Get Yourself A "Trojan" Shield!

A "trojan-horse" is a malicious program that is disguised as a legitimate software. It can also be embedded into a completely harmless program. What do they do? In general, a "trojan-horse" has spying or backdoor functions that allow an unknown remote computer to control the victim's system.

The means to protect ourselves generally are the anti-virus softwares. But there are also some specialized softwares that do the work. Anti-Trojan Shield is one of them. It is a ATShield development team software designed to block trojans, worms, viruses, backdoors, malicious ActiveX controls and Java applets.

It comes with a price of only $29.95. The trial version is fully featured for a period of 30 days. The installation is swift and easy, and when you first open the software you may want to update the trojan database (online update). In fact, the program will ask if you want to make an update.

The installation file is 6,21 MB and when in monitor mode it uses almost 5MB of computer memory. In the trial version I could do everything the software promised. The only nagging thing I could find for the interface is that reminder window when the software is run (you have to wait for four seconds).

The interface is user-friendly and I think that it was for the best that they kept it simple. There menu bar is pretty simple. In the File menu I found five options: Run ATS Monitor, Scan file, Start, Update online and Exit.

By running the ATS Monitor, it will stay in the computer memory and it will be constantly checking for malicious code. The software will place its icon in the system tray and will run invisibly in the background. ATS Monitor will perform three activities: it will monitor specified directories, analyze the files you download from the Internet and check any .exe file you will run.

Select the "Scan file" option for choosing a file to be scanned and the "Start" option will begin the scan (equivalent of the "Start button" in the main window). Use "Update online" to download and install the latest trojan definitions and update the software version.

The "Program settings" option in the "View" menu allows the user to configure the level for the heuristic analysis. You have three options: heuristics level (Max (low speed) and Min (high speed), Archive scan (enable/disable) and Program code analysis (enable/analysis).

Max heuristics level will scan all the files in the system and all the antivirus algorithms, but it will take a longer time. Min level will perform only an executable files scan and the basic antivirus algorithms; of course, the scanning time will be diminished considerably.

By enabling "Archive scan" ATS will include all types of archives and checking the program code analysis will detect sophisticated malicious code.

The "Utilities" menu is the home for Netstat, which will show all open connections on your PC. By checking the open connections you can get a clear picture of what programs use which ports on your computer. In order to interpret the netstat output you need some experience in networking.

If you are not experienced in editing the content of the Registry, it is advisable not to go into the Registry Editor option of the "Utilities" menu. Usually, the antivirus software removes all the virus traces in there.

In System Information the user will be able to see info on the programs and processes running on the machine.

After scanning your computer, ATS provides you with a list of detected viruses. The found malware can be cured, deleted or quarantined.

Right-click on the ATS icon in the system tray and choose "Program setup" in order to define the time interval your machine should be scanned at and to select the directories that should be monitored.


The Good

The software is extremely easy to use and the virus database is over 77000 signatures large. All the user has to do is scan the computer and turn on the ATS Monitor.


The Bad

If you make the mistake to scan your computer with ATS in trial version, you are in a little trouble, as you cannot delete the found malware. The installer needs a change as the name of the program is Anti-Trojan Shield 4 in the application window and in Program Files - ATS 2.
I have noticed a minor spelling mistake in the message displayed at exiting from the ATS monitor ("virus-pretected")


The Truth

I am impressed by the ease of use of the software. Unfortunately (or not) I have no viruses or trojans on my computer (I also scanned it with my antivirus and the result was the same), so I could not test the efficiency of the software in eliminating the malware.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: