What is the best anti-virus package out there?

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gamefreak
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11 Apr 2009, 10:22 am

Ichinin wrote:

To be frank: the best antivirus software out there is hardening your setup.

First, install a firewall. Do that before you are connected to the internet, you can use the MS Firewall from SP2, it is pretty much crap, but it allow you to go online to download a proper firewall. Do NOT do anything with your system before you have done this.

Now, start hardening your system, some examples:

Turn off unnecessary services and rename registry editing tools. Start programs like Browsers, Email clients and Server software; web, ftp, chat/messenger - whatever using DropMyRights to decrease the likelyhood of a compromise.

There should be plenty of hardening guides on the net, just google em.

And now you are ready to install an antivirus. Get it from a reliable source (A physical store or a webshop with a good reputation).

You can still be compromised if you download something from the net which you do not check the validity of and just start, or if you download something you do not know what it is. Also, try to stay away from suspicious websites - even with a hardened system.

Just be careful of what you do and things should be fine. It is mostly when people become confident and wander into unknown "IT-territories" that they catcy something nasty from the net.

Good luck.

I would pick ZoneAlarm Free as the firewall and like you said that should be installed.

I would then buy a copy of Vipre off the web. I still say Symantec is good but this should cover a gamer like yourself!! [However this web-site is slanted towards Free and Open-Source and strictly hate anything with the word corporate or any software you have to pay for matter of fact.] I would still say try Symantec 1st!!

Then if you one of them people who still put themselves at risk with e-mails clients like outlook i would download mailwasher. Mailwasher is one of the best spam-filters out there!! !

Then I always suggest CCleaner to wipe your history and temporary internet files!! !

http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/sym ... 9463259721
www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/
www.sunbeltsoftware.com/home-home-office/vipre/
www.ccleaner.com

Fuzzy
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11 Apr 2009, 11:27 am

Ichinin and gamefreak, you dont mention hardware firewalls at all. Why is that?

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Ichinin
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11 Apr 2009, 4:28 pm

Hardware firewalls? You mean NAT features and similars that are embedded in consumer internet routers?

Most of them just block incomming requests it does little to preven mallicious code from going out, just like the MS firewall that any application can create an exception to using APIs.

Also, NAT-firewalls rarely do any packet inspection/filtering and the hardware firewalls that do are usually out of reach for consumers, money wise.

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solinoure
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11 Apr 2009, 7:04 pm

Wow! so much great advice - thanks!

So we have AVG for anti-virus and ZoneAlarm for a fire-wall.

How about spyware?

And is there any value to system optimisers/utilitys?

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Orwell
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11 Apr 2009, 7:25 pm

solinoure wrote:

Wow! so much great advice - thanks!

So we have AVG for anti-virus and ZoneAlarm for a fire-wall.

How about spyware?

And is there any value to system optimisers/utilitys?

My vote goes to Spybot S&D by far. Very powerful.

System optimizers? Um... Linux?

Just kidding. I don't know how to make Vista fast.

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gamefreak
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11 Apr 2009, 8:11 pm

solinoure wrote:

Wow! so much great advice - thanks!

So we have AVG for anti-virus and ZoneAlarm for a fire-wall.

How about spyware?

And is there any value to system optimisers/utilitys?

That should work, CCleaner and Defraggler are also good to have and use once a week.

solinoure
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11 Apr 2009, 10:29 pm

Orwell wrote:

Um... Linux?

I messed around with Linux for years. First time I set up a Linux system was back in 1997. That was a challenge.
I tried a couple of more times and in 2000 - I was surfin the net and playing civilization (I found a linux version).
I figure I'll give this next version a try since I have a spare box now...

Orwell wrote:

System optimizers?

I have this thing called System Mechanic. I guess its supposed to do the sort of stuf Norton Utilities does/did.
It checks and backs up the registry, cleaning out useless stuff, repairing problems.
I think it may be useless and redundant...

DentArthurDent
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12 Apr 2009, 2:17 am

Orwell wrote:

Linux.

You beat me to it. :lol:

Orwell wrote:

OK, I'll be serious now. Avast! works fine as a freebie antivirus, though you should also have Spybot Search and Destroy.

Absolutely. This is a fantastic AV, it also happens to be free. One of its best features, if it finds suspect files in the start up memory it automatically restarts and grabs these files before they have started up. Most AV do not do this and just leave them there. It is also not a memory hog.

If you really run into probs Hijack This is useful but unless you know what you are doing I would steer clear or at least make use of a forum associated with this program.

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solinoure
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16 Apr 2009, 11:44 pm

OK - I reinstalled my system from a formated drive and things are looking great. I havn't had this performace in this machine ever.

I'm using the free versions of AVG and or ZoneAlarm and I will likely buy the payfer version o one or both in the near future when I haz munees fer dat sort of thing...

Regarding:

Orwell wrote:

...you should also have Spybot Search and Destroy.

I intalled it on my laptop pre-re-build and it found a handfull of cookies. My dad thought he might be having spyware issues and I put it on his machine. It stank up his machine bad... everything ran slow after I installed it. It was very embarasing, even uninstalling it didn't fix it. So my dad is rolling back the OS as I type.

Are you sure this program is good? It sure seems like a stinker to me... oh well... AVG says it protects against spyware... In SSD's defence I will say that my dad's machine is old and has had windows installed over it's self quite a few times. I need to do a format and rebuild on his machine... with windows you just need to do that every 12 months or so I've found... blerg.

All in all though, it was great advice - thank you all very much.

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17 Apr 2009, 12:00 am

Re Spybot S&D: Sometimes when you install crapware from the internetz, it puts other stuff on your machine, like adware, keyloggers, that sort of thing. Spybot S&D gets rid of those, and some programs don't like having their adware deleted. I've never had problems with it, partly because I don't use Vista enough to run into serious problems, and partly because I am extremely careful about what I download- for the most part, I stick with GPL stuff that won't screw around with my system in the background.

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solinoure
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17 Apr 2009, 12:06 am

Yeah - I think my dad has alot of crapware on his machine...

I really love the "license agreement" that SSD has...

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17 Apr 2009, 12:12 am

solinoure wrote:

I really love the "license agreement" that SSD has...

I'm OCD about reading every license before I agree to it. For this reason, I love anything that has a short license agreement like Spybot S&D does, and I also love anything that's GPL (I've already read it, so I can install any GPL programs with peace of mind that I accept the license agreement).

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Fuzzy
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17 Apr 2009, 12:27 am

I'm trying avast in windows xp and liking it. Thanks for the recommend.

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solinoure
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17 Apr 2009, 8:58 pm

Well - I guess I have a wee bit of crow to eat or something...

The SSD slowed my dad's computer, butonly because it had messed with verizon's bit of big-brother-ware...

My dad removed the obsolete software and his latop is at full speed again. I guess t helps if you know how to use the tool... bleh.

Anyway, I'm keeping the SSD and the other nice freeware utillities handy...

Oh! and the laptop is doing ok - could be better but not really... its a high end gamming laptop and like any thuroughbred its touchy. Next time I wll get a workhorse and spend less time at the vet.

...Im thinking of switching to Avast!. I can't figure out ow to turn off AVG. And some times I want to turn the dorn thing off so it won't get in the way of an install.... r maybe I havn't found the off switch.

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19 Apr 2009, 12:24 am

trend microsystems, I wuffs it so! I wuv it to the point of making sweet sweet love to it.
jk, it rocks tho

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29 Apr 2009, 4:52 pm

I am quite happy with Norton...I had McAfee on my old system, but Norton is much much better. It actually blocks viruses before they get onto your system, incase you visit a bad website or something.

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