TotalAV registered as PUP

[MacBookUser]

Using the free download of MalwareBytes, MalwareBytes has registered my anti-virus program, TotalAV as a PUP program.  Has anyone else ever experienced this?  I reached out to TotalAV to see if they say they are not a PUP and of course they say it is all MalwareBytes fault.  Does anyone know of a fix?

[alvarnell]

PUP's are Potentially Unwanted Programs and that definition is a perfect fit to describe TotalAV. If you are willing to accept software that routinely scores low in ratings, has multiple complaints against it to the Better Business Bureau and nags you to pay, then feel free to ignore Malwarebytes and keep using it. 

Edited February 18, 2019 by alvarnell

[selma]

1 hour ago, alvarnell said:

If you are willing to accept software that routinely scores low in ratings ....

Malwarebytes scored the lowest score in AV Test December 2018, so based on your line of thinking is a PUP????

 

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

[alvarnell]

I have never used the Windows version and obviously you cannot draw conclusions about the Mac version based on those tests. All I know is that they were initially developed by different people.

[exile360]

1 hour ago, selma said:

Malwarebytes scored the lowest score in AV Test December 2018, so based on your line of thinking is a PUP????

 

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

Since Malwarebytes isn't an AV (nor have they ever claimed that it was), it's not surprising at all that it did poorly in a test designed to test AV engines and you can find more details on why Malwarebytes was tested and why it missed what it did in this Malwarebytes blog article where it was announced.  TotalAV on the other hand is widely known to be PUP, not just by Malwarebytes, and is often marketed by overly aggressive and deceitful sites/affiliates and is often re-branded/re-skinned to attempt to saturate the market as well as to attempt to bypass detection by security products that do classify it as PUP or malware.

You may review the following references for more info as I don't expect anyone to take my word for it:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/totalav.392399/
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_other-protect_scanning-windows_10/getting-rid-of-totalav/36e1addc-0574-4052-b68f-6ccf57573003
https://review.easycounter.com/totalav-scam-report
 

If you do a search for TotalAV on the web you'll also find countless so-called 'AV review' sites pushing it that no one has ever heard of (they're actually affiliates/resellers attempting to convince people to purchase the product through their websites so that they receive their cut of the profits from the transactions which is something no reputable security software vendor should allow in my opinion, and most don't, including Malwarebytes; if any affiliate is caught behaving in this way they either have to stop or they are cut from the affiliate program so that they are no longer authorized to sell Malwarebytes).  The software itself may be quite effective (it uses the Avira antivirus engine last I checked, which is a solid AV product), however I wouldn't trust a company that uses/allows such aggressive and deceitful marketing tactics and repeatedly receives poor reviews from users/customers for over-billing, aggressive marketing, spam and countless other negative feedback across the web (you can check the comments sections of pretty much any site where the product is reviewed or discussed, aside from those who are paid/affiliates obviously, as they would never allow such reviews to be posted for obvious reasons).

Do an image search on Google or any other search engine and look for SCANGUARD then do the same for PCPROTECT and then of course, TotalAV and I think you'll start to see what I'm talking about.  You might also check this information which I cite from this article:

Quote

PCProtect doesn’t hide the fact that it will share your usage data and private information with third-party marketing companies and other ones as well.

Of course, current data protection laws will protect those transactions.

And in experience, it is true that these laws, when applied correctly, do help in data selling permissions that VPN service providers need in order to sell data.

Moreover, PCProtect will also share your information with other players such as sponsors and their business partners.

You can view the full PCProtect privacy policy right here and read it for yourself.

But we’ll give you a warning, the details are gross to say the least.

On the other hand, we have to give PCProtect some marks for their honesty.

They never try to hide the fact that they will share your data and probably abuse it as well.

They also do not sugar coat things when they say that you’ll have virtually no privacy when using PCProtect features.

So basically, he is saying that according to their own privacy policy, that product is adware/spyware.  That's not the kind of company/product I would personally want to allow on my system, but of course the decision is up to you.

By the way, I can backup my claims about clones too.  Please refer to the images below which I pulled from a simple image search for each product by name (and there were plenty of results for each):

Edited February 19, 2019 by exile360

[selma]

9 hours ago, exile360 said:

Since Malwarebytes isn't an AV[...] it's not surprising at all that it did poorly in a test designed to test AV engines

If it is not an antivirus, what was the point of testing it in an environment "designed" to test AV engines???

 

9 hours ago, exile360 said:

(nor have they ever claimed that it was)

Enough with this already !!!

All over the place Malwarebytes is being advertised as a "antivirus replacement", so a software which can replace your antivirus. Of course, you cannot replace your antivirus with a "text editor" let's say, you have to replace it with a software which have antivirus functionality.

That was the reason Malwarebytes was tested in AV Test, to prove the point; the results are not stellar but average at best.

Even you, multiple times advised people here, on this forum, that they do not need an antivirus, Malwarebytes being sufficient.

 

[Massimiliano]

Personally I use Malwarebytes for macOS, Windows and Android and since I use them I have no problem with my hardware anymore

[Massimiliano]

4 minutes ago, selma said:

If it is not an antivirus, what was the point of testing it in an environment "designed" to test AV engines???

It has already been said: read here

[treed]

2 hours ago, selma said:

Enough with this already !!!

If you want to debate the results of AV testing of Malwarebytes for Windows, you're welcome to do so, but please take that elsewhere. You're hijacking someone else's topic with an unrelated question.