Today Corporate Armor is going to look at Emsisoft Antimalware.
Emsisoft provides antivirus and anti-malware protection to millions of individuals, businesses, and organizations the world over.
Emsisoft protects workstations, servers and remote workplaces. It also comes with the free Cloud Console that lets you deploy AV to an entire organization (more on this cool capability later). This allows you to generate reports, apply security policies, and initiate and schedule scans from a single console.
One of Emsisoft’s really strong selling points is that it’s a lightweight, easy-to-use software that can be run on any computer. It has a clean, friendly interface, and is backed up by highly available and skilled tech support. Plus, it’s super-fast and low on resource use.
Emsisoft offers single-pane-of-glass protection, resulting in very simple administration. And, being web-based, It also has the advantage of being able to respond to alerts without having to be tied to the office.
Once installed, four colored panels appear in the main window: Protection, Scan & Clean, Logs, and Settings. Emsisoft’s combination of greens, blues, and whites gives it a pleasant, clean appearance that’s different from the serious-looking gray tones found in some other products.
Time to scan!
In the Scan & Clean panel, you can click links to run a quick scan, a malware scan, or a custom scan. Clicking the panel itself brings up a page with clear descriptions of each scan. The quick scan scans only active programs, looking for traces of malware. The malware scan looks in “all places that malware typically infects.”
To get a full scan of your entire computer, you choose custom scan. By default, it scans the entire C: drive, which is probably what you want. The custom scan page includes settings to configure just how the scan proceeds, but you probably don’t want to change them unless you know what you’re doing.
A full scan is a good idea after installation, to root out any existing problems. After that, real-time protection should take care of any new problems.
But no matter, because Emsisoft performs a full scan once per week anyway. You can edit it or add other scans on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis
There’s one more scan to consider. Emergency Kit Maker, on the scan page, gets you the option to create your own self-contained Emsisoft Emergency Kit. This is a standalone executable that you can copy to a removable drive and use to scan other computers, such as ones that are so badly compromised by malware that they cannot be fixed any other way.
Malware Protection
Emsisoft does a good job catching nearly all malwares before they can even launch. This prompts a slide-in notification from the antivirus, along with a Windows error message explaining that the file contained a virus. Those that do launch typically get caught later. Good job.
Emsisoft Ransomware protection
Many antivirus tools now include an extra layer of protection against ransomware. Emsisoft’s ransomware protection isn’t separate from its general Behavior Blocker, as with some others, but it proved very effective against file-encrypting ransomware.
Cloud Console
Emsisoft’s Cloud Console offers very detailed remote management. This feature is especially useful for those installing Emsisoft protection across a business, but it’s also available to home users.
To start, log into the My Emsisoft online portal, the same place you registered your license. Each login requires entry of a security code sent to the email address associated with your account. Click Workspaces under Cloud Console, then create and name a workspace.
Back in the local Emsisoft program, click Settings, click Remote Management, and click Join Workspace. That will take you back to the console, which will offer to transfer your license to the workspace of your choice. Then, you connect the device that’s using the license. You do so by downloading and running an installer that includes a code to make the connection. It takes just a few seconds.
Remote Access (!)
Now, once the cloud connection is made, you will see a feature where Emsisoft Antimalware really shines. Lots of antivirus products offer some amount of remote access. However, with Emsisoft, you get the application itself inside a browser window. Anything you can do locally, you can do remotely. And, you use the same interface that you’re already familiar with.
The remote management system offers some cool features such as a network lockdown that kills all connections to the affected system other than the connection to the Cloud Console. Plus, you can configure profiles that set up new computers the way you prefer, invite other users with varying degrees of control, and more.
For a home user the total and complete remote management is a huge selling point. Now you can install antivirus for your grandma, and take care of their problems without traveling across town, or state, or wherever. You can lock local access to settings, disable confusing notifications, or hide the purchase and renewal buttons. For the right user, this is fantastic.
Emsisoft Anti-Malware doesn’t have a lot of third-party testing on it yet, but it gets good scores where it has. It has good malware protection and malicious URL blocking ability, and perhaps best of all, it offers remote management that’s the maybe second-to-none.
So, in Emsisoft we have a true up-and-comer that offers really good dollar value for a very light-weight, low-impact security solution. And, it can truly be accessed and managed from anywhere. It’s capabilities have expanded significantly recently, and promises to become a very recognizable name in the crowded, busy world of Anti-Malware.
Emsisoft Highlights
– Good malware protection
– Behavioral detection effective against ransomware
– Cloud Console allows full remote management
– Excellent value!
Any questions about Emsisoft? Just email us or call Corporate Armor at 877-449-0458. Thanks for reading!