What reasons influenced you the most to make you choose Webroot?


Userlevel 4
What are the reasons that influenced you the most to make you choose Webroot considering how many Cyber Security Products there are to choose from these days?  Also do you like using WSA by itself, or do you like using it with other Security Products?  If you are using WSA with other Security Products then which products do you prefer to use with WSA to make up your Layered Security Setup?  Also, how long have you been using Prevx / WSA? 

50 replies

Userlevel 4
My answer to my own question may be quite long so I will answer it after I get a little shut eye considering I should have went to sleep hours ago lol  I am very interested in seeing others response to this question!
Would you be interested to hear why I DID NOT chhose  WSA as my AV?
Userlevel 4
Topor, I'd be interested in hearing why you're here if you're not a user of the product that this community is built around.
 
I mean, if you're not here because you use the product, then the only other reason you could possibly be here is to stir the pot and cause disharmony among the people that use it, which you seem to do with just about every post you make here.
 
Getting back to the question, I use Webroot because its light on resources, does the job it was designed to do, and I have not been infected since getting it.
 
I've used Norton IS and Bitdefender IS in the past, and although they are good, I believe Webroot to be better all around. I checked out the new Bitdefender 2014, and the first thing it did was delete most of the install files of the Ubisoft UPlay install when I went to install a game.
 
I'd rather have a cloud based solution that is updated constantly without needing to push updates to my PC's. Webroot "just knows". And it's worked flawlessly.
 
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
Would you be interested to hear why I DID NOT chhose  WSA as my AV?
Please stay on topic of post " What reasons influenced you the most to make you choose Webroot?"
 
If you wish to start a post with your interest, do so. Thank you. ;)
Userlevel 4
Topor, sorry for the late response! I kept trying to respond to your post all night, and it kept saying I appeared to be a spammer!!!  IBelow is the message I was trying to post most of the night!
 
As long as you do it in a constructive manner, and you give recommendations of what could have been done differently to make you pleased with Webroot's products or services.  No flaming though please!  I want this to be a productive thread.
 
Userlevel 4
I believe I could have prevented this from happening to my thread if I had not been dectected as a spammer last night, but it's a little late now. I have to say I am a little upset because I really wanted to hear about the reason that influenced user's the most to use Webroot.  Now it has gotten off topic, and user's are now likely to continue posting off topic responses since members are likely to address Topor's post as well as mine.  I was going to suggest that Topor start a new thread, or post in this one as long as he posted in a constructive manner, and gave recommendations of what could have been done differently to make him pleased with Webroot's products or services.  I was unable to though since I was detected as a spammer.  I would like for the mods to close or delete this thread now if possible so I can start the thread over again.
Thanks,
Mike
Userlevel 7
Mike, read my reply.  I think we are back on topic now.  And a good topic it is!
Userlevel 4
Thank you for your response DavidP. Could you read the thread prior to you post I just made? You could just copy & paste your response into the new therad I would like to start if that is possible.
Userlevel 4
Ok, if it can stay on topic without user's responding to Topor's post instead of what the topic is about then i'm fine with that. I suggest Topor start his own thread to keep the thread on topic.
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
Topor, sorry for the late response! I kept trying to respond to your post all night, and it kept saying I appeared to be a spammer!!!  IBelow is the message I was trying to post most of the night!
 
As long as you do it in a constructive manner, and you give recommendations of what could have been done differently to make you pleased with Webroot's products or services.  No flaming though please!  I want this to be a productive thread.
 
I am moving my reply from above to down here to continue the thread On Topic.  :)
 
Two things here:
 
1) I also got that spamming error earlier.  Not quite sure what happened there, but maybe something is glitching.
 
2) I spent a good bit of time NOT trying Webroot simply because I was not fully sold on how well this new approach would work.  At least I am honest :)
 
I was given the opportunity to try it free, so I took it.  Nothing to lose right?  Well, nothing to lose but a lot to gain.  Webroot has kept me just as protected as all of the other solutions I have tried in the past, far better than some.  I know some people say that with modern computers there is no need to worry about the performance hit of other solutions.  I strongly disagree.  Maybe the performance hit is not as great as it once was, but it is still there and a problem.  And that is for brand new computers.
 
My computer is NOT new.. it is a 2008 laptop that was mid range at best when I purchased it.  The performance of my machine is hugely impacted by just about anything.  Except Webroot that is.  
 
 :)
 
I will be up front and fully honest here: I do NOT reccomend Webroot to everyone.  It depends on the situation.  For those that need strong parental controls, Webroot might not be the right solution.
Userlevel 4
Thanks Davidp! If you see any other post that need to be moved, or removed to keep the thread on topic then by all means do so.
Userlevel 7
Badge +54
I have used Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, Avira, Avast, AVG in the past and got the chance to give WSA a go and so far I think it is by far superior to the others. It is light on resources, always up to date, responsive and easy to use, I am really impressed with it so far and I think that this program is for keeps unless the other programs can catch up a bit which may take some doing.
THE GOOD:
 
-          Exceptional support
-          Extremely light
-          Lot of features
 
THE BAD
      
-          Couldn’t be tested   by the typical testing entities (AV Comparatives, AV Test, etc) in the past, based on “Webroot works differently” but yet certified later   (how??)
-          Features cannot be installed selectively
-          Limited  or zero protection offline , based mainly on an unique technology (journaling), yet to be proven and not used by any other AV
 
THE UGLY
 
-          The scan is done in the cloud , so by performing a full PC scan you voluntarily agree to a full PC search; 
 
Userlevel 7
@  Check your PM's my friend.  I sent you the information  you asked for 🙂
Userlevel 4
The following reason's are what influenced me to use WSA the most.
 
1. Webroot is a Cloud AntiVirus made up of a large community of users from around the World. The cloud analysis Millions to Billions of new files per day. I believe a cloud antivirus operated with such state of the art technology such as Webroot's would discover many threats considerably earlier than many other AntiVirus.
 
2. Webroot has been designed to be compatible with all other major security products. I believe in a layered security approach, and  WSA works well with other security products to further enhance one's security.
 
3. Webroot has a good track record at detecting some threats that many other Antivirus have not been so successful at detecting such as rogues, keysloggers, and screen captures. This makes WSA a good choice to add to one's layered security setup to strengthen those areas that other Antivirus quite commonly fail to perform well at. So WSA compliments other antivirus well to further enhance one's security as already mentioned above.

4. Webroot is the lightest Antivirus I have ever used in terms of both resource usage (CPU Usage, read, and write disk access), and memory usage.  (This does not include applications that do not use scanning techology to identify virues). Usually an antivirus will  have low memory usage, but high resource usage or  have low resource usage, but high memory usage. It's hard to find an AV that has both low resource usage, and low memory usage.
 
5. I prefer Webroot BrightCloud over other similar products to warn me about phishing Sites, and social engineering. I also like how they have made it so easy to report phishing sites, and social engineering. Some other antivirus I use, and have used in the past make this way more difficult than it should be. I have found it very difficult to find information on how, and where to report a phishing site to other vendors. Webroot makes it easy to find where to report a phishing site with Webroot BrightCloud, and they make it very simple to submit a phishing site.

6. More, and more threats are emerging that have been designed by Governments. I believe Webroot Cloud technology would have a better chance at discovering these threats than many other antivirus. The fact that Webroot has such a large community contributing to cloud from around the world with so many new files being anaylized each day would help to discover such threats.
Userlevel 4
Thanks David! I just checked my PM's. I had some family stop by for a while.
Userlevel 7
"The scan is done in the cloud , so by performing a full PC scan you voluntarily agree to a full PC search"

Where have you got that from??? The scan isn't done in the cloud, the results of the scans (done locally) are sent to the cloud (results are encrypted) and we don't take any personal info only a MD5 hash of the files is taken from your PC (which btw contain no personal info). Webroot as you would expect from a security company takes privacy very seriously and we dont collect data beyond whats needed to determine if a file is good or bad.

Couldn’t be tested by the typical testing entities (AV Comparatives, AV Test, etc) in the past, based on “Webroot works differently” but yet certified later

AV test in my opinion aren't a true reflection on the capability of a AV product (and I am not just talking about our product btw). Its the same way you cant test an electric car in the same way you would test a traditional petrol/diesel power car. They are so vastly different that the testing methods have to be different.
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
Nicely said Roy and Bookmarked for future reference!
 
Thanks,
 
Daniel
Hi Rakanisheu,
 
"The scan isn't done in the cloud, the results of the scans (done locally) are sent to the cloud"
The local engine will compose MD5 for a certain file and send it in real time to the cloud; so, no scan is performed on your PC ( by scan I mean to compare a file with a database of bad/good files)
 
Based on MD5 extracted, at any given time, one can say if a certain file is in your PC or not (based on your IP address); Webroot may take  privacy very seriously but other than EULA there is nothing to guarantee that.
 
Your PC is just an open book for whoever has access to the cloud and this means ZERO privacy!
 
Userlevel 4
This is an interesting discusion that Topor has started about the cloud, and privacy. It is not related to this thread though. I would suggest allowing Topor to start a separate thread for this, and continue this discussion in a separate thread. I'm interesting in listening to this discussion as long as it can be done in a respectful manner. Then when someone else has the same concerns about privacy we could refer them to Topor's thread. I may have a few question about this myself.
Userlevel 7
I agree fully. His comments are possibly pertinant in general but certainly off topic to this thread.
Userlevel 7
Sorry to say but thats also wrong :

The "local engine" (WSA) as you call it doesn't compose the MD5 and the log information is sent as a whole to our servers (and the end of the scan and is encrypted). The client certainly does scan your PC its the determinations that are done in the cloud. The client then does it work based on said determinations. If its good the client will stop monitoring the file, if its bad then the client will make the relevant changes. This is done by the client and the cloud has no input at this level.

A MD5 doesn't contain IP information and it cant be used to trace to a PC. Its a signature hash of a file that's used to determine the integrity of a file.

We don't keep records of customers IP`s, observant people may notice that in the logs there is an IP but its local IP and it cant be used to trace a person. If you want to know more about this if you look at your internal IP and external IP they are vastly different. I would would also look up how DNS works if you want more info.

I am not sure where this scare factor of the "cloud" comes from. People have been using cloud based services for years. Misinformation and scare tactics haven't really helped. Our job is to protect our customers to the best of our ability. What`s the point of us taking private information when that's what the bad guys are trying to do :)

Anyway this is off-topic but I dont like people thinking we are doing something underhanded!
Userlevel 7
Badge +54
Thank you for your honesty Rakanisheu, I hope that will put peoples minds at rest.
 
Userlevel 7
Roy,

Great response, and thank you for taking the time to clarify that!
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
Thanks Roy as I already knew that are privacy is well protected and for everyone else this is the clearest answer for our Members, Users and New Prospective users reading the forum so many Kudo's to you!
 
Cheers,
 
Daniel
 

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