Make the viruses go away

[Roto13]

I'm tired of paying for virus protection. Someone reccomend some alternatives. :P

[rubah]

AVG Free is all I use.

[Sylvie]

Same. Use AVG Free, and for spyware/adware protection, use Ewido or Ad-Aware.

[Roto13]

Alright, I'll give AVG a try. Thanks. Screw Norton. :P

[ValiantKnight]

Norton is an ok product, or used to be.. For now though, it tries to integrate itself too deeply in the operating system, and runs too many processes. It's bloatware, and uses upwards of 70-100mb of ram on some systems. On low end "recommended specification" 256mb machines.... for windows xp, this spells Death to the system. Where AVG typically uses more like 15-25mb of ram.


AVG just doesn't include a firewall, which you probably should also have.

AVG is a little less powerful than say norton or some others in my experiences... but then again, most infections my friends get can't be cleaned by any antivirus...

Best antivirus is knowledgable user, updated programs, Firefox, backup software, and a format utility :)

Format the machine if infection cant be cleaned(after getting data off it), then apply all windows updates, pop on javacool's spywareblaster, put in ie-spyads, throw in Ewido and Adaware for what you might could clean, and AVG for some more. Put on a software firewall or a hardware router if possible. Install firefox, and Noscript, and use only them...for most browsing.
But Firefox and noscript may be annoying for some people.... so :(

Hardware Router
Software Firewall
Fully patched programs
ie-spyads
spywareblaster
Ewido(no resident shield)
AVG(sometimes no resident shield... interferes with games)
Adaware SE
Firefox main browser
Noscript extension.

My current machine.
Downloaded two very minor viruses, both downloaded via P2P software like emule/etc....both scanned and killed before running. Never anything else.. in 4years I have been running it. Never had an active infection in it of any kind.

[Roto13]

See, I don't actually have any viruses right now. :P Lot's of helpful tips there, though. Thanks.

[bipper]

AVG is NOT less powerful than Norton. Perhapses less robust, but my god man, it gets 100% awards all the time. how much better could you want. And your anti virus should never be integrated with your firewall. Norton, being a bloated giant, simply makes it easier to trip it up.

[Nominus Experse]

I would most definately get Spywareblaster, any Spyware remover (ewido, Spybot, Ad-Aware, etc), and a software firewall (ZoneAlarm).

Those are the basics to prevention.

Running Firefox (which I think you already do) is going to help you a little bit if you do infact get infected. The reason why is probably more or less due to the fact that most viruses are tailored to exploiting IE's popularity and system inegration rather than Firefox's hailed security...

Basically, the same reason, due in part, as to why more Windows OS's get infected than Macs - more people use them. Of course there are other factors, but the sole purpose of a virus is to proliferate itself. Thus, as you know, the virus is tailored to infect the most commonly used device/software.


And Firefox is much more intuitive and everything else that is holy and good. I would get it just for the interface and options.

[Roto13]

Of course I use Firefox. I'm not an animal!

[o_O]

Hardware Router
Software Firewall
Fully patched programs
ie-spyads
spywareblaster
Ewido(no resident shield)
AVG(sometimes no resident shield... interferes with games)
Adaware SE
Firefox main browser
Noscript extension.


All of that seems like overkill to me. Sure you have a "watertight" system, but you have extra bloat from realtime protection and the extra hassle of performing a full system scan.
I say "watertight" because there are such a huge number of virii out there that ativiruses don't have the slightest clue about.
Even Nominus Experse's recommendation seems like too much for my liking.

You guys are far more secure than me, but it's my personal preference to run an antivirus/firewall/spywarescanner-free system, and just be careful about what I download and install. When it comes to firewalls, I don't do anything important enough on my computer for a hacker to bother trying to cause any damage. If I felt I needed a firewall, I'd get a hardware one, so that it didn't soak up any of my precious system resources. :p

That's what I'd say if I used Windows. :p

[rubah]

Even mine, mike? :(

K fien, I'm just going to get a real firewall. And chop wood day and night to keep the flame going so the virii stay out.

[SnoopyG]

I've been wondering, is zone alarm any good? It's on my computer and I just want to know if it's good or not.

[o_O]

Even mine, mike? :(

K fien, I'm just going to get a real firewall. And chop wood day and night to keep the flame going so the virii stay out.

Yours isn't as bad as some, say Norton, but yes rubah, even yours. :p

Also, ZoneAlarm works sometimes. It's really, really annoying too. :p

[Roto13]

How about I just use the windows firewall? Is that ok? Because firewalls bug me. >_>

[crono_logical]

Windows firewall is better than nothing since it stops outside threats from coming in, but it has no capability to stop any infection once on your machine via other routes (eg email, IE exploit) from connecting back outside again to leak information out or retrieve other malicious software. Best to only use Windows Firewall as soon as the OS is installed, but then get a better one as soon as possible to replace it :p

[ValiantKnight]

Hardware Router(Linksys 4 port NAT router/switch)
Software Firewall(Tiny personal firewall 2.0/ I know.. OLD, but the 5.0+ versions have a web GUI interface and use 3x the resources, this one is a nice clean, stripped down firewall with application change protection and yes/no on every connection your computer makes, which could make some users upset with the constant annoyance.)
Fully patched programs(exploits for IE found weekly)
ie-spyads(10,000+ garbage sites are restricted from running scripts/activex)
spywareblaster(a few hundred/thousand pieces of spyware are insta-killed soon as they are installed via their CLSID in the registry)
Ewido(no resident shield)(to clean messes)
AVG(sometimes no resident shield... interferes with games)(to clean messes)
Adaware SE(to clean messes)
Firefox main browser(Far less exploits than IE.. this ALONE would reduce viruses/spyware 10 fold on majority of people's computers)
Noscript extension.(this extension to firefox really helps for scripted viruses so I hear.... really I dont know.. I just run it.).