Spyware Warrior

[trace]

Hi
I would like to ask about anti viruses
Which ones do you suggest i should use .I have avast at the moment on 2 laptops and desktop computer but ive heard nod 32 is good .Asking before trying them
Thanks
Tracey

[suzi]

Moved to Anti-Spyware and Security Software Discussion
_________________
Former Microsoft MVP 2005-2009, Consumer Security
Please do not PM or Email me for personal support. Post in the Forums instead and we will all learn.

[Osage]

To trace,

When we talk about antiviruses, we can talk about the broad distinctions of a freeware vs paid commercial AV's.

And then we can talk about exactly how good they are in terms of quality, things like virus detection rates, speed of updates, the number of false positives, and how lean and mean they are vs bloated.

And the facts are, at present, at least 3 freeware AV's are better than almost all paid ware AV's in the prosumer class.

IMHO, there are basically three paid ware AV's that are probably slightly better than any freeware AV, and those are Kaspersky, NOD32, and the paid version of avira.

And, IMHO, there are only three really good freeware AV's, only a hair behind the three commercial AV's I mentioned, and those are
the freeware version of avira which lacks incoming email prescanning, the freeware version of avast, and maybe the freeware version of AVG even though it is reputed to be overly bloated now.

And again, IMHO, I fail to see why anyone in their right mind would pay to have something like McAfee or Norton. And I also fail to see why anyone in their right mind would use some of the real inferior freeware AV's when they can pick one of the three best freeware AV's.

I do not have a link handy now to some of the AV comparatives, but hopefully someone will. But year after year, the paid and freeware versions I favor seems to always lead the pack of AV's.

You can use one and only one active AV at a time , so arm your self with the facts and choose wisely. And if I were willing to pay for an AV, I would probably choose Kaspersky, but NOD32 is by no means a bad choice.

[roger_m]

I would stick with Avast, as it works very well.

Also the new version 5 which is not too far away has better detection and reduced system resource usage too.

[Tarq57]

The thing it is important to realise, is that any AV can miss one, occasionally. And any AV can produce a false positive, occasionally. And the performance of "a" vs "b" might swap week to week, month to month.
A user can go from AV to Av attempting to find the "holy grail" (I've read of people who do this - they often end up borking their computers and need reformatting) but there simply isn't one, on it's own.
A strategy of limiting rights in the browser, keeping software up to date, using a firewall (and maybe a hardware firewall/router), blocking known bad sites, and running a good AV, and occasionally a good demand antimalware scanner (such as MBAM) will keep most users out of trouble, providing the user isn't a click-happy lunatic.
Good quality passwords are important.
Additional important strategies include keeping and maintaining backups. For the less mainstream, virtualization, running sandboxed, and using imaging software and/or HIPS is becoming popular.
I belong more to the former group, and have used Avast for over two years, and it has served me extremely well. I would not hesitate to recommend it.
I also use a software 2-way firewall, a basic behaviour blocker (Threatfire), a device to tell me when software is vulnerable/out of date (Secunia PSI) and a little bit of common sense (like not opening attachments in unsolicited emails/IMs) and just don't get infected. (Touch silicon. )

[trace]

Thanks so much everyone who has replied to me .

Tarq57
Do you suggest i use a fire wall.Zone alarm ive used before but it gave me a conflict with Avast so i haven't used it since .
I have just the window fire wall on at the moment and avast running .
I scan frequently with a squared and spybot.

Ive used Avast for years on different laptops and my kids desktop pc.
I like it .I did have AVG but didn't like it so much .
What else do you suggest to keep my pc's protected
Thanks so much
Tracey

[aBenG]

Definitely use a firewall trace, preferably one that catches incoming and outgoing traffic. Don't forget to turn off the windows firewall once you have another up and running to avoid conflicts.

If you want to keep it simple and free there is Outpost or Sygate - I've been trying out the latter for a while and it seems reasonable (at least I've had no alerts from other stuff further down the line).

More complex freebies include Online Armor and Comodo.
_________________
Inperfect.

[Osage]

To Trace,

I know that your question was more addressed to tarq57, but I hope neither you or tarq57 mind it if I put my two cents in also.

To start out, tarq57 is correct, because he has an overall multilayered security system that stresses prevention, prevention, and prevention
and in such a system, an antivirus is just one layer. And tarq57 is doubly correct, because he points out the greatest security hole in any security system is the person sitting behind the keyboard. Which implies that computer security is a way of life, which requires self education, and without some amount of self education, hiding behind any amount of computer security software is not enough. In terms of self education, reading the back posts on this forum is an excellent way to get up to speed on the various issues.

Beyond that, in terms of a layered security system I will detail later, there are so many possible permutations of ways you can fill the various layers that almost no two people do it the same. And to a certain extent, a computer security system is operating system dependent, different operating systems have different vulnerabilities. But assuming you have some flavor of Windows XP,
its one way incoming only firewall is better than nothing and that is the best that can be said. The vista firewall is two way, and does something for both incoming and outgoing connection, but lacks any real log files you can access.

But IMHO, the six layers you should have are.

1. A good software firewall, two way, and with easily accessed log files. I use comodo 3, on line armor freeware and paid version is also good, and supposedly so is the payware Agneithem. Both on line armor and comodo 3 add HIPs and other defenses and thus blur the lines between other layers. A hardware firewall can also be a plus. But all firewalls share a common weakness, if you the user tell them you want that malware laden piece of software, the firewall will roll out the red carpet. Firewalls also take some time to train, so firewall switching can get painful. IMHO, the freeware version of zone alarm is not very good, but others may question my opinions about other firewalls.

2. A good active antivirus, choose wisely, because like a software firewall, you can use one and only one at a time.

3. Your various and largely passive spyware scanners, not all that good at prevention, but good for after the fact removal. Things like spybot search and destroy although spybot has some host files options you can turn on for more prevention. And the same passive things can be said for A squared, malware bytes, super antispyware, and many others.

4. Your host and hips files, and software like threatfire, are designed to blacklist various malware and give it the bums rush before it gets into your computer.

5. Process control is a last line of defense, and gives you the human notice that something new is trying to install, they can be a giant pain in the butt when its software you want to install, but it can save your butt if its malware that can install on your computer in milliseconds. And if it can't install, it can't infect. And as someone who bought a used computer on ebay, take my word for it, getting rid of some malware is a lot harder than preventing it.

6. Then there are all those self education tweaks you can do to tighten up security that tarq57 alluded to. Tighten up security in your browsers, do all your windows critical updates, use secunia to detect old software with security holes, use a limited account for your browsing and if you have Windows XP pro, go with a limited account with a full software restriction policy and become almost bullet proof.

After that, there are things like sandboxie I have yet to feel a need for. Because its really not hard to set up a multilayer security
system, and then life gets almost boring. Because one can run scans until you are blue inn the face and there tends to be nothing found, knock on wood. In my case, its been years since I found anything more dangerous than a few tracking cookies. But I also keep reading on this forum, because as the bad guys getting smarter, I have to keep up and at best I can stay a half step behind them.

[Tarq57]

I certainly don't mind!
That was said better and more comprehensively than my post was going to.

All I'd add is to say that I have no experience with ZoneALarm (but have read at the Avast forum that a lot of users have, have had problems, and that there are workarounds).
I use PCTools firewall, and have found it straightforward to set up and use.
As with any application- based (as opposed to rules- based) firewall, there are a lot of popups during the "learning" period. Once the firewall has been instructed in which software installed on your computer is allowed to connect, the alerts stop. Anything new, after that period, needs investigating. You can think of it as a safety net.

There are also features of the firewall (as Osage alluded to before, regarding the lines blurring) that alert to internal processes, rather than internet processes. It's a type of HIPS, and occurs mainly when installing new software, and performing some updates. "HIPS" can be thought of as an internal firewall. Very powerful, but requires involved user interaction and knowledge.

[trace]

Thanks so much to everyone who has given me great information.
And helped me understand everything .
The pc tools fire wall is it this one ?

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

im using Vista on my laptop and will it be ok with avast is there any conflicts with it .?
Thanks
Tracey

[Tarq57]

Yes, Trace, that's the one.
If you want to look at any more options, let us know. (Careful, it can be confusing.) (And trying software out can become addictive. Resist.)
Vista's firewall is good, AFAIK, but is not intuitive or easy to set up.
In my (somewhat limited) experience with firewalls, it's probably best to pick one that has a good rep, try it out, and if you can understand it and it works for you (give it a couple of weeks) keep it.
There are no conflicts with Avast and PCTools firewall. There might be firewall alerts, such as "ashWebserve is attempting to connect to the internet...." and if the process belongs to Avast, allow it, and instruct it to remember.

[trace]

Thanks so much for your help .
Ill give it a go .
Tracey

[Osage]

Often firewalls have forums to help newbys and experienced users get more benefit from the firewall.

I knew for a fact that Comodo and online armor had such forums for their firewalls, so on a lark, I checked on pctools using google.

And pleasant surprise, pctools has such a firewall forum.

http://www.pctools.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=30

One of the common problems with firewalls is they tend to default firewall out networking, and often the procedure to allow networking can be arcane and confusing, and then being a forum user can really really help.

[trace]

Thanks so much

[origwildman]

Hi. I'm the new kid on the block so to speak. I am for the most part a user of FREE Ware, and have been doing so for about 10 years now. A look at sites such as Gizmo's will give recommendations. Keep in mind however that what may work well on my machine may not do as well on yours. My advice would be pick one you think may be to your liking and give it a test, if it doesn't work out try another one. Remember to only run on Anti virus program at a time however. I also use a Spyware and malrware program in conjunction with the anti virus one and I practice safe hex.

Thanks
origwildman
_________________
Salute to the vanguards of freedom.

[origwildman]

[Tarq57]

[origwildman]

[Tarq57]

[origwildman]

[Tarq57]

[origwildman]

[Tarq57]

[unsubscribes/]

[suzi]

origwildman, please keep it civil and polite. We do not tolerate rudeness to members here, or troll behavior.

Thanks
_________________
Former Microsoft MVP 2005-2009, Consumer Security
Please do not PM or Email me for personal support. Post in the Forums instead and we will all learn.

[origwildman]

[suzi]

You said that already.
Being disabled and having impaired vision is not an excuse for rudeness or troll behavior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
_________________
Former Microsoft MVP 2005-2009, Consumer Security
Please do not PM or Email me for personal support. Post in the Forums instead and we will all learn.

[origwildman]

[datababe]