Emsisoft has announced the release of Emsisoft Anti-Malware 10 and Emsisoft Internet Security 10.

The headline news is a dramatic cut in scan times, with a typical “Malware Scan” (aka the “Smart Scan” in previous editions) dropping from 13 minutes to 24 seconds.

How has this amazing feat been achieved? The release notes talk about changes to “the way the dual-scan engine reads files from disk”, in particular reading data in “the most effective way for low memory usage”, although we’d hazard a guess that it’s now reading less data, too.

A new Behaviour Blocker panel lists running programs, and optionally filters out trusted processes to help you spot potential threats.

What’s not changed: Emsisoft Anti-Malware is still free for personal use, and still runs on XP

Emsisoft’s scheduler has become much more flexible. You’re able to run scans at regular brief intervals, to a daily/ weekly/ monthly calendar, on system events like startup or shutdown, or even set up multiple scan tasks to provide the precise protection level you need.

A new Privacy Panel gives complete control over all privacy-related settings. Looking up the reputation of programs may help detect malware, for instance, but it also records which software you’re running, and when. If you don’t think the trade-off is worth it, then you can disable the feature here.

Enhancements elsewhere include smarter installation, more transparency over updates, a simplified user interface and “dozens” of other tweaks “under the hood”.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware 10 and Emsisoft Internet Security 10 are available now for Windows XP and later.