Anti Virus

[ScoobyDoo{KEA}]

hi all im after a good free anti virus prog that i can download anyone know a real good one? i keep getting bloody pop ups when surfing even though ive pop up blocker turned on.ive run the latest adaware and it says i have a worm or summat,ive removed this but i think it keeps coming back/// anyway whats a good anti virus to use cheers

 

[TdC]

I use avg mate. it will also scan your email for you. AVG Free Advisor - Free antivirus and anti-spyware downloads

for popups, well, I use firefox with ABP and there are no pop-ups

 

[ScoobyDoo{KEA}]

cheers bud,ill give that avg a go.

 

[dysfunction]

Have you got windows defender running?

Windows Defender home

May be worth having that as well...

 

[caLLous]

NOD32, thanks to an earlier thread on this place.

 

[ScoobyDoo{KEA}]

ran avg it found 17 viruses....15 trogans and 2 worms lol.and im still getting bloody pop up with avg running .

 

[dysfunction]

Use that windows defender as well ffs!!

 

[Mazling]

Kaspersky has a firewall as well as AV. End of all problems for me. A good AV will not replace a sane user

 

[ScoobyDoo{KEA}]

got defender running as well now cheers dys.only thing though it keeps finding bloody spyware and asking me to restart computer all the time.ive rerun avg and have it running in the sys tray and it says my comp is virus free,god knows lol.

 

[Kryten]

One thing to note is that there is not one single package to do it all. Well there *are*, but 1. they're no good and 2. they're worse than no good.

For general all round protection, I normally advise (and install) :

AV : AVG or NOD32 at home, Sophos or Norton Corporate for business
FIREWALL : Kerio Personal Firewall + whatever's in your router.
SPY/MALWARE : Ad-Aware (but avoid 2007 unless you're masochistic/like AOL) AND Spybot Search & Destroy.

AVOID :
Defender. It's dreadful and as about as effective as a catflap in an elephant house.
Norton/Symantec products in general - other than the special/cut down Corporate versions, they're bloatier than a fat man at an Eat All You Like meal and about as effective as that cat flap, again.
ZoneAlarm : has gone the way of AOLism unfortunatley.

And of course as was said previously - the best protection is the object sitting between the chair and the keyboard. For reference, I don't have any of the above installed - I do a monthly install-and-run just to be on teh safe side. The last virus I've got was in the early 90's and was for DOS, but spyware - it gets everywhere, and without scanning every day, theres bugger all you can do about it really. More nasty cookies than the reject bins at McVities.

 

[WiZe^]

Avast!
avast! antivirus software - computer virus, worm and Trojan protection by ALWIL Software
free progy for personal users

 

[Mazling]

One thing to note is that there is not one single package to do it all. Well there *are*, but 1. they're no good and 2. they're worse than no good.

Kaspersky - integrated firewall/AV and much more - has rated very highly in all sorts of comparisons. edit: But isn't free.

 

[Jonty]

Hi guys

Some very good suggestions. I have nothing else to add expect that I'm with Kryten on this issue: the best protection is yourself.

I also don't have any security software installed because I got fed up with it being so bloated and slowing down my system (although Defender runs in the background on Vista). In truth, I don't open suspect email attachments, I don't visit dodgy websites, I don't use pirated software etc. If you just take a common sense approach to these things then there's no reason you shouldn't stay safe.

Kind regards

 

[Kryten]

Mazling : I've found it good in the past, but it is a jack of all trades and it's not entirely effective as a decent package should be.
If you like it by all means stick with it - but I'd never trust it on it's own - so many different programs pick up/ignore so many different nasties, theres very little consistency between them.

I am a little biased on the issue as I don't use any of it, but when installing people's PC I tend to work on cost and effectiveness, which is why AVG rates so highly. It's not brilliant on it's own, just like any other AV program, but it suffices for day to day protection.

 

[dysfunction]

I do a monthly install-and-run just to be on teh safe side.

How do you do go about doing that while keeping all your documents, e-mails, downloads, program settings etc etc etc...

 

[Moriath]

i think he means he installs the anti virus pros once a month and ruuns them

not re installs the o/s

 

[Kryten]

That's right - AVG, SpyBot S&D and AdAware Pro at the end of each month.
Never any viral issues and I don't expect to get any, unless my wife decides to try downloading dodgy stuff.
Always loads of apparent spyware and nasty cookies though, I've come to accept that as 100% unavoidable - for the strictes of users it may be, but as I often *have* to visit a few dodgy sites now and then, it's unavoidable.

But just in case the worst happens, I do keep up to date ghost images of all 3 of my OS's on a separate HDD as well as running backups of important stuff on both USB storage and DVDs.

 

[Mazling]

That's right - AVG, SpyBot S&D and AdAware Pro at the end of each month.

I don't solely rely on Kaspersky - spybot s&d, adaware, hijackthis and a few other things are run once a week here

 

[MYstIC G]

Use that windows defender as well ffs!!

Windows defender is as useful as drinking sand in a desert.