleaner is sometimes more effective at stopping unwanted startups. Go to TOOLS / STARTUP / click on the desired item, and select DISABLE.

ky331 · Answer

I see that EAM released a new build of version 11 today... perhaps that was the catalyst in implementing the new startup entries?

http://blog.emsisoft.com/2016/01/05/emsisoft-anti-malware-emsisoft-internet-security-11-0-0-6054-released/

joe53 · Answer

Thanks ky. You could be right about that new version.

I had not in fact appreciated the difference in WPP between "remove" and "disable" from Startup in WPP. It has been quite a while since I had to do either.

But choosing "disable" did the trick. For good measure I also used CCleaner per your instructions. In any event, EAM is now gone from my startup list. An a2 service still shows up in my Task Manager, but consumes no CPU cycles.

I firmly believe in the law that entropy (disorder) tends to increase. As W.B. Yeats said, (in his poem "the Second Coming") "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;". Based on my recent experiences, I suspect I have too much security (even though I only run one AV, one anti-malware, and one software firewall in real-time).

ky331 · Answer

Joe,

I think we both agree that carefully hand-picking a combination of layered secured is preferable to relying on an all-in-one suite... and that, unless/until we run into overt conflicts, or can actually sense a significant slow-down of systems, we're doing the prudent thing.

Looking at your signature, I currently use most everything that you do --- expect for HitmanPro and EAM. So I don't see any problem/conflict with our "common" combination. [Note: I'm using avast on some of my systems, Panda Cloud on others... but never both on the same machine]. In fact, it looks like I'm using two more security programs than you: MBAE and MCShield.

In terms of security NOT included in my signature, I'm running HTTPS Everywhere in FF (Encrypted Web in PM), and uBlock Origin in both.

I don't believe I have any outright conflicts. Occasionally, some things may "feel" slow, but it's hard to quantify --- and even more difficult to definitively determine the proximate cause.

Let's put it this way: It's 2016, and I still continue to run some XP systems... in fact, I'm typing this on one now. [My primary system is Win7; my secondary Win8.1; so I guess that makes WinXP tertiary.] Yes, I've pretty-much given up on IE8 in XP... but regularly use PaleMoon (and/or FF) under XP.

Virus & Spyware

Emsisoft Anti-Malware Oddity

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