Anti virus

[The Rogue Wolf]

Another vote for Avast! here. Which, by the way, you can silence. (There's an option in its settings screen.)

Remember, antivirus software is only one part of what should be a multilayered (anti-virus, firewall/router, updated software AT THE MINIMUM) defense!

 

[TikiShades]

Malwarebytes Malwarebytes Malwarebytes

While it won't protect you from viruses, if you ever get a virus, this thing will remove it.

 

[Low Key]

I use AVG Free.

You want a good Anti-Virus program... Huh. You should try Linux.

Linux is damn near impossible to hack, but it's still quite susceptible to viruses, especially if you are downloading whatever happens to come your way.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I use AVG/Avast, you can never be to careful...

 

[Aristol]

I've found the best antivirus to be exclusively downloading from trusted sites and sources.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of gauze and adhesive tape" - Groucho Marx

I've tried to follow this as much as possible. But my computer is in a semi public part of my apartment and my room mate has been downloading a bunch of random shit as of late. Which is another problem of its own.

Also, thanks for the replies. I'll check some of these out.

 

[Stevato]

AVG, which i reccomend

 

[Perwer]

I don't use an Anti-Virus. Just don't click anything stupid and keep your firewall up and running and you should be fine until the next re installation of your OS. You should format your system partition every now and again anyway. But if you are going to get one get AVG.

 

[Bagaloo]

I have used AVG free for quite some time now, and its adequate.
I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but as far as I can tell it does the job nicely.

Just make sure you follow:

I've found the best antivirus to be exclusively downloading from trusted sites and sources.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of gauze and adhesive tape" - Groucho Marx

As well and you will be golden.

 

[CrafterMan]

Bullguard, stole it from work

-Joe

(Playing as a khajit DOES pay off)

 

[Korey Von Doom]

Well mines not free and not cheap, Norton360, I don't know how I survived without it.

 

[Lyri]

I use Spyware Terminator. It's a free anti-virus and anti-spyware all in one. I did a test between AVG, Spyware Doctor and Spyware terminator. Spyware Terminator did the job 100% better than both of them. AVG and Spyware Doctor spotted 10 things on my computer. Spyware Terminator found 1,439.

Surely Spyware Terminator is looking for Spyware...
AVG is antivirus, the other two are spyware check.

Plus I'd be careful, I've had a similar situation where the programme itself dumped the spyware on my computer.

I haven't updated my anti virus program in quite some time (I think I've got some old version of antivir). I was wondering what people around these parts were using that's either free or pretty cheap.

AVG or Avast are you best bets for free, if you don't mind spending a few coins then Nod32 is your friend.

 

[historybuff]

A use AVG, free edition and a version of Norton I got from a friend of mine. As a combo, they have never failed.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I have SpySweeper. The only problem I have is the occasional pop up that tells me that I have no viruses, but it's worth it. Not sure how much it is, but it's definitely not expensive.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I've seen a lot of AVG recommendations and the word "free" thrown around and wonder "Can I download said anti virus in the convenience of my own home?"

 

[Mephisteus]

NOD32 Antivirus. Works pretty well.

That, lightweight and fast

I've found the best antivirus to be exclusively downloading from trusted sites and sources.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of gauze and adhesive tape" - Groucho Marx

Which means jack all if the trusted site was compromised, even disregarding any browser based exploits that float around.

Defence in depth and all that.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

I had Norton, which failed me epicly when, upon warning me it had intercepted a trojan, decided to let it loose on my harddrive to rape all my files.

I have NOD32 now. uses less resources, nice and sleek interface, does the job nicely.

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

I use three things. NOD32 for viruses. Prev x for Trojans. Xoftspy for spyware. On a side note I have a little story to tell you kids about the dangers of Trojans. About a week after Christmas I decided to OC my computer for no reason other than to do it. It was going fine till I decided I needed a program to stress test my CPU. So I looked around and found one that every one recommended, PRIME 95. So I Googled it and hit the download button. Instantly I knew something was wrong, NOD 32 detected a threat and quarantined it. Now for some reason and I don't know why I decided to open up Prime 95 and that's when the fun began! After about 5 minutes of testing my CPU Firefox decided to open up, I was a bit confused and closed it. Then two more popped up. So I restarted my computer and BAM! 10 popped up.

So I decided to uninstall the program and check NOD 32 for that trojan that was quarantined.It was but it wasn't working but I had no time for my Dad was screaming for me to dig snow. So I did for about an hour than I cam back. To my shock I now had 5 more Trojans installed on my computer. So I tried everything but nothing was working, it was smart enough to block almost every other virus/ trojan blocker and I was stuck. So I decided to power down my computer until I had the proper software to fight this mother fucker. About two weeks later one of my WoW junkies came over my house because he was grounded and wanted to play WoW. I said no because any connection to the internet will open me up with more infections. So being the ass he is he decided that my computer was not as important as his cooking dailies and while I was taking a shower I played WoW as I was loaded up with 15 more trojans. After I yelled at him and told him to GTFO, I decided I needed to backdoor the trojans with a smaller lesser known anti- whatever program to delete the infections that were stopping me from installing the powerful ones. So I did, and thats how I got Prev x and Xoftspy! Now if that didn't put you to sleep the only other solution is a bullet in the head.

I had Norton, which failed me epicly when, upon warning me it had intercepted a trojan, decided to let it loose on my harddrive to rape all my files.

I have NOD32 now. uses less resources, nice and sleek interface, does the job nicely.

Hmmm thats what happened to me except it was NOD that let it loose.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Depends whether you want to pay for it or not.

If you're willing to splash the cash, Eset NOD32 is the best consumer antivirus program on the market, high detection rate on both heuristic and database scanning (scanning based on known viruses or based on behaviour for viruses not yet in the update list), low false positive rate, low system performance impact, the works. (It's the only one that got the full three star rating in AV Comparitives' reviews for all three sections)

If you're not willing to pay, Avira Antivir is the best free offering. Extremely high detection rate for known threats and good heuristic detection of new threats, but at the cost of quite a high false positive rate, and middling system performance impact.

Also: Do not use more than one antivirus program at the same time. As they will both be attempting to scan everything at the same time, you will multiply the impact they have on your system performance, and at worst their heuristic engines will pick each other up as suspect behaviour. Choose one and stick with it, run it alongside an on-demand only spyware scanner like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

AVG and Spyware Doctor spotted 10 things on my computer. Spyware Terminator found 1,439.

Depends how they list things, and what they look for. Antivirus programs won't remove BHOs and other annoying nonsense (MyWebSearch, etc), and they usually list one infection as one item, whereas spyware removers tend to list one file/registry key as one item. For instance, MyWebSearch is detected in Malwarebytes as around 200 "infections", whereas it's actually all one thing.

Some spyware programs are super-paranoid about tracking cookies as well, which seem to inflate their number of detections.

Also, Spyware Terminator will throw up false positives, so watch out for what it's doing.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Hmmm thats what happened to me except it was NOD that let it loose.

Antivirus programs generally won't stop trojans, because they are user initiated.

When the trojan was detected in the Prime95 package, you shouldn't have run it. You let it loose.

 

[A random person]

I use Spyware Terminator. It's a free anti-virus and anti-spyware all in one. I did a test between AVG, Spyware Doctor and Spyware terminator. Spyware Terminator did the job 100% better than both of them. AVG and Spyware Doctor spotted 10 things on my computer. Spyware Terminator found 1,439.

Either you go to a lot of questionable sites, or Spyware Terminator is making a lot of false positives.

As for me, I use Norton. Works for me in combination with not using Internet Explorer 6 (I learned the hard way not to use it, the very, very hard way).