[sillyboybmxer]

just got a new computer after 6 months of not having one and of course i wanna keep it in top shape. what antivirus/firewall/malware programs are good for 2012?? i had norton in the past and i think it slowed my computer WAY down right away, i had Kaspersky last time and it was good as far as i remember. i guess there is some good free ones now like AVG ???
computer is running windows 7 64bit home premium

This post has been edited by sillyboybmxer: 20 December 2011 - 06:59 PM

[FuknS2K]

i use khaspersky personally.

[Sabre]

I've recommended and gotten rave return opinions on Panda. Especially their new free cloud AV.

MS's new Security Essentials is free and the latest update makes it much less resource intensive and I've started using it. It's been rated quite highly by lots of people as well.

That, combined with Windows Defender should take care of *most* issues. I use ComboFix to take care of any nasties that might get through.

[Angerman]

Sabre, on 28 December 2011 - 01:48 AM, said:

I've recommended and gotten rave return opinions on Panda. Especially their new free cloud AV.

I'm still working with Panda and have no real complaints thus far. I have tried so many AV/Malicious removal tools in my life...Norton, Macafee, Panda, Kaspersky, Ad-aware, Spyware Nuker, AVG, etc.

Personally, I hate Norton. If it was up to me I wouldn't have it on my computer. Kaspersky is good, but it was annoying (would continuously block everything and have multiple pop-ups saying "blah blah wants access." But my computer ran fine on it and never really had problems with viruses or anything. Macafee was OK, but I don't think it caught everything (like spyware/adware/whatever). Panda so far has been OK. AVG was a GD nightmare and never caught a thing, and the free trial/free software made my GFs computer slow as shit; and the full system scan would take a decade to finish (usually like a f@#king day). Ad-aware was OK, but it is still skeptical to me and Macafee would always try to delete one of the main System files in the program because it thought it was a virus. Spyware Nuker (had to pay) was good and basically caught everything in site (Keyloggers/bad cookies/everything) when I used it 5 or 6 years ago, but don't know what they are doing now..

Between those, I would go with Macafee full suite, Panda, or Kaspersky; IMO.

[sillyboybmxer]

thanks guys

[RedCelica]

IE is your enemy. Get Chrome or Firefox. Block 3rd party cookies.

[TheMuffinMan]

Best bet for stuff -

Microsoft Security Essentials (available through Windows Update)
Microsoft Windows Firewall (on by default)
Microsoft Windows Update (enabled by default)
Firefox/Chrome with Ghostery and Adblock Plus
Browse smart (don't download random shit)

[Gymkata]

Anyone use ESET? I've been using it for the past few years because they said it was (at that time) one of the least resource intensive with good security?

[0bsolete]

I've been using ESET Nod32 for about 3-4 years now and its been great. Its simple to use and very efficient. I would recommend this to all Windows users.

[Gymkata]

0bsolete, on 10 January 2012 - 08:39 PM, said:

I've been using ESET Nod32 for about 3-4 years now and its been great. Its simple to use and very efficient. I would recommend this to all Windows users.

Been using the same. I did get that one virus that makes your Start-up menu empty but I fixed that. That's about it.

[importrule]

basically what everyone said...

i would suggest dual booting the computer windows and linux. use windows for all legit stuff... and if you wanna download anything, boot to ubuntu and verify the files to make sure they're what you want them to be first then transfer it over to your windows drive.

that's what i do. lol.

[Flayer]

I use avast free edition, along with spybot S&D and malwarebytes and firefox. I never use IE.
I like Kapersky though, and mcafee has gotten really slow (used to use them alot back in the DOS days before I went to F-prot).

Other tips: don't use adobe reader for pdf's... use something like foxit pdf reader instead since adobe is a big target vector. Same with Flash...

[Jorsher]

Windows Defender is deprecated now that MSE exists MSE is a very good, and very free bit antimalware software. There is paid anti-virus software that does better at some things, but if you practice a little common sense and get MSE, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I love it because I forget it's even there. It never, ever nags me, unless it finds something, which has always been a false alarm from patches and such. It's very easy to use (although you should never need to "use" it past installing), doesn't hog resources, and uh free. Microsoft did well with it...

IE9 may be better about security than previous iterations of IE, but I would still recommend using Google Chrome. There are annual hacking competitions, and Chrome is the only one that has survived unscathed. Last year they even offered to double the bounty to $20,000, and for the third year in a row nobody was able to present a vulnerability. No other browser has done as well...

The biggest piece of advice is to just not be stupid. Viruses don't "just appear," they require some user interaction. The usual, don't download from sketchy places, don't click random links, and for gods sake when a window pops up on your Windows 7 computer showing a screenshot of My Computer styled like Windows XP claiming that you have 10324 viruses, do not click to install the "anti-virus software." "Scareware" like that is the most common malware BY FAR. Nobody really bothers with malware to ruin your computer anymore. It all seems to be centered around extorting money and holding your computer hostage Install MSE, and ignore anything that claims you have a virus or registry errors, or whatever else.

This post has been edited by Jorsher: 14 January 2012 - 11:38 AM

[sillyboybmxer]

[RedCelica]

Replace that microsoft shit with Linux and you won't have to worry about it. www.ubuntu.com

+1 for Google Chrome...sure they're indexing your info but any site using cookies and javascript will be doing the same.

[robotvoice]

RedCelica, on 14 January 2012 - 11:33 PM, said:

Replace that microsoft shit with Linux and you won't have to worry about it. www.ubuntu.com

+1 for Google Chrome...sure they're indexing your info but any site using cookies and javascript will be doing the same.

Yeah, that's good advice. Don't want viruses? Wipe your hard drive and install an OS that won't run any of your Windows programs you're used to!!

[RedCelica]

Mac users do it all the time, what's your point?

[robotvoice]

RedCelica, on 18 January 2012 - 03:49 PM, said:

Mac users do it all the time, what's your point?

My point? My point is that's terrible advice. That's like someone asking how to fix their car and you tell them to just sell their car and buy a truck instead. I am definitely a fan of Linux, but it only has its place for certain things and 99% of casual home users will have no use for it.

There's plenty of viruses out there for Macs too, that point you're trying to make is invalid. If someone is clueless about technology, they will figure out how to destroy their computer no matter what OS they are using.

[Jorsher]

robotvoice, on 21 January 2012 - 02:17 PM, said:

RedCelica, on 18 January 2012 - 03:49 PM, said:

Mac users do it all the time, what's your point?

My point? My point is that's terrible advice. That's like someone asking how to fix their car and you tell them to just sell their car and buy a truck instead. I am definitely a fan of Linux, but it only has its place for certain things and 99% of casual home users will have no use for it.

There's plenty of viruses out there for Macs too, that point you're trying to make is invalid. If someone is clueless about technology, they will figure out how to destroy their computer no matter what OS they are using.

I had something typed out then decided to bite my tongue. I completely agree with you.

Out of Windows 95/98/2000/XP/Vista/7, I have never had any virus problems that people like to complain about. A little common sense goes a long way. Older versions did have stability problems, but my Win7 machines stay up weeks at a time and only get restarted when I get annoyed by the "need to restart for update" nag screens, or the power goes out. Never notice degradation in performance.

Don't get me wrong, I love Linux... for purposes like webservers or HTPCs. However for a general purpose workstation, no thanks. It takes a bit of masochism to want to use ndiswrapper to get your wireless card to somewhat work, or SANE to get your scanner to somewhat work, or trying multiple printer drivers for other models to see which one will work decently with your particular printer. Sure, I can select hardware that has good Linux support to begin with, but my primary machine always has and always will run Windows, and I buy the best value without having to worry about whether it will work or not...

Mac OSX I just don't have a reason to use. I like XCode, but I like Visual Studio even more. The bluray ripping software I use to archive media on fileserver is MeGUI, AVSP, etc which is best done on Windows. Windows 7 = laptop, primary desktop/gaming machine, work laptop. Linux = server. Android = tablet, phone. Chromebook = random browsing. I'm no loyalist, but the anti-Microsoft bandwagon annoys me as much as the pro-Apple one. It's stable, it works with every bit of hardware, it's secure for all but the dumbest individuals, and you can find software to accomplish anything you desire. Mac? If you do basic, normal internet browsing type crap, then sure pay the $1000 premium for your glorified Facebook access point.

This post has been edited by Jorsher: 23 January 2012 - 04:16 AM

[RedCelica]

^^^What about the anti-closedSource movement?

robotvoice, on 21 January 2012 - 02:17 PM, said:

RedCelica, on 18 January 2012 - 03:49 PM, said:

Mac users do it all the time, what's your point?

My point? My point is that's terrible advice. That's like someone asking how to fix their car and you tell them to just sell their car and buy a truck instead. I am definitely a fan of Linux, but it only has its place for certain things and 99% of casual home users will have no use for it.

There's plenty of viruses out there for Macs too, that point you're trying to make is invalid. If someone is clueless about technology, they will figure out how to destroy their computer no matter what OS they are using.

Oh...I thought your point was being able to run Windows programs you're used to. Ever heard of WINE? Or PlayonLinux? Or Libre Office? Or GIMP? Did any of us even bother to ask the OP what he used the computer for? No.

and I agree, I've seen trashed Mac OSs as well. I speaking from years of dealing with end users. Small businesses I dealt with I kept on Windows...but only to save myself the trouble of dealing with their learning curve. If it wasn't for the gf's dad having a Zune I would have put Ubuntu on his personal laptop a year ago. Sure...there's a learning curve, but you've got a majority of users that all they need is a web browser and Word processor. Hook up their shitty printer and bam you're set. Had the gf herself, who is clueless when it comes to computers, loving Ubuntu until I bought her a Mac to upgrade her old ass laptop...and now she's had more problems out of the mac than she did with the Ubuntu machine.

I've been Windows free at home for 2 years now...and I'll never go back for home use.

jm2c.

[Jorsher]

If your anti-closed source principles are that strong, then sure. I'm not afraid to admit that closed source software tends to be more fully-featured, well-supported, and just generally better. It probably has a lot to do with paychecks being a big motivator for a lot of people. When an open-sourced bit of software does everything I want it to do, I use it. However, I'll always choose Photoshop over GIMP and Microsoft Visual Studio over any other IDE I've seen.

However, I don't care that much. What I care about is ease of use, limited hassle, compatibility -- those sorts of silly things. I've been in the IT field with 10,000+ end-user enterprises for longer than I'd like, as well as dealing with it on the side, and am very aware of the Windows "problems." I've found that a vast majority are user-generated. Vista and XP had their quirks, however it's hard to determine which ones were caused by Microsoft, and which were caused by the user/group/security policies pushed to the computers.

I still agree that the "just install *nix!" suggestion is not a great one. If all he needs is a browser and printer, then it's even more unlikely that he'll want to fool with it.

Maybe I'm just bitter from years of people blaming Windows for their own stupidity. Someone last week suggested that all of us IT folks must use Macs, because Macs are the best, amirite?!?1/11 No ma'am, we use Windows and/or Linux. Maybe I'm just wrong for grouping everyone that suggests installing Linux instead of "Micro$oft" every chance they get as assholes. The way I see it, those that should use Linux know they should and so they do. Otherwise, unless you're a complete newbie to computers, and don't already have "experience," just stick with Windows and a good browser...

[sillyboybmxer]

the only thing i use it for is web browsing.
i havent "downloaded" anything forever. .....since like 2002 probably.

[RedCelica]

Ubuntu would be perfect for you if that's all you use it for and if you config your browser properly you wont have to worry about any malware.

[ftpsk8]

If I run an anti-virus I just use AVG