McAfee AVERT Stinger: A Lean, Mean Virus-Killing Machine Competition in the Free Realm Adam Stone
Competition in the Free Realm
Stinger has competition in the realm of free virus removal. Companies like BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky Lab all offer variations on the theme, while others like RedemptionEngine focus more closely on adware and spyware. With its McAfee lineage and antivirus expertise, though, Stinger has a considerable jump on lesser-known competitors.
That being said, it's also fair to note that Stinger suffers unfairly from misplaced user expectations. Before jumping feet first into this one, it is especially important to understand what Stinger is and, more importantly, what it is not.
In one online discussion group, a user compares Stinger's narrow defensive array to the 64,000 viruses listed in Norton's database. But this quite misses the point. Stinger is not designed to replace other antivirus software — it won't defend again incoming viruses. Users need to continue their active defense of the perimeter with tools like Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan.
Stinger is meant to handle the ones that do make it through, and that is apt to be a far smaller subset of the general run of potential threats. This is a tool intended to offer a quick defense against the most popular and recent worms, viruses, and such. In short, it's a supplement, not a replacement.
Likewise, Stinger may sometimes fail to detect viruses that have gotten onto your system. Remember, it only goes after the most prevalent threats. Here again the manufacturers recommend you continue to rely on your present virus scanner.
There are the usual little quirks. Sometimes Stinger won't be able to fix a virus, typically because the Windows System Restore functionality has a lock on the infected file. The product FAQs notes that Windows ME/XP users can disable system restore to overcome this problem.
Those looking for a real drawback may note that AVERT offers no user support for Stinger. Then again, the product is free, so what did you expect?
The bottom line is this. Stinger is a solid, easy-to-use product from a trusted name in system protection. It will seek out and destroy most viruses that find their way onto your system, thus providing a valuable supplement to your present antivirus protection.
Pros: Freeware tool that targets and destroys the most common and current viruses once they hit your system, small profile makes it a perfect fit for USB drives
Cons: Won't block incoming nasties — you'll need to keep your antivirus protection running (and up to date) in addition to Stinger; not the faster scanner — scanning large drives takes considerable time
