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Post your comments for What Free Security Programs Can Protect My PC? here

[rcprimak]

I haven't tried Malwarebytes, but all else is on my computer now. I recently upgraded to Windows XP SP3, and no performance hit frommany of your choices. Comodo has recently begun to offer three levels of its firewall protection. The highest level incorporates the former stand-alone Comodo Memory Firewall, which addresses Stack Overflow or Leak Test vulnerabilities. Pretty cool for a freebie, no?

[sylvasirfa]

What about 'threatfire'?

[rcprimak]

Threatfire 3 is a very good predictive antivirus program. It is at this point incompatible with AVG Antvirus, but it will work OK with Avast 4. I think that Avast plus Comodo Pro with the Memory Firewall turned on, but the Antivirus turned off, is a good combination, and does not require additional predictive programs.

[OneTrueFriend]

Yeah, I would fully support your opinion on Avast.
It is an excellent product.
Great that it is free as well.
Have used paid for products as well, and I find Avast as good as any - if not better.

[ouidabob]

Orig. desktop had Norton AV and ZoneAlarm free. Too slow and bloat forced me out and went to NOD32 which is about $50 for two years.

Firewall is OnlineArmour free. Also SpywareBlaster and MalwareBytes for spyware. In nine years of computing NEVER had a virus or malware problem on three different computers.

[mhenriday]

My suggestion would be to use the free version of Avira AntiVir. It is regularly found at the top of Shadowserver's list of AV-programmes, both free and for-pay. The only disadvantage is that the frequent reminders to «upgrade» to a for-pay version can be annoying. This, plus Comodo Pro with the latter's antivirus protection disabled would seem to be optimal....
Henri

[Flashorn]

Hey mhenriday !!



Welcome to PCWorld Community !



There is a very simple solution to the Avira nag screen.

Go to eliteKiller.com . Choose your OS and follow the

instructions. This is not illegal.



FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[mhenriday]

Thanks, Flashorn, for the tip and the link !...

Henri

[Flashorn]

My pleasure !!



FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[dgleet]

I wrote previously about the AV2010 malware and the need to manage that. I have found that AV2010 has morphed so that what appears in the files and registry entries is QV2010. If you would like more info, I can provide it.
The underlying issue is: who can you trust. If the mechanism to remove it is published, say on the MS forums, then the authors of the malware can respond with instructions that serve their purposes. They can also respond by changing the footprint.
So, what are the options?

[b003]

I use Bit Defender and Avira, I do have Avast but I think it's a bit of a resource hog and I have it as a passive back up along with clam. I had AVG for years but when they forced me to change to buggy version 8 I had to let it go.
As far as firewalls I've used Kerio Sunbelt free but I had to manually start it and Ashampoo but it had memory crashes. I'll stick with zone alarm no fuss no muss. I do miss the easy email checking with AVG though.

[lourencomarques]

Why to make hard something so simple.?!?!?
COMODO Internet Security.
Anti Virus & FireWall. All in 1 and FREE.!!!
I have it for more than 2 Months when the Norton License expired, and works wonderfull.
A bit stress at the begining with the warnings, but with the use, just great.!!!

[kite1]

I've been fighting the 'Vundu' Trojan .... AVAST didn't help but the (free ) SUPERAntispyware (I've run it 6 times) is helping ... I took the writers advice & have added the 'Comodo' firewall ... Thank you PC World.

[Flashorn]

Hey Kite 1 !!



Welcome to PCWorld Community !



If you are still having trouble with the Vundo infection , may I recommend that

you visit either :



AumHa.org .



OR



MalwareRemoval .



You will have to register like you have here and post your concerns in the

HijackThis Forums.

Either of these forums are Experts in this field . Todays Trojans always leave

behind a payload that is hard to get rid of,even with the help of our best scanners.

Once on either of these forums , make sure to read the "Sticky Topics" before

posting.



FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[tremp101]

Avira AntiVir Personal and Zonealarm free works best for me.

[rcprimak]

Hi, lourencomarques! The reason I have not converted entirely to Comodo CIS is that there are as yet no professional reviews or independent lab testing of the new antivirus and antispyware components. Otherwise, I basically agree with you -- Comodo is a great company, and I have not been paid to say so.

In the meantime, I use Avast as my antivirus. I run it on a laptop with a Pentium 4 Mobile processor, 512 MB RAM, no separate graphics memory, and Windows XP Pro, sp3. No performance problems here, although I do not enable the Avast Automatic Updates feature. That may be what slows down some computers, because if left to its own devices, Avast constantly tries to auto-update whenever there is an active Internet connection. I strongly believe in manually updating everything. And to make sure I haven't missed anything, I run Secunia PSI (a version-checker with a huge database of software titles and plug-ins). Keeping your patches up to date is the single best defense against malware you can have.

[rcprimak]

Hi, dgleet! Microsoft's own Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is currently tuned-in on the AV2010 and similar threats. It can remove these infections, even if you cannot point your browser to the Microsoft websites. Go to an uninfected computer and download MSRT onto a Flash Drive. Then run it as a stand-alone on the infected computer. It should be able to run and clean up the mess.

[haycon]

Before installing any Security Program, free or pay, check the company's user forums. I have spent hours trying to uninstall Comodo 2 to upgrade to v.3. Be comfortable working in the registry!

[mhenriday]

Haycon, have you tried using Revo Uninstaller (www.revouninstaller.com) to uninstall those stubborn files ? Works well for me !...

Henri