[crazy123]

Hi

Had a virus on my laptop which messed it up, and just decided to use the recovery feature.

I want to reduce of chance of that happening again, and have read the stickys in this forum.

Whether they're free or not isn't an issue, i'd like some information/opinions about which antivirus/spyware apps i should have installed.

At the moment
Anti-Spyware - Spybot, Spyware Guard, Spyware Blaster
Anti-Virus - None
Firewall - XP One

Thanks for any help given

[pfurball]

Howdy crazy 123,
A lot depends on whether you want to buy programmes or run freeware. For freeware antivirus I would suggest AVG and for a paid AV NOD32 or even Zone Alarm Security Suite, which I use and have had no problems with so far. No one programme completely catches every bit or malware, as far as I know.I have been looking at adding SuperAntiSpyware to my arsenal but haven't read enough reviews on it as yet.The Windows Firewall is adequate if you don't intensively surf bad sites but I prefer Zone Alarm myself. The most important thing is to always remember to update. No programme is foolproof especially if it is not regularly updated.Do you use TeaTimer from Spybot as it guards your computer settings and hosts file etc. and asks for permission for other programmes to change any of your recognised settings. A very useful tool.
Regards
Paula

[crazy123]

Hi Paula

Don't mind if its a paid for one, as long as it's good.
Did have NOD32 before i restored which was quite good.
Will give zone alarm firewall a try

Yep with spybot TeaTimer is used, although the buttons text has been cut-off, and all i know is that the left one is allow.

Thanks

[fastwalker]

To run the OS in ram is another alternative to avoid infection of virus. Once it occurs, just reboot the computer and all virus will be destroyed.

[GodDoTheRest]

How to run the OS in ram?

[seo]

My recommendations are:

Anti Spyware: Spy Sweeper
Anti Virus: Kaspersky
Internet Security: Norton Internet Security Suite

[surikas]

What I would recommend is:
Antispyware - Spybot S&D (one is enough, uninstall the rest)
Antivirus - AVG or Avast
Firewall - Comodo

[fastwalker]

Originally Posted by GodDoTheRest

How to run the OS in ram?

You may visit the following website for detailed information about running OS in ram:
www.disklessangel.com

[crazy123]

Thanks guys

Atm i have

Spyware: SPyware guard, spyware blaster and spybot
Anti-Virus: NOD32
Firewall: Comodo (Very Good)

Is there anything wrong with nod32? had avast on a deskop once which i though was just as good.

[CCjon]

There is nothing wrong with NOD32.It's a very good antivirus overall and i suggest u stick with it.Avast is also a very good antivirus but it's detection and removal abilities aren't as good as NOD32 and it's 'proactive protection' are nowhere near as good as NOD32.

[jitenkm]

use antivirus: avira premium security suite
anti spy: counterspy + super antispy(as a backup scanner)

i think nod32 boasts more than what it is actually(even though it is still better than most avs) i suggest u use avira ..i ve tried a lot of av software ,my personal opinion is that avira is best
,check this link : www.malware-test.com

[TerminatorX]

cc cleaner is a good spyware and general junk removal tool, if you dont surf any dodgy websites, or websites you dont know all you need is that

looking for a free antivirus avg i would also say is decent

ad aware spybot spyware blasta and cc cleaner are all good aswell

for a free firewall, comodo is pretty strict

[slorlkuk]

The worst possible Antivirus programs that you can install on your computer are Mcafee AV and Norton AV. Mcafee AV is a very ineffective virus scanning program and its virus detection is very poor. Norton AV is an ok virus utility, except that it consumes a TON of system resources to run.

If you want to purchase Antivirus programs, you might consider Kaspersky 6.0 or Nod32.
Also, Panda AV is actually a pretty reliable AV program, although some people have trouble with this software at times. I personally use Nod32 since it is one of the best Anti-Virus utilities out there; great virus detection and almost zero use of system resources while still having active scanning.

If you don't want to spend any money on an AV program I recommend looking into these free AV programs: Avast AV, Avira AntiVir, AVG.

Avast is a really great free AV program. It detects quite a considerable amount of virus infections and other various worms/trojans, consumes little system resources and has an effective real-time monitoring system. It also has a nice feature of running a full system scan when your computer starts its screensaver.

Avira AntiVir is another higly effective antivirus program and has great realtime protection, low system resource consumption, and high infection detection capability. The only drawback is that a 'nagscreen' pops up telling you about its full version everytime your AV definitions update. But all you have to do is press ok on the bottom and it goes away. There is a way to disable this, but it requires a little work.

Then there is AVG Anti-Virus. This program is ok, takes little system resources, but it not as an effective an AV as the above two mentioned (virus detection not as high).

Along with them, use Spybot: Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware Anti-spyware: Personal Edition, Super Anti-Spyware, and AVG Anti-spyware; all very effective infection cleaners.

Then to clean your computer even further, run ccleaner, run cleanup on your HD and then your registry. Download "KillBox" and go to 'Tools' and run 'Delete Temp Files'. Run the cleanup on each profile in your PC.

After cleaning your system fully, you might consider using Hijack this and check out if there is anything else that is suspicious running, since Hijack can see things that a lot of utilities can't. Or you can even use a very nifty program which is practically better than hijack this, called RunScanner, found here: http://www.runscanner.net/

When your done, clean up your startup items in msconfig and remember to clear your system restore points and create a new one to the point of where your system is nice and clean.

Also, there really isn't any reason to install a third party Firewall, especially if your behind a router. Using Windows built in firewall is effective enough, as it consumes a lot less system resources than any other installed program.

[Iriathz]

McAfee is a pretty good anti-virus program. It costs, but it's worth it.
Google it.

[slorlkuk]

McAfee is not worth it. I work at a computer repair shop and just about all the computers that come in for virus cleanup have either McAfee or Norton installed. It's quite pathetic, but we normally end up deleteing that AV off the computer completely and installing Kaspersky 6.0 instead. I have seen McAfee's virus scanning in action; it'll scan and say there is no infection(s), then I take the HD out and scan it with any other AV program that we use in the shop (Panda, Avira, Avast, Nod32, and Kaspersky) and they will detect all kinds of adware, trojans, spyware, etc.; all stuff that McAfee totally missed.

On top of a crappy Anti-Virus solution, this resource hog also slows lower end PC's A LOT. I just worked on a Celeron 2.4 PC w/ 2 gigs of ram which had McAfee installed. Everytime you launch a program, McAfee would step in and scan the file(s) associated with it, causing the computer to jump up to 100% CPU usage and lag like crazy. It wouldn't just happen for a second or so, it would last for a good 20-30 seconds of lag time. On top of that, a McAfee shield executable would sporadically decide to pop up and rape the computer to about 50-70% use.

Of course, faster machines could easily handle this realtime scanning easily, but why use McAfee? If your going to pay for an Anti-Virus solution, use Nod32 instead since it takes barely any system resources to run and you won't even notice it's realtime scanning at work. On top of that, it has great virus definitions. I personally use Nod32 and installed it on all my PC's at home and have yet to be infected.