In a test comparing anti-malware software, the MalwareResearchGroup has once again awarded the top position to Emsisoft for its excellent protection against new threats, thereby placing it well ahead of the 19 most important antivirus programs on the market. Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6.0 offers up to 450 % faster scans, uses less resources, and for the first time breaks the 5 million signatures mark. Online Armor Firewall 5.0 with new file & registry shield gets published. More than 6 million users rely on Emsisoft products, and market research companies estimate its market share in antivirus software at over 1 %.

Online Armor Firewall, the leading firewall brand and "Firewall of the Year 2009" is taken over from Australian manufacturer Tall Emu. Emsisoft Anti-Malware is first published without the "a-squared" in its version 5.0 and with the new freeware mode it succeeds the a-squared Free. As one of the first products with behavior analysis that fully supports x64, it wins its first VB100 Award. In December, the first version for Windows servers gets released. Emsisoft Emergency 1.0 is the first free and fully portable dual engine scanner for use on USB sticks or CDs. Tools for businesses are being launched. Among these are the update proxy, commandline scanner and new helpdesk licenses.

The independent antivirus test organization PC Security Labs compares detection rates of antivirus software and concludes repeatedly that Emsisoft's anti-malware has the best detection rate of all. This has won our software the Antivirus of the Year Award. MalwareResearchGroup confirms these results. The users vote Emsisoft's anti-malware the winner of the Epsilon Shareware Award 2009. The ultra-fast and extremely small 1 minute cloud scanner MalAware 1.0 is published. Emsisoft announces a technological alliance with Tall Emu, the manufacturer of the Online Armor Firewall.

a-squared Anti-Malware receives a second scan engine with version 4.0. By combining our own scan technology with Ikarus Antivirus' approved technology, we take the detection skills of anti-malware to a whole new level. a-squared Free will also be receiving the second engine making it the first free dual engine scanner in the world. The new surf protection in a-squared anti-malware is now also blocking known dangerous and fraudulent websites. Also new in Emsisoft's product range: The Emsisoft Emergency USB Stick for offline cleaning of infected PCs. Mamutu 1.5 gets a community-based recommendation function that makes taking decisions in case of behavior analysis alerts easier.

In order to demonstrate the company's key competence, we integrated Emsisoft Anti-Malware's behavior analysis into a new independent product called Mamutu. Version 3.0 of a-squared Anti-Malware takes the product to a new level in professional use. Some new features include: support of non-admin accounts, support of Windows Vista, introduction of Anti-Malware Network as well as optimized utilization of RAM.

Product maintenance is the main focus: a-squared Anti-Malware 2.0 features a new and easier to use program interface, a-squared Free 2.0 comes with advanced scanner features, a-squared HiJackFree 2.0 offers optimized system analysis for professional users, and a-squared Anti-Dialer 2.0 protects you from expensive dialers. About 3 million users already rely on Emsisoft products.

a-squared Personal 1.6, Emsisoft Anti-Malware's predecessor, receives for the first time the Emsisoft behavior analysis module. At the time it was called Malware IDS (Intrusion Detection System) and shows how to put an end to the cat-and-mouse game that antivirus industry and malware authors are playing, namely through generic detection of behavior patterns. It is way ahead of its time.

The Emsisoft website allows visitors to do online audits of their PC protection by externally and automatically attempting to break into the PC and by uncovering configuration gaps. a-squared Personal is, at that time, a pure niche product against trojans and worms, supplementing classical antivirus software.

Emsisoft is founded as an association of people interested in malware that have had several years' experience in the matter and are aiming at providing better protection against Internet threats. Emsisoft thereby follows the already highly successful projects like Anti-Trojan, ANTS and YAW. On December 10th 2003, the first version of the new product a-squared (a²) was published.