Has Trend Micro overstepped the mark?

Has Trend Micro overstepped the mark?
Secure Home | Search | About
Login Password
Register Now! Lost Password?
 Microsoft Antivirus Discussions    Post an article   get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content add this group's latest topics to your Google content
Subject Author Date
Has Trend Micro overstepped the mark? Bigbruva 07-12-2005
Posted by Bigbruva on July 12, 2005, 8:31 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
I have used and recommend TrendMicro but the new online "Security Scan" for
spyware that HouseCall does left me questioning their integrity.
I ran the security scan on a test system that I know is clean, after a short
scan (less than 1 min) I was informed of "36 spyware programs detected"!
Looking at the report every "program" was in fact a cookie!

They where marked as "Low risk" with a default setting of "Pass" so it does
not remove them unless the action is changed but at the end of the wizard I
was left with a Page entitled "Danger! Potential threats detected!" in large
red letters (see the picture below).

I know the debate on whether "cookies" are spyware but that is not the point
here. They are reporting cookies as "spyware programs" which they are not!

At best this is scaremongering and at worst, borders on "Rogue Anti-Spyware"
IMO

Has anyone else had problems with TrendMicros online scans?


BB



Posted by Phyllis on July 12, 2005, 10:01 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
My experience has been that TrendMicro found viruses but did not do anything
with them (unable to repair, delete, etc.), just told me about my need for
AV/spyware software. I was in the process of cleaning up a computer for a
friend and was using several of the "free" online scans to double check for
viruses. Every one of them found different viruses but refused to do
anything with them. The only use of that was it did tell me the location of
the virus files that it found. Some of the files I was able to locate and
others did not exist. Sounds kind of underhanded to me, to make people
think they have viruses to "scare" them into maybe buying their software. I
know they are "free" but what good are they?

>I have used and recommend TrendMicro but the new online "Security Scan"
>for spyware that HouseCall does left me questioning their integrity.
> I ran the security scan on a test system that I know is clean, after a
> short scan (less than 1 min) I was informed of "36 spyware programs
> detected"!
> Looking at the report every "program" was in fact a cookie!
>
> They where marked as "Low risk" with a default setting of "Pass" so it
> does not remove them unless the action is changed but at the end of the
> wizard I was left with a Page entitled "Danger! Potential threats
> detected!" in large red letters (see the picture below).
>
> I know the debate on whether "cookies" are spyware but that is not the
> point here. They are reporting cookies as "spyware programs" which they
> are not!
>
> At best this is scaremongering and at worst, borders on "Rogue
> Anti-Spyware" IMO
>
> Has anyone else had problems with TrendMicros online scans?
>
>
> BB
>
>



Posted by Malke on July 12, 2005, 10:34 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Phyllis wrote:

> My experience has been that TrendMicro found viruses but did not do
> anything with them (unable to repair, delete, etc.), just told me
> about my need for
> AV/spyware software. I was in the process of cleaning up a computer
> for a friend and was using several of the "free" online scans to
> double check for
> viruses. Every one of them found different viruses but refused to do
> anything with them. The only use of that was it did tell me the
> location of
> the virus files that it found. Some of the files I was able to locate
> and
> others did not exist. Sounds kind of underhanded to me, to make
> people
> think they have viruses to "scare" them into maybe buying their
> software. I know they are "free" but what good are they?

The reason the online virus scanners can't do anything with the malware
is because the malware is active while you're in Regular Mode and
online. That's why I don't like them. They might be useful for
identification purposes, but I think it is just better to go ahead and
use something like Sysclean in Safe Mode as a first-line scanner and
then install/update a full-featured av and scan again in Safe Mode.

To address Big Bruva's post - I agree that the results seem to be
alarmist. However, since I don't recommend online scanners and
certainly wouldn't use them in cleaning a client's computer I don't
think it matters all that much. Maybe you should drop their marketing
people a note - it couldn't hurt to let them know they should reword
their site a bit.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Posted by Catamount on July 13, 2005, 8:29 am
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Agreed. They are more for a tool to identify, not to remove. 99% of
all viruses and the majority of Spyware need to be removed in safemode.


Malke wrote:
> Phyllis wrote:
>
>
>>My experience has been that TrendMicro found viruses but did not do
>>anything with them (unable to repair, delete, etc.), just told me
>>about my need for
>>AV/spyware software. I was in the process of cleaning up a computer
>>for a friend and was using several of the "free" online scans to
>>double check for
>>viruses. Every one of them found different viruses but refused to do
>>anything with them. The only use of that was it did tell me the
>>location of
>>the virus files that it found. Some of the files I was able to locate
>>and
>>others did not exist. Sounds kind of underhanded to me, to make
>>people
>>think they have viruses to "scare" them into maybe buying their
>>software. I know they are "free" but what good are they?
>
>
> The reason the online virus scanners can't do anything with the malware
> is because the malware is active while you're in Regular Mode and
> online. That's why I don't like them. They might be useful for
> identification purposes, but I think it is just better to go ahead and
> use something like Sysclean in Safe Mode as a first-line scanner and
> then install/update a full-featured av and scan again in Safe Mode.
>
> To address Big Bruva's post - I agree that the results seem to be
> alarmist. However, since I don't recommend online scanners and
> certainly wouldn't use them in cleaning a client's computer I don't
> think it matters all that much. Maybe you should drop their marketing
> people a note - it couldn't hurt to let them know they should reword
> their site a bit.
>
> Malke

Posted by Bigbruva on July 13, 2005, 1:34 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Hi Malke

You are quite correct that these online scanners are limited in there
ability to fix a system, I should have made it clear that I use these online
services to provide a second or third opinion of a system after I have
attempted to clean it.

I did email them directly and will post an update when, or if, I hear back
from them.

Cheers

BB

> Phyllis wrote:
>
>> My experience has been that TrendMicro found viruses but did not do
>> anything with them (unable to repair, delete, etc.), just told me
>> about my need for
>> AV/spyware software. I was in the process of cleaning up a computer
>> for a friend and was using several of the "free" online scans to
>> double check for
>> viruses. Every one of them found different viruses but refused to do
>> anything with them. The only use of that was it did tell me the
>> location of
>> the virus files that it found. Some of the files I was able to locate
>> and
>> others did not exist. Sounds kind of underhanded to me, to make
>> people
>> think they have viruses to "scare" them into maybe buying their
>> software. I know they are "free" but what good are they?
>
> The reason the online virus scanners can't do anything with the malware
> is because the malware is active while you're in Regular Mode and
> online. That's why I don't like them. They might be useful for
> identification purposes, but I think it is just better to go ahead and
> use something like Sysclean in Safe Mode as a first-line scanner and
> then install/update a full-featured av and scan again in Safe Mode.
>
> To address Big Bruva's post - I agree that the results seem to be
> alarmist. However, since I don't recommend online scanners and
> certainly wouldn't use them in cleaning a client's computer I don't
> think it matters all that much. Maybe you should drop their marketing
> people a note - it couldn't hurt to let them know they should reword
> their site a bit.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"



Similar ThreadsPosted
Trend Micro, Update Frequency? January 7, 2006, 7:55 am
Trend Micro helpless: TROJ_HIJACK.J January 9, 2006, 10:47 pm
trend micro vs. Norton & Mc Afee December 7, 2006, 12:08 am
Invitaion to The Trend Micro User Group June 20, 2006, 10:53 am
Tmcomm errors/Trend Micro/Multi A/V Tool June 19, 2008, 6:41 am
Trend Micro OfficeScan Spyware detection program issues June 28, 2005, 2:33 pm
Antivirus choice: F-Secure's rootkit scanning vs Trend Micro April 7, 2006, 4:17 am
MS05-39 Plug and Play Network virus and Trend Micro July 5, 2006, 11:28 pm

The site map in XML format XML site map

Contact Us | Privacy Policy