Free anti virus

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

+1 to hating AVG. It's so bloated now.
Also I never use Free AV. You get what you pay for. I use Webroot. It's free for me cause it's works uber license but it hardly cost anything.

[RanJ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close RanJ]

About the only thing third party software I use for PC maintenance is Piriform CCleaner. Although its not an antivirus. I just like to run it every few months and let it do a bit of a registry tidy up

[Shan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shan]

+1 for Windows Security Essentials and Google Chrome...
I have actually removed IE from Windows features altogether.

Also MS introduced UAC (User Access Control) from Vista onwards... I think, which make things much secure.

You don't have to have a third party anti-virus application installed (causing more pain than it's worth IMHO), instead a free portable anti-virus when you need it in an unlikely event might be the go. Remember even with full on antivirus suits sometimes you have to download specific tools to remove nasty viruses.

Most of the virus/malware infections are a result of user error (downloading from unknown sources, opening spam email. etc. etc.).

[zutta Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zutta]

AVG x20 I have spare keys for the full version if you want one for free. PM for details - Sharing is Caring -

[rogjil Find all posts View Profile Close rogjil]

Another for Windows Security Essentials and Google Chrome, been using these a long time...and use services like gmail and drive....be careful about downloading stuff and you should never have a problem.

At work we switched form Symantec to a Microsoft solution, mainly because of the integration with other microsoft products.

However, my personal pc is a MAC, no anti-virus software at all

[Danda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Danda]

Thanks for the input great stuff have to agree though AVG actually helped a virus cook my harddrive ( some years ago )by attaching itself to all the files it was checking and as it passed disabled half of each file rendering it all stuffed (hence Comodo) but yes Avast has got a good reputation so signed up today,
thanks for the input guys good stuff,
danda

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

However, my personal pc is a MAC, no anti-virus software at all

Brave. Very brave.

Its a mistake to assume that your Mac is completely immune to attack. True the Unix based OS X is more difficult to crack than other OS', so Macs are fundamentally safer from malware and other internet attacks than PCs. But there are Mac viruses out there. It is also because there is just is less malware is written to target Macs. (lower market share & penetration = lower risk/reward).

some egs: Most recently, the “Pintsized” Trojan that bypasses the OS X 'Gatekeeper" to create a secure remote connection to victim's user accounts, and then scour their hard drive for personal information

Then there was FLASHBACK that infected 600,000 machines.

Also: INIT-29-B virus, HyperCard HC-9507, Hong Kong virus, OSX/Leap-A, OSX.Macarena, the trojan horse AppleScript.THT, OSX.Lamzev.A and OSX.TrojanKit.Malez trojans, OSX.RSPlug.D trojan, OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B trojans, OSX/HellRTS Trojan etc

Apple: Building walls around the sheep to protect them from the wolves and telling them there are no wolves
Microsoft: Putting the sheep in a field, and telling them they should learn to fight back

[dershba Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dershba]

AVG paid for version, been using it for years and not had any problems

[AK7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AK7]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/w...tials-download
Been using it since release 2011? never had a virus and also use google chrome as the web browser.

Another good comparative site is http://www.av-comparatives.org/. Still worth bearing in mind that these are a guide only and not reflective of individual experiences. I used AVG for a long time, including selling it as part of my business but soon got rid of it because it was clearly not as effective or as efficient as the competition and had far too many false positives. I also used Kaspersky for a bit. Much more effective and less heavy than AVG but their Australian support was pathetic. Suggesting disabling components whenever it had a fault. After that I moved onto AVIRA and ESET, both much more stable and well constructed than any of the others I'd used. Of the free antivirus programs, I'd suggest AVIRA and AVAST. Online on-demand sweeps I'd recommend Panda, ESET, Kaspersky. Individual scans I'd recommend VirusTotal.

I'm a strong believer that your surfing habits, dowloading habits, email habits and how you use and abuse software and multimedia - as well as how those around you also do these things - play a massive role in how vulnerable to exploits you are. I don't rely on antivirus software anymore, but I am able to monitor my PC better than most for abnormalities. I recommend also keeping network hardware firmware updated and password protected. More recent infections I've seen have included DNS redirects done by exploiting modem/router. Redirects to dodgy sites are a great pathway to mass infection. Lots of sensible ways of minimising risk, but I know I'll sound like the fun police if I rattle those off..

About the only thing third party software I use for PC maintenance is Piriform CCleaner. Although its not an antivirus. I just like to run it every few months and let it do a bit of a registry tidy up

Sorry to put it like this RanJ, but Registry optimisation is a complete nonsense (just one link). It used to be a thing in the 1990's when operating systems were small and mechanical drives were slow. Now the risks outweigh the rewards - by a long shot. CCleaner can easily pick up false positives for orphaned registry entries and then remove said entry, causing all manner of problems within the programs that used those entries - or within Windows itself. Basic rule of the registry is that if you don't understand it, don't touch it!

To put the potential benefits in perspective, it's deleting a few lines of text (maybe a few KB) to make reading the registry a bit quicker. Registry hives are usually under 100MB, and are part of a system with operating system and applications amounting to at very least 4GB (more likely five to ten times that amount). That's like polishing one grain of sand in the ocean. Pointless. As an aside, CCleaner is a fairly good cache cleaning tool. By all means use it for that, but I highly recommend not using the registry "cleaning" part of it.

If you really want to see some speed improvements, use a Solid State Drive (SSD) for your operating system. You'll never have to worry about file fragmentation or the like again. If you're not already using an SSD, invest in a professional (not free) defragmenting program such as Raxco PerfectDisk or DiskKeeper Pro and run a defrag on the Master File Table (MFT). The MFT is essentially an index on the drive listing where all of the fragments for each file are located on the hard drive. If it's badly fragmented, then defragmenting this will usually have a noticeable effect on the PC's performance - and it takes less than ten minutes to run. Most PC shops have no idea about this when they "optimise" a PC...

It's an offline defrag, meaning Windows (or MacOS, etc) will have to reboot to do the defrag.

[rogjil Find all posts View Profile Close rogjil]

I'm a strong believer that your surfing habits, dowloading habits, email habits and how you use and abuse software and multimedia - as well as how those around you also do these things - play a massive role in how vulnerable to exploits you are. I don't rely on antivirus software anymore, but I am able to monitor my PC better than most for abnormalities. I recommend also keeping network hardware firmware updated and password protected. More recent infections I've seen have included DNS redirects done by exploiting modem/router. Redirects to dodgy sites are a great pathway to mass infection. Lots of sensible ways of minimising risk, but I know I'll sound like the fun police if I rattle those off..

+1, my thoughts exactly.

Put time and energy into reliable, consistent backups and minimise virus risks.

As for registry cleanup, if you have installed, uninstalled lots of software, or you think your pc is now slower, then the best course of action is start again. Format, install OS, reload software you need, and reconnect to the data you have backed up.

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

Brave. Very brave.

Its a mistake to assume that your Mac is completely immune to attack. True the Unix based OS X is more difficult to crack than other OS', so Macs are fundamentally safer from malware and other internet attacks than PCs. But there are Mac viruses out there. It is also because there is just is less malware is written to target Macs. (lower market share & penetration = lower risk/reward).

some egs: Most recently, the “Pintsized” Trojan that bypasses the OS X 'Gatekeeper" to create a secure remote connection to victim's user accounts, and then scour their hard drive for personal information

Then there was FLASHBACK that infected 600,000 machines.

Also: INIT-29-B virus, HyperCard HC-9507, Hong Kong virus, OSX/Leap-A, OSX.Macarena, the trojan horse AppleScript.THT, OSX.Lamzev.A and OSX.TrojanKit.Malez trojans, OSX.RSPlug.D trojan, OSX.Iservice and OSX.Iservice.B trojans, OSX/HellRTS Trojan etc

Apple: Building walls around the sheep to protect them from the wolves and telling them there are no wolves
Microsoft: Putting the sheep in a field, and telling them they should learn to fight back

Like windows , those holes are all plugged so provided you install the latest updates these issues are not a concern. Most of the Mac vulnerability is based around wi-fi open networks. Again the holes are now plugged but the exploit was a physical one.

True Macs are not immune to viruses but nothing can install itself in the OS without the user permitting it. Provides your not turning this feature off and have all patches in there isn't a need for virus software. Besides there are only one or two available and the updates are measures in years so there is little security added. And you have to buy them.

As before if you get infected you're either downloading and installing things you shouldn't. Or opening email attachments from random addresses blindly.

Viruses aren't intelligent. They can't get on to the system unless someone puts it there knowingly or not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RanJ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close RanJ]

Thanks for pointing that out mate. I've often wondered if it's been of any benefit. The biggest reason I do it is that I have software coming and going on a regular basis so I've believed it makes sense. About every 12-18 months I tend to do a fresh install regardless. when I do use the registry clean up I always put the back up registry on a usb stick and i have a clone drive also. So far, I've never had to put it to use... yet.

Although right now my PC is buggy as all hell and sometimes runs like a bucket of poop and I'm loving it! I'm on Windows 10 Technical Preview Fast loop. Just throwing it out there... W10 is going to be awesome!

[Graz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Graz]

Sad to say but most antivirus programs only stop most of the small stuff,which is good.But the smart asses that want to do the damage to you just go right around any protection you have.The only real protection would be to unplug the dam internet and not go online.
They have a new bug out now that disguise its self as a Java update called Cryptowall 3.0.
It puts an encryption on all your files. ( photos,video's , and all office files ) Then ask for $500 to undo the encryption.
Yeah they got me. Bastards
They leave a note for you in each folder telling you how to fix it.See photo.
So be careful when updating.make sure it is from who they say it is.I will only update from there web page now.
Sorry cant see the pic.this is what they say

What happened to your files ?
All of your files were protected by a strong encryption with RSA-2048 using CryptoWall 3.0.
More information about the encryption keys using RSA-2048 can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)


What does this mean ?
This means that the structure and data within your files have been irrevocably changed, you will not be able to work with them, read them or see them,
it is the same thing as losing them forever, but with our help, you can restore them.


How did this happen ?
Especially for you, on our server was generated the secret key pair RSA-2048 - public and private.
All your files were encrypted with the public key, which has been transferred to your computer via the Internet.
Decrypting of your files is only possible with the help of the private key and decrypt program, which is on our secret server.


What do I do ?
Alas, if you do not take the necessary measures for the specified time then the conditions for obtaining the private key will be changed.
If you really value your data, then we suggest you do not waste valuable time searching for other solutions because they do not exist.


For more specific instructions, please visit your personal home page, there are a few different addresses pointing to your page below:
1.http://paytoc4gtpn5czl2.tolotor.com/1dxgYU2
2.http://paytoc4gtpn5czl2.boltotor.com/1dxgYU2
3.http://paytoc4gtpn5czl2.bonytor2.com/1dxgYU2
4.http://paytoc4gtpn5czl2.speecostor.com/1dxgYU2

If for some reasons the addresses are not available, follow these steps:
1.Download and install tor-browser: http://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
2.After a successful installation, run the browser and wait for initialization.
3.Type in the address bar: paytoc4gtpn5czl2.onion/1dxgYU2
4.Follow the instructions on the site.


IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Your personal page: http://paytoc4gtpn5czl2.tolotor.com/1dxgYU2
Your personal page (using TOR): paytoc4gtpn5czl2.onion/1dxgYU2
Your personal identification number (if you open the site (or TOR 's) directly): 1dxgYU2

[AK7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AK7]

As for registry cleanup, if you have installed, uninstalled lots of software, or you think your pc is now slower, then the best course of action is start again. Format, install OS, reload software you need, and reconnect to the data you have backed up.

It's a common misconception that you have to reinstall to regain that performance. In this scenario, and if the system is running on a mechanical drive, The "bloat" is usually a result of MFT fragmentation. Defragmenting the MFT should restore the system to close to the same speed as a fresh install. Windows has a dumbed down version of DiskKeeper (at least they did for many years) that does NOT do MFT defragmentation, hence the need for professional software to add that feature.

My main PC runs Windows 7 on an SSD and has never been reinstalled since it was first built in 2011. My media PC runs XP on a 74GB WDC Raptor and has had that installed since it was last upgraded in 2009. Eventually I'll transfer XP onto a spare 2TB drive to give it a speed boost. My laptop is eleven years old, running XP on a 60GB drive since well before 2009... If you reinstalled Windows and all current apps on them, you wouldn't pick a speed difference to how they run right now. Anyway - defragmenting and reinstalling are a mug's game You forget all of that when you run your system off an SSD

Thanks for pointing that out mate. I've often wondered if it's been of any benefit. The biggest reason I do it is that I have software coming and going on a regular basis so I've believed it makes sense. About every 12-18 months I tend to do a fresh install regardless. when I do use the registry clean up I always put the back up registry on a usb stick and i have a clone drive also. So far, I've never had to put it to use... yet.

Although right now my PC is buggy as all hell and sometimes runs like a bucket of poop and I'm loving it! I'm on Windows 10 Technical Preview Fast loop. Just throwing it out there... W10 is going to be awesome!

If you don't have a spare PC and you ever have to try and restore a corrupted registry hive on a system that won't boot, I promise you'll think twice about doing stuff to the registry Being part of a test/beta program, you're pretty much saying you're a bug-tester - no sympathy on the buggy system! If it weren't for the occasional PC game I like playing, I'd already be on MacOS. When Windows 7 goes EOL, I think that'll be it for me and the Windows franchise.

Sad to say but most antivirus programs only stop most of the small stuff,which is good.But the smart asses that want to do the damage to you just go right around any protection you have.The only real protection would be to unplug the dam internet and not go online.

They have a new bug out now that disguise its self as a Java update called Cryptowall 3.0.
It puts an encryption on all your files. ( photos,video's , and all office files ) Then ask for $500 to undo the encryption.
Yeah they got me. Bastards

Ouch. I remember when the first ransomware apps spread. Nasty stuff - and a great reason to have your important data backed up on multiple sources (ie. USB/NAS drive and cloud storage). I used to recommend CrashPlan but these days I don't know who the other players are. My main emphasis is data retention policy and privacy policy. Strongly urge people to read the EULA's carefully before putting personal data onto any form of cloud storage.

Cryptowall looks like it spread via bogus websites. Something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet is that you should always, always, always enable the browser status bar and hover over hyperlinks before you click. Given the number of masked links in spam emails and on dodgy websites, this is the most effective way to avoid ending up on malicious websites.

Worst infection I saw was a polymorphic strain of the "Virut" botnet virus, spread via MP3 and JPG downloads over Limewire and Torrents. If the AV program spots it, it changes code and the infection remains. From recollection, it infected EXE, JPG, MP3, DOC and SCR. It used to seek out USB media and infect that almost immediately, so that it could then infect any other PC that had USB autoplay enabled. Highly infectius and next to impossible to clean, irrespective of whether the botnet aspect worked or not. The easiest solution in those cases was to completly wipe the PC, the USB sticks and destroy any CD's that they'd burnt during the time they had the infection.

[RanJ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close RanJ]

If you don't have a spare PC and you ever have to try and restore a corrupted registry hive on a system that won't boot, I promise you'll think twice about doing stuff to the registry Being part of a test/beta program, you're pretty much saying you're a bug-tester - no sympathy on the buggy system! If it weren't for the occasional PC game I like playing, I'd already be on MacOS. When Windows 7 goes EOL, I think that'll be it for me and the Windows franchise.

Well, thats pretty much why I always have a clone drive

No complaints from me on being buggy as hell at the moment. I'm really digging Windows 10. I'm finding it to surpass W7 easily. Of course I get bugs on a regular basis. The worst was when I lost all file indexing ability for about 2 months. Oh man.. what a PITA that was. But still happy to be part of the group and I don't complain about the bugs too much, I knew what I signed up for..