Free Cyberhawk Promises to Outwit Viruses and Spyware
If you use Cyberhawk, a free program from Novatix, there's a good chance you might be able to dump your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. (I know what you're thinking, and no, the program isn't ad-driven, nor is there any spyware built into it. They're making money by licensing their technology to software companies.)
Cyberhawk claims to be able to guard your system by watching the behavior of invaders. Most anti-virus and anti-spyware programs work after the fact -- by adding a signature after seeing what the malware does.
My Experience
I used Cyberhawk for a few weeks while it was still in an early testing phase. I tested it cautiously and didn't intentionally bring any "in the wild" viruses or nasty spyware onto my PC. All I did was disable my AV and ASW programs and use my system normally. I didn’t run into any viruses or spyware, so right now, there's nothing I can report.
Later today, I'll be using Acronis's True Image to restore my test PC into a factory-fresh state. I'll install Cyberhawk and then challenge it with loads of the nastiest malware and viruses I can find. I'll let you know how it performed next week.
Send me Your Malware
If you have anything particularly malicious, Zip it up and send it to me at the address in the image below.
Try Cyberhawk
Cyberhawk is still in beta. That means it's being tested to see if it works properly on all PCs. You can try it -- there's a public beta -- and it's the same version I'll be using. Important warning: do your testing on a PC other than the one you depend on. Cyberhawk is pre-release and you may encounter difficulties. If you do try it, drop me a line and tell me what you think.
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I read their web page and I wouldn't say that Cyberhawk users can dump their AV and Antispyware software. While it may be true that Cyberhawk is better than AV programs at detecting Zero-day attacks, that does not mean that the program is better than signature-based detection for everything that hits your computer.
I agree with Lemuel, it sounds like it would be a good addition to your regular security apps (AV/FW/AS).
Can I use it with PC-cillin 2006, Trend Micro Anti-Spyware and other anti-spyware?
I heard them on Computer America last night and they said that you can use Cyberhawk alongside all of your current security programs. I've been testing with AVG, Zone Alarm and Spy Sweeper and so far no problems.
Even if it is all it's claimed to be, how long before the malware companies would find a way around it's defences?
They are going to have a hard time selling this. No scans, no "Updates"....
I just don't see the security industry trusting this without some *major* recommends from more than just PC Mag...(no offense)
We will wait for the results. It will be a idea test some more non signature based products at teh same time , especilly Prevx, ShadowUser and Panda TruPrevent. And it will be a good idea to keep one traditional Security Suite to compare with. I wish somebody to do it.
Tried this, and my computer slowed way down. Slower boot, and frequent program crashes when multitasking. On the other hand, not 1 infection.
I tried it a couple weeks ago and it froze my computer upon start up. I couldn't even fully boot into Windows. But I am still running Prevx home on the pc I did the test on, so it's possible there could have been a conflict between the two or some other software perhaps. Anyway that was not a good start and I would say it has some compatibility issues that still need to be worked out.
I would like to try the product. If I have problems, does the program have an uninstall routine and has anyone had problems uninstalling it?
Steve,
Novatix released the second beta.
How is your AV-less test progressing?
Cyberhawk has NO Uninstaller and does not show up in the windows remove list. I installed it on my system and it froze everything. I had to boot into safe mode and restore to an earlier restore point. Just a heads - up!!
Cyberhawk has NO Uninstaller and does not show up in the windows add/remove prorams list. I installed it on my system and it froze everything. I had to boot into safe mode and restore to an earlier restore point. Just a heads - up!!
It froze my computer several times. I did a system restore and that worked for a while. After a few more days, my computer started to freeze again. The program kept randomly shutting down. I finally gave up and went into safe mode to manually deleted all the files. CCleaner deleted all the registry errors. I may try again with the next beta release.
Been using this by itself for 1 week, then downloaded and scanned with antivir free edition, absolutely no viruses/trojans, Im impressed, also runs well side by side with antivir, no hangs or crashes.
Correction to the above comments:
1. There is an uninstall feature in "A/R Programs" in CP;
2. The program checks for up-dates regularly, my resident firewall prompted me for the connection;
3. I've had no problems with computer slow-downs at all..as a resident app, it uses approx 14 meg of memory which should in no way create problems;
4. Cyberhawk found 2 pieces of Malware on our system, so far so good;
5. I don't work for Novatix
Cyberhawk beta2 does show up in A/R and it doesn't slow down the system. I have tried infecting my computer and so far Cyberhawk has handled the viruses and malware excellent. I use avg and windows onecare with defender.
Steve,
What's the status of your test on Cyberhawk Beta? May I follow up on this because I'm intersted in this product. I want to know if there are issues because I don't want to compromise my system.
It Kills AOL radio.
Haven't had any problems with CyberHawk since installing it several weeks ago. Usually the first window to pop up when something is trying to change.
cyberhawk juast froze my pc up as soon as i installed it and boy did i have a game uninstalling// it thats on win xp//nod32 antivirus and zap f/w
cyberhawk just froze my pc up as soon as i installed it and boy did i have a game uninstalling//
thats on win xp//nod32 antivirus and zap f/w
sorry i have a stutter
C'mon Steve, the results of your tests please? I have downloaded CyberHawk but haven't installed it yet pending the outcome of your tests.
Thanks
My only question is "What does it actually do?" Lot's of good talk about preventing ZeroDay exploits - but how does it work?
Not a darned thing descriptive. Once they release a description, then I'll try it.
i have put this one stop anti everything on my parents and grandparents computers(they are not computer saavy) as I dont have time to regurly scan their computers. I have gone by and scanned them after a couple of weeks and they have been clean. I'm sold.
A couple weeks using it alongside TM AntiSpy and an anti keylogger and so far its looking good.
Still using this and very happy with it so far, would like to see the results tho sometime this year??
I installed original beta after your initial review - it slowed my system somewhat (am also a diligent user of Spybot, AVG Free,Ad Aware, Zone Alarm and Win Patrol)..no malware occurred until AFTER I STOPPED using it - then 2 viruses crashed my system DESPITE simultaneous use of all the other programs.Once my system was resuscitated, I immediately reinstalled CyberHawk and am KEEPING it. Wish it were more newbie friendly -- I don't understand about creation of rules and am afraid to ruin a good thing; I leave it on autopilot. By the way, ONLY RemoveItPro caught the viruses - none of the others did. My Cyberfriends are suspicious because it doesn't have an uninstall program.I had Norton originally, but it was WAY too complicated for me to deal with -- I surf voraciously.
Steve: P.S. I adore you and Love your column. You are my computer 'god' guru and Kim Kommando is my computer guru 'goddess'.
Please let all of us know what your experience was with Cyberhawk when you did the restore with True Image and then ran Cyberhawk... I can't stand the suspense. (LOL)
Until they put up a technical description of how the program protects, I'm unlikely to test this product out. I have yet to see how a behavior-based solution can protect against an as-yet unpublished exploit. This hype (in leiu of information from the company) gives a potential false sense of security. Dump IE/OE, do the Windows updates, run a firewall and practice safe computing. Use A/V and AntiSpyware to scan occassionally but a better answer is to avoid the conscious installation of malware (by clicking) and the unconscious drive-by-downloads (by not using IE/OE and those dangerous ActiveX controls).
While eagerly waiting for Stevie to come up with the results of his tests with Cyberhawk, I took a dive and installed the software and behold! It slowed and crashed my system. I immediately did a system restore without testing the product any further and everything went fine. I think it interacted with other programs at startup particularly anti-virus and anti-spyware.
i've been running cyberhawk for about 3 months without any problems. This is in addition to spybot s/d, windows defender, spycatcher, bugoff, zone alarm and AVG. After a major rebuild due to malware all these free programs are worth the minor slowdown. I'm not ready to depend on c/hawk totally but i like it as another way to defend myself on the net.
i've been running cyberhawk for about 3 months without any problems. This is in addition to spybot s/d, windows defender, spycatcher, bugoff, zone alarm and AVG. After a major rebuild due to malware all these free programs are worth the minor slowdown. I'm not ready to depend on c/hawk totally but i like it as another way to defend myself on the net.
Well we are now into June what has happened to Steve's review of Cyberhawk? He last posted at the end of January that he was going to give it a real test against malware and viruses and let us know the results. Inquiring minds want to know what if anything happened. Thanks
i agree that it can not take care off everythin i had a litlle sneaky program trojan downloader agent f on mi pc mi antivirus caught it but could not delete it.cyberhawk did not see it.Maybe its not made to do so?
I had periodically tried installing Cyberhawk (with each new Beta release) since I heard about it on Computer America and my system would always hang. I used System Restore each time to uninstall. Now that Beta 5 has been released, my system no longer hangs and has been running without any problems for the past few weeks. It warned about WGA phoning home and other than that has been silent (no false positives either) ever since with the default settings. I have uninstalled my firewall since I have a router, but still use Avira AntiVir AV and Spyware Doctor (compliments of Computer America). I also use UltraVNC for virtual network computing and SSL-Explorer for a virtual private network. The only way to improve Cyberhawk would be to make it free... Oh wait a minute, it is free!
Since there is a new version out and it is not a beta, I would love to know what Steve Bass's thoughts about this product are now. If he ever will decide to update us on it.
Ive used Cyberhawk for over 3 months ,to date ive had no spyware,no anything!! my computer is running tickety boo....does anyone know of a better freeware programme?
At last! The latest version seems o.k. It had no conflict with my system when I installed it. I have PCCillin 2006, TrendMicro Antispyware and WinPatrol on my laptop.
I don't know... This sounds as "too good to be truth".
All of a sudden my system closes down or crashes since I've added cyberhawk plus AVG according to the recent recommendations of you know who. That was this month so I don't thinkit was a beta version.