Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Actual Best-in-Show For Free Anti Virus?
First time accepted submitter paperclipman writes "I'm on the college student budget and want to make sure that my recent investment in an Acer laptop will last me a good long while. I like to think of myself as a reasonably competent CPU user so I'm no adventurous link-clicker, but I do download some music as a recent SoundCloud devotee. My Kaspersky antivirus will be expiring shortly and I don't particularly care to renew with that steep of a fee — any advice from fellow thrifts?"
Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials, free if you have Microsoft Windows XP or higher, and it does work especially for the technical, not too adventerous link clicker. Gives you that extra layer of protection you seem to want for those 'oh shit' moments.
Use Linux you fucking retard.
For a free, Windows antivirus, it is hard to beat. Not the greatest, but it works and updates automatically from windows update.
I'd recommend Avast! or AVG, but I'm sure this "Ask Slashdot" is going to start a flame war.
Oh, and first post!
Linux
But if you're running Windows, you could actually do a lot worse than Microsoft Security Essentials...
"To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
One of the primary causes of malware is drive-by intrusion via compromised or unmaintained ad servers. Instead of worrying about free antivirus (which by definition rarely catches real 0-day threats), I'd get an ad blocker, or a utility like the paid version of Malwarebytes which blocks malicious website IPs.
Block the IPs and what spits out the malware, don't bother playing whack-a-mole against the latest polymorphic stuff.
As for antivirus, just go with MSE. It usually is in the middle of the pack, is lightweight, and the price is right.
I assume your on Windows and that MSE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Security_Essentials) is available. Seems to work fine for most and MS seems to have not made it a huge resource hog.
K Man
I'm not even joking. Gets practically no viruses, costs nothing, ever.
I know it is Microsoft, but it is reliable, has a small footprints, updates along with Windows updates, and is free.
Really? REALLY??
Is this the current state of affairs? No "I'm building a robot what are the best SDKs" or "What's the best open source reporting framework"
There's no such thing as a dumb question but there are THOUSANDS of answers to this question you can find on dozens of security focused forums.
Avast. Used to use AVG, but Avast seems to work better.
As we all know, Mac do not get viruses.
It doesn't bug you to upgrade (like programs with paid versions - I'm looking at you, AVG)
It doesn't hog resources
It has an easy to use interface
I've always found
AVG Free http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
or
Avira Free http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus
To be good free solutions.
A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere. -- Groucho Marx
null
Seriously. I don't run any whenever I can get away with it. I don't need it and its a maintenance headache.
Antivirus charging for subscription makes sense because they need to be on their toes for updates and zero days. 44$ for a renewal isn't bad because you gotta figure your tempdata and reinstalling software is worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Just one save in a year and the antivirus pays for itself. I just renewed mine today interestingly enough.
Most universities will have free anti-virus software for their students to use on their personal laptops. Check with your school's helpdesk.
I'm a big fan of Microsoft Security Essentials. I know it's cool to dislike Microsoft products, but MSE does its job pretty well without being annoying.
I've used AVG in the past, but it has a history of deciding things like iTunes or Windows dlls are viruses and screwing things up, so I avoid it. I used Avira in the past as well, but I think it had ads suggesting I upgrade often.
In the end, I settled on MSE and have had a perfectly cromulent experience with it; no complaints.
I have used both mostly security essentials lately. it's light weight and it works!
MSE or AVG Free. Both work, and have low cpu utilization. AVG gives you more config options, MSE in my experience is accepted by more VPN setups.
Silence is a state of mime.
I put AVG Free on the wife's computer. Just make sure to turn off (or don't install) that damn safesearch thing they have.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Honestly, unless you really need to play games or something Windows-specific I'd do a full Linux partition.
As others have stated, MSE does a very good job. It easily outclasses the other freebies, and most of the non-free ones as well. For example, I've seen it clean up machines that got infested while under AVG's watch.
And it doesn't slow your machine down to a crawl, which is nice.
"...reasonably competent CPU user"
Using 'CPU' in this incorrect context is a pet peeve.
But anyway, MSE (as other have said) and AdBlocker and/or NoScript for your browser. Assuming you're using anything other than IE. If you're using IE switch to a better condom!
What the hell does that even mean? Do you mean computer?
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
My son and I (on my Windows partition) have been users of the free version of AVG since 2006. We are both currently running Windows XP, and am glad that AVG continues to support it along with newer flavors of Windows. Free AVG is the download site, and it also includes ad blocking and other features.
"Software is the difference between hardware and reality"
Protects against grits
It's free (as in beer) and open-source. It's also very light-weight and works and updates without a hitch.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
First I used Avast, but after a while it began bugging me to to buy the paid version, and slowed down my PC with ill-timed, intensive scans.
I switched to AVG, but after a while it began bugging me to to buy the paid version, and slowed down my PC with ill-timed, intensive scans.
Now I use Microsoft Security Essentials, which is surprisingly good. So far.
Complement with a Spybot Search and Destroy scan every now and then and you're good to go.
i test a couple of free antivirus and i finish using avira the footprint is not bad and he doesn't clog the cpu too much. Just the nag to buy the full version when you update but for the rest i have nothing bad to said about it
Most universities offer virus protection and support for free. I'd go there first.
If for some reason they don't offer anything, I've had reasonable success with AVG.
=================
Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
First thing is use anything but Internet Explorer. And like everyone else is saying MSE is the top, far superior to AVG. It is light, user friendly, and not very intrusive. It's what i use to clean up after my companies corporate, trend antivirus fails.
I used to use AVG, but I found it gradually became slower and slower, and stopped actually catching viruses.
Microsoft Security Essentials has the downside of being made by Microsoft, but the plus side of being extremely low-footprint and actually catching things. I pair it with the occasional MBAM scan out of paranoia (MBAM is good at finding and removing infections, but terrible at actively stopping them).
Finally, yeah, throw some AdBlock on there. Almost all the viruses I've caught in the past few years (ie. both of them) have come from malicious ads. Adblock tends to stop a fair number - it's not solid protection alone, but it's good for defense-in-depth.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Just run Linux. Linux was fully featured enough to get me through college over a decade ago. Should work for you now. If you have apps that require Windows, put it on a VM which is used for nothing else. Problem solved.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
MSE is great, for the money, and its pretty light weight. I would add Secunia PSI to the list http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ It's also free and scans the computer for out of date and vulnerable software. Malwares Favorite place to get in is unpatched software. This includes stuff you installed once and forgot about, stuff that came with your computer that you never use, etc. A totally patched system (including all the forgotten about stuff) is the best way to stay clean in addition to the not clicking on random stuff. In addition, if you don't need it uninstall it. A good example of this is Java. Most people don't acutally need it but have it installed on their computers. Just get rid of it and then you don't have to worry if it's not a secure program. Soundcloud should be clean but it's all the other places to be concerned about.
It's not what you asked, but it's at least as important:
Keep good, usable, uninfected backups of anything that's important to you.
Also, have a means to restore your computer to a known good state and have the ability to re-install applications you want.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Translation: "Hi I want to do a number of things, but am unwilling to accept the cost and consequences of my choices. How can I avoid responsibility?"
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
while the list could use a refresh, may still be helpful http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp
If you actually care about your security you've almost got to go with a Linux distro, use NoScript and no plugins at all. Initially, in most cases, security is a tradeoff with convenience. Anti-virus is a never ending game because it is trying to keep the convenience part (well minus the performance losses), while usually not changing user behavior at all (there are exceptions like SiteAdvisor but I've found they are worse than the viruses they are preventing).
But seriously, random slashdot poster, what's keeping you from Tux?
I personally would use MSE for antivirus and Windows Firewall I prefer to keep things simple and this updates regularly on it's own and doesn't require you to stop and instal the program again when there is a new version or something along those lines. So your not going to be out of date, which is usually the biggest problem I see with people with antivirus programs, heck I will own up I use to do that sometimes because quite frankly I was too busy with school work to bother taking the few minutes to do that in the past. Than you use Malwabytes Anti Malware (MBAM) to block the IPs of known bad websites and the exact way the real time protection works is made to work well with antiviruses like MBAM so it will go nicely with MSE, and it is something like $20-30 for a lifetime lisence which you can transfer from one computer to another after you take one or two steps to do so. Though the things I mentioned only work on the Pro or paid version the free version is just the scanner. Also just a heads up when your computer slows down which most people contribute to "age" and "viruses, malware" it usually is actually from the computer auto booting too many programs and eating up resources. Quick way to fix it is to go into MSCONFIG under "Startup" and unselect the programs you don't want to start up when the computer boots up just double check things if you don't recognize it as it may be a driver or something important you need which may make a program crash.
Try to use a non-admin account for your daily stuff. An escalated admin account when you do need to install stuff is just 2 clicks away (start -> change user)
I've had my computer-illiterate parents on a non-admin account for 20 years now, they still haven't gotten a virus. And yes, they're still computer-illiterate ^^
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I have been using Comodo Internet Security Suite for years now and have been quite pleased with it. In fact its the only free anti-virus that I can install on Server 2008 R2. Only downside in my opinion is that it does not like game trainers. However, I have been hearing a lot of positives about the WSE.
Considering that ALL virus-protection schemes are "after-the-fact", that is to say that they detect threats that are known, and that most virus/malware writers run their work through banks of computers that have the latest AV software on them in order to verify nothing will catch them, the AV software that updates the most often and has the best sources for catching new infections will best serve you. In short, they're all weak, but some are better then others.
All of that being said, Microsoft Security Essentials has all the other AV software beat hands-down for one reason alone--There are more Microsoft Operating Systems out there then any other operating system and they are all gathering virus/malware data, data that is used by Microsoft to create up-to-date AV signature updates. Their competitors are far less capable of gathering data with which to improve their detection rates. The fact that it essentially uses other aspects of the OS to do it's job make things even brighter--it uses the existing Windows Update for it's own updates requiring one less process running at all times. It also doesn't beg you for money every time your in the middle of a WoW raid. It's also free--completely. You get the fully-functioning version, not some ham-strung, whiney application that is more sales-pitch then product.
As others noted, AV software is your last resort--it catches the stuff you didn't. YOU can catch most of the stuff by using certain tools to keep the infections away in the first place. Use Firefox with the add-ons No-Script, AdBlocker Plus and Ghostery. Once you become familiar with those tools (No-script being, by far, the most important), those infections will be stopped at the front door.
Now, don't peg me as a MS fanboi--I'm not. I despise some of the choices MS has made in the past, but after fucking around with "free" AV software for years I've discovered that the best one came free with my OS.
Hey paperclipman! Microsoft Security Essentials is a good free option if you want decent protection. But since you're in college, I'm sure your school offers a free copy of one of the "enterprise" level anti-virus solutions. My university offers Symantec Endpoint to all of it's faculty/staff/students. So you should definitely check out your schools IT Support website to see if they offer anything. I mean you are sorta paying for it :P
Have you tried Common Sense 2012? I hear it works well in most sensible cases. Other than that on the cheap : Microsoft Security Essentials. It seems a bit contradictory to let MS handle anti-virus software, but at least it doesn't hog your system as badly as most other products.
reasonably competent CPU user
Yes, I know how you feel. I like to think of myself a I/O aficionado. I have a friend who's a memory expert. We know a guy who was pretty much a BIOS guru, but he's not feeling too well lately after hearing about the UEFI thing.
but I do download some music as a recent SoundCloud devotee
I hardly know anyone who downloads their music from SoundCloud. Most tracks are either demos (with a link to itunes, amazon, juno or whatever). And the few amateurs that are serious about their music have already joined one of the many netlabels where you can usually download entire albums from their own site or bandcamp.
Are you by any chance doing market research, trying to infiltrate into the tech crowd while looking young, hip, dynamic and social 2.0 web networking? You're doing a splendid job, I might add. However, please forgive my sarcasm if you're not, your post seems to read like a 55 year old police officer going under cover "buyin' da ganja mon, totally down with da 'erb an' ting".
Avast! and Malwarebytes or use one of the many Linux flavors out there. I myself use openSUSE Linux.
Chris Sheppard
Here's a link to Virus Bulletin for a comparison of free and paid packages. I'd also recommend a multi-tiered strategy of OpenDNS and and a hosts file to block bad sites, MalwareBytes to scan and check for malware (paid version provides real-time protection), and I also use Tracking Protection Lists. Takes all the joy out of it, doesn't it.
Read this question and ask your self if this person is really "a reasonably competent CPU". Also, those tags are horrible. Ubuntu? Slow news day huh lol. In lieu of any further trolling. MS Security Essentials. Don't EVER pay for anti virus, unless you are a medium sized business owner. Don't watch too much porn either. I know your a college student. Sometimes we get lonely when the girls are out (hopefully) studying or (worse case) with the other dudes lol. Enjoy your free knowledge and pass it on.
When did slashdot become google?
Microsoft Security Essentials and if it fail just do a ComboFix pass.
not because it's free, and not because I think it's way better - but because it's the least intrusive and annoying AV apps I've used ... I'm OK with no pop ups, task bar balloons, registration reminders or boot-up logos ...
Another free AV + Firewall Protection. It's more of a resource hog than MSE, but it really locks down the PC.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
I have actually never used an anti virus of any kind and have never been infected over 20 years. Just don't get freeware from anywhere other than reputable sites. I do run Hijackthis, Spyware blaster, CCleaner, and MalwareBytes from time to time.
Many universities have site licenses where students can get AV software for free or significantly reduced prices. Also, if you are using a commercial ISP for internet service, many of them also give away free AV (Comcast, Uverse, etc).
Good News: The free Microsoft AV (MSE) is basically as good as any product we looked at.
Bad News: All AV sucks to varying degrees. Noone consistently had both good detection and quick enough signature updates. We see AV as a small piece of overlapping defense.
At least as important:
- Relentless patching of everything on your box (look at Secuna PSI for home use).
- Use a non-admin account for daily computing. Consider using throw-away Windows VMs when visiting potentially dangerous territory.
- Ad/Flash/Script blockers plugins.
- Disable Java.
Things like this probably have as much bang-for-buck as AV.
Does it matter what virus scanner you use how long your computer keeps working? Are you one of those people that throw their computer out if it gets a virus or gets too slow to use it? You might want to invest in making backups and learning how to reinstall your computer. Actually speeding up a windows install by cleaning out the registry and dumping old files might be a bit too advanced for the starting user, but at least you can learn how to reinstall a system and put your data back.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
This place really has gone down hill - 'first time submitter' wants to know what anti-virus to use. Information given:
I have a Acer laptop and I use SoundCloud.
Any hint to operating system? No. We will have to assume Windows then. Which is confirmed by the first post within a couple of minutes [where is the frosty piss post?] :
'Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials, free if you have Microsoft Windows XP or higher, and it does work especially for the technical, not too adventerous link clicker. Gives you that extra layer of protection you seem to want for those 'oh shit' moments.'
From an AC and modded 5 Informative.
News for nerds - stuff that matters. I remember them days well.
Feel free to join me over at hacker news.
Clam AntiVirus - http://www.clamav.net/
Just use your roommate's computer!
Granted it was ten years ago, but when I went to UNCC, there was a small selection of software provided by the school under a shared license for free to students. This included, in my case, norton corporate, which was not intrusive and did an admirable job. Might wanna check around and see if you have similar options available. While the best free AV might be MSE for Windows, you might be able to get a paid AV for free.
When I last asked this question, a lot of people pointed me at AVG, and I hated it with every fiber of my being.
AVG was far worse than any virus I could ever receive, and removing it proved just as painful.
As most other have pointed out, MSE works just fine.
It is free and easy to use. It also seems to be easier on the resources than some other tools. However I have had it miss things that other programs found (and they were NOT false positives). I know of other people that have experienced this problem as well. I recently looked through some antivirus comparisons and MSSE really fell short on a few of those tests. If I remember correctly, one of these tests had MSSE fail to detect about 14%. I would look for other software.
--
If a person gives their two cents on an argument, does inflation make their opinion worth less?
COMODO Internet Security Premium still seems to be rather free and has always worked for me. Firewall, virus tool, program isolation as needed.
http://av-comparatives.org/
This tests a lot of antivirus and shows you their detection rate, false-positive rate, etc.
I myself promote Avira Antivir, which is lightweight, does well on AV-Comparatives.org, and is gratis.
Of course, the best solution is to install Ubuntu; if you choose it, I can give you free support over email.
And remember: any Windows antivirus (even, to a lesser degree, Ubuntu) will only attenuate the problem. You are _not_ safe just because you have a good antivirus (or run Ubuntu). You _must_ take care: don't go to rogue sites, don't execute untrusted executables, don't use pirated software, etc.
Good luck.
I have used Avast for a number of years now, and it has been good to me. That coupled with Malwarebytes and I use Spybot S&D's blacklisting feature (which Malwarebytes has, but it's a paid feature.) I haven't had a virus in years, not since XP...which I don't know if that says more about Microsoft security improvements (undeniable) or the anti-virus software. Either way.
Been using it for years now and never had an issue with it ever. Only virus Ive had in the last 5 years is because of my own stupidty and taking a gamble on something I downloaded I should have known better about and AVG warned me about.
Run ccleaner on occasion. Turn on IE's pop up blocker and your good to go. Course couple times a year Ill download and run super anti spyware just for good measure.
Switch to Linux
-or-
I would recommend Avast free addition
Is that it updates itself via Windows update. So should it fail to get a virus database update internally, Windows update will fix it. If there's a new version, Windows update will get it. Very good for people who just don't want to mind after the program.
That said, I think there are pay for solutions that are better (NOD32 is what I like) but if you want free, it works great.
Kaspersky are surprisingly uncompetitive when it comes to selling their own products, including via in-application upgrade 'offers'.
If you're otherwise happy with the product have a look on Amazon instead. I do this and pay less than £20 for a 3-user licence each year.
"...make sure that my recent investment in an Acer laptop will last me a good long while"
Huh? Please don't tell me that you're one of those people who think that once a computer gets infected with malware that it has to be thrown out. Wipe the hard drive (or replace it if you want to be super-thorough) and reload the OS, apps, and data. Presto: investment salvaged.
In fact, you might want to do this from time to time even if your computer doesn't get properly infected, because Windows (and to a lesser extent other OSes) build up performance-sucking cruft over time as you use them. I refurb the "retired" laptops before my employer sells them off, and the people who buy their old ones are often surprised at how fast they run after a clean reinstall of Windows.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Where is my mycleanpc spam?
Linux. Kidding. I'm surprised no one chimed up with that "solution" yet. Actually, MSE is going to be your best value. I used Avira for years until just in the last few they started hammering me with popups. But seriously. I'm a linux guy, only use windows when I have to. I just don't worry about virii on Linux.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
While clearly not an anti-malware program.... run Firefox with No-Script and let it block all links on any given webpage, with you allowing or temporarily allowing specific sites on an as-needed basis. This should prevent cross-site scripting attacks. Free, easy to manage, etc. But yes, you also want MSE or another active anti-malware program in addition to this.
Get a Linux VM and install the latest version of Firefox/Chrome on it. Then back up the image.
Every time you want to use the net, run the VM and browse through that. It's called a Browser Appliance.
Bonuses: Most malware doesn't target Linux. Even if it did, your host OS is Windows. And if you restore the VM snapshot every time you shut it down, even if you did get hacked it will be gone without interfering with the rest of the computer.
:(){
If you have Comcast as you ISP, they offer Norton as a freebie. I used to stay far away from Norton because it was a resource hog and was constantly annoying, but I find the newest version actually pretty good.
AVG is like having a roommate that was really cool for a long time, never left a mess or blared his speakers during late hours, then suddenly had a mental breakdown and started freaking out at every little thing.
And install debian, (k)ubuntu, or any other linux flavor.
Where's my sock? There it is...
Absolutely try Comodo along with MSE. They do not conflict and Comodo offers an excellent free security suite, firewall, AV and also a hardened version of Chrome called Dragon. The 0-day threat is vastly overheated, you are more likely to have your browser infected by visiting a harmless web page that had a vulnerability and was turned into an attack vector. Then install Adblocker in Firefox and Ghostery in Chrome. Finally, give up Google and search on Duckduckgo.com: They don't track your IP.
I would actually stay away from AVG and AVAST. I had viruses go past AVG and AVAST undetected. AVAST has the same detection rate but it does cause OS hangs and sometimes BSOD's, well in the past it did on windows xp, vista, 7. Right now, I'm using Kaspersky which has a good detection rate but it's so damn expensive, but for some reason it caused my windows 7 to schedule chkdsk(hard drive is fine) on every boot, removing this from the scheduler did not stop it so I had to reinstall the whole OS and now no issues with Kaspersky(new update fix) installed. Microsoft's own MSE is not that bad and i think it's better than avg and avast.
For windows 7 and windows 8, with MSE, avoid porn sites, don't download things you don't know about, and logging in as a limited user after installing whatever apps as an administrator, should sufficient enough to avoid viruses. Or just go for Linux if you are just surfing the web, playing music or movies on your machine.
If you must use windows as your primary OS, (which for security even fully patched is a joke) please do not use Internet Explorer. Use Chrome. Second I would recommend Avast while turning off the auto sandbox feature. Then I would download and install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and pay for the professional version. Those two together are very good.
For my business clients that have to use Windows, I've had good experiences with installing Linux on the machine, then installing Virtualbox, then installing Windows within Virtualbox. When (not if) Windows gets a virus, I have them roll back to the last good snapshot. The virus goes away when the rollback occurs.
This won't work if you want to play games, of course. But for pure business use, it's been successful.
I'm sure others have said it. Probably just spam to this discussion but it's a great anti virus.
Admittedly, synecdoche is a fairly advanced topic, but there's no reason to be *rudely* ignorant. It's synecdoche, after all, not unperceived redundancy (PIN number, etc.)
I have been very pleased with Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) on my Windows machines, having never had an infection..
I find it wrong to freeload on sites that cost time and money to maintain. So I don't adblock. I do run Ubuntu, Firefox and Noscript though. Do you think I'm safe?
Here are the domains in my noscript whitelist (minus some personal domains that I omitted for privacy)
[had to put two domains per line because of Slashdot filter]
2mdn.net addthis.com
amazonaws.com
amung.us chartbeat.com
cloudfront.net disqus.com
doubleclick.net fbcdn.net
firstdata.com firstdata.lv
flashgot.net
fsdn.com fyre.co
gmodules.com google-analytics.com
google.com google.com.br
googleapis.com googlecode.com
googletagservices.com googleusercontent.com
googlezeitgeist.com gravatar.com
gstatic.com identi.ca
informaction.com jqueryui.com
livefyre.com maone.net
mywot.com mywot.net
passport.com passport.net
passportimages.com paypal.com
paypalobjects.com persona.org
pinterest.com polldaddy.com
rating-widget.com securecode.com
securesuite.net sharethis.com
siteadvisor.com sitemeter.com
slashdot.org statcounter.com
status.net stumbleupon.com
topsy.com ubuntu.com
vimeo.com vimeocdn.com
w3techs.com wikimedia.org
wikipedia.org wlxrs.com
wmtips.com wordpress.com
yahoo.com yahooapis.com
yimg.com youtube-nocookie.com
youtube.com ytimg.com
about:blank about:startpage
[UNTRUSTED]
ad4game.com atdmt.com
klout.com quantserve.com
By the way, is there some known-good whitelist I can download?
Since I have an online subscription to Consumer Reports, I always look at their security software ratings when they get revised. It may not be a "tech" resource, but for a family desktop or laptop, it's not a bad place to look. It's also independent of advertiser influence. In their reviews over the years, there have usually been several free products that rate higher than paid products. I do notice however that year-to-year, they shift around a lot in ranking.
I use Noscript (and Ubuntu) too, but I wonder if it is worth it.
Anyway, is there a known-good whitelist I can download?
Avira free edition is pretty highly rated.
AVG is trash. MSE is well-rated, but not as high as Avira.
MSE has licensing issues for business use (limited number of installs)... no server usage either, IIRC. :-(
I don't mean "use Linux", which has already been suggested a number of times, predictably. I mean no antivirus installed whatsoever, and do the following:
- Before you run any binaries and otherwise infectable files you download, run them through an online antivirus (e.g. ESET).
- In Explorer, don't generate thumbnails.
- services.msc and disable everything you don't need
- Run a firewall. Even a basic one will do.
- Don't use IE or Outlook.
That's how I roll, and I know for a fact I haven't had a virus for about a decade. I'm absolutely positive the machine isn't in a botnet or anything of that sort because I regularly monitor my traffic in the router. If I had a virus I almost certainly wouldn't be able to browse to ESET online or any other antivirus site. Finally ESET online also scans the RAM.
>competent user
>buys an Acer
>calls a computer a CPU
nope.avi
Install Linux
Please see http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3140615&cid=41442941
I use ClamWin. It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling but doesn't slow anything down, and I secretly suspect it doesnt actually do anything...
http://www.clamwin.com/
I've been working on this beast since around 2002.
.ocx files. As I have the free time, I'm currently working on a newer version that a lot more streamlined. Once it's done, TT Livescan should consume about half as many resources as it currently does, and run about 20%-25% faster. Also keep in mind that an internet connection of some kind is required in order to use TT Livescan.
http://www.tot-ltd.org/
http://www.tot-ltd.org/TT-Livescan-2011.rar
Technical information - http://www.tot-ltd.org/techinf.html
As a side note, you will need to manually install the dependencies if you're running Vista or 7. Run the command prompt as an administrator, then use regsvr32 as you normally would to register the
ClamAV seems to be pretty good and very versatile. Its very flexible and can be used in a variety of deployments.
http://interserver.net/
Parent is not unacceptably offtopic. Parent is a decent comment. Please someone mod it underrated to offset the "offtopic" mod.
It also removes the irritating ad-ware that Avast and AVG are pushing out lately
Not with Avast! on Snow Leopard. Every 30 days, they ask me to register, but I simply delete all related program files after uninstalling, and reinstall it.
I've actually nearly got it in bash script form.
The antivirus researchers all talk to each other (and despise their marketing departments), so the actual quality of virus-checking is about the same between all antiviruses. So the difference is entirely in how much it annoys you.
I generally put ClamWin on Windows boxes I have the misfortune to have to set up.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
This! Windows is pretty solid if you do want all Linux, Unix and Mac users do - Don't freaking run as Administrator/Root.
If you have an app that needs admin permission, right-click/properties and set it to run with your admin account. Heck, Win 7 will even tell you it needs an admin account and show you a list to choose from.
Place nail here >+
The renewal fees for any of the major paid antivirus programs are always rather expensive.
If you're open to sticking to a low-cost paid version (one of the Internet Security packages, not just a basic AV), I've found that it is always better to get the next year's version on sale and install that when your one-year subscription runs out. Or, the previous year's and then use the license key from the install CD's sticker on the new version as a download from the manufacturer's site.
Did that for years with Trend Micro and now with Kaspersky and it has worked fine.
You're not a CPU user. You're a PC user. Only the advanced that highly use their PC's actually modify the CPU as well.
If you wish to continue with Windows, then I fully recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free for individuals and small companies running XP upwards, and perhaps more importantly doesn't seem to bog things down nearly as much as Norton or McAfee, while remaining just as effective.
Remember, I said IF.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Windows:
1) MSE
2) Avira (has Ads)
3) Avast (also has ads)
4) AVG (not as bad ads as 2 or 3, but protection not as good)
5) ClamAV
Mac:
1) Sophos for Mac
2) Avast
3) Clam-AV
Linux:
1) Avast
2) AVG
3) Clam-AV
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
"Block the IPs and what spits out the malware, don't bother playing whack-a-mole against the latest polymorphic stuff." - by mlts (1038732) * on Monday September 24, @03:40PM (#41441503)
The IP part you yourself can do in the firewall that comes with the OS or a free 3rd party one, but the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY (of what botnet herders & malware makers use)?
Host-Domain names...
* I am talking, and by FAR, & in like a 9/10 ratio!
(Yes - I am speaking from experience here, decades of it in fact, per the app below's creation & understanding + using/viewing/editing the data for that timeframe noted - decades).
---
"I'd get an ad blocker, or a utility like the paid version of Malwarebytes which blocks malicious website IPs." - by mlts (1038732) * on Monday September 24, @03:40PM (#41441503)
Here's one, & it's absolutely FREE, no cost, nags, timeouts, or crippled features (& funniest part is, a division of Malwarebytes hosts it for me...):
IF you don't want to be tracked, & to get your speed/bandwidth back you paid for (as well as electricity, CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O as well), better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth", reliability (vs. DNS poisoning redirection OR being "downed"), & even anonymity (to an extent vs. DNS request logs) + being able to "blow by" what you may feel are unjust blocks (in DNSBL's) & more...
---
APK Hosts File Engine 5.0++ 32-bit & 64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
---
Custom hosts files gain me the following benefits (A short summary of where custom hosts files can be extremely useful):
---
1.) Blocking out malware/malscripted sites
2.) Blocking out Known sites-servers/hosts-domains that are known to serve up malware
3.) Blocking out Bogus DNS servers malware makers use
4.) Blocking out Botnet C&C servers
5.) Blocking out Bogus adbanners that are full of malicious script content
6.) Getting you back speed/bandwidth you paid for by blocking out adbanners + hardcoding in your favorite sites (faster than remote DNS server resolution)
7.) Added reliability (vs. downed or misdirect/poisoned DNS servers).
8.) Added "anonymity" (to an extent, vs. DNS request logs)
9.) The ability to bypass DNSBL's (DNS block lists you may not agree with).
10.) Blocking out TRACKERS
11.) More screen "real estate" (since no more adbanners appear onscreen eating up CPU, Memory, & other forms of I/O too - bonus!)
12.) Truly UNIVERSAL PROTECTION (since any OS, even on smartphones, usually has a BSD drived IP stack).
13.) Faster & MORE EFFICIENT operation vs. browser plugins (which "layer on" ontop of Ring 3/RPL 3/usermode browsers - whereas the hosts file operates @ the Ring 0/RPL 0/Kernelmode of operation (far faster) as a filter for the IP stack itself...)
14.) Custom hosts files work on ANY & ALL webbound apps (browser plugins do not).
15.) Custom hosts files offer a better, faster, more efficient way, & safer way to surf the web & are COMPLETELY controlled by the end-user of them.
---
* There you go... & above all else IF you choose to try it for the enumerated list of benefits I extolled above?
Enjoy the program!
APK
P.S.=> Of course, THIS is NOT going to "go well" with 3 types of people out there online, profiting by advertising & nefarious exploits + more @ YOUR expense as the consumer:
---
A.) Malware makers & the like (botnet masters, etc./et al)
B
But are you a nice CPU user?
Wtf is a CPU user?
Haha, I have never felt the need to comment on Slashsdot, until now.
If your not using Windows Ultimate then upgrade too Ultimate, and ditch the AV-software. When using Ultimate you can configure your systems as you please. And for those people who are not using Ultimate try opening a command line, and run the following command "gpedit".
MSE? have you ever done any back to back trials?
I used to recommend MSE, however after it not finding something when I KNEW there was a virus, only avira was able to find it and remove it.
Ever since then, I have swore by avira. However you do have to jump through hoops to get it working though, such as having to blacklist avnotify.exe in secpol so you don't see avira ads. Annoying, and why it makes it difficult to recomend to anyone who is not comfortable with editing windows security policies.
This is a very interesting topic to me as well and I am somewhat saddened to see everyone recommending MSE which hasn't seemed to work well after the initial few months when it was released.
I now wonder how many people with MSE just think they are secure, because yes it is very unobtrusive. However after finding several other viruses which MSE did not detect over the last year, avira was the only one to find them all. I do several virus uninstalls a month, mostly from employees home systems. Many have MSE installed.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
I was auditing my Noscript whitelist. For every domain in the whitelist, I checked the Noscript page on it - such as http://noscript.net/about/test.com;test.com.
I am puzzled by the Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic results. It yields worrying results for a lot of domains that are listed as safe by all the other tools.
For example, see http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=gmodules.com
What am I supposed to do? It seems that every other domain (including important domains like gmodules.com) has acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware! Should I block them all (excluding some very essential ones)?
Now I know you asked for Anti-virus, and for that, I recommend Avast! Free anti-virus. Windows Defender, or Security Essentials is fine if you're pretty damn careful with your downloads, Now along with Avast, Malwarebytes is the BEST and I mean ranked THE most reliable and up to date anti-malware software available, and it's on CNET as well as their website, which I think links to cnet... I would just go here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
I use multiple programs on my PCs as not every program will detect everything. I currently use Microsoft Security Essentials, SpyBot Search and Destroy, and the free AVG antivirus. The 3 of these run continuously and can be configured to auto update. I don't usually see much of a hit in CPU usage as I have MSE and AVG set for different scheduled scan times and updates.
A couple of times a month, depending on my Internet usage, I will also run the free versions of SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. As stated in previous comments, a few of these will detect keygens as malware. I usually set all of these programs to ask me what I want to do with detected files.
As with any new antivirus program you install, take the time to immediately update and run a full scan.
Good luck.
Good luck with that. Mine died a month out of the 1 year warranty (motherboard) :-(. Was the second Acer I ever bought and will be the last one (first one had also its share of issues).
Perl Programmer for hire
Don't be guilty, per the list below (since you're not the guilty one on all of those links)
Adbanners have been shown to serve malware MANY TIMES...
Evidences are per the partial list only below (23 incidences spanning a few years now)
That, as well as the fact processing ads takes up YOUR electrical power, cpu time, memory space, & other forms of I/O, like disk (that really cost with std. hdds since you're MOVING things), AND YOUR SPEED/BANDWIDTH YOU PAID FOR too...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/16/bing_yahoo_malware_ads/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/24/malware_ads_google_yahoo/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/24/doubleclick_distributes_malware/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/30/excite_and_rhapsody_rogue_ads/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/16/google_sponsored_links/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/13/doubleclick_distributes_malware/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/11/yahoo_serves_12million_malware_ads/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/real_media_serves_malware/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/13/doubleclick_msn_malware_attacks/
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/02/02/1433210/Attacks-Targeting-Classified-Ad-Sites-Surge
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/20/0228258/Hackers-Respond-To-Help-Wanted-Ads-With-Malware
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/11/doubleclick
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/12/microsoft_ips_hijacked/
http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/04/19/2148215.shtml
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/13/0128249/Two-Major-Ad-Networks-Found-Serving-Malware
http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/15/2056219/The-Next-Ad-You-Click-May-Be-a-Virus
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/09/13/2346229
http://apcmag.com/microsoft_apologises_for_serving_malware.htm
http://it.slashdot.org/it/08/04/19/2148215.shtml
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/20/0029220&from=rss
http://www.securityweek.com/london-stock-exchange-web-site-serving-malware
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/25/spotify_malvertisement_attack/
The only thing AV provides is a false sense of security. With AV, you're waiting until AFTER an infection occurs and then HOPING the AV company you've chosen has A) seen the malware before, B) bothered to add a signature to their definitions list, and C) is actually capable of removing the virus.
Better ideas: Turning on AppLocker & running most of the time as an unprivileged user. Check out OSSEC for use as a File Integrity Monitor and Host-based Intrusion Detection System. Disable unnecessary services, remove unnecessary programs, use an ad-blocker, a "default deny all" firewall policy and get a 3rd party patch manager to keep all your non-MS bits up to date. Secunia PSI is a free patch manager/vuln scanner for home use - there are others.
For a detailed description of just how bad AV is at protecting systems, check out the following blog post at computer-forensics.sans.org:
http://computer-forensics.sans.org/blog/2012/04/09/is-anti-virus-really-dead-a-real-world-simulation-created-for-forensic-data-yields-surprising-results
/*Insert boring sig here*/
Avoid anything by Symantec like the plague.
That is all
Quote: "reasonably competent CPU user"
Really?
I paid about $23.00 for (3) licenses on Amazon last sprint. Not expensive at all.
Bwahahahaahahahaa!
1st. Get Avast + Avira. I've used them together for 4+ years and the play well together. Avira constanly best for virus and Avast has quite a few real-time shields. Schedule one for Saturday night scan and on for Tuesday night scan.
2nd. Get SpyWareBlaster (operates completely different with next to nothing resources) and MalewareBytes free. Update both weekly and scan with MalewareBytes - no need to scan with SpyWareBlaster.
3rd. I also have many thousand sits blacklisted in my host file from when I use SpyBot, but I no longer use it. I think Avast can do this for you these days,
4th. Get KeyScrabler for your browsers.
I've NEVER have been compromised (that I know of anyhow) in 4+ years and Avast is very good about detecting bad sites and protecting you.
Yeah, it's called using linux. It's much easier finding an office replacement than trying to protect a windows box. Plus why would you want to rob your hardware of 50% of it's performance? Try Linux Mint it's pretty much laid out like windows 7 except everything comes inside to do the most common things out of the box, like play dvd's, work with office documents, spreadsheets etc... I tried windows 8 myself, the performance is better but it's not what i'd call stable and the interface i like even less. My linux mint box is as fast today as the day I installed it, in fact i'm on it right now at work.
First sentence fourth paragraph should read:
Second, Blackboard does not list any Linux distro as "supported" but users have found that at least some distros do in fact work, even with "unsupported" browsers.
A typo had destroyed the link.
Also there is a link from the blackboard.com site to the pdf file that describes the Redhat / Blackboard training opportunity.
Will
Avast is hands down the best of the freebies, surpassing Avira a couple of years ago. Multiple system guards, GMER antirootkit technology, sandboxing of suspicious files, incremental updates, boot-time scanning, much more. More like a paid AV than any other free option. If you set the full or quick scan options correctly, that is, to populate the persistent cache AND to update it, you'll see scan times get faster and faster. Most importantly, consistently very high marks in independent tests. Look at AV-Comparatives, VirusBulletin RAP, and ShadowServer's Zero-Day stats and draw your own conclusions. In my real world results, Avast is measurably better at blocking web threats than Avira, and blows away AVG and MSE. In fact, MSE would be my LAST choice. Expect to be infected if you are running MSE. Along with Avast, install the free version of MalwareBytes and run a regular one-time scan with HitmanPro. Keep Adobe, Windows and Firefox/Chrome patched, Ditch JRE or keep it patched. You'll be good to go. Oh, and don't forget to run Kaspersky's product removal tool after you uninstall from Add/Remove Programs, and before you install Avast.
I personally like free anti-virus and it does not hurt if it comes with a free firewall I like Commodo free anti-virus and firewall free but they have a "paid" version of you really want to give money to someone then again just hand me your money and I'll give you a flash-drive with commodo free on it XD
My suggestion is use either the Comodo Internet Security (or standalone Anti-Virus) or the Avast Home. Both are free.
Avast does 'nag', some opinion too frequently. AVG is a memory hog and is losing out in AVComparitives evals. AVIRA is good, but when it decides to mess around with you, it is a pain to find out what, why and how. (Avira once cut off my internet access - I had to do a clean install).
For Anti-Malware/Spyware, I suggest SuperAntiSpyware free or Malwarebytes AntiMalware (or both) & Spybot S&D.
One point though, if you're on Windows8, Comodo is still not ready. :-(
It's so good it will immediately find hundreds of viruses already on your system and not let you run any programs, but for the low, low price of $39.95 it will leave you alone for a few days.
- Respectfully BOFH
Seriously
If you have a good backup program with Full and incrementals
You can confidently control what gets on your machine
Another mentioned Comodo they make a nice free imaging and file backup program with an upload to cloud option if you want offsite, but it works fine to a local disk or a local networked workstation or server, and it uses VSS so it can run while your still using the workstation - just like Acronis
Macrium is also very nice and freeware for home use
It seems odd to think about AntiVirus or AntiMalware without considering Backup first. Incremental backups should be inherently more reliable and cost less CPU cycles
After all you can compute patterns for an infinite number of every increasing file list, but a block by block differential always has a finite backup set and finite amount of time to complete
Backups are good for file corruption, infection, hard drive failure, recovery, user error
AntiVirus is just good for antivirus
I suppose the idea if proving a negative is appropriate here, the conceit is that one can "always" prevent an infection, due to attack or user assistance.. and its up to you to prove that negative.. so far its a given someone will come up with an attack vector that works, or a user error that will assist.. but neither work against an offline copy of files
Before you call MSE non-intrusive, you might want to read this... http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5924707/fwrite-chokes-on-xml-version/ Overall, the other "AV" products are orders of magnitude worse in bloat and intrusiveness, but I can't believe they messed up something as fundamental as this...
I think it's a self aware computer which is posting this question to slashdot. A computer is a 'CPU user'.
I have been using HostsMan for years to maintain my hosts files (I started with MVPS a LONG time ago), with support for multiple sources, automatic updates, and custom exclusions.
http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman
It is not AV, it just blocks known malicious websites by intercepting the DNS query for them. You can also block a lot of ad-servers.
And before someone jumps on me for blocking the source of funding for many free websites, I _have_ considered that. But until the ad companies take some responsibility for keeping malware and drive-by crap out of their streams, I don't feel the slightest bid bad about blocking them.
You can install either Mac OS X onto your Acer, or Ubuntu Linux, and forget about antivirus. If you're paranoid about Mac or Linux viruses, there's ClamAV free, as well as others, which to my knowledge aren't necessary.
I had bad experiences with MSSE slowing older hardware to a crawl. If you have a newer machine, maybe it can handle the load. I wish it had a CPU and disk usage control feature to throttle it up or down as needed.
Table-ized A.I.
I download free Cureit from time to time. Biggest cons is that you have to download it again and again, but other than that - you get fully functional, most up-to-date Dr.Web scanner. And it works.
I have been on a free anti-virus for the better part of a decade now... went through Avast, AVG and AVIRA, mainly.
Avast: On my machine it seemed to sap more power and be a bit intrusive, compared to the two others. Virus protection was 100% Tried for 3-4 months.
AVG: It is the least power-hungry of the three in my experience, but there were two virus protection failures, one where it failed to detect a trojan after a full scan. This is over 1 laptop, 2 years.
AVIRA: Almost as power-efficient as AVG, but more aggressive with the defence - never had an infection over 3 laptops and 3 years. Had a couple of false alarms from full-scans - those I can live with. So I am finally settled on AVIRA.
I also tried trial versions of Norton/Symantec and McAfee and have Norton on my office machine - found that all three above sap less power than Norton, and the latter two are less hungry than McAfee - so I find no reason to pay for anti-viruses.
AVG works. Never trust Microsoft to handle malware, microsoft is the reason malware exists (crappy code, crappy design, intentional back-doors all over the place). Microsoft's strong suit is marketing, which means you'd do better using an abacus than a MS system.
Check out www.virusbtn.com for their VB100 comparison of antivirus solutions. Avira free comes out ahead of the majority of the best known commercial offerings.
I used to use AVG, but then I discovered in the hard way that it only deals with what it defines as "viruses", not with what it defines as "spyware". In my case, it was a "spyware" that didn't let you do anything with the computer, but in order to remove it, you had to buy the paid version of AVG.
I moved to avast.
He means that he knows a thing or two about the large box sitting next to his desk.
You get what you pay for. Pay me now or pay me later after you have a mass infection.
Windows: Microsoft Security Essentials, sandboxie, Microsoft Saftey Scanner (for an occasion), decent PF or ipfw, standard windows firewall, ipsec rules perhaps, an opera urlfilter or firefox adblocking, always as a user. To check things out, virustotal, blacklists, vms.drweb.com online url scans, etc..
AV is really a second line of defence. Basically, we're well past the point that signature scans can keep up, and heuristics can only do so much - the more you increase the sensitivity, the more false positives it generates and confusion sets in. I've found the best primary defense is a good personal firewall. At the risk of being accused of shilling, I've found Comodo free version as an excellent example for windows (caveat, haven't used it for a couple of years now) - which keeps track of all processes and files that are requesting stuff over the network. It always alerts when a new event occurs and asks for your blessing before allowing. It picked up stuff that went straight through AV - and submitting what it alerted usually returned a new malware variant when vendors looked at it. This is not a reason to not run AV - but a reason to think of firewalling as your primary protection.
smilies are for reetards
Both AVG Free and ClamV.
"Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk."
~Joaquin Setanti
How much does Forefront cost?
If you are in the UK, based on cost:
Free:
Microsoft Security Essentials - so simple my grandmother would use it -- wait -- she does use it, then again, she is biggest girl geek I know...:)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/mse.aspx
£24.99 for Norton 360 v6 if you spend £30 on Amazon UK.
Here is how:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_163562667_4?ie=UTF8&docId=1000630153&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&pf_rd_r=30D3C7C2C62F42ACA67C&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=290376607&pf_rd_i=norton%20360%20v6
Beyond these two, you got the usual McAfees and Kasperskys, but without any specific deals their costs are +£45. You probably might be able to get them cheaper with discount codes/cashback deals.
Best of luck!
An entire industry was spawned because Windows was conceived without security in mind. Now that Microsoft is redressing the oversight, I don't think many people outside the third-party AV industry will be crying foul. I'm no fan of Microsoft but I'm happy with MSSE and do not foresee an antitrust suit because of it.
AdBlock doesn't DO as much as custom hosts files do, such as not only block ads, but hosts also block out:
---
A.) Known botnet C^C servers (for better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth")
B.) Known bad sites/servers that serve up malware (for better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth")
C.) Known bad sites/servers that serve up scripted exploits (for better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth")
D.) Known bad DNS servers (for better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth")
E.) Allow you to "hardcode" your favorite sites to avoid downed or DNS-poisoned redirected DNS servers (for better reliability AND to get more speed (faster than calling out to a remote DNS server))
---
Custom Hosts Files are also better on THESE grounds as well:
---
1.) Hosts files also OPERATE MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN ADBLOCK or other browser addons SINCE THEY ARE MERELY A FILTER FOR THE IP STACK ITSELF (operating in Ring 0/RPL 0/kernelmode, vs. Ring 3/RPL 3/usermode where browser addons layer on more complexity in an already SLOWER layer of operations)
2.) Hosts files cover every webbound app, AdBlock doesn't
(such as external to webbrowser based email like outlook express, full outlook, eudora, & other email programs usually based on a DB-mail type system).
3.) Hosts files are easy to edit & directly USER CONTROLLED - Especially by the app in my 'p.s.' below (yes, "shameless plug").
4.) Plus, lastly: AdBlock "ain't what it used to be", & by default":
---
Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option:
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/adblock-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option
---
* Still - despite the above, I truly *DO* recommend using Custom Hosts files, Firewall rules tables, Browser addons like NoScript, AdBlock, WOT & more/etc/et al, as well as IE 9 TPL's plus native browser features like Opera's "By Site" preferences where you can setup whether to use scripts, plugins, JAVA, & more - by site, not just "pell-mell everywhere, indiscriminately"...
APK
P.S.=> IF you don't want to be tracked, & to get your speed/bandwidth back you paid for (as well as electricity, CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O as well), better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth", reliability (vs. DNS poisoning redirection OR being "downed"), & even anonymity (to an extent vs. DNS request logs) + being able to "blow by" what you may feel are unjust blocks (in DNSBL's) & more...
---
APK Hosts File Engine 5.0++ 32-bit & 64-bit:
http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
---
Custom hosts files gain me the following benefits (A short summary of where custom hosts files can be extremely useful):
---
1.) Blocking out malware/malscripted sites
2.) Blocking out Known sites-servers/hosts-domains that are known to serve up malware
3.) Blocking out Bogus DNS servers malware makers use
4.) Blocking out Botnet C&C servers
5.) Blocking out Bogus adbanners that are full of malicious script content
6.) Getting you back speed/bandwidth you paid for by blocking out adbanners + hardcoding in your favorite sites (faster than remote DNS server resolution)
7.) Added reliability (vs. downed or misdirect/poisoned DNS servers).
8.) Added "anonymity" (to an extent, vs. DNS request logs)
9.) The ability to bypass DNSBL's (DNS block lists you may not agree with).
10.) Blocking out TRACKERS
11.) More screen "real estate" (since no more adbanners appear onscreen eating up CPU, Memory, & oth
I think the MyCleanPC spam went away soon after I started to push Xubuntu as a solution for really keeping a PC clean yet usable for web surfing.
Clean, precise, pangolin-powered. MyCleanPC.
Among name-brand desktop and laptop PCs for the home and home office market, which brand is best for longevity?
I came here expecting a few pithy but in-the-long-run helpful "install Linux you fucking retard newbie" type comments, and instead get serious recommendations about Windows software, almost as though people actually use it! Unbelievable.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It's free for one "unit", get a virus, you wipe that box and start it over. Even better, you can load commonly used programs (like steam and firefox) into the base system and not have to reinstall when you do clean a container.
You might want to check this one out here. :|
Matousec Is a pretty much trusted and sought after penetration tester's group though I as an individual cannot confirm if they're legit or not (no offence Matousec)
Free? Is wasted computer troubleshooting time free? Buy ESET Smart Suite and be done with it. For Windows, you will easily break even in time saved! Plus your computer will run faster since most of ESET 's heavy lifting is written in assembly language.
Do the things any intelligent network administrator will tell you to do.
First, most important, keep offsite backups of your data. You should be doing this anyway, even if you have the best anti-virus software in the world, because anti-virus fundamentally cannot protect you from hard drive failure or a building fire. (Yes, the latter *does* sometimes happen in college dorms.) If you've got someone you can trust (and vice versa) living in a different building, a good way to do backups is to each get a spare hard drive (or agree to each use only half the capacity of the smaller hard drive) and use an automated process (e.g., rsync -- I don't think Windows comes with this out of the box, but I'm sure there must be an equivalent available) to back up each other's data: thus, your computer has a spare drive with your friend's data, and your friend's computer has a spare drive with your data. Set it up to happen at a time of day when you're both either asleep or away from your computer.
Second, create a non-administrative user account and use it. Only use an account with admin privileges when you specifically need to do system administration tasks. The rest of the time, use a non-admin account. (If you're a Windows user, do *not* make your files "private". That sounds good on the face of it, but in practice it makes your data more difficult to recover if something goes wrong with your account. Ordinarily, you can just log in as administrator, create a new account, and copy your data over from the old account to the new one. If you tell Windows to make your files private, then you end up jumping through extra hoops your data back. Of course, you have backups, but they were probably made last week and so don't have the paper you wrote yesterday that's due tomorrow. It's important to have them, because in a real crunch they're all you've got, but ideally you want to avoid losing even the data since your last backup.)
Do not swap floppies with other students' computers or the school's, and if you're going to be using other kinds of removable media (CDs, USB Flash drives, whatever) you should set your BIOS to not boot from those media. Also, make very sure you turn off anything that runs programs from removable media by default (*cough* Windows AutoPlay *cough*). College campuses are often a festering cesspit of assorted malware. You do not want your computer to execute anything that comes from there. Oh, also don't execute anything that anybody sends you as an email attachment, ever. Data files are usually safe, but be sure you can tell the difference. (Among other things, if Windows Explorer is set to hide extensions of known file types from you -- which I think is the default lately -- that's very bad. Uncheck that box immediately.)
*Do* install the security updates and service packs that have been released for your operating system. Use the system's built-in automatic update facility if possible.
Only install software that you obtain from the people who created it. If you want to install the latest Internet Explorer, for example, go directly to Microsoft's website and get it from there. Do not get it from anywhere else. (This implies that if there's any commercial software you want, you should actually pay for it, or else use a genuinely-free alternative. Avoid warez. It's unsafe. For example, getting OpenOffice.org directly from www.openoffice.org is much safer than downloading a pirated cracked version of Microsoft Office.) Similarly, if you want to install Firefox, go to mozilla.org and get it from there. Do not install any executable software that you get from a third-party site, especially one with a disreputable-sounding name like awesomedownloadfiles.com or free.hackedsoftware.cc or www.mozilla.org.downloads.k2swongy9vidwl.info.
Finally, if you can possibly manage it, put an external hardware firewall between your computer and the campus network, and configure it to only forward the kinds of traffic you actually need and block everything else by defa
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
I fix computers for a living, and even tho we as a retailer sell other AV's, MSE is usually the first thing that gets installed and is the only AV I can recommend; That being said, you are always at risk of getting infected; right now there are 2 java 0-days out and microsofts IE 6/7/8 failure, even tho it was patched friday, usually dropped via the blackhole exploit kit) will get you infected even with the best AV running. even if norton/AVG/MSE/watever picks up the trojan, the dropper is still on the machine. (usually somewhere in the appdata, possibly explorer TMP) tldr; No 100%,there are no free ipads on the internet
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. No trial period, free to use, incredibly deep protection. www.malwarebytes.org
that's when i went to linux
Speaking of keygens... my sister got a virus years ago through an Adobe Photoshop keygen.
No really, this isn't a 'arrg matey' moment as if Microsoft made a decent product they wouldn't have to screw us a second time with paying a license fee to correct their lack of security in the product in the first place.
As far as i'm concerned i'm entitled to it as an already paying customer.
---- Booth was a patriot ----