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DLS (beta) review: free, portable Norton Power Eraser takes aim at malware
Today I'm checking out Norton Power Eraser -- a free, portable malware cleanup tool from the folks at Symantec. I had tried to test earlier beta versions of NPE, but there was a rather major bug which prevented me from doing so. When I tried launching the program in safe mode with networking, it would fail just after startup because it was unable to communicate with Symantec's servers (NPE is a cloud-powered program).
Fortunately, Symantec has since fixed that issue. So with yet another infected system on my workbench, I fired up NPE and put it to work.
The full system scan completed in about 5 minutes on my customer's netbook (an Atom 270 with 1GB of RAM and 9GB of data on the hard drive). Only one malicious program was detected, and NPE successfully removed the executable, desktop shortcut, and startup entry in the Windows registry.
After running a smart scan (which took approximately the same amount of time as NPE's scan), Malwarebytes flagged more than 500 items. I always take malware and virus tools' tallies with a grain of salt -- since they tend to err on the side of caution and may flag files that I don't consider to be problematic. More important than the actual count is the fact that Malwarebytes detected four additional files related to the infection NPE had just cleaned up -- as well as a handful of trojan and hijacker components NPE missed entirely!
I like the fact that Power Eraser is portable, but I certainly hope its detection and removal abilities see a significant upgrade. It's still beta, so I'm hopeful that it will pack a bit more of a punch once released.
Comments
11
Subscribe to commentsaustin316gbMay 13th 2010 4:43PM
I tried it on a computer that had a rogue anti virus app. Ran the computer in safe mode ran the app, had a face palm moment when i realised that i had to use safe mode with networking. Started again and found that NPE removed nothing of the roughe anti virus program. Ran Malwarebytes removed everything and got computer back to normal.
NPE has a way to go yet, but looking at how long to took them to improved NIS and N360 to something that is actually quite good I have a feeling they'll keep on plugging away at it.
mike.duncanMay 13th 2010 4:56PM
Why not run SUPERAntiSpyware's portable edition if running a portable scanner? It's free and the detection rate will be on par with MBAM or better. In fact, why not run both MBAM and SAS? The combined coverage is phenomenal.
Lee MathewsMay 13th 2010 4:59PM
In all honesty, I've never had SAS turn up anything more than MBAM -- so it hasn't become part of my regimen.
mike.duncanMay 13th 2010 5:52PM
MBAM is a very fine program. But since no one program can catch 100% of the infection 100% of the time, it's good to have a back-up to the software a user normally employs. There's no harm in having choices, and computer users are fortunate that several effective, affordable solutions are available.
For example, use of a portable scanner is often motivated by necessity. Infection may hinder previously installed sofware's ability to do its job or may make it difficult to install anything new. In that case, it's good to know that there are options available that the average user can utilize that might help.
Lee MathewsMay 13th 2010 5:53PM
True enough, Mike! I currently use SmitfraudFix and Stinger as well.
Also, just so our readers have full disclosure -- you are associated with SuperAntispyware, correct?
Eric HMay 14th 2010 4:45PM
That was my exact thought as well, sounds like an ad to me.
mike.duncanMay 14th 2010 5:25PM
Not meant to be an ad, and yes, I do work for SAS. It's why I used my real name, I'm not one to hide. I really appreciate the comments here and I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the dialogue.
FranklinMay 13th 2010 7:51PM
dudes, as trite as this sounds: malwarebytes FTW
BillMay 13th 2010 9:29PM
I have a portable version of MBAM that is installed to my portableapps flash drive application. Better then sliced bread? Absolutely.
egomooMay 13th 2010 9:55PM
Norton Power Eraser has much fase positive.
I like Safe Returner which is similar with Power Eraser but most powerful that it.
alarmproMay 14th 2010 10:58AM
I use MBAM and Superantispyware together. Neither of which detects commercial keyloggers like SpectorPro. When do we see a fix for that?