Comments on: Top-notch Vietnamese software BKAV raises antivirus bar

An online security center in Hanoi offers products and services that redefine online protection, regardless of where you live.

[tm_13]

wow... this is amazingly incredible! although i've heard of BKAV as a really effective antivirus software, i never knew how it works! now as i've got a clear idea of how it functions, i'm totally impressed.. and yes, proud of being vietnamese even more!

[NTS-Master]

This is the best Vietnamese antivirus software: CMC Internet Security

http://images.timnhanh.com/blog/200901/09/11388301231472126.jpg

http://www.911.com.vn/images/911cmc07.jpg



You can visit: http://cmcinfosec.com/download.php

[tm_13]

... and thank you for taking time out of your vacation to write such an interesting article!

[inachu]

Another tool to keep me and my friends computer fast and infection free thanks!

[Clarious]

Oh please, I don't think BKAV is that great, I even think that sometimes it is even more dangerous than viruses.

Current version of BKAV is using a very old engine, as you can see in the screenshot, its title is "bkav 2006", it is incapable of protect again many threats like rootkit or even do real time scanning. Well, it has real time scanning option but I have never seen it worked once, here in VN viruses mostly infect via autorun file in USB, so simply scan the USB for virus before let windows check the USB will protect you against at least half of viruses here, but BKAV can't even do that.

The engine was written by Mr Quang, while the script to dis-infect the file is written by other people, some of them are student in my university, and they script sometime also helped to kill windows, as they are only part timer, so they don't take the job seriously.

There is also a paid version named BKAV Pro, I haven't used it yet so I can't say for sure, but recently it has several copyright problem. The first is that they used code from a disassembler program that is under BSD licence, mean that you also have to included that licence if you redistribute binary version of software that use it, but BKAV pro didn't. The other is that they included rar.exe in their executable, which is illegal.

Someone may say "Hey, it is free! You can't expect much from it!" but trust me, it offers very little protection (no real time scanning = useless), and some time it also get rid of windows while cleaning virus. There are a lot of good anti virus out there, but I don't think bkav is one of them.

There are more to say about BKAV but I think this is enough. Oh, and I am a student learning in the same university that Mr Quang did, have meet him several time, used BKAV since the DOS time, so I think I know more about it than a lot of people. :)

So please, stay out of BKAV!

[RicABlair]

Clarious, BKAV may not be all that you want it to be, or that it should be, but from my scant info on it, it is better than anything out there now. In the land of the blind, the one eyed jerk is king; in the land of AV S/W, anything better than Norton, McAfee, etc. etc. etc is king.

[svk1069]

Are we looking at the same screenshot? Perhaps CNet updated it. The screenshot I see says BKAV 2008 updated 30/11/2008.

I'm balancing the gushing article with your comment.

I'm curious. If BKAV is so good, why hasn't it been heard of much in the U.S.? Is it the language barrier? It's not like other foreign anti-virus products haven't made it big here, so why not BKAV? That makes me a little suspicious.

[Clarious]

I won't know about the screenshot, I remember it was 2006 before :P

Ok, I will explain why I hate BKAV, this time shorter and cleaner.

BKAV is not truly an AV program, it doesn't protect your computer out of viruses. Because if lacks features like on access scanning or heuristic scanning. And because other AVs have these features, they are expensive and also a resource hog. If you want to clean you computer out of virus with a free, lightweight program, BKAV maybe useful. But I think the main point of having an AV program installed is to prevent your computer from being infected with viruses.

Also, I don't use any AV program, I just backup my file frequently, don't click suspicious links, disable autorun on all drivers, and I only got 3 virus in nearly 4 years. To clean them I use IceSword, a really good anti rootkit program, but also can be used to clean your computer out of anything.

[testdirectly]

@ vunguyenthai
@ chanhdat

You are maybe vietnamese?
I'm working in Vietnam, have used bkavpro for along time and have a bit problems, but they have helped me all right.
Now i'm trying BkavPro 2009 Internet Security (beta version) and feeling good ! Faster, more professionally and full English interface...
I think it's ok !

[NTS-Master]

That's realy realy a big jok! I can't believe BKAV anymore! It's so... damn!

[mcnubins]

I like it. Smooth interface, not a resource hog. Running it concurrent with AVG seems to not be an issue. It was also able to clean a few things that AVG had not found. Nice addition to an existing anti-virus cocktail. Not sure if I trust it to be my sole source of protection but then again I don't trust any program for that these days.

[vunguyenthai]

BKAV is a suck antvirius I've ever used. Its Its recognition of virus is really bad, and in the short way this article is for promotion!

[chanhdat]

I totally agree with you at this point. I did have to reinstall Windows, because it deleted my system files. Not only me, but many friends of me were in the same situation. But now, I use Linux :p

[testdirectly]

@ vunguyenthai
@ chanhdat

You are maybe vietnamese?
I'm working in Vietnam, have used bkavpro for along time and have a bit problems, but they have helped me all right.
Now i'm trying BkavPro 2009 Internet Security (beta version) and feeling good ! Faster, more professionally and full English interface...
I think it's ok !

[renGek]

I am skeptical. Article says installation took 1 second. But near the end he says the product took up 13 megs. Writing 13 megs alone should take more time than that.

There are lots of really good anti-virus out there (mcafee is not one of them) and unless benchmarks are done that totally kicks their butt, there is no reason to switch. If an article shows it beating out avira, avast etc. then it will get my attention.

[ferretboy88]

Avira is a really good free anti virus. Very light on the system.

[Gareee]

I don't see anywhere to actually buy the pro version, and if it is on the site linked, it's not in english.

Not sure I want to purchase something where I can't even read the help file (they are in Vietnamese)

[Iria00]

Well, the article says:

"Quang told me BKIS is working on making its software and services available outside of Vietnam in 2009. "

[Loki2012]

After downloading the file I ran a scan on it via Avast. It turns up a virus - Win32:Virut-IJ. It seems odd that Cnet would do a review without checking on the download. Anybody else scan the file? Is Avast trying to prevent compitition? I am not getting much information about the virus, if that is what it is. Anybody else?

[Clarious]

Oh, BKAV use some techniques to change the system, so other AVs may mis detect it as a virus. This has happened before with KIS, but thay has fixed it IIRC. Don't worry, it is not a virus, it just use virus technique (doesn't sound very convincing er?)

[SophieLaffitte]

From what I knew, Norton Antivirus was mistakenly flagging some windows files, Yahoo Mail and even NASA?s software as virus. McAfee flagged Excel files as malware (containing malicious code) that cause many Office users panic. Even Kaspersky recognize Windows Explorer as virus and cause the system hangs, no taskbar, no desktop.

[Loki2012]

Thanks for the info!

[chiphu]

Oh come on. Some of you got your spit wasted. Just, once again, make a poll and see how many people (Vietnamese only I guess) will take the stuff for granted!!!

[faboumen]

I installed it on a computer. It does install incredibly fast. I couldn't believe it was installed already.

What I'm not clear about--does this free version provide real-time protection, or is it just an on-demand scanner? I don't see any indication in the GUI of real-time protection.

[Clarious]

On demand scanner only

[vunguyenthai]

BKIS said that BKAV supported real time protection, but beleive me, that feature will never work at least once!

Use at your own risk ;)

[winspring]

I don't agree with vunguyenthai 's idea. What do you know about "real time protection"?
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~control/)
All of AV softs are including real time protection. Some of them has a good short times to update new version...
You should try, special try to get a technical support from Bkav over an email, even you only use BkavHome Edition.
Good luck.

[vinhkhanhle]

Do not worry, do not even think about this BKAV because this antivirus software is a crap, only kills "Vietnamese viruses" (worms only) which mostly spread on USB Flash Drive and that's the only thing it can do. When comparing BKAV to other antivirus software, like Norton or many others, you are actually compare a trash can to a brand new Honda Civic 2009

[ca_sau]

Oh, please try at your own risk, don't just hear Mr. Qu?ng said.
(i tried and very disappointed)

[bruceslog]

Website says this A/V application does all of this;

Virus Defintions Updated (Manual) Daily
Real time scanning
Full Scanning
On-access Scanning
On-demand Scanning
Smart Scanning
Scheduled Scanning
Heuristic Scanning
Manual Scanning
Memory Scanning
Rootkit Scanning
Adware/Spyware Scanning
Trojan Smart Blocking
Anti Keylogger
Auto-Clean Infected Files
Auto-Clean Driver Files
Auto-Clean Startup Files
Detailed Virus Information
Manual Definition Updates
Manual Program Updates
Auto Defense
History/Report
Phone Support
Email Support


Seems they've worked on the programs abilities in the years since some of the posters below had their complaints about the program ? Scanning, in particular, seems to have several options, including Real Time, Full, On Access, On Demand, Smart Sacnning, Scheduled, Heuristic, .Manual, Memory, Rootkit, etc... how many scanning options do some folks
want ?
I'm gonna download it and put it on a spare off network machine and give it a test.

[gmorgan1001]

Hmmmm. Looks like Kaspersky to me. BKAV & BKIS. Kaspersky has KAV and KIS and has very similar branding. Good luck to them!!

[ahives]

Bkav 360 also sounds a bit like Norton 360. :)

[vinhkhanhle]

when you want to try it, try it!!! HOWEVER, this antivirus (I, actually, think it is antivirus without "anti") does not work as advertised (not even 10% functioning as advertised) because in Vietnam, people there do not have any antivirus software "made in Vietnam" (they did have one or two more but they were dead long time ago), it becomes number 1 of...1. Vietnamese government "recommends" individuals/companies/organizations in the nation "should" use this crap, because the organization (university) makes this crap is "closely" related to the government . With the "help" of government, many Vietnamese newspapers try to "fulfill government's dream", newspapers always press good words for this BKAV thing.

This crap is only 4MB for installation package but claims it can kill 1.4 millions viruses/worms/etc and Mr. Quang dares to say that it is even better than many antivirus software including Norton, Norton Symantec, McAfee, etc because the others antivirus software will destroy the operating system while BKAV does not. This news has been pressed on many Vietnamese online news websites.

[botaydotcom]

I don't know much about the specs or technology behind BK, but I can say this: I've seen the software sitting there on many a computer that is riddled with viruses. I think if the user knows how to utilize it perhaps it may be effective? But for Vietnamese in particular and most average users in general, they need something that is going to protect them in advance and without their initiative. BK just doesn't seem to that and until it does it's not a solution for Viet Nam or the rest of the computer world.

[testdirectly]

Trying bkavpro 2009 internet security to feel better you are...

[Xelkos]

I have BKAV installed with trend Micro, and it works well for macro viruses. It's funny, I had ZomeAlarm pro in for years, Trend Micro the same, and scanned with every commercial Av program out there. Yet BKAV found 33 macro viruses that the leading competition did not find, and I thought I had a pretty smooth-running OS.

I did have this laptop in use on college campus with full security running. I would know when anyone was trying to make contact, and blocked them. I had used files from a USB drive that I shared on the campus machines, and also with the local Job Service; USB drives need some protection, they are a weak link.

Was curious whether BKAV would run in a 64 bit version of Vista, since the UI shows Win9x/2K/XP. So I decided to throw it on my Vista x64 OS, and guess what? It installed in like 2 seconds. Thankfully there are no macro viruses reported.
It does function under Vista x64, and it installed to the x64 Program Files, not the compatible x86 Program Files folder. And ran well, unlike many software programs.

Whether how strong it is, I don't know yet. There is an icon in the system tray that does indicate Aurtomatic protection, as it has a Disable Auto-Protect in the options.

[cromag5]

I noticed it hitting alot of "macro" viruses as well..however upon closer inspection...it was simply removing templates and examples from my Microsoft Office install. So I hope your office works right now.

[anti_intermilan]

I come from Vietnam and I used to trust in BKAV. What did I recieve ??? I had to reinstall Windows many times.
Why U shouldnt use BKAV:
1. It doesnt have "real-time protection" in version free and version paid (the version BKAV Pro only has auto-update)
2. When you scan your computer with BKAV, sometime BKAV says that it has deleted the virus (includes the file was edited by virus) but actually, it hasnt... lol... you restart your computer, and rescan, BKAV still says the same but the virus isnt deleted...

Listen me, dont use BKAV... it's a "virus"

[Benoneya]

I find it highly doubtful that anyone here on CNet would recommend anything harmful to your computer. Some of the time when an AV program fails the contributing factors are the way the users set it up. Same for firewalls. Someone who doesn't know how to use the product or doesn't read the help files and information that comes with the product uses it improperly. Then they blame the product.

That's not to say, however, that some products aren't better at what they do than others. But user error can play a great big part in product failures. And if you read the article, the man said he tested it himself. Soooo, who do I believe, some anonymous, faceless people with unknown motives, or someone with a good public reputation? That's a no brainer.

[winspring]

At first: Which Bkav version did you use to use, BkavHome or BkavPro?
Secondly: You might used to scan virus on your computer with wrong ways. Nowadays, virus, adware, spyware, rootkit.....are the same meaning, that's mean is very difficult to scan in each other. With some viruses, you have to full scan and restart immediately after scanning, and then full scan again..... (for example: Vetor virus, Vomo Virus....)

You should send an email to Bkav contact center to get further technical support. I think you should have right way to use their program. Good luck!!!
Please contact me to solve our problem of virus. Thanks!