[drmsucks]

@Coastie - ditto on the AVG 8. I was using AVG 7.? on my XP side and Avast! on Vista (dual boot) so when AVG went to 8.0, I just switched XP to Avast!. And, after "hearing" all of the complaints and messes caused by 8.0 (it was like reading a forum on Norton!), I am delighted to have made the switch!

[coastie65]

After I dumped AVG 8.0, I went to the whole Webroot Suite AV & Spysweeper. Wasn't real thrilled with the AV part so went back to Spysweeper and then added Avast! . Ihave since added malwarebytes & SUPERantisyware for additional scans. Seems to do well. I updated to IE8 and come to find out I don't even use the thing. MSN uses something called MSN Explorer. No Pop Ups and very few ads with that thing and it seems to be a pretty secure browser. coastie

[drmsucks]

I never had confidence in Webroot's AV for some reason...

I also Updated to IE8 but use FF for everything except Windows Update. With the Adblock Plus extension and a subscription to the EasyList filter, I get virtually no advertisements.

But, we've highjacked this thread enough so take care...!

[coastie65]

drmsucks said:

But, we've highjacked this thread enough so take care...!

:D Yeah, you're right. I thought I was the mod here. :D

[drmsucks]

LOL!!

[mjd420nova]

Who is your ISP? Do they have any security packages offered with thier service? I've found the free offerings by the appropriate ISP's are the best and most comprehensive for their users and are a good fit for their users. Most all are free and offer the most up-to-date versions and offer automatic updating and scanning options. My belief is that the ISP can and should provide the spam blocking, pop up blocking, and virus protection at their servers and using their free protection is a step in that direction.

[HeroofAvalon]

I recommend Avira, personally. Typically, when I look over AV-comparatives.org's testing page results, they're consistently the highest in terms of accuracy (sometimes with a larger number of false positives than the others). I can suffer some harmless detections in exchange for high protection ratings.

[wired4action]

I agree with drm and coastie on the AVG 8 edition. I switched to Avast and it's been the best for me.
I also use Lavasoft's Ad-aware Anniversary Edition (also runs real-time protection), Javacool's Spywareblaster (no resources necessary--it loads all bad sites into your browser's restricted zone then you can shut it down), Spybot Search and Destroy (also loads it's database of bad sites to restricted zone through "Immunize" feature), and Malwarebytes Anti-malware.

[efreak1]

Well everybody, I tried out Avast and Avg, and it seems to me in case of memory usage avast used more.

[coastie65]

Hey efreak, Your links are busted. coastie

[tek101]

When it come to security ....I don't really mind few MBs ......as long as it works ....and I don't have to MANUALLY do a update ...

[coastie65]

Yep, and as long as it doesn't take over the computer as some do. coastie

[jhmoonbay]

I've tried AVG and avast, but I finally went with Threatfire. It offers real time signature based protection, and you can set up a schedule. auto-updates and it's pretty much set it and forget it. I also run several antispyware programs and 2 antirootkit programs manually. Hope this helps. jhmoonbay

[efreak1]

Boy that's wierd, they worked yesterday. ?:| They should work now.

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi :

WHO is "they" ?

[coastie65]

Hey, He was referring to the links he included in a post further back up. coastie

[HeroofAvalon]

Threatfire, when last I checked, was best used as a supplement to your antivirus software, not as a stand-alone product. Now, maybe they've improved it since I last tried it, but I'd still recommend you have another program for protection.

[drmsucks]

@Hero - You are absolutely right. From the Threatfire FAQ's (emphasis added by me):
h4. What is ThreatFire?

ThreatFire is zero-day security software designed for the average
consumer. ThreatFire protects in real-time against viruses, worms,
trojans, spyware, adware, rootkits, keyloggers, and buffer overflows.
It is designed to be used alongside your current antivirus to protect
you between antivirus updates. Because it is behavior-based and not
signature-based, ThreatFire protects against both known and unknown, or
zero-day, threats. It is easy to install, painless to use, and
immediately effective against today's computer security threats. And
best of all, ThreatFire is free to all home users.

[HeroofAvalon]

Thank you for the informative quote drmsucks (...interesting name, by the way). Indeed, I had tried Threatfire once before, but seeing as I never really visit many websites that are infested with malware, I always found it adequate to rely on--and I have thusfar been rewarded for-- trusting my computer's safety to Avira. avast! and AVG are also solid protection though, and those are essentially the "Big Three" freebies. As long as you run any of those, you should be quite safe, as they all consistently perform well in tests.



In addition, try Windows Defender, a-Squared Free Edition, SUPERantispyware, SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware and Advanced SystemCare for other threats. McAfee SiteAdvisor (available in a free version) will also help steer you clear of the less...benevolent sites out there.



Either Google the names above, or follow these links:

Windows Defender

a-Squared Free

SUPERAntiSpyware

SpywareBlaster

Ad-Aware

Advanced SystemCare

McAfee SiteAdvisor



(Take note: In being free, most of these don't come with active/automated protection, so you still have to be somewhat cautious. Don't let that scare you though. As long as you're sensible and do a full round of scans monthly--with weekly quick-scans--you won't have anything to worry about. As a result, you're saving many, many dollars a year for nearly identical protection.)

[drmsucks]

...and you have to have Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/).