Another extended free trial of an iObit rentalware product, the kind you pay for on a recurring basis year-on-year so never actually own outright. It's a business model iObit adopted four or five years ago and despite being told that rentalware is only justifiable where software requires continuing and intensive developer maintenance, iObit has carried on regardless.

That said: where the rentalware proposition makes absolutely no sense in the case of iObit offerings such as Protected Folder -- software which the developer barely touches from one year to another -- a case can be made for iObit's recurring-charge licensing where an anti-malware product is concerned. For it to work as promised, investment of considerable time and considerable resourcing will be necessary, which is why Malwarebytes realised it couldn't go on with the life-time licensing of its own PRO version.

Malwarebytes will inevitably come to mind whenever any anti-malware product is discussed, so it's especially unfortunate for iObit that it took such a hammering over the alleged theft of Malwarebytes' signature base in 2009. iObit's initial flat denials became increasingly diluted as time went by; it ultimately announced some "revisions" in the face of threatened legal action, though still rejected Malwarebytes' claim.

That might, to some, all seem like ancient history now, yet iObit itself continues to provoke such remembrance of Malwarebytes, every time it touts its own anti-malware. Why? Because this kind of specialist software is only as good as its specialist developer and the constantly updated database which that developer manages to the customer's benefit.

Malwarebytes -- which itself isn't infallible: no software is nor ever will be -- fits the description of specialist developer. iObit. . . doesn't. What with its 'Boosters' and 'Optimizers' and defragmenters and uninstallers, iObit is a generalist developer. And that's the real disincentive here: malware is so serious and constantly evolving a threat that trusting one's defense against it to a Jack of All Trades rather than a Master of One seems anything but prudent.

But even if today's giveaway was from a specialist developer, I'd be distinctly unenthusiastic about it, unable to even consider trusting it when the price attached to it as wildly exaggerated as is the case here: "the program is available for $39.95" but free today. Oh really? iObit Malware Fighter 3.4 PRO is available direct from iObit's website for $19.95 for one year's use, so the proportionate value of six months' free use is $9.98. . . a quarter of the sum claimed on this giveaway page.

Thanks then, GOTD, but no thanks.

MikeR  –  8 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+121)

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From PCMag review (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2477847,00.asp) :

Cons

Not tested by independent labs.
Incredibly terrible score in our hands-on malware-blocking test.
Zero-percent protection in malicious-URL-blocking test.

Bottom Line

Every other antivirus product we've tested is a better choice than IObit Malware Fighter 3 Pro.
Don't even think about purchasing this turkey.

Test Results: Absolutely the Worst

Harry M  –  8 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+106)

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Harry M
This program...and it's vendors would for sure be my last choise for protection. First of all, they founded this program by copying Malwarebytes Antimalware's database. That's a fact, even they still denies - caught red handed. Well, it's a "giveaway", and be my guest, but there is no malware protection made better than MBAM Premium. Period.
If you decide to try the "offer", be aware, please, that each and every time, you touch your keyboard, you might end up with the whole collection og Iobit's software. They are very tricky - and not thrustworthy at all. Thanks anyway to the team behinind GOATD. We've had some unique offers this year. Keep up the good work :-)

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Malwarebytes-IObit-Stole-Our-Signatures-Database-125928.shtml

<b>Harry M</b> This program...and it's vendors would for sure be my last choise for protection. First of all, they founded this program by copying Malwarebytes Antimalware's database. That's a fact, even they still denies - caught red handed. Well, it's a "giveaway", and be my guest, but there is no malware protection made better than MBAM Premium. Period. If you decide to try the "offer", be aware, please, that each and every time, you touch your keyboard, you might end up with the whole collection og Iobit's software. They are very tricky - and not thrustworthy at all. Thanks anyway to the team behinind GOATD. We've had some unique offers this year. Keep up the good work :-) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Malwarebytes-IObit-Stole-Our-Signatures-Database-125928.shtml
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Allan  –  8 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+39)

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Tried before. Uninstalled. Aggressive. Seemed to want to take over the PC and dictate what I can use and what I cannot use.

ric  –  8 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+57)

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You install security software & hope you stay malware & compromise free -- besides that security software [hopefully] doing it's job, the outcome realistically also depends on your habits, & perhaps luck. It's hard for us to know just what we avoided thanks to that security software, which we generally run exclusively for the year's subscription we bought.

Sites like av-test.org are perhaps the best remedy, testing & comparing security apps for us. iObit really should IMHO submit their software to sites like av-test for testing. A bonus, a good or even fair rating would go a long way towards making the [scorching] PC Mag review meaningless.

In the US if you watch the sales, mainly at Newegg & Fry's [now that Tiger Direct seems to be closing], but also stores like Staples, you'll see great deals on McAfee, Kaspersky, AVG, only occasionally nowadays BitDefender, and so on. Sale prices for full products [AV, firewall etc.] generally range from free after rebate to between $10 - $20 for 3 or more PCs for 1 year.

Note that if you don't renew through the software company at the end of your subscription, normally at MSRP of course, but buy on sale, you'll often have to uninstall/reinstall, & *may* have to set up a new account with the company making the software, e.g. Bitdefender, McAfee etc. It's obviously in their interest to have you renew, rather than take advantage of sales promotions intended to attract new customers.

Many well known brands offer a tool you can download that completely removes their software, but it can take a bit of searching their site to find it. McAfee for example links to their MCPR.exe from a support page, not listing it with downloads etc.

Security software user reviews for whatever reason seem to run the opposite of what you see at sites like av-test.org. PC Mag, linked in other comments, lists the independent labs [including av-test.org] they use [in addition to their testing] -- pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2426848,00.asp

In my limited experience McAfee puts less strain on Windows starting up, which can matter with lower powered systems, older versions of Windows etc. -- I've had brands like Bitdefender occasionally keep Windows from starting in those situations. Soon after it was bought by Intel, I had problems with McAfee running on AMD systems -- we currently aren't running any AMD systems so I can't say if that's fixed or not. The only recent problem I've had that **might** have been caused by McAfee, was I lost all network connections in win7, which *might* have been triggered by a McAfee update. Luckily System Restore worked, so I didn't investigate further.

Bitdefender has seemed to work well for the last few years, but I had problems after updating when they stopped support for an older version -- Bitdefender 2015 & 2016 break VirtualBox in win7, though they seem all right in win10. There may have been other problems -- I found where Bitdefender says they've designed their newest stuff for 10, & it works better there -- but losing VirtualBox was a showstopper, so I removed Bitdefender immediately. If ioBit is moving to the Bitdefender engine [per F/B comment by Yob Ynnub] that *could* become an issue.

Kaspersky has quite the reputation in the GOTD forums for blocking GOTD offers. Some people have concerns about Kaspersky, & IMHO Bitdefender to a lesser extent, based on the countries where those companies are based [Russia & Romania].

Do be a bit cautious installing/using anything beyond the core security software... Google recently called out AVG for compromising user security with their web browser extension, then nailed Trend Micro for their password manager, which may have been worse.

DO backup, & DO hold onto as many old backups as you can... The goal of most malware is to be invisible, so neither you nor the security software you're running knows it's there. If you find you've been compromised, you might have to go back months or even years for a clean backup -- cleaning &/or removing an infection & it's effects can be iffy, while restoring a good backup is foolproof.

mike  –  8 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+47)

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