Advice on antivirus/firewall protection

[bellevuebully]

Just bought my wife a laptop for home use and being a total illiterate at these things, have no idea what products are the best for use as antivirus, antispam, etc. It's a pc.

Any suggestions? A guy at work said there is a really effective one for free on the net.....something like AGV or something???

tia

[loky]

I use free AVG it works perfect. I've also come to the conclusion firewalls are useless if they want to hack your computer and got a bit of skill that little firewall isn't going to mean anything to them. So i only use AVG and thats it.

[Dogman]

Have been using Microsoft security essentials for the past few months and I like it. Also it is free.
If you are using a windows op system. Have used other free a/v programs and they are also good
avast is another good av program.

Used to pay good money (?) for commercial software McAfee and Norton and I will never again.
They both bloat and slow down the systems they run on.

Ms security essentials on my win 7 laptop is doing well and stays in the background I have been surfing a lot of sites and have been attacked a lot and still clean the a/v is doing its job.

[bellevuebully]

loky and dogman,

I'm a little embarrased to say, but I don't even know if this pc had something factory installed. I do get an icon like a shield asking for permission to install things. Obviously I say no. Will installing other freeware over top of this cause any operation issues? Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the f/b.

[gunDriller]

i suggest following MechBgon's security advice -
http://mechbgon.com/
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

pretty simple, what he says.

* paying attention to what account you're using
* anti-virus ==>
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/
* anti-spyware ==>
http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
* watch your firewall, i.e. mostly on unless you need to turn it off for a file transfer.

[bellevuebully]

i suggest following MechBgon's security advice -
http://mechbgon.com/
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

pretty simple, what he says.

* paying attention to what account you're using
* anti-virus ==>
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/
* anti-spyware ==>
http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
* watch your firewall, i.e. mostly on unless you need to turn it off for a file transfer.


Thanks for that. Btw I just checked....there is ms security essentials installed. Should this be scrubbed or just left to run in the b/g?

[Dogman]

i suggest following MechBgon's security advice -
http://mechbgon.com/
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html

pretty simple, what he says.

* paying attention to what account you're using
* anti-virus ==>
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/
* anti-spyware ==>
http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html
* watch your firewall, i.e. mostly on unless you need to turn it off for a file transfer.


Thanks for that. Btw I just checked....there is ms security essentials installed. Should this be scrubbed or just left to run in the b/g?



If you have it running great- leave it alone and let it do its job. you are covered. ;D

So far ms security essentials is working great for me..

So do not tinker or jack with anything, you said you do not know much about computers and the best way to screw one up is to screw with the software settings if you do not know what you are doing.

If it isn't broke do not try to fix it..

[madfranks]

ZoneAlarm free firewall. It lets you set permissions for every single program to access the net or not. Keep programs like itunes and microsoft word from having constant internet access, and if on the off chance you get a trojan or keylogger virus, they won't be able to access the net without your permission. It takes a little customization to get your program settings and notifications set up, but it's well worth it.

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm

[Ash_Williams]

I use Avira now because AVG became too bloated and slow and was crashing the PC. Avira has an annoying daily thing asking you to upgrade but disabling it is very easy and then you have a free virus checker with possibly the best detection rate and none of the slowdown of AVG.

[JDRock]

I use Avira now because AVG became too bloated and slow and was crashing the PC. Avira has an annoying daily thing asking you to upgrade but disabling it is very easy and then you have a free virus checker with possibly the best detection rate and none of the slowdown of AVG.


ditto that ,also go to majorgeeks.com and download ccleaner slim and sygate personal firewall as well as
malewarebytes....that oughtta dooya...set the ccleaner to gutman34 ;D wouldnt hurt to get index.dat anylizer as well.

[k-os]

Be careful when installing anti virus / firewall software. More is NOT better. In fact, installing multiple programs can cause conflicts, leaving your computer more vulnerable than before.

[bellevuebully]

Generic thanks for future posters. I feel like skank pushing that button over and over. ;D

I'm gonna stick with dogs idea for the moment. Although, I can feel my pc is bogged down slightly already and it's only been operating a couple of weeks. Settings maybe.

And I agree with you k-os, I've had conflicts with norton and mcaffee before.......reboot.

thanks again. I'll weigh the results

[JDRock]

I use Avira now because AVG became too bloated and slow and was crashing the PC. Avira has an annoying daily thing asking you to upgrade but disabling it is very easy and then you have a free virus checker with possibly the best detection rate and none of the slowdown of AVG.


ditto that ,also go to majorgeeks.com and download ccleaner slim and sygate personal firewall as well as
malewarebytes....that oughtta dooya...set the ccleaner to gutman34 ;D wouldnt hurt to get index.dat anylizer as well.


let me explain...be sure to completely UN INSTALL and delete any traces and hidden files/events logs etc from your old anti virus..
ccleaner is probably the most important multi use tool for pc's ever invented. a MUST have.

avira is simply the best free anti virus program out there ( that im aware of)

malewarebytes is to use only IN CASE something gets in your computer.

index.dat anylizer actually SHOWS you the files being scrubbed.

sygate, while the popups are a pain in the ass, the ability to see the ip addresses trying to access your computer, plus the ability to backtrace and see who the MF'ers are is...priceless! my thanx to Book for showing me this.

[Book]

let me explain...be sure to completely UN INSTALL and delete any traces and hidden files/events logs etc from your old anti virus..
CCleaner is probably the most important multi use tool for pc's ever invented. a MUST have...

...Sygate, while the popups are a pain in the ass, the ability to see the ip addresses trying to access your computer, plus the ability to backtrace and see who the MF'ers are is...priceless! my thanx to Book for showing me this.



Yep. CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/) is the best free program out there. It will clean all the debris left behind after any program uninstall. It also will automatically overwrite all deleted files 7-pass NSA so the FBI can't read them. It also easily disables all those pesky programs in the Start Menu that bog down your computer. CCleaner by far is my favorite free program.

Sygate 5.6 Firewall (http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160) is great for Windows XP machines because you can easily "Trace Back" whoever is attacking you. It is free and works great with Windows XP but does not work with Windows 7.

NoScript (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722/) addon for Firefox stops cooties from entering your computer before your anti-virus has to remove them.

I am happy using the free Avast (http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?part=dl-85737&subj=dl&tag=button) anti-virus program.

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[kregener]

DO NOT run more than one security program. Totally remove one before installing another.

I run AVG (used to pay, but now run free) and Comodo Firewall. I also have Ccleaner and run it manually every 2 or 3 weeks or so.

No problems here, no bog down, no viruses, nothing.

For almost 4 years.

[MAGNES]

I use Avira now because AVG became too bloated and slow and was crashing the PC. Avira has an annoying daily thing asking you to upgrade but disabling it is very easy and then you have a free virus checker with possibly the best detection rate and none of the slowdown of AVG.


ditto that ,also go to majorgeeks.com and download ccleaner slim and sygate personal firewall as well as
malewarebytes....that oughtta dooya...set the ccleaner to gutman34 ;D wouldnt hurt to get index.dat anylizer as well.


Listen to JDR, I did, I had a major bug a couple of years ago, I dropped avg and now use Avira,
it is free and it is better than garbage people pay for like Kaperasky something, crap like that,
I have all the msft stuff turned off, I use sygate too, again JDR reminded me of it, zone alarm
sucks major balls, got rid of that, I have a few other thing running using firefox, they do wonders,
like noscript addon, also have ADP addblock addon, refcontrol addon , TACO addon ,
targetted advertising cookie op out, it gets rid of java cookies, it is free, works great, I also have
some great cleaning software that gets rid of bloat, big log files all over your computer,
called KMCS deluxe system suite, it is free, disk clean up shows you all the logs , many ,
Malware bytes is free too, that program saved my bacon, I had major bug nobody could fix,
not even spyware forums, many had it, I used a few paid versions of software, nothing worked,
that Kaperasky software people pay for is garbage. I love firefox too, I wish we had vb here.
Adaware the free version is good too, got too bloated lately. MAXA cookie manager is great too. Gets rid of java cookies, also surf with script and java off if you can, have handy addon, quickjava for that, have stealthier addon too, doesn't show me much though. I am very careful with my addons. CCcleaner is good too, I have regcure too, same type thing, good too, the best one I like is KMCS reg supreme pro, removes registry bloat very well, old reliable program, made by the same people above, the deluxe suite that gets rid of all your fat logs on your system, and shows them to you. I have used many programs over the years, be careful of new ones. Also on firewalls, I have
tried many, once use ZA, I dumped it fast, was great, now sh*t, they do things to your computer now.

I mentioned 2 programs above that get rid of java cookies, one is an addon to ff, other is free
program. When you have a cookie program it does not get rid of java cookies, people have no
clue their system is full of these, my maxa cookie manager alone got rid of 844 + of them in
1.5 years, there are 3 from IE that it cannot remove for some reason.

Again at JDR, research .dat files. msft is spying on all of us building logs as we finger google.

I did a poor job of presentation above, just banged this off, got to go.

Book, JDR have best advice above and WildCard too had good advice and finds.

I have add remove plus too, registry crawler, and dirsnoop a great little program,
be very careful with registry programs,
even when you remove programs they are still there, files, even names .
Free version of kremlin sentry and kremlin wipe is great too.

Am I paranoid, the above helped me remove crap msft installed,
that created problems, I also save what happened in folder,
all these problems are still out there for people.

Specific forums are great, if you have a problem, 1,000 people
are already talking about it online, my experience.

[Book]

Book, JDR have best advice above and WildCard too had good advice and finds.



http://media.bestofmicro.com/dsl-modem-condom,6-M-193342-13.jpg

Magnes must be the most protected GSUSer we have...lol.

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[Glass]

I've used PC tools A/V in the past but the last version was very annoying so I replaced it with avast. I like avasts lo-fi approach. PC tools firewall is still good though. AVG free is also good.

[etc]

I had an annoying worm on my Windows XP machine. Struggled with it for weeks. Was close to doing a complete reinstall of the OS.
It would delete a critical DLL file in c:\windows\system32

Without that DLL, nothing would run, the browser would crash often. The virus program would not run, msconfig would not run, DOS prompt would not run.
I would download the file put it in place, it would rename it instantly.

Kaspersky anti-virus was useless. it's the only thing I used to run. Maybe it was out of date.

Finally downloaded some Windows Malicious software removal tool and it cleaned it up pretty well. It came as part of the automatic update thing, I didn't know about its existence.

I had Windows wiped out 2-3 times in the last several years. *With* a firewall enabled. It's the OS most vulnerable to viruses. You need a lot of add-ons to make it semi-safe. They cannot get it right, still. Want to try Windows 7 to see if they made any improvements.
This kind of thing just doesn't happen with Unix, Linux for example.

[Dogman]

I had an annoying worm on my Windows XP machine. Struggled with it for weeks. Was close to doing a complete reinstall of the OS.
It would delete a critical DLL file in c:\windows\system32

Without that DLL, nothing would run, the browser would crash often. The virus program would not run, msconfig would not run, DOS prompt would not run.
I would download the file put it in place, it would rename it instantly.

Kaspersky anti-virus was useless. it's the only thing I used to run. Maybe it was out of date.

Finally downloaded some Windows Malicious software removal tool and it cleaned it up pretty well. It came as part of the automatic update thing, I didn't know about its existence.

I had Windows wiped out 2-3 times in the last several years. *With* a firewall enabled. It's the OS most vulnerable to viruses. You need a lot of add-ons to make it semi-safe. They cannot get it right, still. Want to try Windows 7 to see if they made any improvements.



As far as windows o/s if you are moving from xp. Once you move to windows 7 you will never look back! I moved to windows 7 professional and downloaded the free xp module to run older software that could run on xp but not windows 7 and was good to go. Have used a bunch of security and a/v programs over the years and to me the best free one was avast.

I am trying Microsoft security essentials now on this laptop with windows 7 and it works great , have gone to testing websites to test my machine for security a/v protection and this system for now is bullet proof.(software wise!) ;D

My other laptop is still running xp with avast and has done so for years and have never been attacked or had a virus that avast could not deal with.

My only gripe is m/s took many op systems and years to finally get it right.

[bellevuebully]

Book, JDR have best advice above and WildCard too had good advice and finds.



http://media.bestofmicro.com/dsl-modem-condom,6-M-193342-13.jpg

Magnes must be the most protected GSUSer we have...lol.

|--0--|



Warning please!!!!!! ****cleaning monitor*****

[MAGNES]

Magnes must be


It is not just about privacy and security, most of what I put
helps you with crap that messes with your computer, like
the java cookies, guaranteed people here have a hard drive
full of them and they mess with your system and slow it down,
same thing with the last few programs I mentioned, many
video programs add crap all over your system and conflict, some put it
down, I totally remove them with the help of those programs,
msft program removes are crap.

2 years ago had major bug taking control of my system and
1 year ago got major bug giving hard drive false failures from
an adobe activated virus, so I am more vigilant now than ever.

People should seriously consider using FF and the great addons.

And look into the 2 above programs on removing java applet cookies.

Adaware is great too, the free version for removing unwanted installs too.

Everyones system is slower and crashes cause of criminals putting crap
on your drive, I see it as a crime. People pay for good systems and pay
good money for good connections, then covertly you get robbed.

Nothing works 100 %, tried many programs to solve a few problems
over the years.