Wanted: Good antivirus software.

[DoctorObviously]

I'm kinda in a hurry so I'll write this down pretty quick. I've had trouble with malware like viruses and spyware, but I'm so sick and tired of paying good money for antivirus programs and still those little fucks come through. It's been a year ago since I last pirated ANYTHING, I mean that. I have firefox with the WOT. I don't go to sites where I'm not supposed to go, I'm not downloading things I don't know or are not certified. The only things I only download are from Steam (as in games), or the occasional YouTube video or GameTrailers/Escapist web page. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do to keep them off my back? I've tried Norton Antivirus, but people told me to stay away from it, I'm using Panda Antivirus but that seems to give me problems as well! (Internet Resident Proxy or something) I don't feel like trusting an Antivirus that can be downloaded from the web. What can I do? Please help!

 

[Reed Spacer]

<a href=http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free> AVG

 

[haruvister]

<a href=http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free> AVG

Thread closed.

 

[Lyx]

1. Common Sense 2.0

2. BACKUPS!

3. BACKUPS!

4. BACKUPS!

5. If you're up for a bit of effort, then you can make the system (not the data like docs, images, etc) bulletproof: Apps exist that can make it so that any changes made to the system are just temporary and discarded on the next boot. With such apps, you could delete half your windows directory, yet on a reboot, you'd see that none of this actually happened.

The way how you'd use such a setup is this: When you get new software, you first install it while the system is in protected mode. If the software turns out evil, or you decide that you do not like it, just reboot, and everything will be back to as it had been at your previous boot. This way, you could "test drive" software, and it would be technically impossible for it to do any damage to the system, because nothing that happens during this "session" is permanent. when you then decide that you trust the software, you reboot into unprotected mode, install the software again (this time its permanent because the system is in unprotected mode), and then reboot again into protected mode.

If you're willing to put up with the additional effort of such a setup, you dont need any resident antimalware app at all - because while in protected mode, nothing that happens to the system is permanent - the system simply cannot change across reboots. A non-resident on-demand malware scanner may however be useful to check your pics, docs, etc one per week or so.

6. Install a resident anti-malware software again, see your system go to a crawl, be annoyed by false positives, and disappointed again when you learn once more, that it is technically impossible for malware to be detected reliably. I can write you a batchfile in 3mins that will wreak havoc on your system, and no malware scanner will notice it - because: A malware scanner either needs to be told exactly what to match, or it needs to guess via heuristics.... but for things like file-deletes and so on, it is not possible for a machine to know if you actually want this to happen, or if its against your wishes.

 

[Leg End]

<a href=http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free> AVG

+ Malwarebytes = You are unstoppable.

 

[hazabaza1]

AVG.
Norton Antivirus.
Malware terminator (I think it is)

 

[Mondai Randy]

AVG for sure and aVast

 

[Leg End]

AVG.
Norton Antivirus.
Malware terminator (I think it is)

Norton is evil. It gives too many false positives.

Plus, there is no such thing as Malware Terminator.

 

[shadyh8er]

I use Avast. The only downside is that you get this annoying voice that says "Virus database has been updated" at random moments. But hey, I'd take that over a virus any day.

 

[hazabaza1]

AVG.
Norton Antivirus.
Malware terminator (I think it is)

Norton is evil. It gives too many false positives.

Plus, there is no such thing as Malware Terminator.

Yeah, I meant what you said. Malwarebytes.
I haven't virus checked in a long time, could you tell?

 

[Leg End]

AVG.
Norton Antivirus.
Malware terminator (I think it is)

Norton is evil. It gives too many false positives.

Plus, there is no such thing as Malware Terminator.

Yeah, I meant what you said. Malwarebytes.
I haven't virus checked in a long time, could you tell?

Ehh, not really.

Though, if this wasn't The Escapist, you would likely have been called a heathen and been killed with fire.

[sub]Not by me, of course.[/sub]

 

[Chased]

I'd go with Comodo. A massive security behemoth that's available for free.

 

[XzarTheMad]

I prefer Avast to AVG because of Avast running a continuous scan. With AVG, I experienced having to do weekly scans that would take upwards of several hours to complete. It's thorough, definitely, but slow. At least back when I used it.

Also, Spybot Search & Destroy for spyware.

 

[AWAR]

Panda is the worst antivirus out there, if you don't want to worry about viruses anymore go buy NOD32.
If you are too cheap to buy another antivirus get AVG, although it will slow down your pc and all in all is not very effective.

 

[hazabaza1]

AVG.
Norton Antivirus.
Malware terminator (I think it is)

Norton is evil. It gives too many false positives.

Plus, there is no such thing as Malware Terminator.

Yeah, I meant what you said. Malwarebytes.
I haven't virus checked in a long time, could you tell?

Ehh, not really.

Though, if this wasn't The Escapist, you would likely have been called a heathen and been killed with fire.

[sub]Not by me, of course.[/sub]

True. True. That's why I like this place. Statistics show that you are 30% less likely to get your dick ripped off here than anywhere else!

 

[Inconnu24]

With NoScript installed in Firefox; Spybot - Search & Destroy with it's Teatimer application, browser immunities, and hosts file protection; and Microsoft Security Essentials my computer stays very clean. Oh, and a hearty use of common sense helps too.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

Avast free-version + Malewarebytes = The ability to defend and fight off pretty much anything the internet may try to throw at you. And you don't have to pay a single dollar/pound/euro/*insert currency here*.

If you absolutely HAVE to buy an anti-virus in a store, though, I'd suggest Kaspersky. Unlike something like Norton or McAffe, it's the only one that's really worth spending any sort of money on.

 

[Skuffyshootster]

I use Avast. The only downside is that you get this annoying voice that says "Virus database has been updated" at random moments. But hey, I'd take that over a virus any day.

I like the voice, it makes me feel like I'm living in the future.

I'd go with Avast, as that's what I use, but I'm sure AVG is wonderful as well.

 

[Zipa]

Kaspersky, never lets me down.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Don't go with AVG. It's done poorly in the yearly tests for quite a while now. Instead, you should use either Avast or Avira, which are both excellent at taking care of viruses, and back it up with malwarebytes and/or superantispyware, which cover malware. There's also something called rkill, which I've seen mentioned in a few threads on the subject as kind of a last resort in cases where a virus gets through; you might want to look into that as well.