Drop, charge, and lose the cords
- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows XP
- Date added: November 10, 2009
- Total Downloads: 1,739,299
- Downloads last week: 16,592
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 361 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on February 20, 2009
A-Squared Free 4 is one of the better free malware removers, but it's not flawless and some users question its efficacy.
The program starts off with a sluggish detection file update that also requires a program restart. This took about 10 minutes. Normally, though, it opens to the Security Status page. From there, you can run scans, update the program, access the A-Squared knowledge base, and choose from among 20 display languages. Program options are arranged on the left nav, and they are Security Status, Scan PC, Quarantine, Logs, and Configuration tabs. Scan PC contains four scanning options: Quick, Smart, Deep, and Custom. Quick Scan is the fastest and most superficial, while the Deep Scan can take several hours.
If you choose a scan that examines your cookies, the app will recommend closing your Web browser. Custom not only lets you choose which folders to scan, but also lets you opt out of heuristic, tracking-cookie, and spyware-remnant scans. There is also a whitelist, from where you can add folders or files, which is accessible at the bottom of the main Scan tab panel. The Quarantine tab uses a spreadsheet-style layout to manage isolated files, and the Configuration tab has options for Context menu scans, Update behavior, and Permissions settings. The Quarantine tab has a neat option to rescan quarantined objects after a definition file update.
There's one annoying design quirk: important options like the whitelist are placed in the bottom left of the active panel, making them accessible only by a text link. For a standalone antimalware program that lacks a built-in scheduler and antivirus features, A-Squared Free 4 is a secure choice.
Publisher's description
From Emsi Software :Scans your computer for malicious software (Malware), including Trojan Horses, Dialers, Worms, Spyware, and Adware. A-squared Free is specialized in finding and removing them securely. The disk scan checks all files on your system disks for Malware. The scanner scans for Spyware Traces.
What's new in this version:
Version 4.5.0.21a improved malware detection.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.8 stars out of 361 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 4 of 4 user reviewsSee all 4 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: A-squared Free 4.5.0.21a
Pros: it finds everything & i do mean everything
Cons: very slooow, freezes a lot & too much of what it finds are not malware but necessary parts of other software
Summary: i got rid of it after a few days & many hassles...switched to something else.
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Version: A-squared Free 4.5.0.21a
"Good, But Notorious For False positives"
Pros: very large database of a wide variety of malware, good detection and removal rate
Cons: agonizingly long scan especially in '' deep scan '' mode, better to use the '' smart scan '' option. notorious for false positives, they even admit it, it has scared the crap out of me a few times unnecessarily, lol
Summary: a good program to have, in spite of all the false alerts it is a very important and valuable program to have, just do not get overly excited if it finds something, look at where the infected file is from, the folder etc. go to google and see if othe... read more >>
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Version: A-squared Free 4.5.0.21a
"It's ok with cookies protection or some Adwares"
Pros: good quick scan, sees almost adwares but not remove all of them.
Cons: slow scan and somehow freezes the system
Summary: I just use it for checking up cookies and aware.
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Version: A-squared Free 4.5.0.21a
"It detects malware that the other ones don't"
Pros: It does a good job
Cons: Takes a while to load and when it starts it wants to update, the problem for me is I am on dialup and it takes 4 to 5 hours to download the big updates or new program.
I use XPSummary: Scans very slow but it does a good job.
- See all 4 user reviews Write review
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