Anti-virus systems

Iggy · #1 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 04:24 PM

My computer got a worm. It is dead. Husband bought me a new computer- he is such a sweety.

I had AVG Free antivirus on my old computer. This new one has MacAvee.

What I am looking for here is the PERSONAL pros and cons of MacAvee and purchasing AVG, and any other system that is out there.

In the past we had Norton, but it ate up all the power of the computer. Took forever to do anything, and I am NOT talking about cruising the internet here.

I don't think we will ever find out how my computer got the bug- for a year I used Messenger Live chat- I have a FaceBook account. Could either of these have been the open door? If so then I will never use either of them again.

Will an antivirus like AVG, MacAvee, Norton, ??? be enough??

My old computer really isn't all that old- I got it for Christmas two years ago. I barely had it broken in.

Anyway, help- need input on your personal experiences good and bad regarding antivirus systems, and protecting my computer.

miztrniceguy · #2 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 04:41 PM

i recommend Malwarebytes anti Malware, superantispyware, and spybot search and destroy. all free but MAM and SAS have paid versions with more features. cost about $20. also a firewall, like Zonealarm.

Iggy · #3 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miztrniceguy

i recommend Malwarebytes anti Malware, superantispyware, and spybot search and destroy. all free but MAM and SAS have paid versions with more features. cost about $20. also a firewall, like Zonealarm.

All at once? We had SpyDr on at one time,but every time I tried to run it, it froze my computer up and it would take Husband about 20 minutes to undo it.

Right now I really am not going to fuss about the price. This new puter just cost under $600. So even if all of the anti-virus and spyware, etc comes to $100 a year- AND it protects me, then I will be a happy computer- psuedo nerd!

Oh, Hubby got me a Dell Inspiron i545s with Windows 7 on it. I have to download Microfost Office Pro Plus 2007- I really like the new Word, Excel and of course Outlook.

Mahone · #4 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy

My computer got a worm. It is dead. Husband bought me a new computer- he is such a sweety.

Why? The hardware is most likely fine, the software just needed sorting out. This could have been done in half an hour with a full operating system reinstall - this sorts 99.99% of virus infections. It's very rare that they infect a place that reinstalling windows wouldn't wipe over. This could have been done for free.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy

I had AVG Free antivirus on my old computer. This new one has MacAvee.

What I am looking for here is the PERSONAL pros and cons of MacAvee and purchasing AVG, and any other system that is out there.

In the past we had Norton, but it ate up all the power of the computer. Took forever to do anything, and I am NOT talking about cruising the internet here.

AVG free isn't as good as it used to be. It's a bit more bloated now - still not bad for free. I don't have that much experience with home anti virus packages, mainly the corporate ones. However nod32 has rarely failed me. I've only used the corporate version, but the home edition should use the same signatures.

Also clamwin is a good free alternative. I've recently used this detect all traces of a virus that nothing else, including paid for alternatives seemed to find. The only problem with this is that it doesn't have a real time scanner. In other words, you have to manually tell it to run a scan of a specific file or your entire hard drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy

I don't think we will ever find out how my computer got the bug- for a year I used Messenger Live chat- I have a FaceBook account. Could either of these have been the open door? If so then I will never use either of them again.

The short answer is possibly. Someone may have sent you a link on messenger or facebook which when clicked on, infected your computer with a virus. But facebook and live messenger will not directly have infected your computer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy

Will an antivirus like AVG, MacAvee, Norton, ??? be enough??

You need a firewall as well - some of these software packages come with one.

Mahone · #5 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy

All at once? We had SpyDr on at one time,but every time I tried to run it, it froze my computer up and it would take Husband about 20 minutes to undo it.

This would be counter productive. You only need to choose one. If you have them all running, they will interfere with each other and cause your computer to slow down quite drastically. Most anti virus packages also include a firewall and spyware detection.

miztrniceguy · #6 (**permalink**) 10-31-2009, 09:10 PM

I don't like spyware dr.

I use SAS with real-time protection, and the other 2 for on demand scans. sometimes one finds things others miss.

wildbean98 · #7 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 02:23 PM

I'm the I.T. department at work and keeping a computer safe is really pretty simple. I use this setup and my home computers survived 4 years infection free with my 4 kids and their friends using them. Didn't cost a dime to set up either. My work computers have a more complex setup but I won't go into that here because it costs money.

Use Firefox instead of IE. I have nothing against IE but you can't use the following addons with it. Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable

Get the adblock plus and flashblock addons for Firefox.
Adblock Plus: Save your time and traffic
mozdev.org - flashblock: index
Flashblock will block any flash on websites. Just click the arrow in the middle to make it run. Right click the arrow to tell it to always allow flash from the site you're on.

Use avira free antivirus. In the last round of antivirus testing the two top programs were Avira and NOD32. NOD32 costs money but it's really good. AVG scores very low and is pretty useless for anything.
Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir

That's it. The only thing left is learning basic internet safety. Things like, when a window pops up and tells you that you have an infection and you really NEED to install their program, don't do it. You're already protected. Don't install anything you don't actually really need. Don't install "free" games from a website. Either buy a $10 cd of 1,000 games at walmart or play flash games that appear in the browser window.

Your best bet is find a geek that's good with security and talk to them. Anyone who has to take care of computers as their job is good.

Mahone · #8 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildbean98

That's it. The only thing left is learning basic internet safety...

Don't forgot a firewall

a very vital part of securing any network or stand alone computer.

wildbean98 · #9 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 03:05 PM

Ah yeah you got me. I use a Linksys WRT54GL wireless router with a built in firewall. It's kinda old and needs an upgrade, but I'm waiting till the new wireless n standard becomes a little more common place.