There are many types of virus and each has its own characteristics. Some will use the infected computer to launch an attack to a website, some to steal information, some to prank the user by making Windows behaving very weirdly but the one that I fear most are the ones that causes massive destruction on Windows by infecting all executables (.exe) file and making it impossible to cure/heal the files again.
So far the worst one I encountered was JambanMu, a destructive virus originated from Indonesia. I spent 8 hours trying to clean it off from a computer lab but ended up bringing it back at home and infected both my laptop and desktop. Then after a few days, somehow the virus came back and infected all of the machines! I ended up reformatting all 30 computers and installed Returnil Virtual System to prevent any future virus from infecting the computer.
Yeah I lost a lot of files that time and I couldn’t recover them back… Now there’s a new one called Windx-Maxtrox, a virus also from Indonesia that is capable of infecting executable files. From my experience, many antivirus and removal tools couldn’t clean virus originated from Asia very well. When Brontok virus is still very new, a few major antivirus companies like Kaspersky and BitDefender has removal tools that supposedly can clean it off but it didn’t work at all. Then I found a tool called Brontok-Washer developed by an Indonesian that worked perfectly. Anyway, what I wanted to share with you all today is I have a collection of free portable antivirus tool developed by Indonesians that is very effective in removing virus originated from Indonesia and Asian countries. Some of them can even detect popular international virus.
1. PCMedia Antivirus (PCMAV)
PCMAV is probably one of the most famous and actively being developed portable local Indonesia antivirus. It can even scan for unknown viruses using unique heuristic algorithms. The current version of PCMAV 1.93 Build 2 can detect and remove 2580 viruses including many variants of Brontok, Aksika, Aniee, Jambanmu, Windx-Maxtrox and etc (refer to readme.txt). PCMAV-CLN.exe is the portable scanner and it also includes a real time protection (PCMAV-RTP.exe) if you want PCMAV to protect your computer against these 2000+ viruses. Able to check for updates and you’ll have to manually download it from PCMAV’s website.
2. ANSAV
This is one of my favorite because it is actively being developed, contains a built-in updater, and useful plugins that reveals hidden files, registry fixes and etc. Latest signature detects 1108 viruses and you can enable heuristic scan from settings.
3. SmadAV
The latest SmadAV 2009 is still in beta, some of the planned new features such as built-in update and real time protection is still not available yet. It can detect 594 malwares and has 295 heuristics methods of detecting unknown virus.
4. Eura AntiVirus-NG System
This is an impressive free antivirus that is able to detect 1796 virus. It has heuristic detection of unknown virus, built-in auto update, real time protection, log file, and extra tools to check Windows auto startup area, registry fixed and etc. Unfortunately the interface is in Indonesian language which is very similar to our national language Bahasa Melayu.
5. ELKAV Antivirus
ELKAV Antivirus is another free antivirus which looks very impressive that is made from Indonesia and has an English interface. It has USB, explorer and registry protection. Other than that, you can add your own sample virus to the definition if the AV definition missed it. During testing, I have problems with the built-in updater and it couldn’t download the definition file. It’s still in BETA and hopefully this will be fixed soon.
6. Gucup Antivirus
Gucup Antivirus doesn’t have a professional or should I say convincing graphical user interface. It will automatically reset explorer.exe when you run Gucup and scanning takes quite a while. Latest signature detects 715 malwares and it has unique method of analyzing which can be enabled from menubar.
7. Anti-Indovir RX-2
This is a simple virus scanner made in Indonesia. The interface is in English and has built-in online update. It also has a registry scanner and cache cleaner. Current database can detect 393 malwares.
Here are some others which are old and not updated for a long time but contains quite a good amount of detection. An example is NAVi. Although it is updated recently, but it contains very little detection compared to some older antivirus listed below.
NAVi – Last updated on February 2009
Detects 184 virus
http://www.narpes32.com/
ScanLix AntiVirus – Last updated on June 2008
Detects 361 virus plus 80 heuristic methods
http://scanlix.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=1
AVIGen Anti Virus 2008 – Last updated on February 2008
Detects 330 virus
http://www.vb-bego.com/root/products/avigen/index.php
Antv-MD5-Pattern – Last updated on February 2008
Detects 8662 virus
http://www.4shared.com/file/55990328/5f96c4e6/Antv-MD5-Pattern.html?s=1
CompactbyteAV – Last updated on March 2007
Detects 172 virus
http://www.compactbyte.com/cav/index.php
There are even older ones such as MAWAR and WAV which I won’t share it with you because it is really outdated and can only detect less than 50 virus.
NOTE: Some of the portable antivirus above might be flagged as a threat/virus by your antivirus program. I have all of them on my computer and tested fine. If you’re feeling afraid, then don’t use them as I am not forcing you to and nobody is. This is another case just like Norton detected Brontok-Washer(a very effective brontok virus cleaner) as a Brontok virus which is absolutely a false detection.
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