Best antivirus?
By
Anodine,
Posted on: 2012-04-27 04:03 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
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Avast or AVG, Hijack This and Spybot - Search and Destroy. Although apparently the Windows antivirus is quite good too so I've heard. All of em are free (free is good)|
Originally Posted by DreamWeaver
Just annoyed about something - I've had a few CPU overheat crashes of late and was wondering what's been nicking my system resources.
As it turns out, McAfee RealTime Scanning - since last update - has been constantly chewing between 50% and 98% of my machine's CPU (and has changed user profile to hide how much it's binge-eating). Luckily only a couple of months to run on my sub... and saving up for new lappy anyway. So what should I get next? |
McAfee came on my PC too and I've had it with its renegade ways. Twice in the last two days it's decided to restart my machine to update itself, even though I told it not to, both times I was leading 8 man teams.
Keeping your system fully patched is the best AV <,<
Using a tool like Secunia PSI that can scan your system and point out (with fairly good accuracy) what software is out of date is a wonderful way to shore up your system's security. AV software is generally pretty aweful... it can only do crap once your system is already being penetrated... better to simply not be penetrated in the first place than depend entirely on the gamble that AV software will know about all threats.
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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 dislike McAfee and Norton so much I can't find the words...
I use AVG on my PC and Kaspersky on my Mac
Who do I have to *&^% around here to get more Targeted AoE recipes added?
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Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
Keeping your system fully patched is the best AV <,<
Using a tool like Secunia PSI that can scan your system and point out (with fairly good accuracy) what software is out of date is a wonderful way to shore up your system's security. AV software is generally pretty aweful... it can only do crap once your system is already being penetrated... better to simply not be penetrated in the first place than depend entirely on the gamble that AV software will know about all threats. |
Most AV suites these days include active protection to detect the threat *Before* it can infect your system.
I agree that keeping your system fully patched is a good idea but remember it takes time for these security problems to be detected, identified fixed and the patches tested and distributed and during this period your system is vulnerable.
The time it takes to roll out new virus (or other threat) signatures is *much* shorter and so the vulnerability is lower.
Also all the patching will do nothing for someone installing the software believing it is valid and so bypassing all the security - this could be as a result of sticking a disk in a drive, a USB stick or just connecting to an infected website.
The best AV is knowing what you are putting on your system and making sure no-one else can access it - that will work even with a completely unpatched system.
Having said that everyone makes mistakes.
So we use firewalls to restrict access.
We patch software to close exploits.
We use AV and similar other antimalware systems to block threats that get past everything else and to detect and remove anything that has managed to infect the system during the zero hour vulnerability window.
Your best option for security is a combination of defenses - assuming you don't want to lock it down to the extent of being unusable.
Personally as far as AV is concerned I like Kaspersky - I switched to them some years ago from Norton - at the time they were the best rated engine.
AVG and MSSE were the next two at that time and are both still highly regarded.
As things stand neither of Symantecs offerings (Norton and McAfee) have any hope of being allowed back anywhere near any system I build or buy in the forseeable future. I consider their protection to be vastly inferior and their resource usage to be excessive.
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and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
If you're in LatinAmerica, consider PSafe www.psafe.com which is the locally hosted version of 360/Qihu's antivirus (China) -- which is China's #1 AV and works over the internet (cloud based), leaving your system relatively free.
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Except it's trivially easy to change the signature of a virus. It might be slightly faster to create the signature, but nothing stops the malware author from modifying it in such a way that the current signature is useless. Many have even developed automated tools that modify it in such a way that the signature is changed without them having to do much of any work.|
Originally Posted by Gaia
I agree that keeping your system fully patched is a good idea but remember it takes time for these security problems to be detected, identified fixed and the patches tested and distributed and during this period your system is vulnerable.
The time it takes to roll out new virus (or other threat) signatures is *much* shorter and so the vulnerability is lower. |
And as history has shown, the vast majority of malware out there, even when new, targets patched security vulnerabilities. Zero-day exploits are hard to get their hands on, and extremely valuable... so most won't waste their time, when it's easy to find holes just by seeing what's been patched and public knowledge.
In practice, AV software is your last line of defense... and is by far the weakest and least likely to work.
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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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As I said your best defence is the use of layered defences.|
Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
In practice, AV software is your last line of defense... and is by far the weakest and least likely to work. |
If you ignore any one and get infected as a result then you only have yourself to blame.
AV software is cheap - in many cases free and it catches a large amount of malware out in the wild - there is no good excuse for ignoring it.
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Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
i use Avast on my computer and i have spybot search and destroy and malwarebytes for regular cleaning
I run Windows 7 64-bit with Microsoft Security Essentials for my anti-virus software. It's completely free, very simple user interface, and it not only checks/detects viruses but also spyware and other malware. In fact, shortly before posting this, I turned on my computer and first thing I did was check for Windows updates and there was a version update for Security Essentials.
I've actually been using CA Security Suite for a number of years now to protect my parents' computers as both McAffee and Norton are known system hogs. I even had a Norton rep flat tell me (in person no less) not to install anything more than the minimum required components as it would chew resources like no tomorrow. While I've never had an issue come up to truely test it, I'm running the builtin Windows 7 Security suite on my current system as I know what not to click and stay away from suspect files/sites.
I run Avira active and do a full system scan with it, SUPERAntiSpyware, SpyBot S+D and MalwareBytes once a week.
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I could not be happier with "avast!".
I have had no issues at all with my computer or the previous one since I switched to free "avast!".
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Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
Keeping your system fully patched is the best AV <,<
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| AV software is generally pretty aweful... it can only do crap once your system is already being penetrated... better to simply not be penetrated in the first place than depend entirely on the gamble that AV software will know about all threats. |
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Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
i use Avast on my computer and i have spybot search and destroy and malwarebytes for regular cleaning
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I use Avast! or Microsoft Security Essentials.
I don't go to many sites, If I do want to visit a new site (and I am not sure about the content) I use an old Dell P4 laptop with Ubuntu Linux on it.
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Everyone seems to keep overlooking how I said that AV should be your last layer of defense |
Originally Posted by Ironblade
hmm... kind of simplistic. Also arrogant to think that you'll stop all malware from getting on your system. MUCH BETTER to have multiple layers of defense. Anyone whose only precaution is to try to keep malware off the system is just asking for it.
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My point was that people ignore every other layer, especially by far the most important and effective, which is patching the hole in the first place.There will always be malware targeting zero-days, but they are extremely rare by comparison (they sell for a small fortune on the black market). I would much rather run the latest version of IE with no AV software, than running IE 6 from a fresh install of Windows XP with the best AV software in the world.
And, again, my point isn't to do one instead of the other, it's do both. Get good AV software (I use MSE, simply because it's the least 16-year-old-girl-always-wanting-your-attention-ish), and keep all the software on your system up to date (especially Java and Flash, because they have updaters that are total crap... and are prime targets).
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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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This is what I use, and no problems since I added Malwarebytes to the mix a few years back.
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Originally Posted by Necrotech_Master
i use Avast on my computer and i have spybot search and destroy and malwarebytes for regular cleaning
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Hey,
If you want a free one, Microsoft Security Essentials is not a bad option.
Keepin your SO patched really makes the difference. Remember to update Java and Flash too...
Regards
Zero Strykers
Union Server
I like malwarebytes and I'm also trying out Avast right now, as my wife is using the computer more and she has *no idea* what she's doing- her on the internet is like a deer at a wolf convention.
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That helps a LOT also.
Edit @Kitsune:
I think it everyone was more arguing about the semantics of your post and the fact that it seemed like you were "stating the obvious" as if he didn't know all that already. Maybe he didn't know, but the best route to go is to just suggest alternate Av software and leave it at that.
Just annoyed about something - I've had a few CPU overheat crashes of late and was wondering what's been nicking my system resources.
As it turns out, McAfee RealTime Scanning - since last update - has been constantly chewing between 50% and 98% of my machine's CPU (and has changed user profile to hide how much it's binge-eating).
Luckily only a couple of months to run on my sub... and saving up for new lappy anyway. So what should I get next?
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?