PC Matic was one of several Synnex partners who participated in the Varnex Gives Back event while in Las Vegas earlier this month. The Gives Back event took place prior to the Fall Varnex Trade Show. All partners are given the opportunity to participate in the Give Back event. This month they had 70 people volunteer to help put together meals for Meals on Wheels. Check out the full video below:
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November 30, 2016 – PC Matic has been named a bronze winner in Best New Product of the Year – SMB in Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.
Developed, researched, and supported in the U.S., PC Matic is the only trusted security software available proven to proactively block modern-day cyber security threats. PC Matic’s in-house malware team is exclusively dedicated to consistently maintaining and updating the software’s technology for real-time protection against ransomware, advanced persistent threats, polymorphic viruses and zero-day attacks. PC Matic has proudly served and scanned over 4 million computers with their home and enterprise security solutions. In 2016, PC Matic launched PC Matic Pro, providing their PC Matic software to SMBs and businesses.
The sixth annual program in North America garnered more than 600 entries, from an impressive array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada. Best in Biz Awards 2016 honors were presented in 60 categories, including Company of the Year, Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Best Place to Work, Technology Department of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Product of the Year, Best New Product of the Year, App of the Year, PR Campaign of the Year and Website of the Year.
PC Matic CEO, Rob Cheng, comments, “We are thrilled to win the Best in Biz bronze award in the Best New Product of the Year category. This is our first time receiving this award, so we are very proud of this accomplishment.”
Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2016 were determined based on scoring from an independent panel of 50 judges from widely known newspapers, business, consumer and technology publications, TV outlets, and analyst firms. In addition to numerous judges returning from the 2011-2015 judging panels, this year’s panel included several worthy additions to the high-profile group. The panel included Accounting Today, AdWeek, Associated Press, Atlanta Tribune, Business News Daily, CNET, Computerworld, Consumer Affairs, Entrepreneur, eWeek Channel Insider, Forbes, Healthcare Innovation News, Inc., Information Week, InfoWorld, Investment Advisor Magazine, MediaPost, Multifamily Executive, Network World, Portland Business Journal, Security Products Magazine, South Florida Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, Wired, WLRN and ZDNet.
“If companies are going to stand out from the crowd and remain competitive in future years, innovation is key. The market is tough and there is no guarantee that today’s dominant players will remain so — unless time and effort are concentrated on research and development,” said Charlie Osborne, ZDNet, one of Best in Biz Awards’ judges this year. “This year’s entries in Best in Biz Awards highlighted not only innovative business practices but the emergence of next-generation technologies which will keep companies current and relevant.”
For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2016, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2016-winners.
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In the 1970’s, the United States suffered an oil shortage. There were long lines at the gas pump, and people began stealing gas from one car to another. One outcome of the crisis was the federal government created a metric (MPG) to measure vehicle fuel efficiency. Today, all cars have an MPG ratings, and more importantly, consumers frequently consider vehicle MPG in their purchase decisions. Since the measurement has entered into the purchase decision, vehicle fuel efficiency has improved considerably. Today we have electric and hybrid cars. This was made possible thanks to the MPG measurement.
Today, cyber security faces a similar issue. Ransomware infections are common, threatening our economy and way of life. There is no standard measurement for detection rates of security software. More importantly, consumers, businesses, and government agencies, frequently purchase security software without considering detection rates.
There is a small yet dedicated security software detection rate industry. The three largest players are AV Test from Magdeburg, Germany; AV Comparative from Innsbruck, Austria; and Virus Bulletin from Oxford, England. The chart below analyzes the public test history of the major security products in the American market place over the last ten years.
Malwarebytes has not participated in a public test in the last 10 years. It has been 4 years since Webroot has participated in a public test. Both of these companies are significant brands, and confirms the notion that people do not purchase security products based on detection rates.
PC Pitstop partnered with AV Comparatives to create a comprehensive and superior detection rate test that hopefully will focus purchase decisions on detection rates. The test overcomes many of the flaws of prior public tests.
The test is involuntary, that is no participant was aware when the test was being performed. Products were downloaded from each of the web sites, and run in default mode. The current model between the testers and the testees is financial. The testees pay the testers and submit their products.
Since it is involuntary, the test can be comprehensive permitting the public test results for both Malwarebytes and Webroot.
A criticism of AV testing are the small sample sizes. AV Test and AV Comparatives typically employ samples sizes measured in the hundreds which is a contrast to the Virus Bulletin, which has sample sizes in the tens of thousands. This test bridged the gap with a sample size of 5000. None of the samples were known to Virus Total at the time of the test. No vendor, including PC Pitstop, provided samples for the test.
The samples were categorized into ransomware and non-ransomware samples. In addition to the first comprehensive test, this is one of the first tests to analyze ransomware detection rates.
The tests were run “On Execute” with the internet connection enabled. Each sample was run through a script and executed, and then analyzed to see if the AV product in question was able to properly detect the sample.
This is the first of many tests that we plan to develop to further the discussion of detection rates in the security industry. The MPG rating is certainly not perfect, but the world is better off for having it. In fact, another automotive acronym is YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Our new test is not perfect, but it is ground breaking in many ways, and we believe that it will force the industry to improve detection rates to thwart the threat of ransomware.
The post The Most Important Security Test in a Decade appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
PC World recently published an article on a new software that is claiming to block ransomware, RansomFree. RansomFree is a behavioral analysis software that runs in the background of your PC by collecting data on what is considered normal behavior and what is considered not. If any red flags arise, the software will stop the execution and give the user the ability to either override the alert and continue with what they were doing, or ask RansomFree to permanently quarantine the application as malicious.
PC Matic’s malware researcher and product manager, Devin Bergin, tested the software. It should be known that it indeed blocked 100% of his ransomware samples. That being said, there are two major issues with this security solution.
First, RansomFree does not do any testing for you to determine if the application is safe. Once it is deemed malicious by the user, there is no further testing. This could scare users to be a bit careless, which could cause the user to override the alerts because they don’t want their application to forever be known as malicious.
Second, this solution implements the use of decoy files as a means of protection against file encryption. This sounds like a good idea, until we dig a bit deeper. A risk included with using decoy files means you may end up with a few files being encrypted before the behavioral analysis detects an issue and is able to stop it. Theoretically this shouldn’t be an issue, because the ransomware will be encrypting the decoy files, not legitimate ones. However, a risk, as pointed out by BleepingComputer, is that these decoy files are named with either ! or ~ at the beginning of the file name. This will bump these files to the top of the list which would typically cause the ransomware to encrypt them first. However, with the advancements in ransomware, it is not difficult for the cyber criminals to create a different methodology to target alternative files first.
Now, let’s compare RansomFree to PC Matic. PC Matic, too, blocked 100% of the ransomware samples. However, that is to be expected, because they are our samples. That being said, PC Matic did block 100% of the ransomware samples when tested by AV Comparatives.
PC Matic also includes an advanced mode that allows users to make decisions on unknown files without waiting for classification by our malware team, although we don’t recommend using it all the time. If users choose not to add the application to their whitelist, the PC Matic malware research team will test and categorize these applications within 24 hours of attempted execution. By allowing for the malware research team to do appropriate testing, there is no risk of a trusted application being permanently quarantined as malicious, like with the use of RansomFree.
Overall, both security solutions have the same end result. Ransomware is blocked. Although, as ransomware developers change their encryption tactics, RansomFree may catch less ransomware before encryption, while PC Matic will still block the unknown right away with our whitelist technology.
Also, RansomFree puts the determination of “trusted” versus “untrusted” applications into the hands of the PC user, while PC Matic leaves it to the professionals. This is concerning, because it simply takes one wrong override and you’re inviting ransomware into your system. Is that a responsibility you want?
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Malware, or malicious software, is a categorization of software that is intended to cause damage or disable computers and computer systems. If we consider the definition of malware, we can determine PC Matic is not malware.
1. PC Matic is a certified anti-virus product by the ICSA Labs. ICSA Labs provides third-party testing and certification of security IT products, which enterprises rely heavily on to set and apply objective testing and certification criteria for measuring product compliance and performance.
2. PC Matic is a security solution that costs $49.99 for up to five PCs, per year. PC Matic offers a full money back guarantee within the first 30 days of purchase. Malware is not something that you pay for. Instead if makes its money off of you by pushing through different viruses, ransomware, trojans, etc. After infection they may steal your information, make ransom demands and/or offer fake technical support.
3. PC Matic has been tested by AV Comparatives, as well as Virus Bulletin as a legitimate security solution.
4. PC Matic is also a member of the Microsoft Virus Initiative, working with several other security solutions to keep malicious files known and updated to avoid infection.
5. PC Pitstop, makers of PC Matic, is recognized by and continues to meet the requirements of the Better Business Bureau.
6. PC Pitstop is partnered with Forrester and Gartner, two major research organizations, to work together in advancing anti-malware technologies.
7. PC Pitstop is an active member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), working closely with the organization to enhance the objectivity, quality and relevance of anti-malware testing methods. The company also holds a seat on the AMTSO Board of Directors.
Some of the most popular malware variants include CryptoXXX, Locky, and Zeus. CryptoXXX and Locky are two of the most prevalent ransomware variants being used today. Both of these variants are executed by users clicking on malicious links within email bodies or websites. The malware will then encrypt the users data files and hold them hostage until the PC user pays the ransom demand to the cyber criminals. Zeus is a banking trojan that use logs the users’ keystrokes to obtain their banking information. Again, malware is not something you buy. It is something that infiltrates your PC and makes its money off of you either by stealing your information, making ransom demands, or offering fake tech support.
The post Is PC Matic Malware? Find Out if it Fits the Bill appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
In an opinion piece on Network World, Andy Patrizio broke down the current situation between our company PC Pitstop and Malwarebytes. Andy believes that an anti-malware product should never disable a competitor and he even dinged Microsoft for doing that in the past. He also states that,
“The idea that one Microsoft security partner would attack another is unprecedented, as far as I know, especially in the security arena.”
The full Network World article is available at http://www.networkworld.com/article/3155113/security/when-anti-malware-vendors-get-into-a-slap-fight-users-lose.html
Andy comments on Malwarebytes decision to label PC Matic as a PUP, stating,
“PC Pitstop was considered a PUP for a few reasons, some of which are trivial (claiming that registry cleaning is necessary) and for more logical reasons, such as silent removal of necessary applications, including Chrome’s updater and Java’s updater.”
While he believes that PC Matic disabling updaters is a more logical reason to be a PUP, this is incorrect. PC Matic doesn’t leave the user without updated applications as it takes care of software updates for them. We only disable updaters for programs that we patch automatically for the user. Our vulnerability updates are done quietly and automatically in the background leading to a higher percentage of updates and keeping users more secure.
The vulnerabilities disclosed by Malwarebytes were highlighted as “the most damning claim” in the blog. These vulnerabilities, which were disclosed to us a few hours before the blog by Malwarebytes was posted, have already been fixed by our development team. We do take vulnerabilities very seriously and thank Malwarebytes for helping us make our program more secure. However, software having a vulnerability does not make it a PUP/PUA. All well known software has vulnerabilities that need to be patched, some more frequently than others. Java, Flash, Chrome, Firefox and a long list of others have had hundreds of vulnerabilities in the past and are not PUP/PUA. It’s the harsh reality within software development. Malwarebytes themselves also had several severe vulnerabilities in the last year. Andy also mentioned the issues Malwarebytes recently experienced, reporting
“…a few months back, Flexera listed Malwarebytes as one of the top 10 most out-of-date apps, the only anti-malware product on the list.”
After seeing the claims made by Malwarebytes Andy says,
“Have you noticed something missing in all of this? Like, all of the other anti-malware competitors. Why haven’t Symantec, McAfee, ESET, Kaspersky, Trend Micro and Microsoft labeled PC Matic a PUP? Why aren’t they disabling PC Matic? This really does smack of sour grapes on the part of Malwarebytes simply because PC Pitstop pointed out their lousy performance.”
On December 8, 2016, Malwarebytes started classifying PC Pitstop’s security solution, PC Matic, as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP)/Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA). PC Pitstop officials attempted to reach out to Malwarebytes via both formal and informal channels. After no response, PC Pitstop CEO, Rob Cheng, wrote a message informing PC Matic users of the issue.
Shortly after this message was generated, Malwarebytes wrote an article explaining why they were classifying PC Matic as a PUP/PUA. To which, PC Pitstop released a response addressing each claim.
This has led to several third parties, Network World included, sharing their opinions of both Malwarebytes and PC Matic. One instance was Tom Lawrence of Lawrence Systems. Initially, Tom agreed with Malwarebytes’ classification of PC Matic. However, he took the time to speak with PC Pitstop’s Vice President of Cyber Security, Dodi Glenn, to discuss the allegations. After conversing with Dodi and learning more about the product, it is safe to say, he agrees Malwarebytes is incorrectly categorizing PC Matic.
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PC Matic is the collection of all of PC Pitstop’s technologies under one hood and one integrated architecture. PC Matic comes with SuperShield, our real-time protection component that uses a global whitelist to stop all known bad and unknown malware from running. It also removes “junk” files to free up disk space, adjusts Internet settings for better performance, removes invalid registry keys, adjusts several registry settings that can improve overall performance, defrags your hard drives, loads the latest drivers, cleans the computer of spyware and viruses, optimizes Windows services, updates vulnerable applications and runs multiple benchmarks.
What is “Application Whitelisting”?
Application whitelisting is an alternative approach used in antivirus solutions. Application whitelisting uses a different approach than traditional security solutions. Using a whitelist solution allows only tested and deemed trusted programs to execute on your computer. This lowers the risk of a malware infection, for two reasons.
What “Junk” Files Does PC Matic Remove?
Windows often forgets to clean up many files that are no longer needed by the system. The space taken up by these files can clog your disk and cause slower disk access. These files are in three major categories:
What Browser Settings Are Altered?
PC Matic adjusts the following browser settings to optimize speeds:
Windows is also installed with default Internet settings that are generic and that try to accommodate everything from dialup to fiber optic connections. The newest versions of Windows do try to adjust a couple of these settings once the computer is connected to the Internet. PC Matic’s internet broadband optimization varies from Windows, as it runs an upload/download speed test then tweaks the above settings from the default values to provide the fastest Internet speed possible based on the actual connection.
What is “Invalid Registry Key Removal”?
Invalid keys that are removed from the registry cleaning are part of the application, are entries in the registry containing information about COM and ActiveX objects. These objects are parts of programs and when you remove the programs, these keys at times will still exist. PC Matic safely removes these keys if the COM object no longer exists. Areas of the registry we look for the invalid keys are listed below:
What Registry Settings Are Changed?
The performance section of the application alters different registry settings. These alterations include:
Defragmenting My Disks–Doesn’t Windows Do That?
Windows 7 through 10 is notorious for mis-identifying hard drives and as a result Windows ends up not defragging rotational drives and defragging SSD’s. PC Matic’s detection algorithm will frequently correct a mis-identified drive situation.
Also, the PC Matic defragger includes an optimization feature in which every file on the drive is moved to be as close to the outside edge of the disk platter as possible for the fastest read/write speeds. PC Matic’s defragger also will report all fragmentation on the computer, whether it can defrag it or not (leaving the user the option to manually defrag the files offline) whereas the Windows defragger does not report files that it cannot defrag such as restore points and hibernation files. The user is not even made aware that these files require manual defragmentation.
PC Matic not only enables TRIM on an SSD the same as Windows but in addition will also perform several tweaks to take advantage of the read/write speed of an SSD and reduce the wear on the cells.
Several Products “Load Drivers” — Why is PC Matic Different?
Several competing products will list each device in the motherboard or chipset diver as a separate device, such as a USB, IDE, PCI, etc., driver which makes it look like many drivers, when in fact it is only one. Comparing the driver results from some products, looks identical to expanding the Windows Device Manager. PC Matic differs in the following ways:
What Windows Services Are “Optimized”?
Optimization of Windows services is just a matter of changing the “Start up behavior” within the PC. This include altering some services from starting automatically and changing these to manual. This increases the system’s resources from being used on services that do not need to be starting automatically with each booting of Windows. By changing the “automated” status to “manual” the program is not disabled. If a call is made to the service, then it will execute.
What Applications Does PC Matic Update?
The following applications are updated automatically through PC Matic:
What Does PC Matic “Benchmark”?
PC Matic runs a full set of benchmarks to measure the performance of each subsystem of your computer. These subsystems include:
Each benchmark score is then tabulated and ranked compared to all the other PC Matic computers. Each individual test is then averaged to calculate the World Rank. PC Matic will offer a solution to potentially increase the computer’s “World Rank”. This is called the “tweak value”. This is the amount of improvement the PC would experience if the scan recommendations were implemented.
Is All Of This Necessary?
According to HP, removing junk files is a critical piece to proper PC maintenance. NexTech also shared the importance of monthly defragging, removal of junk files, and updating software to prevent computer lag. Microsoft encourages not only defragging, but limiting the number of applications that start automatically to keep your PC optimally.
The post What Does PC Matic Do? appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
PC Matic has been named a bronze winner in Best New Product of the Year – SMB in Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts. The sixth annual program in North America garnered more than 600 entries, from an impressive array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada.
Rob Cheng, PC Matic CEO, comments,
“We are thrilled to win the Best in Biz bronze award in the Best New Product of the Year category. This is our first time receiving this award, so we are very proud of this accomplishment.”
Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2016 were determined based on scoring from an independent panel of 50 judges from widely known newspapers, business, consumer and technology publications, TV outlets, and analyst firms. In addition to numerous judges returning from the 2011-2015 judging panels, this year’s panel included several worthy additions to the high-profile group. The panel included Accounting Today, AdWeek, Associated Press, Atlanta Tribune, Business News Daily, CNET, Computerworld, Consumer Affairs, Entrepreneur, eWeek Channel Insider, Forbes, Healthcare Innovation News, Inc., Information Week, InfoWorld, Investment Advisor Magazine, MediaPost, Multifamily Executive, Network World, Portland Business Journal, Security Products Magazine, South Florida Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, Wired, WLRN and ZDNet.
“If companies are going to stand out from the crowd and remain competitive in future years, innovation is key. The market is tough and there is no guarantee that today’s dominant players will remain so — unless time and effort are concentrated on research and development,” said Charlie Osborne, ZDNet, one of Best in Biz Awards’ judges this year. “This year’s entries in Best in Biz Awards highlighted not only innovative business practices but the emergence of next-generation technologies which will keep companies current and relevant.”
You can read the full PC Pitstop fourth quarter newsletter here.
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With malware threats on mobile devices increasing at exponential rates, we determined it is time to expand our award-winning protection, PC Matic, to Android devices. This mobile security solution provides our real-time protection as well as on-demand scanning.
This security solution allows for peace of mind when installing apps. PC Matic for Android devices scans apps as they are installed for any signs of malicious behaviour.
The on-demand feature allows for optional scanning of every existing file, including system files, on your device for viruses. The software also includes a scheduled scan option, which the user is able to adjust according to their needs – daily, hourly, weekly or not at all. Users are also able to manage their device from the web by viewing stats and scan history from any computer. Lastly, PC Matic for Android devices allows the user to whitelist certain apps. If our solution detects an app that you use as being potentially harmful, you can whitelist that app so that it won’t be scanned in the future.
You can read the full PC Pitstop fourth quarter newsletter here.
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Malwarebytes began detecting PC Matic as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) / Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA) on December 5th. We immediately initiated efforts to resolve the issue. On December 23rd, we made contact with the proper people at Malwarebytes. After that point, the Malwarebytes personnel were responsive and professional, including working through the holiday weekend to resolve the issues.
Malwarebytes’ focus was on the PC Matic’s performance optimization code and a potential customer’s pre-purchase experience. Malwarebytes asserted that these features may have been appropriate for older systems, but no longer provided the benefits for newer systems such as Windows 10. Malwarebytes believed that PC Matic was overstating the benefits for these users.
Since the creation of Super Shield, PC Matic’s award-winning, whitelist real-time protection, our company’s marketing and development focus has shifted to computer security and less on computer optimization. We have made hundreds of changes to PC Matic’s user interface to inform, without overstating the benefits of using our product. The largest change was color coding certain features such as registry cleaning and disk defragmentation as purple rather than red.
As of January 10, 2016, Malwarebytes removed PC Matic from their PUP/PUA list.
The outpouring of consumer support during this tricky time was a source of inspiration and strength. Now that this episode is behind us, we will continue to work in making the absolute best American made security and proving it in public tests.
You can read the full PC Pitstop fourth quarter newsletter here.
The post Malwarebytes Misclassification of PC Matic Resolved appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
Effective immediately, PC Matic will be removing the registry cleaning from the default version of its security software. The option will remain within PC Matic; however, in order to use it, subscribers will need to enable the feature. Step-by-step instructions on how to do so, are provided at the end of this article.
It is still encouraged users clean their registries for the following reasons:
PC Matic CEO, Rob Cheng, states,
“PC Pitstop’s first product was Optimize and it included many Windows optimization features, including registry optimization. It is these features that were wrapped into PC Matic, which over a decade later performs maintenance on millions of computers.
There is a lingering question in the software industry. How important is registry cleaning? I have personally fixed hundreds of computers using PC Matic. In certain instances the computer behaved remarkably better, and the only thing I could attribute the improvement to was registry cleaning. Since Optimize was introduced in 2004, our products have cleaned tens of billions of registry entries and keys. My view has always been that there is some marginal, though at times unquantifiable benefit, to registry cleaning and best we can tell there is no downside to the customer.
Recently, Bleeping Computer when analyzing the quality of our security also included a concern about our continued use of registry cleaning. Part of the Malwarebytes’ justification for PC Matic’s PUA categorization was registry cleaning. For these reasons, we have decided to remove default registry cleaning in PC Matic and PC Matic Pro. The reason is that registry cleaning is distracting our message of superior security made in America. From our humble roots of a simple registry cleaner, we have evolved into an industry leading security solution.”
For current customers, any scans moving forward will not have the registry cleaning feature implemented. If you would like your registry to be cleaned, you will need to enable the tool. To do so, you will need to open PC Matic, and click on “Master Scheduler” as shown below.
If you’re using your PC Matic license for multiple PCs, you will want to select which you’d like to enable this feature for. Or you may “Select All” on the top right. Then click “Schedule” on the bottom right of the screen.
The registry clean option defaults to “Off”. To turn it on, you will need to click on the drop down arrow by “Clean Registry”. By turning the feature on you will have the registry cleaning feature enabled again.
If you do not see the “Clean Registry” option, you will need to close PC Matic and open Internet Explorer (IE). Once IE is open, clear your cache. You can do so by pushing Ctrl+Shift+Delete. Once this is done, open PC Matic and follow the instructions above. Now when you access the screen below, you should see the registry cleaning option.
Be sure to click “Save” to ensure any edits made are saved for future scans.
The post PC Matic Removes Registry Cleaning Tool From Default Programming appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
As part of CRN’s annual Security 100 list, they also released the top 20 companies making a mark in the endpoint security market. PC Pitstop was featured on this list, with CRN stating,
“PC Pitstop, well-known for its consumer PC Matic offering, has been seeing increased traction with solution providers for its cloud-based endpoint security portfolio, which uses white listing to identify malware, APTs, zero-days and more. The company’s endpoint security suite includes protection technologies as well as endpoint management. “
Endpoint security has been a growing industry, with year after year increases in sales and revenues. According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the endpoint security market is expected to reach more than $17.3 billion by 2020, up from $11.6 billion in 2015.
When you are choosing your security software, remember PC Matic provides more than simply a superior anti-virus. PC Matic includes:
The post PC Pitstop Named One of CRN’s Top Security Vendors appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
Often times, we get questions from potential consumers asking which security solution would best meet their needs, PC Matic or PC Matic Pro. To address this, we created the table below which provides the different features in each solution. Additional information regarding each feature is included below.
Unlike other security solutions, PC Matic and PC Matic Pro function with application whitelisting as its primary method of malware detection. The whitelist that is used for both solutions is a global whitelist, meaning once a program is tested and deemed safe, it will be available for all subscribers. Our application whitelist methodology has been in use since 2011, and provides advanced, real-time protection against modern cyber security threats — including ransomware.
Often times malware worms its way into PCs by exploiting unpatched software vulnerabilities. We know this all too well, yet often times PC users still click the “Update Later” button, or close out of the alert all together. PC Matic and PC Matic Pro will take care of your patch management needs for 30 of the most popular software programs. As a part of each security scan, the security solution will conduct a vulnerability scan of your software. The security programs confirm these 30 software programs are running on the most updated version. If not, it will update the program for you. These programs include various Adobe programs, iTunes, and Safari to name a few.
Both security solutions enhance your PC’s optimization by:
PC Matic Pro offers additional features beyond PC Matic.
The post PC Matic or PC Matic Pro — Which Solution is Best for You? appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
Starting a business requires not only courage, but a plethora of knowledge, and calculated risk. Rob Cheng, CEO and founder of PC Pitstop, makers of PC Matic, PC Matic Pro and PC Matic MSP, shared with CNET the top tips new business owners should know.
First, spend money on your website. You have to make your business look professional, as well as provide a wide variety of information to potential buyers. Second, get a good logo. Cheng shared his personal favorite site for logo creation, as well as budget suggestions in the full article. Next, you want to know what is the best business structure, such as an LLC or S Corp. Also, it is important that business owners make all of their official documents actually official with the help of a lawyer or various legal websites.
For more tips and additional details on the tips listed above, you can read the full CNET article here.
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We have been receiving an overwhelming amount of feedback regarding our ad placements on Fox News and when our ads air, specifically during The O’Reilly Factor. We wanted to address these concerns immediately, however, there are a few things people need to know.
First, we are not what is called a general advertiser. General advertisers utilize an ad agency. The ad agencies are able to request when their client’s ads air. For instance, Forbes reported Mercedes-Bentz started removing their ads from the show as of April 3, 2017. They are a general advertiser who use an ad agency and are able to pin-point during which shows their ads air. For a full list of general advertisers who have removed their ads from The O’Reilly Factor, click here.
Unlike a general advertiser, PC Matic is a direct response advertiser. What this means is, we place orders containing rates for the air time that is remaining after the general advertisers have chosen their ad spots. Therefore, we are not guaranteed any air time at all. We simply receive whatever ad spots are available and within our order. Also, for some of the TV providers, we place orders based on what is called a “network cluster”. For example, there is a “News Cluster” that contained a predefined list of cable news networks such as Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, etc. So, when an ad spot clears for the cluster, we air at the same time on all of the networks within the cluster. For example, an ad that is on at 9:20 p.m. EST on Fox News, will also be on at 9:20 p.m. EST on CNN and MSNBC.
We understand the concerns expressed regarding our ads being placed during The O’Reilly Factor. It is not our intention to minimize the allegations surrounding Bill O’Reilly. We do not condone the alleged behavior, nor do we choose to support him in any way. It is important our customers understand, our ad placements are out of our control. We do not have an ad agency to decide when our ads air, nor do we purchase ad space based on programming. We hope our supporters understand our stance, as well as our advertising methods a bit better now that they have been fully explained above.
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In November of 2016, PC Pitstop, makers of PC Matic, commissioned a test with AV Comparatives focusing on ransomware and virus detection. This test was commissioned in an effort to stress the importance of detection rates. PC Matic chose to commission the test because several anti-virus (AV) companies choose not to participate in public testing. However, these companies continue to be successful. Therefore, suggesting buyers are not purchasing their security solutions based on malware detection rates. This is concerning. The primary purpose for a security program is to prevent a malware attack. Yet, buyers do not know how well certain products can do this, because several companies choose to forego third-party detection testing.
It is time the security industry begins to drive an emphasis on detection rates. By doing so, every security solution provider will be driven to do better. Thus, the consumers will be better protected. If products are not being tested for accuracy, how can buyers possibly know if it’s capable of protecting their data? They cannot.
In the test, PC Matic commissioned with AV Comparatives in November of 2016, 18 security solutions were tested. Those results can be found here. The results of the initial test brought in hundreds of comments from not only PC Matic users, but users of other security solutions as well.
Several users of other AV solutions requested PC Matic commission another test with AV Comparatives. This time, to include additional security programs. PC Matic took this feedback and did just that.
Another involuntary test was commissioned with AV Comparatives, this time including 28 AV solutions. PC Matic also requested AV Comparatives test not only ransomware and virus samples, but polymorphic ransomware samples and false positives as well. For those who may be unfamiliar, polymorphic ransomware is a ransomware variant that has the ability to change, or morph, by altering the code within the sample. Consequently, this form of ransomware has the ability to alter itself every minute, potentially even every second. False positives are unknown files. Therefore, they have not been tested and deemed safe or malicious.
The test included 120 polymorphic ransomware samples, 1,000 recent ransomware samples, and 4,000 other malware variants. As stated above, this test was involuntary, meaning none of the security solutions knew they were going to be tested, with the exception of PC Matic. None of the AV programs, including PC Matic, knew when they would be tested. During the testing process, the tests were run “On Execute” with the internet connection enabled. Each sample was run through a script and executed, and then analyzed to see if the AV product in question was able to properly detect the sample.
Multiple security solutions tested well, including Microsoft. Historically, Microsoft’s free AV program, Windows Defender was far from effective; testing dead last against several leading AV solutions in 2013. Today, its detection is better than some purchased security solutions.
What PC users must understand is, if they are going to pay for a security solution, they must pay for the best.
PC Matic earned perfect scores in polymorphic ransomware, recent ransomware, and other malware detection. Its false positive rate was 96.67%. This is due to PC Matic’s whitelisting methodology. Therefore, anyone who uses the traditional blacklisting methodology, which allows any unknown files to execute, will score 100%.
The chart below allows readers to hover over each category to see how their security solution scored in all four areas.
The post Malware Detection Rates Revealed for 28 AV Programs appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
PC Pitstop, makers of PC Matic, PC Matic MSP and PC Matic Pro have made several updates over the last few months to their security solution. The recent changes made to the software include the ability to detect file-less ransomware. Traditional malware, including ransomware, required an executable to infect PCs. The PC Matic whitelist was, and still is, effective in blocking malicious executable attacks. However, file-less ransomware is not initiated with an executable. Instead, malicious scripting is used. PC Matic has been conducting endless studies regarding the file-less ransomware infection process from beginning to end. By doing so, their developers were able to implement a solution within their program to effectively block file-less infections. This is the only security program that offers, not only a real-time, global whitelist solution, but protection from scripting attacks as well.
Unlike traditional security solutions which allow unknown files to execute, PC Matic will block anything that is unknown until appropriate testing can be completed to determine if it is safe or malicious. Users of these security solutions do have the option, if they know the file or program is safe, to add it to their local whitelist, thus making it available to them immediately. However, the PC Matic malware research team will still test the unknown file and categorize it accordingly. If deemed safe, it will be added to the global whitelist. This means if another PC Matic user attempts to execute that same program, it will run immediately as it has been tested and proven safe for PCs. PC Matic Vice President of Cyber Security, Dodi Glenn, states,
“We believe we have entered a phase where it’s better to treat our networks and programs as unfriendly until proven otherwise.”
The post PC Matic Boosts Protection With File-Less Ransomware Detection appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
As of May 1, 2017, PC Matic will be updated to PC Matic 3.0. This update includes significant updates to the PC Matic software, as well as the user interface. This email is simply a breakdown of the updates for both. Makers of PC Matic 3.0 wanted to ensure their customers were aware of the enhancements, and what to expect as these changes are implemented.
It is also important customers understand, this is simply an upgrade to the existing product. There is not an additional charge related to this update. PC Matic 3.0 will continue to provide superior security, adblocking technology, free cyber security training, and PC optimization tools.
The recent changes made to the software include the ability to detect file-less ransomware. Traditional malware, including ransomware, required an executable to infect PCs. The PC Matic whitelist was, and still is, effective in blocking malicious executable attacks. However, file-less ransomware is not initiated with an executable. Instead, malicious scripting is used. PC Matic has been conducting endless studies regarding the file-less ransomware infection process from beginning to end. By doing so, their developers were able to implement a solution within their program to effectively block file-less infections. This is the only security program that offers, not only a real-time, global whitelist solution, but protection from scripting attacks as well.
The file-less ransomware detection has been added to all versions of PC Matic, including PC Matic Pro and PC Matic MSP. Users do not need to implement any specific settings, or change any of their options. The file-less ransomware detection will run automatically.
The PC Matic user interface has been updated reflecting the update to PC Matic 3.0. The user interface updates only impact PC Matic home users. These changes were not carried over to PC Matic Pro or PC Matic MSP.
Functionally, the user interface is the same. Meaning, the icons, reports and options all remain the same. They are also located in the same placed. Below is the new screen users will see when they open PC Matic 3.0, assuming they are not already logged in:
From here, PC Matic 3.0 users will log in as they always have.
Once users have logged in, they may notice one small difference. The maintenance statistics have now become accessible via a drop-down box. The screenshot below displays where users must click to access the maintenance statistics for their PCs:
After clicking the arrow demonstrated above, users will see the screen below:
From here, users can see all of their maintenance statistics. Other changes subscribers will notice are within the scan options. PC Matic 3.0 now includes toggle switches for all “Yes” and “No” options, as seen here:
PC Matic 3.0 also enhanced the display for specific PC details. To access the screen below, users need to click on which PC they’d like to obtain additional information about.
PC Matic 3.0 continues to scan both on demand, as well as on a predetermined schedule. If users conduct an on-demand scan, you will see an updated look. Again, the PC Matic 3.0 scan continues to conduct the same maintenance, stability, security and performance enhancements, as it always has — based on the user’s specified settings. See the scan screen below:
Lastly, the scan results screen has a new look as well.
If users have additional questions or concerns regarding these updates, they can reach our support team at www.pcmatic.com/help.
The makers of PC Matic want to reiterate, the update to PC Matic 3.0 does not cost users any additional funds. The PC Matic 3.0 software is an enhanced level of protection, not only with the global, automated whitelist, but also with file-less ransomware detection.
Again, this update will be pushed through on May 1, 2017. Therefore, once you run a scan, on or after that date, PC Matic will recognize an update is due. Upon scan completion and restarting your PC, PC Matic will be updated to PC Matic 3.0.
The post Sneak Peek Into PC Matic’s New Look appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
When you purchased PC Matic, the license key you bought has the ability to be used on up to five devices. These devices must have a Windows or Android operating system. You can download PC Matic to these devices by doing the following:
If you have any questions regarding the installation process, you can reach our support team at www.pcmatic.com/help. Our technicians are available to assist seven days a week.
The post Installing PC Matic on Multiple Computers appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
Often times these questions are asked — Why should I use PC Matic? What makes your solution any different than other programs available? Do you really detect everything like your commercial says?
Fortunately, all prospective and current PC Matic users have the opportunity to join a webinar with three of PC Matic’s top executives to get that answer. The webinar will include: CEO, Rob Cheng, Vice President of Malware Research and Development, Rob Woodworth, and Vice President of Cyber Security, Dodi Glenn.
The purpose of the webinar is to provide insight into PC Matic’s 3.0 engine and explain the level of superior protection from today’s cyber threat landscape. The webinar will be an open forum, which will allow all participants to ask any questions they have regarding PC Matic. The webinar is specifically designed for home users.
PC Matic is consistently receiving questions on Facebook, Twitter, and our support and forums pages — just to name a few. Now is your chance to talk directly to PC Matic’s top executives to get all of your questions answered.
The webinar is slated for one hour, and will take place on May 23, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. EST. To access the webinar, live, you can click here. Please note, the webinar will be done via Go To Meeting. If you have downloaded their program, it is advised to doing so prior to the webinar.
Rob Cheng, CEO and founder, has over 30 years of experience in the sales, marketing and support of computer hardware and software. Prior to founding PC Pitstop in 1999, Rob was the SVP of Gateway Consumer driving sales, marketing, and support worldwide. Rob began his career at Texas Instruments responsible for sales, marketing and support in Latin America.
Rob holds a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas.
Rob Woodworth has over 10 years of experience writing computer software. Rob joined PC Pitstop in 2008 and is responsible for many of our technical breakthroughs including the whitelist underlying PC Matic’s real time protection. Rob began his career writing code at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions.
Rob holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Arizona.
Dodi Glenn has over 13 years of experience working in the cyber security industry. Dodi joined PC Pitstop in 2015. As an executive for PC Pitstop and a Board Member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standard Organization (AMTSO), Dodi is well armed in assessing security risk from malware, managing targeted attacks, and creating defenses for virus and ransomware intrusions. Dodi’s prior career was at ThreatTrack Security where he was responsible for security risk assessment, firewall execution, malware & targeted attacks assessment, ransomware management, antivirus implementation and software development.
Dodi is a Certified Scrum Product Owner and Scrum Master (CSPO & CSM) and is Pragmatic Marketing Certified.
The post Join a Live Webinar by PC Matic Top Execs Explaining PC Matic 3.0 Engine appeared first on PC Pitstop TechTalk.
