AV-Comparatives.org, bullying, censorship and financial deals with AV
AV-Comparatives.org, bullying, censorship and financial deals with AV
Posted: 27 Nov 2011
I never liked bullies, I never liked censorship, I never liked blackmail and I still don’t!
Its 24th November early in the morning, its Thanksgiving day in the US and looking forward to celebrating it with my family and friends. I checked my emails and I see the below email that has been sent to us (to Umesh). I was shocked to say the least! Peter Stelzhammer of AV-comparatives.org is threating me and blackmailing me saying that if I don’t “censor” my forum postings they will reveal “confidential” information.
No matter what the "truth" is in this matter, our opinions of their results will always be colored now. Are the results legit? Or were they paid for to make them better? Interesting development. A Guy
System Manufacturer/Model Number: HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops OS: Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8 CPU: from 1.6GHz Duo to i7 Monitor(s) Displays: 2x HP w2207 Keyboard: with trackball - no mices Mouse: Trackball mice Hard Drives: 5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals Internet Speed: DSL 6000
Maybe that explains why a product does well on one test site and poorly on another. Who knows for sure how many other test sites skew their results based on financial gain.
After reading that entire post it seams that Comodo is a big cry baby. It was stated that Comodo commissioned a specific test and the results were bad and then told AV-Compatibles not to publish the results since they paid for the test. Then they complained on the forum and Av-Compatibles told them if they did not retract their erroneous post they would release the results and all the facts.
Computer Type: PC/Desktop System Manufacturer/Model Number: Home Built OS: Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64bit, Windows 7 HP 64bit CPU: Phenom II X6 1100T Motherboard: ASUS M5A99X EVO Memory: Crucial Balistic 8gb DDR3-1866 CL9 Graphics Card: MSI R6850 Cyclone IGD5 PE Sound Card: On Board Monitor(s) Displays: ASUS VE258Q 25" LED with DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Keyboard: Logitech K120 Mouse: Logitech Marble Mouse USB, Logitech Precision Game Pad PSU: Seasonic X650 80 Plus GOLD Modular Case: Corsair 400R Cooling: Antec Kuhler H2O 620, Two 120mm and four 140mm Hard Drives: Two WD Cavier Black 2TB Sata III, WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0 Internet Speed: 15MB Browser: IE-11, FF-27 Antivirus: Norton IS 2013, Malwarebytes Pro Beta 2 Other Info: APC UPS ES 750, Netgear WNR3500L Gigabit & Wireless N Router with SamKnows Test Program, Motorola SB6120 Gigabit Cable Modem. Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer, Epson V300 Scanner
I haven't bothered with AV programs (apart from MBAM) ever since uninstalling McAfee back in 2005 resulted in my old XP system being SLAMMED with dozens and dozens of malware and trojans and etc. immediately (and I mean DIRECTLY) after we did that (as in, uninstalling it CAUSED them). It just about killed it too. Had to be replaced, even after several factory restores it just wasn't the same. Excruciatingly slow and crippled (back then this was a $1,200 system!). Now I only use it to test downloads or to look simple things up on the internet when I'm gaming on it's replacement and can't do those things on there... and even those basic functions take it forever. That's what McAfee did, or rather daring to uninstall their AV software and stop paying them their fees! We could never prove it was them, however so we got burned on a relatively new system.
That's the reality of the AV world... at least as I've experienced it first hand. Perhaps McAfee has changed it's tune since then, but I will never ever again trust the big AV's that are in it only for your $$$$$. I was even reluctant to try the free MBAM. But I'm glad I did. I should really up to the full version, to support it because it actually works, doesn't install the things it is instead supposed to defend against and that's everything a good AV should be. And all for nothing, if you don't want the real-time protection etc.
I hope the MBAM team develops a firewall, I'd gladly use it - even if they did want a paid-license for it.
So anyway, just my $0.02 and it being to serve that there are worse goings-on in this realm of IT than simply fudging a few tests.
GOOGLE has angrily rejected a call from the Australian Government to filter YouTube videos, after the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said if the search engine could censor material for China, it should do the same in Australia.
Google rebuffs censor