{"id":6352,"date":"2013-10-18T20:10:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-19T00:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=6352"},"modified":"2013-10-18T20:10:15","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T00:10:15","slug":"weve-lost-credence-with-this-disgruntled-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/weve-lost-credence-with-this-disgruntled-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ve lost credence with this disgruntled reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Niel says we have no credence with him anymore
\n<\/strong>Based on your initial comment I dropped MSE which you previously recommended and purchased an anti-virus online. Thanks allot! I have become suspicious about your recommendations when you initially panned Malware Bites, then 2 weeks later pushed Emsisoft (sp?) sold thru your website. I am now using my provider’s home page predominantly. You have lost credence in my view. Niel N.<\/p>\n

Our answer
\n<\/strong>If you have been getting our newsletters, you would know the reason we searched for a new antimalware program in the first place; it was because Malwarebytes quit detecting most PUPs – the most common form of Malware. Once we dropped our recommendation, a few weeks later, Malwarebytes started detecting PUPs again ( and whether they are or aren’t right now is the question – we have seen evidence which suggests that Malwarebytes may again be soft on PUPs). No other tech site or blog called them out on this; we and many others trusted Malwarebytes – and they allowed users to become infected with all manner of malware and pups without explaining to us or anyone else, and we thought it was very wrong of them — and still do. And once dozens of our readers started complaining to them about the lack of detection, Malwarebytes began to listen. We wrote them almost two months before we pulled our recommendation and they never answered us.<\/p>\n

Emsisoft not only proved to be the best antimalware program, but as a collateral benefit it is one of the very best antivirus programs too. We chose Emsisoft because we spent two weeks of testing all manner or anti-malware programs and we found Emsisoft the best of the bunch. Not only is Emsisoft a consistently good antimalware, but it a consistently (proved by many independent lab tests) one of the top antivirus programs, plus their support is world class –excellent support is something we insist on. It was kind of a no-brainer to choose Emsisoft the best of the dozen or so we tested. The amount of profit we make on Emsisoft is less than we could have made on Norton or McAfee, who were offering 75% commissions on sales. And at $59 or $69 retail price, 75% is more than we’re selling Emsisoft for. We don’t recommend anything because we can make money on it — if you really have been reading our newsletters over the years, you’d already know this.<\/p>\n

As far as antivirus, you must be aware by now that Microsoft has scored very poorly on independent tests, and has been dropped from the “recommended” category on almost every AV testing lab site. It is not even being certified by any major independent AV test sites we are familiar with.<\/p>\n

Additionally, we began seeing evidence of this in real world experience. We began seeing trojans and viruses on computers running MSE\/Defender and called them out on this — again we did so before any other tech site even realized what was happening. So, once again, we were ahead of the pack.<\/p>\n

We are not going to keep recommending something just because we once recommended it — and most readers agree with that philosophy. If that means eating crow or makes us look like “flip-floppers”, then so be it. Our readers safety and security is far more important than how we appear to our detractors. And it will always be so.<\/p>\n

In the 12 years we have been writing Information Avenue, and the 10 years we have been writing InfoAve Premium, we have passed up huge commissions to affiliate with companies such as Norton, McAfee, and others. We still recommend Windows Firewall — it comes free with every Windows computer. We could have joined the legions of other tech sites who say Windows Firewall doesn’t protect you and sold readers some 3rd-party firewall and made money on it – but that wouldn’t be honest because Windows Firewall is as good as any other — and it is free. Despite the offers of generous commissions to sell other antivirus products over the years we continued to recommend MSE (or other free antivirus software). But we can no longer recommend MSE (Defender in Windows 8) It is unfortunate, but we cannot recommend an antivirus which doesn’t protect its users.<\/p>\n

As far as other free antivirus software, AVG is questionable — it installs toolbars and other nonsense — which could be regarded as PUPs. Avast has become a mini-Norton suite — and does not protect from malware at all.<\/p>\n

We’re sorry you feel the way you do, but we will continue to tell the truth and be honest with our readers, even if it alienates some of them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Niel says we have no credence with him anymore Based on your initial comment I dropped MSE which you previously recommended and purchased an anti-virus online. Thanks allot! I have become suspicious about your recommendations when you initially panned Malware Bites, then 2 weeks later pushed Emsisoft (sp?) sold thru your website. I am now using my provider’s\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6353,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352\/revisions\/6353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}