The brand new released Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5.0 has been tested to meet all of the technical requirements to be Compatible with Windows® 7.

“Compatible with Windows 7” software:

• Is tested for compatibility and reliability on Windows 7.
• Passed Microsoft designed tests to minimize the possibility of crashes, hangs, and reboots.
• Represents a commitment that the product will continue to work over the life of Windows 7.
• Meets privacy standards set forth by the Anti-Spyware Coalition.
• Installs cleanly and reliably.
• Eliminates unnecessary reboots.
• Ensures compatibility with Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

A private malware geek called “unbreakable06″ did a great youtube video review of Anti-Malware 4.5 showing how it catches live malware infections. All 20 samples were detected.

Interesting side note: 5 of the 20 tested files were new and unknown to the signature based detection, but the behavior blocker cought all of them!

Donna Buenaventura, a highly respected security software expert and MVP, wrote a comparative review on BrightHub.com:

Which is Better? Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware vs. a-squared Free

Her test results:

a-squared Free won in the major categories!

• Malware Detection – Winner: a-squared Free
  Of 100 malware samples, a-squared Free found 92, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware only 58.
   
• Removal of Detected Malware Samples – Winner: a-squared Free
  a-squared Free was able to remove all detected samples without the need for a system restart.
   
• Performance – Scanning – Winner: a-squared Free
  a-squared Free finished a full scan of the system drive in 29 minutes, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware took 1 hour and 24 minutes.
   
• Options and Feature – Winner: a-squared Free
  a-squared Free lets you run a quick, smart, custom, right-click, silent, commandline and deep system scans.

The German com! magazine did a short test of the Mamutu 2.0 release in the latest issue 10/2009.

Quotes:

“Mamutu detected 100% of the tested Malware and blocked them.”

(+) Detects new pests too.

(+) Less false alerts with the community.

Softpedia.com is similar to Download.com a high quality software directory. They published a very detailed review of a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5.

Full quote of their conclusion:

The Good

Although it brings to the table a plethora of options and fine tuning settings, a-squared is easy to manage by any average user. Its detection rate was over 98% and the flexibility in letting you decide upon online threats is to be fully appreciated.

The initial wizard can help you set up the entire application while the main screen gives way to fine tuning options in order to customize the way it protects your system. For each app on the computer you can create rules to restrict their performance or receive alerts when suspicious behavior is detected.

The various layers of protection can be enabled/disabled at will and all a-squared activity is logged for later reference. Scheduling system is very well thought, offering the chance to plan scans at specific times, dates and with a certain frequency, as well as define a start and end interval.

In order to reduce the amount of alerts, community knowledge can kick in and decide for you, according to your pre-configuration.

The Bad

Surf Protection alerts can be quite annoying, especially if you’re in the habit of roaming the less-known paths of the web. If tracking cookies are okay to block, with hosts things are different and many users may feel the urge to disable surf protection.

The Truth

a-squared managed to score high in our tests and prove that it can be a great ally against the cyber threats. It is easy to handle and the help file thoroughly explains every option in the program.

Background Guard can easily help you monitor any application for suspicious activity, as well as deflect malware-like activities on your computer.

Each program launched on the system can be scanned upon execution in order to make sure that its activity is benign. Alert system is flexible enough to let you automatically create a rule for the notifications you receive and thus reduce the amount of pop-up messages displayed.

EDITOR’S RATINGS: User Interface: Features: Ease of use: Pricing/Value: Overall:

The German COM! computer magazine has published an extended product test for a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5 in their July 2009 issue.

They wrote:

- 100% detection on the In-The-Wild test.

- Very good detection on less known viruses and trojans.

- Selfprotection is working efficiently.

- False alert rate is significantly lower compared with previous versions.

Conclusion:

(+) Very high detection rate

(+) Little false alerts

(+) Good self protection

(-) The user has to decide by himself on alert windows

The tool has been improved significantly, works 100% as it should and proves best detection.

On a scale from 1 (best) to 6 (worst), a-squared Anti-Malware was rated with a very good 2.0!