Trend Micro was the first one I had (got scared into paying some ridiculous price for it, when I knew zilch about viruses etc). It was rubbish. I now use Avast!, ABP and Malwarebytes. Have not looked back.
Avast does the job just fine for me, but I also run ZoneAlarm, Firefox with Noscript, and the occasional malware sweep.
No love for AVG?
So the general consensus I am feeling here is to double up on Avast and Microsoft? It works for me especially cuz they’re both free (That rhymed! I’m a poet and I am not aware of that simple fact)
MSE. I’ve been using it for years and recommend to everyone I know. It’s free, lightweight, and well worth a try.
MSE. I’ve been using it for years and recommend to everyone I know. It’s free, lightweight, and well worth a try.
I wouldn’t double up anti-virus - they’re more likely to clash with each other and slow down your machine.
I’d say pick one each of the following:
- AV
- Firewall (I use the built in one for Windows 7)
- Antispyware (MSE includes this, and it supercedes the built in Windows Defender.)
- Maybe a program monitoring device - I use Winpatrol http://www.winpatrol.com/ - as a sort of souped up User Authentication monitor. Leaving UAC on, while annoying, is good advice for most people.
- Optional - don’t make your everyday account, an admin-enabled account. This only works if you have vista or win7 but it’s good advice, too.
- If you’re really paranoid, do a full sweep with Malwarebytes before you install anything else.
Malwarebytes found one or two things that slipped by MSE.
between those 2 I haven’t had any problems at all with my new laptop and I have been know to occasionally visit some ahem questionable sites.
Avast coupled with Malwarebytes has never let me down in the 3-4 years I’ve been using them in tandem. I really don’t think you need more protection than that unless you make a habit of regularly visiting ultra-skeevy websites.
This is the kind of puritanical attitude that gave us the dark ages. Let he who is without skeeve cast the first key logger.
While this is generally true, there is always the chance that a legit site will get jacked or that you will fall for a link in a bogus but apparently legit email. Of course just running noscript will save your bacon in most of these instances, but not always. And once infected, it may be a while before the updates to your AV software catches up and even then it may not be able to completely remove the infection. In the meantime, everything on your computer is freely accessible to the hacker including bank passwords, personal info, etc.
I do actually visit some dubious sites from time to time which is the reason for my paranoia. If I were a good boy I would have less to worry about, but where is the fun in that?
Even with 4 layers of protection, I always act as if my rigs are infected. I use Lastpass to fill in passwords or use the onscreen keyboard when LP won’t work on a given site (since monitoring software can’t easily capture which keys you are clicking on with your mouse)
No, you don’t want to use two anti-viruses simultaneously. It wouldn’t even be a good idea to have two antivirus programs on your PC. There’s less chance of conflicts arising with more modern PCs than there used to be but I wouldn’t chance it.
I use Avira and I’ve found it to be the best overall and it has the best detection rate out of the other free programs. Some info:
http://www.spywarenews.org/2011/01/avg-vs-avira-vs-avast-free-antivirus-review/
I love it. can I use this?
all true; even worse is that it’s been really common for ad servers to get compromised, so you go to a perfectly legitimate site but a malicious ad will own your ass.
Malwarebytes is really good, but I’ve never run them on an everyday basis. You definitely want a firewall, even if you skip the other stuff I mentioned.
I also have (and always use) a payprogram called “Slow PC fighter”…one of those disk driver cleanup programs. It is an absolute GODSEND. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.
I’m not familiar with that program but here is a free program that cleans up your registry, empties recycle bins and temp files plus has several other useful features like an uninstaller.
Piriform’s CCleaner - Speed up, optimize and clean your PC for free | CCleaner for PC
It’s not as intensive as some dedicated registry cleaners, but personally I think that is a good thing. Some of those programs can be overly aggressive and once you fubar the registry you may as well bend over. OK, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, especially if you know your way around under the hood. But regardless, I’ve used CCleaner’s registry cleaner numerous times and never had a problem. Plus it gives you the option of backing the registry up first just in case.
Sir T-Cups,
If I was you I would look at the state of your PC first, ie start with a clean slate.
OK, first download CCleaner from Piriform run it, let it do it’s magic.
Secondly, download JKDefrag and set both system and device disks, (if you are running more than 1 Disk or partition) to monthly … and make a cup of Tea.
Thirdly have a look at Housecall65, (essentialy an on-line scan from Trend Micro)
When you’re happy download Avira, ZoneAlarm, Spybot S&D, Mallware Antibytes etc.
Best cure is a prevention, so practice a little restaint?
I can’t tell you, or anyone else, what not to do, but as a rule if it looks too good to be true…
Peter
still running Avast and Malwarebytes on an old XP machine. Everything else just has MSE, Malwarebytes and Admuncher. No problems yet.
I had CCleaner on my machine for a while, and it was pretty nifty. But my much-more-tech-savvy-than-I friends told me it can be dangerous to have on your machine, and that you can do most of its functions without. Dunno the truth of it…
Ccleaner won’t remove viruses.
I wasn’t thinking it did, but it was mentioned in the thread, people obviously know a bit more about it than I do, so I asked a qurestion about it.
I think you’re giving your friend more credit than he/she deserves. CCleaner is in no way dangerous. The only exceptions would be if you don’t take the default settings and start trying to second guess it.
For example, when it returns a list of files to delete, there will be other groups of files that are grayed out. You can override this if you know what you’re doing. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can do some real damage. The same goes for running the registry cleaner and probably some other utilities I’m not thinking of at the moment.