Emsisoft Anti-Malware 10.0

It's only natural for an antivirus company to value customer loyalty, but Emsisoft works harder than most to keep your business. Emsisoft Anti-Malware 10.0 costs $39.95 for the first year, or $69.95 for three licenses. But that price drops by 25 percent the second year, and by an additional 5 percent each subsequent year, maxing out at a 60 percent discount. Better still, it earned good scores in tests by independent labs and our own hands-on tests.

Emsisoft offers some other nice perks, detailed in this blog post. According to the post, Emsisoft's experts will always help you remove malware. The cleanup service is "free of charge and has no obligations." The post goes on to say, "Do not hesitate to bombard our first-class support team with questions on malware, licensing, or product features."

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As for the product itself, its main window features four large panels: Protection, Scan, Quarantine, and Logs. Clicking each panel drills down to let you take actions or view data related to the corresponding security component. It's very similar in appearance to the free, cleanup-only Emsisoft Emergency Kit 10.0. The big difference is the real-time protection module, composed of Surf Protection, File Guard, and Behavior Blocker.

Scan Ch

Main Window

The main window of Emsisoft Anti-Malware 10.0 displays four big panels representing four security areas: Protection, Scan, Quarantine, and Logs.

Scan Choices

The Quick Scan looks only for active malware, while the Malware Scan (formerly called Smart Scan) checks file and Registry locations frequently infested by malware. Full Scan no longer exists, but you can scan the entire system using a Custom Scan.

Custom Scan

A Custom Scan using default settings (shown here) will scan your entire system for malware, rootkits, and PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), as well as checking for non-executable malware traces and looking for active malware in memory.

File Guard

By default, the File Guard real-time protection checks files when they're copied or otherwise modified. You can make it more sensitive, checking files on any access, or make it speedier, checking files only as they start to execute.

Surf Protection

Surf Protection blocks access to phishing sites and sites that host malware. An extensive built-in list of known URLs is hidden by default.

Malicious Host

Emsisoft blocks all access to malicious URLs, leaving the browser to simply display an error message.

Download Blocked

When File Guard detects a malicious file, it quarantines that file and displays a transient notification. Here it has quarantined a malware sample immediately after download.

Behavior Alert

Emsisoft's Behavior Blocker watches for suspicious activities and pops up a warning like this one. In testing, it flagged both good and bad programs, with Quarantine as the recommended action.

Red Alert

Here the Behavior Blocker has flagged a PCMag utility because in order to function it manipulates other processes. None of the malware caught by this component earned a red alert.

Phishing Host

In testing, Emsisoft didn't do a great job blocking fraudulent (phishing) websites. When it did detect one, it blocked all access and displayed a transient notification like this one.

About Our Expert

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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