[dettro]

I currently use AVAST free as the virus guard. on my XP
It has not let me down though. However am I protected enough against all threats?

If not .. what should i be using?

can I use two or more different softwares for extra protection.

Please provide some suggestions.....

[Noyb]

No protection is perfect ..
Or protects you from a system corruption (the dreaded Bill Gates BSOD Virus) ... Or disc crash.
I don't think anyone will advise running two protections programs.

But I have two protection systems running.
The second is a backup image of my Hard Drive ..
and I can recover or write a new Hard drive in about 15 minutes.
Do you have a good backup plan ???

There are only two types of computers made nowadays ..
Those that have crashed or got corrupted .. and those that will.
Which do you have ??

[kitkin15]

wow, ok for one, that guy is over reacting, not all computers crash...if you can take care of them and have at least a fair amount of knowlage your computer will run fine. hes half way right on one thing, NEVER run more than one AV(anti virus, Norton, McAffe, AVG,ect...) but you can have more thna one program that protects your computer. see, some AV's will erase eachother...so thats not good, BUT programs like AVG Free dont have "all round protection"...but what really does? i recamend having a AV, than malwarebytes, and than a spywhere program, as long as only one of them are AV's than you will have no problom(spybot S&D might react differently)

i have AVG Free, malwarebytes, and spywear blaster, once a month i will install Kaspersky, and scan with that...as a just incase, or if i am having a problom, i will attack it with everything lol. Kaspersky will install and after its use(and after it fixes a problom that you might have) it will ask if you want to uninstall....click yes everytime, next time you install it it will most likely be updated, i dont think you can update it from the program itself...i havent tried it. i tried AVAST, adn the reason you have no problom is because its probably not detecting virus's...is that good? no. because they are there, its just not good enough with malware...thats my opinion. ok do you want really good programs? well i asked the same question as you a while ago...well heres what i got =)

http://forums.techguy.org/general-se...ree-virus.html

all of these programs are free, please only have one AV at a time or you might hurt your computer. and run malwarebytes, free and im my opinion it is the best program out there(you still need a AV program if you have malwarebytes) i bet anything it will pick up some sort of malware.

[kitkin15]

the first post is theo ne you want to look at, the others say eaither the same, or programs that are in big packages and take up WAY to much room.

bootzilla, i dont recamend....its crap and is not really free, it will scan and have you pay to fix the probloms( it is safe though, not a rough AV) spybot S&D you should not download unless you read about it first, it will pick up anything it thinks is not safe...even if it actiouly is. its a good program and very usefull. if it says that "mywebsearch" is bad...uninstall it yourself(control panel) if you sont than this anoying alert pops up everytime you turn on you computer to tell you that a program is uninstalled\installed wrong, if this happends than reinstall it(malwarebytes does the same, so uninstall it your self, its not very usfull IMO) jasons toolbox is a good site to go to, it will help you make your computer more secure, it takes maybe 20 minutes, but is compleatly worth it.

kitkin15

[kitkin15]

P.S. oh and for a back up youll need something with up to 100 gigs of memory(depending on how much memory your computer is using)

[lunarlander]

Let me list some of the threats :

Browser and Browser Plugins security flaws which results in installation of spyware, malware and scareware.

Downloaded pirated software which came bundled with spyware, malware, viruses or backdoors,

Attacks to your listening ports and services.

Attackers joining into your wireless network and attacking from within your LAN.

Viruses attached to emails addressed to you.

Phishing emails directing you to sites asking for your credentials, credit card # ...

Viruses comming from your instant messanger.

Fire, flood and other acts of god.

There are more, but I think these threats apply to most people. You need protection to mitigate all these threats.

[dettro]

hey thanks guys I think I got some info,,,

infact I do use malwarebytes on and off (which is pretty good only problem being not realtime)for a full scan to remove infections, i.e. parallel to avast.
So if Avast doesnt pick Viruses promptly, is there a better soft out there that does the job free, I personally hate AVG ,, ....... any other recommendations?

[Noyb]

Originally Posted by kitkin15

That guy is over reacting, not all computers crash...
P.S. oh and for a back up youll need something with up to 100 gigs of memory

What kind of a Hard Drive do you have ???
Last month ... I had a brand new HD fail on me at the ripe old age of ~two weeks.
Sure was glad I overreacted.
If your computer is not going to crash .. Why do you recommend a backup ??

Go to the malware removal forum .. And see how many have a nasty virus who are running good protection...
And how long it takes them to correct the problem.

In addition to researching a good protection plan ..
May I suggest looking into a recovery plan .. http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...ng-program.htm

[dettro]

i guess i'll stick to ways of recovery plans, as u'd never know wats the next big hit gonna be....................

[Noyb]

I'm thinking the Bad Guys are creating the bad stuff faster than the good guys can find them and implement protection.

My Anti-Virus may update several times a day ??? ... Are they fast enough ??

My neighbor is a security Guru.
Just the other day, he called me ... our Cable ISP, Comcast, was attempting to send a virus from their home page via a third party ad server.
I'll bet they were embarrassed when he called them.

I've also watch him (his laptop) hack into a normally encrypted wireless "Test" network within 3 minutes.
And I've seen his Root Kit presentations.

Call me Paranoid .. but I use Acronis True Image and an external HDD

[Noyb]

FYI .. I won't recommend an Protection plan ..
But I'm hiding behind AVG and a Zone Alarm firewall.
Last I heard, my neighbor likes Avast and a Comodo firewall.

More about my Recovery methods are Here

[kitkin15]

ok for one, ive had my computer for over a year...no major probloms, ya there are those virus's and worms and just everyday malware....quit looking at porn. solves over half of it. there is a chance that your computer will crash.....duh. there always will be and always has been. but if your smart it wont. 2 weeks? for real? wow no offence but you need to get better with computers. 2 weeks? i dont get how anyone could kill a computer in that small amount of time....did you WANT to do it or something? my grandma had a computer for 4 years and she used it everyday...this is a 60 year old woman who knows nothing about computer safty and had no AV or any kind of protection.

for free AV's theres nothing else...it sucks but its life =( ummm and that zone alarm....dont get it. ive had it and the only way to get it towhere it actiouly works...is to pay for it(plus its a free trial...i dont like them personaly) comodo though, i have been told ALOT of good things about them and i am actiouly getting it myself later today. and hack in under 3 minutes? nice my 15 year old friend can do it the same lol(not meaning that in a bad way)


and noyb, i didnt mena to say anything that offende you in any way, im just saying if your computer crashes is 2 weeks.....than thats not good...on your part. go to "geekstogo.com" and sign up for the free malware education course, thats what i am doing, after you do that tell an adminastrater on here so you can help eople with malware...plus you REALLY need to learn more about malware if your computer crashes that fast.

[Gizzy]

For free AVs there's also Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira, I didn't notice anyone mention those. (unless I missed it)
For firewall I prefer Online Armor,
If you try Online Armor be sure to take use of it's Run Safer feature.

For more options - Antivirus - Firewall

Also like others recommended it's important to have backups.

Originally Posted by Noyb

I'm thinking the Bad Guys are creating the bad stuff faster than the good guys can find them and implement protection.

My Anti-Virus may update several times a day ??? ... Are they fast enough ??

Unfortunately they can't keep up, They always have to play catch up,
That's why I happen to believe that an anti-virus is best used to help users decide between good and bad files or to help them know if they may be infected or not.

But when it comes to actual computer security and malware prevention since a scanner (anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc.) can't catch everything I believe it's best to think about how malware can get onto your computer and then block those holes, so that your anti-virus will rarely (if ever) alert you about malware since malware won't be able to get into your computer in the first place.

Some examples would be,
Browser hardening (disabling plug-ins, javascript, etc.)
Sandbox threatgates (Browsers, Email clients, etc. - malware is restricted)
Virtualization - Virtual partition (malware is gone on reboot - best used with limited user account IMO)

Also another thing that can be done is use a limited user account so that if malware did happen to get on your computer it would be restricted in what it's able to do, so a lot of malware would fail to do it's job.
That's one of the main reasons linux is so secure, it's considered crazy to run as root (administrator) for everyday use.

But then I ramble about this in many posts.

[kitkin15]

ya i said Avira in the link i posted, but not on here lol. thanks for that you actiouly might have helped me and my girlfrined =) (shes getting a computer and i want to make sur that hers has a better AV than me...she dont know as much as me with computer so the less she has to do the better lol)