Difference Between the Free and Paid Version of Rising Antivirus 2009

Yesterday I read a post in forum saying that the free and paid version of Rising Antivirus 2009 is exactly the same. I second that because I did a quick comparison a few months ago and found that they don’t have much differences. If you go to the RISING FREE Antivirus homepage, it says that the latest Rising Antivirus Free Edition has the same service and function as Rising Antivirus 2009 paid version, but there are some four differences which is:

1. Information centre service: The free edition has an information centre window in its main interface where it displays the latest news of company. As for the paid version, there is no such window.

2. Update Service: RISING paid version product gets update through high speed update server each day, but Rising Antivirus Free Edition product does not.

3. Fast response technical support
for paid version and limited support for free edition.

4. Licensed users gets Rising Firewall for free.

Basically only the first two points are the differences in the software. The third and the fourth point are extra benefit/service offered by RISING to their customers. The paid version of RISING Antivirus cost USD$19.95 per year and let’s see if it is really worth the money or not.

I downloaded both paid and free version of RISING Antivirus 2009 and tested it one at a time. Both the program folders has the exact same files. So I thought that maybe the registry is the place where it determines if the program is recognized as the free or paid version. I analyzed the registry keys created by RISING and also found not much difference.

I had to go deeper by monitoring the installation with SysTracer and Total Uninstall. This time I found that RISING Antivirus created some files at the application data folder. This path is being used by some software to stores its settings and configuration. If you go to %appdata%\Rising\Rav folder, there is a file RsConfig.cfg that determines if the program should be a free or paid version. If you copy the RsConfig.cfg file from the free edition to the paid version, the paid version instantly turns into a free version. Vice versa. This RsConfig.cfg file is encrypted and not editable by text editor or hex editor. You also cannot delete the RsConfig.cfg file. Once it’s gone, the program will treat it as corrupted and wants you to reinstall again. That’s about the “information centre service” window.


Next, I’ve used URLSnooper to check on the URLs that RISING Antivirus connects to get the latest program updates and virus definitions. Both versions first connects
to rsup09.rising.com.cn to get a few xml files to compare if the computer has the latest virus definitions. When it requires to download the definitions, both version connects to down.rising-global.com.


This shows that point number 2, “RISING paid version product gets update through high speed update server each day, but Rising Antivirus Free Edition product does not” is fake.

If you ask, why is it that the installer for paid version is 5MB bigger than the free version? That’s because the installer for paid version is compiled with a newer engine and virus definition so you don’t need to spend as much time as the free version in updating after installation.

Since I never reviewed RISING Antivirus 2009 before, here are some little information about it. After installing RISING Antivirus 2009, there will be an extra 6 processes namely CCenter.exe, RavMonD.exe, RavTask.exe, rsnetsvr.exe, RsTray.exe and ScanFrm.exe. All of the 6 process takes up about 23MB during idle. A full scan on a clean Windows XP service
pack 3 with all latest hotfixes took 17 minutes 36 seconds.

Now you know the difference between the paid and the free version of RISING Antivirus 2009. Whether it is worth paying USD$19.95 for the paid version is entirely up to you to judge. As for me, I would be just fine with the free version since there are no popups or any nag screen like Avira free (which of course can be disabled). Just another thought, I wonder when will RISING Antivirus 2010 be out since most of the antivirus companies has upgraded their version to 2010…

Australians Gets PC Tools Disk Suite License for FREE!

I’ve been pretty much out of touch in the tech world as I am busy with the X-Ray project. It should take a few more weeks before it is fully revealed to you guys. I really have no idea on what to write since most of the articles that you read here are written based on my experience with computers. Seeing that this freebie has not yet been posted anywhere, I thought it’d be nice to share this out. Here is another free license promo offered by PC Tools to Australian PC User magazine readers.



Disk Suite is an all-in-one hard-drive management utility that integrates disk optimization and cleanup, defrag and backup in one easy to use package. Disk Suite puts a range of tools at your fingertips to provide optimum system performance and improved stability and security. PC Tools Disk Suite normally cost $39.95 for a 3 computer license, but is absolutely free if you follow the steps below.

1. Go to this page http://www.pctools.com/disk-suite/free/promo/PCUSER0110/

2. Fill up the form by entering your first name, last name, email, address, city, country, zip
and the random captcha code. You will also need to check the small checkbox and then click the “Request Free License” button.

3. You can check your email when you see the message “Thank you for requesting your FREE license for PC Tools Disk Suite v1. Your free license code will be e-mailed to you shortly.” You should instantly receive an email from PC Tools (sales@pctool.somc) with the subject Free PC Tools Disk Suite License. Note down the Name and License Key.

4. Download and install the latest version of PC Tools Disk Suite here: dsinstall.exe

5. Run the program and register the program with the Name and License Key.

Like I said earlier, this offer is only for Australians. If you do not have an Australia IP address, you won’t see the form for you to request the free license. Well I managed to request for a free license with an Australia proxy but it was like the only Ausi proxy that I could find. PC Tools also logs the ip address that has been used to request for the license and blocks it from further request. PC Tools Disk Suite is designed for Windows Vista 64-bit SP1, Vista 32-bit, XP and 2000. I installed on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit and it seems to work just fine.

VirusTotal Uploader 2.0 Supports Uploading up to Five 20MB Files

VirusTotal is one of the best online service that is provided for free to everyone. It is an online file scanner that allows you to upload any suspicious file to have it scanned using 41 different antivirus software with the latest virus definitions. If you find that uploading file to VirusTotal is a hassle, you can always use their uploader program that works on Windows. Simply right click on the file, go to Send To and finally select VirusTotal from the list. The uploader program will automatically send the file to VirusTotal without you opening your web browser, typing virustotal.com in the URL bar and wait for the website to load.
The VirusTotal Uploader has been recently updated to version 2.0 and it has a couple of major improvements to make it even faster and better.

case of multiple-file malware queries. Additionally, the file limit has been increased to 20 MB (previously 10MB) per file.

Secondly, VirusTotal Uploader version 1.0 only allows you to send the file to VirusTotal using right click context-menu but now it has an independent standalone program! In this mode, you can upload files to VirusTotal in a few ways:

1. Select an executable process that is active in Windows
2. Drag and drop up to 5 files to the program
3. Manually browse for the file in your computer

4. Enter an URL address with a suspicious file that will automatically “Get and upload”.

Another improvement to the latest VirusTotal Uploader 2.0 is a pre-upload check if the file is already present in the VirusTotal database. In this version, the Uploader calculates a hash of the file before uploading it, and checks if it appears in the database. If so, the file doesn’t get uploaded, saving both time and transfer. Of course, you are still able to force the uploading of the file for reanalysis.

If you are the adventures type that likes download a lot of dangerous programs such as keygen, cracks, patches, trojans, crypter, binder and etc, then you should definitely use VirusTotal Uploader. This program does not take up any system resource at all when it is not running. Another advantage in using a desktop uploading tool is the transfer rate speed is definitely faster than uploading from web browser.

[ Download VirusTotal Uploader 2.0 ]

Easily Be the Best MalwareCity Malware Catcher and Win BitDefender 2010 License

Did you know that MalwareCity, a community website set up by BitDefender is having a contest where you have to prove yourself as the best malware catcher to win a free legal BitDefender 2010 license for 1 year? What you need to do is browse through MalwareCity’s website and try to look for the “Catch Him” image which you can click on it to submit your entry. The contest starts on 14 December, and ends on 21 December 2009. Now if the website has tons of articles, it’d be time consuming and tedius for you to browse through every article just to look for that image.

Fortunately I know of a method that can help you automate the process of searching for that image. It took me less than 5 minutes to search where the “Catch Me” image is located at. I personally don’t think this is cheating because I am using my computer knowledge and skills to be the best malware catcher!

First, you will need a website downloader or some people call it offline browser to automatic crawl and download all contents from a link. My personal favorite is Offline Explorer because it is packed with tons of features which makes it very powerful. Unfortunately it is shareware
but you can use it without any limitations for 30 days. Then you crawl MalwareCity’s website with Offline Explorer and when finished, use a textcrawler to search for the image filename and see where it is located. Not sure what am I talking about? Follow the steps below and perhaps you can get a better idea.

1. Download and install Offline Explorer

2. Run Offline Explorer and when the New Project Wizard dialog box
appears, enter http://www.malwarecity.com at the Project URL and click Next.

3. Make sure Levels limit is checked and the value is 1. Click Next.

4. Make sure that Download all files that are linked to the starting page is selected and click Next.

5. Make sure that Load only within the starting URL is selected and Load images from any location is checked. Click Next.

6. Make sure that Download the new Project now is selected and click Next. Offline Explorer will start downloading the whole MalwareCity’s website. When finished downloading, continue step 7.

7. Download TextCrawler and install.

8. Run TextCrawler, set it up with the information below and click the Find button.

Filename/Filter: *.*
Start Location: C:\download\www.malwarecity.com
Find: catch_him.jpg

9. In a few seconds, a list of searched results will appear in TextCrawler. Take note of the Path and File Name. Those are the links where the catch_me.jpg image are found and most likely is the place for you to join in the BitDefender 2010 giveaway. Open the REAL URL in your web browser and look for the catch_me.jpg image. Click on it and a form for you to join the giveaway should appear.

Now you’ve easily beaten the contest. All you need now is a little bit of luck to be chosen as one of the winners of BitDefender 2010. Best of luck to you and hope that you’ve learned something new today.