First off, I want to make it clear that Zemana AntiMalware is not free, there is no free version available, only a premium version which, of course, you have to pay for. You may have heard the name Zemana associated with the company’s very good AntiLogger software, widely regarded as among the best, if not the best anti logging software available. Now, it seems, Zemana is attempting to infiltrate the anti-malware market with its new product Zemana AntiMalware.
Zemana AntiMalware – A Strange Concept?
Even though it costs $19.95us per year, Zemana AntiMalware does NOT include any real time protection at all and is a malware scanner/remover only, albeit, according to Zemana, a comprehensive one.
Zemana AntiMalware is a second opinion malware scanner designed to rescue your computer from malware that have infected your computer despite all the security measures you have taken.
I have no problem with the concept per se, after all, Malwarebytes has built a solid reputation off the back of its free scanner/remover, however, there is one huge difference, Malwarebytes’ offering does not cost anything.
Is “AntiMalware” even a legitimate claim?
The entire concept of charging an annual subscription for something which is purely designed as a malware cleanup tool is also very strange to me. I mean, how many times can a PC get badly infected during a given 12 month period. If anyone is experiencing multiple instances of malware infections during that time span, then they are either doing something very wrong or their security arrangements are not up to scratch.
Included with the $19.95 annual subscription is Zemana’s guarantee of remote technical assistance if the software fails to clean 100% of malware:
It rarely occurs, but if Zemana AntiMalware cannot remove a piece of malware, our engineers will connect to your PC and manually clean up the infection. Don’t worry! We’re here to keep you safe!
Based on the premise that malware infections should be occasional rather than frequent, this only begs the question; why not offer this as a one-off service rather than a software requiring ongoing annual subscriptions?
If I’m coming across as overly negative here, it’s because I am totally befuddled as to exactly what benefits the user is getting for his or her Zemana AntiMalware subscription, besides the remote technical assistance that is. Without any real time protection, surely there is already an abundance of FREE products which will more or less achieve the same result.
Zemana AntiMalware also includes a feature to selectively scan any files through its cloud database for signs of malware:
Again, this can be easily be achieved via the excellent Virus Total site which uploads and scans files through multiple antivirus engines for FREE. So, nothing extra there.
Zemana makes a number of claims regarding its new AntiMalware software’s efficacy, and maybe it is superior. However, I can’t for the life of me see how it warrants an ongoing $19.95 subscription just to have a software installed on the off-chance of a stubborn malware infection. Especially when products such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and others, as well as the bootable cleanup tools provided by most antivirus companies, will generally do the same thing for free.
I’m all for new, more advanced software, especially when it comes to the security genre, but honestly, I can’t see the value in paying for this type of software. If I’m going to fork out for security software, I’d at least want some kind of active prevention involved – prevention is, after all, generally the preferred option over cure.
Totally agree with you Jim. Prevention is best. Clean-up is an after thought, and only thought of once you know you’re infected, kind of a catch-22, Mindblower!
Currently a second-opinion scanner but real-time protection coming. See this thread: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/zemana-antimalware-2-beta.372569/page-41#post-2519312
Hi paulderdash – Thanks for the additional info. However, I see nothing in the thread you linked to which officially guarantees that real time protection is coming, and there is certainly nothing to that effect on the Zemana site. In fact, the site clearly states… “Zemana AntiMalware is a second opinion malware scanner“.
Even if real time protection is indeed planned; surely the ethical approach would be to release the product as a free beta in the interim and wait until the software is fully developed/operational before actually charging for it?
This is my first comment on your website and I’m not fluent in English.. but I must say that you are TOO negative about Zemana AntiMalware. I have it on my computer, it is light weight, operates very quickly, it scans computer every day when it starts (in the background, silently) and it is very efficient.
When I downloaded the other day some program (First draft) which has been offered as a giveaway (at giveawayoftheday.com) Zemana AntiMalware recognized instantly after install that it is infected with Generic!Rekr malware (which no one noticed, and even my anti virus didn’t noticed).
So, I don’t think you are fair with being so negative with Zemana AntiMalware which is doing it’s job nicely and instead you are supporting those aggressive programs and not giving a chance to other small and sincere programs.
Vanja
Hi Vanja, and thank you for your comment.
I’m happy that you’re happy with Zemana AntiMalware. However, it’s not something that I would pay for and I really can’t see how it offers anything extra from similar programs which don’t cost anything, such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free.
If your antivirus failed to pick up the malware, perhaps you need to change to a different/better antivirus program. As I said; prevention is ALWAYS preferable to cure.
Your English is excellent by the way.
Cheers… Jim
Actually Jim your article made me think of a missing point in the release of these types of programs. You mentioned that you really don’t know if the program is an actual improvement over existing programs that are provided for free or have a purchasable version. Vanja’s comment also points out what my belief is with several of these programs. He is happy with it and therefore it is good but is it really. Just because a user is happy does not mean they are really protected and actually, who does know?
I think that any of these programs should be required to defend their statements with cold hard facts. Back in my early days I worked with a lot of sound systems and speakers and everyone touted themselves similar to this type of software. Individuals had their likes and dislikes based on personal preference or the fact that it happened to be the one they bought and they defended it. For professions though it was chaos. However once every manufacture were mandated to report the Watts, Frequencies, RMS, and other facts, it was easy for the consumer to make a choice based on price and needs. That is what is missing from this type of software and individuals like you help bring it to light.
Thanks
Added real time protection. https://www.zemana.com/WhatsNew/?ProductID=2
This article needs a update, now there is real time protection and a free version too.
Things are changing all the time, if we were to go back and edit/update every article every time something changed, we wouldn’t have time to write any new articles. 🙂
Anyway, your very welcome comment is an update in itself, is it not.
Jim,
It’s now Oct 21, 2016 and I was trying to get rid of Hao123.com redirect using an article on Malwaretips.com.
In their guide showing steps to remove that malware, and others, and instructing us after using various programs to scan for malware and some of these ‘second opinion’ programs they include Zemana. Their guide was dated July 30, 2016.
Before I ever download any of these programs I Google for reviews, as I got tired of downloading programs advertised as ‘free,’only to find they required us to buy them to clean up what their scans have detected.
Among those reviews of Zemana was your review of dated Sept 17, 2016.
Only after reading your article AND the comments in it did I discover the information that Zemana does now have a ‘free’ version AND does have ‘real time’ protection.
As a result, I would strongly suggest you REMOVE this article from the internet OR post an UPDATE at the top of the article so others don’t waste time reading an article that is no longer accurate/relevant, and especially for those who don’t read the comments section, especially if there are a great number of comments.
Other than that, your article was informative at the time you posted it.
Cedric Ward
Cedric, this article is dated September 17th 2015 not 2016. So it’s more than a year old.
Things change Cedric; the internet, technology, software, are always evolving. If we went back and edited every article every time something changed, we wouldn’t have time to write new articles. 🙂
Articles, such as this one, are factual at the time of writing. A chronicle, if you like, of how the situation was at that time. It’s up to readers to take the age of the article and time elapsed into consideration.
Thanks for the warning, Cedric!
No offense, Jim, but most readers assume the first results they see on Google are at least somewhat recent and relevant. Very few people would read the dates on “Best Malware” and “Best Websites” reviews and tips, because we assume they must contain information that is currently accurate, or else they serve no purpose.
As you said, technology is ever-evolving and improving every day.
Therefore, review articles should keep up with the changes. We don’t need “chronicles” detailing how a software was like in the past, especially if important information, like how much improvement has been made since, is excluded.
After reading your article, I almost decided not to download Zemana, despite the many positive reviews I’ve read on other sites. Thankfully, Cedric’s comment put everything into perspective.
Like Cedric said, you don’t necessarily need to delete your post, as I can tell you are very attached to your writing. But a bolded, one-sentence “UPDATE (Sept 2017): Zemana policies have changed since time of writing” at the top would be much appreciated.
Right now, by refusing to add in an update that would take maybe two minutes of your time, you’re letting us know that you think your two minutes is more valuable then the time it takes dozens of us readers to read through an inaccurate review article. Oh, but by not taking into account the date in tiny font beneath the title, I guess that makes the huge waste of time our own fault.
Rika, There are a few points you need to be aware of:
We have no control over how Google ranks this page, or how Google chooses to display their results.
Maybe they should.
I completely disagree. Past performance is great indication of future performance.
That is your choice – as it should be – and we hope you are happy with the software.
Obviously you and I read reviews in a different fashion. I always look at the date of any review first to see if it is relevant. However, your comment about time is a little pompous in my opinion. This article is over two years old and it simply isn’t possible to keep every article updated in perpetuity. Spending “two minutes” updating every article on this site would take 109 hours – and that figure would grow every year.
Rika, Rika, Rika. I see you mean well by asking the authors to keep their articles up-to-date. You are being presented with valuable information for FREE. This is also a place of information exchange. I do hope you can appreciate the sacrifices that contributors (including yourself) make, since you took the time to post your comments, unlike many who just read. Have yourself a nice day, Mindblower!
https://davescomputertips.com/zemana-antimalware-review/
jim hillier thanks for your previous posts. you are right about things changing over time and these posts are a chronicle of the past.i, too, am on the fence with zemana.
at first i downloaded it and it found a virus that all my other protections missed. i thought, good. when the end of my trial period drew near i noticed a significant uptick in virus activity. one specific unwanted program sends a loud audio warning that i have a dangerous virus and it will damage my hard drive. i shut off my puter to clear it.
i don’t trust it and i want to appeal to other posters to chime in if they had a similar experience. admittedly, i could be wrong, but zermana gets a thumbs down from me.
Just a personal experience here which might shed some light. My lady friend’s computer (Windows 10) was infected with Grizzlyquiz adware. I used Malwarebytes on the computer and it froze and i had to restart it. It did NOT remove the adware. I found Zemana online and tried it on my own computer first (serer 2003 x64) and then the Windows 10 machine. It found the infection and 4 others which Malwarebytes missed. I too wonder about paying an ongoing subscription for an after the fact removal tool, but I will say the program is astonishingly effective in it’s free trial form.
All of your reservations aside, Zemanta fixed a browser Chrome browser hijacking problem in a Windows 10 notebook. Other installed programs such as Malwarebytes did NOT. Sad that it appears that there is no “one program fixes everything” solution to computer programs.
Intreresting but provocative comments. With finite time, there’s much more to learn.
With four different devices ranging from XP to Windows 10 and an Android smart phone I look forward to studying pros and cons and effectiveness of various anti-virus programs.
I think that Zemana has real-time protection now but if you’re still not pleased with it you can always try out MalwareFox which looks like it but it has real-time protection and a free version which is the same but with no real-time protection.
Actually, I just looked at the Zemana I am trying out in its free month, and it says Real-Time protection “ON”. so maybe this article is old .
Does Malwarebytes and Zemana conflict if using both or should a computer only have one version?
To All but mainly for Ron and Jing. No matter what product you use, if it does not offer real time protection (and this is something that is not for free, it is the premium version, so you need to purchase it), them it is just a scanner, and you can have as many as you want, since it only works when activated, and after the scan, it is off. Software which has real time protection, is started when the computer boots (or reboots), and constantly monitors what is happening.
That said, you can still run the free versions, as they are only scanners, but you still must remember to install only one real time scanner, for each protection purpose. like firewall, anti-virus, anti-malware. Having more than one installed and active on your computer can cause problems and prevent the detection of your computer getting infected.
And always check the posting dates of articles, reviews, etc… like what feature were available at that time. Hope this helps. Mindblower!
Great to be able to read the history of this product. That gives me a little more confidence. Thanks.
My pc became infected with spigot virus. In chrome it would occasionally switch my google search results to yahoo. I ran adwcleaner, and it said there was nothing harmful and that only “PUP” was found (which noted as not being harmful). I told it to remove PUP. After that, the search problem stopped, but I started getting pop-ups. So I ran adwcleaner again. This time it found nothing at all, but it still had a prompt to “remove”, so I clicked on it. The pop-ups went away, but the search problem came back. So I tried Avast. It scanned my pc with its anti-virus scan for an hour..stuck at 0% of files scanned.
So I googled for something else and found Zemana. Zemana’s scan found the two culprits in five seconds. I stopped the scan and had Zemana remove them. Problem solved. This happened about eight hours ago. I will update if things go back to bad, or if things get weird before the end of the trial period. So far I am VERY impressed.
To Rick B. What program informed you that you were infected with spigot? To clear things up, spigot is malware, not a virus. If Avast got stuck, chances are you have several different infections, and Avast cleans viruses, not malware. I’m glad Zemana found something. It is best to let the program finish scanning, as you might still be infected, and it is never a good idea to stop a scan, unless the program freezes. Do you have a memory resident program, or do you just run scanners? And, is the Zemana you are trying out, a scanner, or memory resident program, Mindblower!
I referred to it as “spigot” because when I googled my “google search switching to yahoo search” problem, most results were calling it “spigot”. Google searching Avast said it should find such malware (as obviously should have adwcleaner). I may let Zemana scan again. I stopped it because those two immediate hits had names that were directly related to my problems. I forget what they were, but one was a Chrome extension that had appeared that told me was unremovable and the other had some name that was related to adware. I let the scan go for maybe a minute more without another hit and then stopped it, eager to see if removing the two hits would get my pc back to normal. And it did. As far as a whether it is a memory resident program, I’m not sure of the terminology, but it’s installed as an app, as opposed to adwcleaner which stays in downloads to be run as necessary. It’s a scanner, which says it has real time protection. If I am infected by anything else, then it isn’t affecting performance in any way I can see. My pc is running the same as it always has been.
Rick. A memory resident program or real time protection refers to a program that loads into memory each time you boot/reboot your computer. This type of program protects you from getting infected and also scans your computer (depending on your settings) to make sure nothing got by, and if so, detects, alerts and removes.
Scanners just run when you click them on. After running they are gone. Most scanners require updates as do other protection programs to remain current (some do it automatically, others you must do manually).
To truly make sure your computer is clean, you should run the programs using the highest/deepest scan possible and let the scan finish. You probably received your spigot bug with some “free” software.
I checked and Zemana now offers real time protection. Since you are using their trial version, suggest you make the most use. of the program, Mindblower!
Oh, as far as what I was using BEFORE the infection, nothing…except Windows Defender, which I found won’t stop this type of thing unless it has been modified…at least that’s what I read after this happened.