[mset]

During the past few months I have spent a bunch of my time removing malware from my Dad's rig (with the generous help of techguy.org wizards). When I have to do this from 3000 miles away via logmein or over the phone, it's especially time consuming.

At home, I use a hardware firewall and not a hell of a lot else. I don't have many problems. My Dad is 80 and he sometimes clicks on things he shouldn't click on.

I am perfectly willing to pay for a good program that has a chance of preventing things like XP Antivirus2008 and Registry Defender (Trojan.Vundo.H) from getting on his rig. Most of us are constantly searching for the best freeware solutions. In this case, I would be perfectly happy to buy something.

Which program or combination of programs) would you buy if you wanted to give yourself really good real-time protection, as well as the ability to run a scan when something goes wrong and fix the problem?

I ran malwarebytes today when I got Registry Defender, and it seems to have cleared up the problem (until the next re-boot??). However, it took us hours to deal with XP Antivirus2008.

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.Is this a problem I can throw money at, or not really?

[perfume]

Dear mset,
Instead of offering my personal opinion,i request you to go thru'this critical review of 3 anti-virus suites by cnet.com.au http://www.cnet.com.au/tag/antivirus...t_security.htm.

That dosen't fully answer the question you posed.Superantispyware pro is a real must,for real-time protection.Because having two anti-malware programs ,(the internet security suites have anti-malware function integrated inside) running in real-time is not a good idea,iam not recommending the excellent product"Malwarebytes anti-malware"(MBAM).See this review too:http://www.eset.com/threat-center/blog/?p=156.

I sincerely like your liking for"pro-active defence"(another fancy word for real time protection).
I use Kaspersky Internet security Suite2009 and,personally am happy with it!The advantage is automatic updates every day or more frequently of virus signatures,REAL TIME PROTECTION ,anti-malware protection(Real time ,again),a good enough firewall,etc!

[mset]

Originally Posted by perfume

Dear mset,
Instead of offering my personal opinion,i request you to go thru'this critical review of 3 anti-virus suites by cnet.com.I sincerely like your liking for"pro-active defence"(another fancy word for real time protection).
I use Kaspersky Internet security Suite2009 and,personally am happy with it!The advantage is automatic updates every day or more frequently of virus signatures,REAL TIME PROTECTION ,anti-malware protection(Real time ,again),a good enough firewall,etc!

perfume, thank you for the response and for the links. I see that you have mentioned the for-pay version of SAS - I use the free version at home. You have also mentioned the for-pay version of Kaspersky and this is no surprise - even I know that the product has had a very good reputation for many years.

I will read the cnet reviews later tonight and will make a decision based on what you have given me. Your advice about not being able to 'stack' programs is welcome, since I might have tried that had you not warned against it

[perfume]

You are welcome sir! To add,SAS Pro buy is for life-time!

[karbo]

I'm personaly sold to ESET Smart Security (NOD32 antivirus + firewall + antispyware + antispam)

You can also add SuperAntiSpyware and SpywareBlaster.

[lunarlander]

Perhaps a managed security service is more of what you're asking for. I found one here with google:
http://www.securesmb.ca/

These guys may remote into your dad's machine and fix things for him, can't hurt to ask.

[perfume]

Hi Karbo,
Then he'll be needing mbam,dosen't he,if he goes for Eset?

[perfume]

I have KIS 2009 installed and likewise many of you would have some good security suite or other,with ANTI-VIRUS as the central function. They all claim to have ANTI-SPYWARE and/or ANTI-MALWARE functions installed. My concern and question to you all is"how good are these programs in the security suites vis-a-vis dedicated programs for detecting spyware and malware? Your responses will be of great help and thank you!

[karbo]

Originally Posted by perfume

Hi Karbo,
Then he'll be needing mbam,dosen't he,if he goes for Eset?

Why?

Malwarebytes has more false positives than SAS.

[333halfevil]

Malwarebytes also includes Rogue Remover which get's rid of programs like XPAntivirus etc.

[Rich-M]

My best advice is Nod32 which repels spyware and virus "at the gate", unlike most other antivirus programs that let them in and then try to delete them. Then Superantispware Pro also at the gate, should end all your issues.

[perfume]

Dear Mr.Rich-M,Karbo and Halfevil,
If Eset were to have this real-time anti-spyware,then Eset is top class!mwam is excellent,Karbo,i've never had a false-positive with it. Then ,SpywareBlaster too claims to have the real-time (at the gate as Mr.Rich-M put's it) protection!Where do we place it!Yes,WE DO NEED REAL-ACTION HEROS THESE DAYS ,SURFING THE NET! Ciao!

[Rich-M]

Originally Posted by perfume

Dear Mr.Rich-M,Karbo and Halfevil,
If Eset were to have this real-time anti-spyware,then Eset is top class!mwam is excellent,Karbo,i've never had a false-positive with it. Then ,SpywareBlaster too claims to have the real-time (at the gate as Mr.Rich-M put's it) protection!Where do we place it!Yes,WE DO NEED REAL-ACTION HEROS THESE DAYS ,SURFING THE NET! Ciao!

The newer Nod32, 3.0 has spyware repulsion and virus repulsion, but it cannot scan for it inside only virus. It is using it's best heuristic ability to keep spyware out as well as virus but you still need a good scanner like Superantispyware or Malwarebytes.

[karbo]

SpywareBlaster acts differently. It doesn't really offer real-time protection in the same way SAS or MBAM would. It installs killbits in the registry where spyware are known to install themselves. Well, something like that.

[aka Brett]

Dont overlook avira it walks lightly