I’ve been using the McAfee that came with my computer, but it’s about to expire. What do you all think is the best package out there for fighting malware? Free is good, but I’d be willing to pay a bit for something that’s really worth it.
McAfee certainly IS going to expire, once the thugs on the Belize police force find him. At least according to him. Here 
And I use AVG and have no problems with it.
Is MS security essentials safe to use? I recently switched to it from Avast, just to see what it was like, and it seems to be OK, but what do I know.
It’s probably the best option right no, in my opinion. Free, low overhead, unobtrusive, and the virus definition library is very quickly and regularly updated.
In my experience, Avast and Microsoft Security Essentials both work well (and work as well or better than any pay software I’ve personally tried) and they both are not resource hogs. I can’t see any reason to recommend one over the other.
I used to run AVG but got rid of it when it started getting too bloated and became a bit too much of a resource hog.
Microsoft Forefront (pay) which we use at work makes my system run like a snail on sedatives for about half an hour every day. It’s the worst resource hog of any antivirus I have used.
I’ve had problems with McAfee and Norton both not being terribly effective at stopping viruses.
Trend Micro (pay) also works very well and doesn’t hog resources. If you are going to use pay software this is the one I would recommend. I wish we would go back to this at work. My system ran a lot better with it.
I am perfectly happy with my eset smart security 5.
If it’s for a home network, then you don’t need any security suite or package like McAffee, Avast, Kasperskym Trend Micro etc.
Most of it’s overpriced, over-hyped bloat ware that doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do yourself.
For that matter, the same could be said of Windows Firewall.
Things to note :
-Your modem/router has your primary firewall and main defense system built in naturally.
-The disabling of Windows Services such as ‘remote registry’ and similar will render a lot of virii useless even should you get one on the system.
-Malware and spyware which hijack your system through web browser security holes, can be reduced by how you handle your web browser settings and your Windows Hosts file.
Plan of action:
- Look into Black Viper’s service glossary and recommended settings for XP/Vista/Win7. This will help you remove the crucial services that are a security risk.
Black Viper's Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations - Black Viper | BlackViper.Com - Find a program called Hostsman. Run it, use it’s update feature and let it take care of your Hosts file.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Misc-Networking-Tools/HostsMan.shtml - Download Microsoft Security Scanner and scan your system manually about once a week.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx *
*If you want a more in-depth Security program, Microsoft also makes Security Essentials.
This should be all you need and it’s free.
If you want to learn about what the Hosts file actually does, there’s plenty of information out there and I find it’s important to know because the hosts file might block some websites you like to use. In order to change this, it is really simple - you need of course to know where to make the adjustments!
That’s much like my experience. I was using AVG with Chrome for maybe 10 years. Performance eventually began to slowly degrade and they were the processes causing it so I switched to Avast and Firefox about 12 - 18 months ago. Everything is back to cruising if only I can work out the intermittent craziness with plugin-container.
I use Unthreat AV and I’m pretty happy with it. It doesn’t slow my computer much and is really easy to use.
Norton 360 works fine for me. Been using it for 4 years.
I’ve used both AVG and Avast over the years and never had any particular problems with them, though I eventually dumped both because they seemed to become bloated and started hogging resources. I’m currently using Microsoft Security Essentials and have no complaints.
I’ve used Avira for a long time with no complaints.
I’d also suggest browsing inside a sandbox program like Sandboxie. That will keep your browser safely contained in a “sandbox” rather than letting it have access to write files/viruses/whatever anywhere on your hard drive.
Thanks for all the advice, guys. Based on the consensus above, I’ll probably use MS essentials.
I am of the opinion that no single AV can protect adequately.
Here is my preferred PC load out:
- Malware Bytes
- Spyware Blaster
- AVG Free
- CC Cleaner
- TDSKiller (for rootkits)