84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove Emsisoft Anti-Malware?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
27% remove it73% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Fair
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #16,208
United States Rank #15,515
Reach 0.0162%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 556.92 days
1202.16 days >
Average installed length: 631.65 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
6.0 100.00%

Emsisoft Anti-Malware

What is Emsisoft Anti-Malware?

Emsisoft Anti-Malware (formerly named a-squared Anti-Malware) is a antivirus and antispyware protection suite developed by Austria-based Emsisoft GmbH. The program makes use of three different security layers and has a dual-engine scanner (BitDefender and Emsisoft's own Anti-Malware scanner) with more than 13 million signatures. Behavior blocker which is developed inhouse since 2005 and is able to detect unknown zero-day attacks without signatures.

About  (from Emsisoft GmbH)

Emsisoft Anti-Malware uses two full scan engines in the battle against viruses, Trojans or backdoors, spyware or adware, worms or bots, keyloggers and all other types of Malware that are waiting on the internet. But there is no doubling of the scan duration as it would be the case with two separate scanning programs. C...  Read more

Overview

During setup, the program creates a startup registration point in Windows in order to automatically start when any user boots the PC. Upon being installed, the software adds a Windows Service which is designed to run continuously in the background. Manually stopping the service has been seen to cause the program to stop functing properly. It adds a background controller service that is set to automatically run. Delaying the start of this service is possible through the service manager. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The software is designed to connect to the Internet and adds a Windows Firewall exception in order to do so without being interfered with. The primary executable is named a2service.exe. The setup package generally installs about 44 files and is usually about 117.45 MB (123,155,012 bytes). The installed file a2update.dll is the auto-update component of the program which is designed to check for software updates and notify and apply them when new versions are discovered.

Program detailsProgram details

URL: www.emsisoft.com/en/software/antimalware
Help link: support.emsisoft.com
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\unins000.exe"
Estimated size: 117.45 MB

Program filesFiles installed by Emsisoft Anti-Malware

Program executable:a2service.exe
Name:Emsisoft Anti-Malware
Emsisoft Anti-Malware Service
Path:C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2service.exe
MD5:e327c0de1d7013be360881801c0ab0fa
Additional files:
  • a2engine.dll (by Emsi Software GmbH) - Emsisoft Scan Engine DLL
  • evcdiff.dll - Emsisoft VCDIFF library
  • start.exe - Emsisoft Emergency Kit (USB Stick Starter)
  • a2acc.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware (Emsisoft Anti-Malware File Guard)
  • a2cmd.exe - Command Line Scanner
  • a2contmenu.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware shell extension
  • a2contmenu64.dll
  • a2core32.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware Behavior Blocker module
  • a2core64.dll
  • a2dix86.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware Behavior Blocker
  • a2framework.dll - Framework Module
  • a2framework64.dll
  • a2guard.exe - Background Guard
  • a2hooks32.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware Behavior Blocker user mode hooks
  • a2hooks64.dll
  • a2mor.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware move file on reboot library
  • a2start.exe - Security Center
  • a2toast.dll - Emsisoft Toast Notify (Emsisoft toast notification library)
  • a2update.dll - Updater Module
  • a2wizard.exe - Security Wizard
  • a2wsc.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware WSC
  • clean32.dll - Emsisoft Anti-Malware Cleaning Engine
  • cleanhlp32.dll - Emsisoft Cleaning Helper Driver
  • frme32.dll - File and Registry Modification Engine
  • logging.dll - Emsisoft Debug Logger (Debug logging)
  • outlook2003scanner.dll - Outlook 2003 Scanner Add-in
  • outlook2007scanner.dll - Outlook 2007 Scanner Add-in
  • outlook2010scanner.dll - Outlook 2010 Scanner Add-in
  • outlook2010scanner64.dll
  • quarantine.dll - Quarantine library
  • resource.dll - Emsisoft GUI resource library
  • a2HiJackFree.exe (by Emsi Software GmbH) - Emsisoft HiJackFree (HiJackFree)
  • BlitzBlank.exe - BlitzBlank

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

2 Scheduled Tasks
  • a2start.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{FE0B4AD7-DEE8-4292-A0ED-16988033B4A5}' (runs on registration).
  • a2guard.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{583C3B1B-EB46-4EBC-A33B-A959B8839A1A}' (runs on registration).
Service
  • a2service.exe runs as a service named 'Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6.0 - Service' (a2AntiMalware) "Scans the PC for unwanted software and provides protection from malicious code".
Startup File (User Run)
  • a2start.exe is loaded in the current user (HKCU) registry as an auto-starting executable named 'Security Center' and executes as C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2start.exe.
Startup File (All Users Run)
  • a2guard.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'emsisoft anti-malware' which loads as "C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2guard.exe" /d=60.
7 Windows Firewall Allowed Programs
  • a2start.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2start.exe'.
  • a2guard.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2guard.exe'.
  • BlitzBlank.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\BlitzBlank.exe'.
  • a2wizard.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2wizard.exe'.
  • a2service.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2service.exe'.
  • a2HiJackFree.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\Emsisoft Anti-Malware\a2HiJackFree.exe'.
    • Plus 1 more

Program resource utilizationResource utilization averages

a2service.exe
Memory:439.52 MB
21.09 MB average
Total CPU:0.0002557291%
0.031193% average
Kernel CPU:0.00014260%
0.016088% average
User CPU:0.00011313%
0.015104% average
CPU cycles/sec:15,338,166
8,062,084 average
I/O reads/min:52.29 KB
435.61 KB average
I/O writes/min:4.82 KB
105.02 KB average

How do I remove Emsisoft Anti-Malware?

You can uninstall Emsisoft Anti-Malware from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
  1. On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
    • Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
    • Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
  2. When you find the program Emsisoft Anti-Malware, click it, and then do one of the following:
    • Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
    • Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
  3. Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Emsisoft Anti-Malware.
OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 64%
Win Vista (SP1) 0%
  
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
  
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 27%
Keep it 73%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 66.14%
Windows XP 15.67%
Windows Vista 12.23%
Windows 10 5.96%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Home Premium 45.22%
Microsoft Windows XP 15.61%
Windows 7 Ultimate 10.51%
Windows Vista Home Premiu... 9.55%
Windows 7 Professional 9.55%
Windows 8.1 Pro 2.55%

Distribution by countryGeography

44.15% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
  United States 44.15%
  Germany 17.02%
  France 6.38%
  United Kingdom 4.79%
  Italy 4.26%
  Belgium 2.66%
  Australia 2.39%
  Canada 2.39%
  Spain 1.33%
  Finland 1.06%
  Sweden 1.06%
  Netherlands 1.06%
  Switzerland 0.80%
  Israel 0.80%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard 30.54%
Dell 20.36%
Acer 16.17%
GIGABYTE 12.57%
Intel 5.99%
Medion 5.39%
ASUS 4.79%
Toshiba 4.19%
Common models
HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... 4.80%
Dell Inspiron 1525 2.40%
HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... 2.40%
HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... 2.40%
MEDIONPC MS-7502 2.40%
ASUSTeK K50IN 1.60%

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