Virus protection

[kirisute]

Iv seen some absolutely horror stories with avg before I work for currys (please don't hold that against me ) and get customers come in with avg we scanned with kaspersky and they had 87 viruses it was the free version and don't have any personal experience with the paid version but it does do a job and defiantly agree with newt about one programme at a time.

 

Also have only heard this from av reps at work and would gladly have some non bias advice, we have been told that If you have free avg your bank wont pay out if you have identity fraud against you not had any experience myself just wondering if anyone knows if this is true or not

 

Cheers

Utter tripe!

Identity fraud insurance doesn't rely on what manner of anti virus protection you have! Even with paid versions you can still be taken in by a scam or catch a fakeAV infection and get scammed that way!

Those reps are talking crap!

 

Ive done the IT job for a lot of years, as have others here, and I suspect all, including myself, will tell you that no system is infallible and we all have our favourites!

I've seen systems with root kits and fully paid versions of Kaspersky! I've seen Norton and Symantec let virus' run wild across networks but pick up virus' the very instant a USB pen was plugged into a machine! I've tried most out there and to be fair they mostly do a good job!

For me I wouldn't touch Norton or Mcaffee! I've seen too many systems buggered up by them and because they didn't do a good job!

AVG I've used since version 6, and I've had my system infected by a badly chosen bit of web browsing

I swapped to Avast and it was clunky and slowed down the system....

Tested MSE when it was in beta and used it before it was even MSE! ( it was originally Giant anti spyware!) and even that has been known, and I've seen it, cause system slow down and massive CPU usage!

Panda, NOD, you name it I've seen systems with it and infections happily buggering them up!

I've used Avast for the last few years and it's been very very good, it's web filter is superb and it's updates and program integrity very good.

But like anything it has to be used intelligently! These days most virus activity is fakeAV or malware based Trojans.

And most of them are gained from websites that have been hacked or are simply open gateways to the Trojan.

Whatever software you settle on find one that scans any given website as it opens and blocks it if infection is found!

Paid features can be worth it but can also be found for free and better! For instance th Avast malware scan is trounced hands down by malwarebytes which is free!

Firewalls won't stop you getting a virus....they migh stop a virus getting out or infecting beyond your computer on a network, or letting a hacker retrieve his nasty bit of code....but they won't stop an infection.

In the end playing wise and safe is your best method of keeping secure!

Have a good AV system no matter what it is....and don't be swayed by " if you pay for it it must be better" arguments! get on the net and check out the "top ten" sites and read up.....Then make an informed choice for yourself.

Back up and AV system with a malware scanner and run it monthly!

Use ccleaner often

Every once in awhile reset your browser settings to defaults! Over time you reset security options, change trust settings etc a browser reset can often shut down hidden BHO files and will flag up any sites you might have let slip through that really need security settings on them!

ALWAYS do windows updates! Don't slack on it! They are out every Tuesday!!

Get rid of all your browser toolbars! You DON'T NEED THEM! A weather bar? A shopping bar? Google bar? Yahoo bar? Emoticons bar? Whatever it is it's accessing the Internet, slowing down your browsing and possibly shifting data back and forth without you knowing! On top of that all modern browsers offer all the toolbar features by standard anyway!

[Newt]

Personally, I've been happy with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) running on Windows7 since it ties in well with the firewall that comes with Win7. Not sure how it would work on earlier OS versions. Free is good if it works and this one works for me. I went to it when AVG started having problems a few years ago. It takes very little system resources on my PCs (4 of them).

 

McAfee - the corporate version we used when I worked for Philip Morris was good. Easy to keep about 750 PCs updated & protected. The personal version - not so good and nothing I'd ever recommend. Norton these days seems to be a real horror tale.

 

For use when the occasional strange things start happening I'm happy with the free versions of both Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware. They don't need a working browser to update and they do find critters my AV program can't see. Good to download them while things are OK because some of the trojans will block them once you are infected. No problem running either of them while your AV program is up and running.

[kirisute]

Personally, I've been happy with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) running on Windows7 since it ties in well with the firewall that comes with Win7. Not sure how it would work on earlier OS versions. Free is good if it works and this one works for me. I went to it when AVG started having problems a few years ago. It takes very little system resources on my PCs (4 of them).

 

McAfee - the corporate version we used when I worked for Philip Morris was good. Easy to keep about 750 PCs updated & protected. The personal version - not so good and nothing I'd ever recommend. Norton these days seems to be a real horror tale.

 

For use when the occasional strange things start happening I'm happy with the free versions of both Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware. They don't need a working browser to update and they do find critters my AV program can't see. Good to download them while things are OK because some of the trojans will block them once you are infected. No problem running either of them while your AV program is up and running.

They are only blocked by name! Rename the EXE to anything other than its original name and you will they will run again

[Chris Goddard]

Personally I have just had a very similar HIT as Dave did. I use Nod32 and have used ESET Nod32 for years. Before that a little like most had tried very well known ANTI under the sun!!

Then five or so years ago I had a problem with the PAID version of AVG (Free wan as OK!) And so swapped. AVG is still a swear word as fae as I amn concerned!!

 

I then unbeknown to myself some 6 months ago got a Trojan on (Via a Google Search!!) which said I HAD to pay £50 to use this THING to get rid of the Blaster Worm and all manner of nasties from my PC!!!! the nasty which the system, was infected by!! I downloaded a copy of a symantec programme for getting rid of adaware. It got rid and all OK. (sorry I svaed it but cannot remember it as it is ON pc!)

 

I then RAN ESET and it found the Trojan (WHY had it not see this first time and in other scans??) Plus several other infections and ALL these infections are detected AFTER I scan regularly?? BUT I am still pay ESET as a 99.9999999999% record is better that None!!

[chesters1]

the only problem i had with nortons was one year when it got cpu happy but after a few udates the problem went away.

i buy nortons 2007 or 360 and above at bootfairs and touch wood all either upgrade to the latest or as in last week i just typed in one of thems licence number at i got the usual 365 days from it ,i entered a 2007 code i am running 2012 for £3 who can moan at that ,i have another norton 360 for next year and a 360v2 for the year after that hopefully i get more,Mcaffee curse them have a 6 month after buying limit to them so i presume the disks are timestamped somewhere

so long as the norton disks are sealed their fine

 

i had a problem virus one year which it couldnt remove but the website had a downloadable remover that did it on reboot

the help team are brilliant ,a bit of live "speak" on the website ,a phonecall from them to tell you how to enable remote dooda and they drive your PC until the problem goes away

 

i'v tried the free ones but found them without a firewall or in the case of AVG? it runs OK for a few days then refuses to auto update so your forced to download the updates manually and point the software at them

Edited April 14, 2012 by chesters1

[steve good]

I have just got my PC back up and running after a particularly nasty ransomware trojan took it over. It was purporting to be from the French Gendarmerie and said that my computer had been blocked for downloading movies illegally. The only way I could unblock it was by sending them 100Euro.

The question is how do I stop it happening again?

 

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium

My normal virus protection is Microsoft Security Essentials which was running OK as far as I know.

I scan every week with Malwarebytes

Since this episode I have added Adaware antivirus and a firewall from Comodo.

Will this help or is there anything else I could be doing?

Thanks

Dave

 

This one is easy to get rid of.

 

Switch on computer tapping the F8 key to start up in safe mode

Select safe mode with Command Prompt

When that comes up type in using capitals MSCONFIG

You will then get another box and select the one marked START UP and click that tab

Look down the list of start up programmes and uncheck all the ones that look doddy, dont worry because you can turn them back

When you look down the list you will what I mean, after selecting the doddy ones click apply

You will be asked to restart your computer click ok and it will do it for you

when your computer restarts go on line and down load updates for Malwarebytes and run it

Its as simple as that