CyberDefender offers a free software suite to combat spyware, viruses, and spam. In a recent press release, they say that according to a recent test, “CyberDefenderFREE Outperforms Costly Security Software Products at Removing and Blocking Spyware” and that “it has received high marks for removing and blocking spyware in a new review released this month from PC Magazine.”
It goes on to say “In the study, CyberDefenderFREE(TM) 2.0 scored higher at removing spyware than companies such as McAfee, Grisoft (AVG), and Trend-Micro PC-cillin and scored the same as Windows Live OneCare.” It also provided this comparison chart:
The casual reader may come away with the impression that CyberDefender was the top scoring software product in the category. Only when clicking the provided link to the full PC Magazine test results are the actual rankings revealed:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Translation: 10 other products scored higher than CyberDefender for spyware removal, and 16 products were superior at spyware blocking.
While CyberDefender never said their program was the “best,” and most of what they did say was literally true (except the part about them receiving “high marks”), the clever spin they used in their press release can easily create an impression of superiority which is not borne out by all the facts.
Subsequent to the publication of the above commentary, CyberDefender’s SVP of Corporate Communications contacted Mouse Print*. Below is a portion of a longer email:
This press release and its posting on the newswire was directed to media – not consumers.  We offer this product for Free or without supported advertisements for $11.99. We felt our messaging was understandable to members of the press. That was our audience for a press release. I apologize for any confusion.
Yay, anti —-ware program that is —-ware in itself.
Taken from their website:
CyberDefenderFREE is supported by ads. This allows us to give you world- class security protection at no cost!
What you should focus on is the fact that Microsoft has billions of dollars to spend on security – and this little company came out of nowhere and showed better results. They also give the product away for free….and you can use it with other security applications as a second layer of security. Whats wrong with that?
I tried the product and it works just fine….I definetly recommend it…
It appears the top grade would be 10 and they got 6.5 , when I was in school 65% was a D!
i don’t buy the excuse about the press release. press releases should be meant for the general public. they are usually run by members of the press verbatim.
Press Releases are originated at the CORPORATE OFFICES of the Product.
[ It appears the top grade would be 10 and they got 6.5 , when I was in school 65% was a D!
Comment by John Elson — April 9, 2007 ]
i like John Elson’s analogy upthread.
I have a few things to say, it seems they don’t like the general public at all. In CastleCops, a little dispute between CD and another , CD basically asked users to stay out of it so it gets resolved. A public forum. My suggestion, get a room. As well, CD full is full of a lot,but it isn’t security, for one, it’s great at detecting your P3P folder and attacking it, to many this is malware, to those more savvy, this is an imunization folder and should be left alone. If they use this method in allowing others to think it found something others didn’t , it’s an even bigger crock. I registered my FULL version, giving them a chance, I couldn’t register my password for tech support, why? There was an error, however, when I wanted to report it, guess what, I needed to be, yep, REGISTERED,lol. So I contacted customer service or something like that, almost 11 days, nothing. I wanted to go to the forum, however due to so much crap on there, and some complaints, they FINALLY managed to obviously delete the whole forum. Now, this supposed TOP competetor, can’t even keep all that garbage off a forum, let’s talk how good the program is. huh.
I have left messages head to head with allen, no response, the same blowing the proverbial smoke up our back ends.
CD crashed my system in a repetetive way, I couldn’t stop it, so finally unplugged. Got into safe mode, did away with it. In my opinion, they haven’t changed, if anything, more sneaky than before and bold. Now, they will go head to head with users, lie to your face, and of course the sweet talk of “I will” “I didn’t know” “I will fix it” etc…yeah right. The undertone used in other forums by them is as, “I will answer you to make a buck but wish you’d leave me alone” . Of course, I never merrited a response.
NCDFM
CyberDefender was once listed as rogue by Eric Howes. There is an interesting thread here http://www.castlecops.com/p923841-Free_License_Giveaway_Contest_CyberDefender.html#923841 and the comments on the Digg article show what a POS program this is and how the end user gets treated by the company. It deserves a low mark in ratings and those of you who have installed it should do a good scan with a reputable program. You might also want to check your firewall logs to see just what CD is sending out.
So hard for a consumer to know who to trust out there anymore, I see a lot of people who infect their computers with nasty spywares (anyone remember spyaxe from about a year ago) when they think they are doing something good for the system. There needs to be some regulation on the whole spyware industry. It has gotten so bad that things I remove from client’s computers as spyware, such as StopSign from eAcceleration are actually running TV ads for the spyware now
It just goes to show that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
Gotta appreciate the efforts of small companies that want to go head-to-head with the big guys, but don’t build a go-cart and tell me it gets better gas mileage than a Ford….while omitting the fact that it only seats one, may have problems on high-speed roads, and doesn’t do what most cars do.
OK, not exactly the same as this situation, but it seems that this small company is not ready for the big game yet…an interesting phenomenon that happens a lot in cyberspace’s software tools arena.
BTW
If you want to practically eradicate spyware (well new stuff after you’ve cleaned out the old), disable 3rd party cookies in your browser. Apparently this disables the connection to their websites and doesn’t allow you to download their spyware. The side-effect is that you may not be able to see certain 3rd-party pictures, etc that you probably don’t want to see anyway. (Of course, if you VISIT a spyware website, this won’t help since then they become 1st-party cookies.) This has worked for me for about 2-1/2 years…I keep checking for new spyware and it’s simply not there.
FYI, they beat 8 of the big boys, or tied with them, including microsoft one care, pc-cillin, avg, bit defender and mcafee.
ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite & Bit-Defender Internet Security
Suite both are at the top of the ratings if you take the time to
research thoroughly including all rating details and all (true)
ratings on the internet, magazines, and everything found doing my
own thorough research, still in the process, neverending since
FREE isn’t always a good thing, but sometimes does work out. Also,
If you check out these 2 Security Software sites, you’ll find you
will have no problem trying them for free to see which you may
prefer overall! Do the research if you value your computers and
electronics!
I have just spent the morning searching for, “Free Spyware Removal”, not “Free Spyware Scan”. I downloaded CyberDefender and PC Doctor, ran the scans, which found 200 to 300 infections. When I tried to remove the infections, “SURPRISE” !! I have to subscribe. Is that what they call Free?
Remember, I did not search for free “scan”. I searched for free “removal”, which they advertised.
I will not do business with unethical, dishonest, lying companies, and I hope you will not either.
I was also frustrated by the scan but had to buy approach the CyberDefender took. I was much more frustrated by the fact that it repeatedly crashed my system when I tried to remove it
Hhmm, I have been dealing with virus issues a lot this year, and I have tried several programs. I read some positive reviews in some of the forums and got the CyberdefenderFree. Yes, it is a little confusing about what is free or not, but the fact is companies need to make money else they can’t support the software – and they use all kinds of ways do to that. You just got to know that when you install. I have removed Cyberdefender from my computer (WinXP SP3) twice – both with out problems. So, I really like the Cyberdefender interface, scan times and that it found what I knoew was on the system, including several programs/viruses/trojans that some of the others (PC Tools, SuperAntiVirus and Norton) missed. I used it as a free scanner, but the free version does remove spyware and trojan, but you got to upgrade for virus. Evenually one came along, it caught it, and I bought the upgrade. Ran Cyberdefender after the upgrade, and virus was gone (it got into my rootkit and also got the vundo virus which it took care of. I also like that the upgrade I got came with 24/7 computer help, which was very helpful when I went on a trip, and my wife had a printer problem and called them. They helped her out and had a positive experience with the Cyberdefender help line. So, this is my experience with Cybderdefender – really good software. Granted, different people have different experiences, but this seems to be a good company (website says they are a NASDAQ company) with a valid product. JMHO.
This sounds strange. I originally got the Cyberdefender free scanner which cleans Trojans and spyware for free, but you got to pay for the upgrade for virus. So I used it for checking. Eventually I got a virus – a bad one called virtumondo, and bought the upgrade. Since then no problems. Cyberdefender caught a few trojans and one more virus attack, and it worked great. The upgrade I got includes 24/7 computer help, which my wife needed once when I was away on a trip. So, I hope this helps, it is just my unformal review of my Cyberdefender experience.
Subscribed for one year and no problem so I thought, when time renew, the computer almost came to stop, I got it running, when I called their tech they said my computor had infested with hackers last few days, and to renew would cost me over $200.00 so they could clean it out, I said no, removed it and went to another antivirus program, which pulled up a virus, which Defender never found, quarenteened i
I also added new version Zone alarm and computor purring along fine. Hackers can be anywhere, I felt it was a fixed deal, they push alot questionable products and feel disapointed that they did this way.
I purchased the Cyberdefender Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware software for $30 and it brought my computer to its knees! The software made my computer so slow, it would actually take MINUTES to launch anything, or even type a single character. I called their Support line and the lady said my computer may have a “root canal” problem, but if I gave her access to my computer she could fix it. Are you kidding? She didn’t even know the difference between a computer and teeth.
Everytime I’d uninstall the program, it would come back. It took me 3 hours to find all the places they buried their software. Finally I found another file hidden in MSCONFIG, then after fighting with them for 2 hours, they finally cancelled my agreement so that it would stop reloading over and over again. It was worth losing $30 to get rid of this product.
If you’re considering Cyberdefender, RUN FAST! Do not put it on your computer. I’ve since bought Norton and my computer is running fast once again.