Recommendations from players about antivirus programs
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2010-06-18 20:03 in Player Questions
Microsoft's new antivirus is pretty good. It will only update when you tell it to or when your computer does windows updates. Its Microsoft Security Essentials available at www.microsoft.com in the security section.
Malwarebytes and Avira have done a good job for me.
"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."
AVG ftw here
I highly recomend Malwarebytes Anti Malware, it works wonderfully and
so long as you up date it regualy it good as a free anti
Virus/Malware/Scareware/Ruletool scan.
It's compatable for Microsoft Windows 32 Bit & 64 Bit.
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebyte...=dl&tag=button
You can even remove infections with the free version.
Mac'Fee is also extreamly good though you have to pay for that.
AntiVir here for continuous scanning and full weekly drive scans.
Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware and Spybot S+D for malware scanning once a week.
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.... no.|
Originally Posted by Frostbiter
Microsoft's new antivirus is pretty good. It will only update when you tell it to or when your computer does windows updates. Its Microsoft Security Essentials available at www.microsoft.com in the security section.
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no. it isn't.
It's. awful. It is, in and of itself, a malware package.
* * *
Okay, the status of whose good in the anti-virus world can change at the drop of a hat, and changes depending on what OS you are using. If you are on a Windows System, you will get infected no matter who you use. It's only a question of time.
*Nix type systems are harder to crack, and as the recent UnrealIRC package trojan showed, successful attempts basically require you to allow a 3rd party non-repository vetted piece of software have root access to your machine.
Keeping in mind then that no AntiVirus is going to give you 100% protection, the best on-access anti-virus's for the Windows platform are:
Avast: http://www.avast.com/
BitDefender: http://www.bitdefender.com/
Nod32: http://www.eset.com/
Now, a lot of people swear by AVG, and yes, AVG does make a good anti-malware product. One of the things you have to watch for with AVG though is that as of version 9, they tend to report a lot of false positives, and they also use an on-access link scanner. Basically, what AVG can do is scan all of the links on a browser page and make sure you can't click on a link that leads to a malicious software site... it's a neat trick, but can send your Internet connection speed into the toilet. AVG's performance / memory size has skyrockted over previous releases, and I'm not convinced that the free version is "worth" the extra processing power compared to it's rivals.
If you couple an Anti-Virus with tools such as SpyBot Search and Destroy, and avoid Microsoft software where-ever possible: don't use Internet Explorer, don't use Microsoft Outlook, don't use Microsoft Office, don't use Hotmail, and so on; you can pretty much avoid many of the problems that plague the Microsoft Windows Operating System.
Now, the worst of the security packages doesn't change as often as the best. You can pretty much bet that any compilation of the "lowest hit rate for malware" packages will include Symnatec's Norton, McAfee, and Kaspersky somewhere in the bottom 5. I've gone into why these guys tend to be dead last before.
* * *
Now, the best anti-malware package... isn't really an anti-malware package.
It's ClamAV: http://www.clamwin.com/ :: http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/
Now, what you need to know about ClamAV is that it's Windows version is not an on-access protection anti-virus. You will actually have to run ClamAV and scan files manually in order to see whether or not they have a virus. However, ClamAV has been used in the *nix realm for years and boasts an average hit-rate for malicious software that is way better than it's enterprise rivals.
Basically, the Windows version of Clam won't actively protect you from getting a virus, but it will be able to clean that virus up.
And yes, an on-access real-time scanner is expected to be added to the ClamWin client, but I couldn't tell you when.
I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It works fine, small footprint, doesn't bugger me up. I've previously used AVG and Avast! but they just kept getting bigger and uglier, so out the door they went.
I've been trying out Gizmo's freeware suggestions.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/
So far, I like Avast, Malwarebytes, and Superantispyware. I've also switched to secure DNS servers (there's Google, OpenDNS, Komodo Secure), and Firefox with the Noscript and Web of Trust addons. Web of Trust is a common ratings system though, and warnings about malware sites can be overcome if someone is willing to spam good ratings for it.
If you're really paranoid about spyware sites but go to them anyway, I hear you can use your browser in Sandboxxie while running Returnil--reboot and everything goes away. Sandboxxie slows you down significantly, but Returnil doesn't at all. I've been experimenting with running COH with Returnil on my old Dell and its fine.
My pet peeve is people who refuse to acknowledge it when I tell them my character has unlimited power. If I rp attack them they are of course disintegrated beyond the ability of any hospital or magic to restore. Yet despite this they refuse to delete their characters and still keep playing them as if nothing happened. ~Mandu, 07-16-2010
je_saist right never rely or use Microsoft Windows for Internet protection it's
fire walls are a joke in spite of all they say and do, Luckily Mc'Afee come part
and parcle with my internet provider cost more when the bill come sin from
my provider but is so worth it.
I gave the link for the Malware Bytes offical home page earlyer there
Malwarebytes Anti Malware is free to use as stand alone scan.
However when you get a good one remember to reguarly update an dcheck
for updates or you might as be using Microsoft Windows.
I liked AVG for a while until it became (as noted above) every bit as bad of bloatware as Norton or Macaffee. I'm finding Avast just fine now. I recently dropped Ad Aware for Malwarebytes, too, as Ad-Aware was getting all bloaty and intrusive, too. I also use Spybot-Search and Destroy and Hijack This.
Dec out.
I use Avira AntiVir for antivirus.
I use MalwareBytes and Spybot S&D for malware.
I use CrapCleaner (aka CCleaner) and Defraggler for general cleanup utilities.
I have Firefox with NoScript. Basically, if I don't specifically allow a site to run javascript/flash/movies/etc, it won't. I also add most of the crapsites I come across to NoScripts auto-block list (so it doesn't even do the little "do you wanna?" symbol in the corner of my browser). I also have Adblocker, and use it to block whole entire sites sometimes.
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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I use Microsoft Security Essentials, it's free, updates at least once a day, and seems to work pretty good - as a constant protection. Then I use Malewarebytes to deep scan if I think something is wrong and Essentials doesn't pick anything up(which hasn't happened yet)
Some of you have taken some time to present detailed information. For that, I thank you.
I used to go with the free AVG, but for some reason, I was thinking that the free version is probably scaled down, and likely not to be very good. We get what we pay for, I would say.
Thanks.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
Whatever you decide to use, it's important to not rely on just one product. Malwarebytes and Spybot are good tools to use alongside whatever antivirus you pick. I also use Firefox with No-Script and haven't had any virus trouble in forever.
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Just an fyi: On 64bit Windows, Sandboxie (only 1 'x') operates in a somewhat crippled mode, and isn't able to completely lock down programs (due to Patch Guard's kernel hook protection).|
Originally Posted by Ashtoreth_NA
If you're really paranoid about spyware sites but go to them anyway, I hear you can use your browser in Sandboxxie while running Returnil--reboot and everything goes away. Sandboxxie slows you down significantly, but Returnil doesn't at all. I've been experimenting with running COH with Returnil on my old Dell and its fine.
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Also, Returnil is no silver bullet. It, of course, does nothing to protect you after the machine starts up (i.e. if you go to EvilWebSiteOfDoom.biz, then a few hours log into your bank... you're likely screwed). Returnil also isn't invulnerable- if you can get any code running in kernel mode (there are a number of attack vectors), then the code could bypass Returnil and go straight to the physical disk.
It's long since been common for various nasties to disable/cripple antivirus and other common security software, but now it's becoming common that niche products are also targeted (often changing their behavior to appear innocuous). The best way you can defend your computer is to practice a little thing I call common sense: DO NOT GO TO SITES YOU KNOW ARE SHADY. This alone, will greatly decrease your odds of becoming infected- unfortunately it's rare for it to be followed.
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Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
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I like Avast myself.
It's fairly non-intrusive, and it's updates won't interrupt what you're doing (I've logged out of a gaming session to find that Avast had updated while I was playing and I never even noticed, not so much as a lag-spike to tell me it was active)
It also has a feature I REALLY like. It has a boot-up scan that comes standard. In the event that you get infected you can set it to run a scan upon booting up your computer to get rid of anything that is messing with your UI. (a lot of malware programs become active as soon as you boot, scanning and eliminating on boot-up stops them from taking over your interface and preventing normal activity)
So far I have had no complaints about Avast.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
My antivirus subscription is about to run out; I wasn't too happy with the one I had. (Don't want to start any trouble for them) I'm just wondering if anyone can recommend one that doesn't try to update or download whenever IT sees fit, or otherwise interrupt my gaming experience.
Thanks.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase