Accelerated Graphics
New Member
Whats the best out there for he money? I see a bunch of free versions but don't know which one is best...
-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
Virus Software?
- Thread starter Accelerated Graphics
- Start date
Sign_Boy
New Member
Dice
New Member
The best out is Kaspersky. It's a bit more pricy than the others but it has a low memory footprint and is fast, won't bog down your computer like Norton or Mcafee. Anyone that says otherwise has never installed or used Kaspersky.
Microsoft released a free one, called Security Essentials. It's basic, won't protect from everything.
Microsoft released a free one, called Security Essentials. It's basic, won't protect from everything.
choucove
New Member
The absolute best antivirus programs are always changing from year to year, it's often best to find something that is rated up towards the top for several years running. Very few independent tests have placed the big-name antivirus programs at the top now for many years (such as Norton and McAfee) because these tend to be paid-only programs that don't offer the protection of free alternatives and utilize too much system resources or take over your computer.
Taking a look at the top 10 rankings generally accepted over the past few years, the top antivirus programs normally seen in the list are ESET Nod32 or Kaspersky as the top contenders really. However, just behind those there are also some free antivirus programs namely AVG 9.0 and Avast! 5.0 which I've used myself and have been incredibly pleased with.
No matter what antivirus program you go with, however, you also want to have an anti-malware application, such as Malwarebytes.
Taking a look at the top 10 rankings generally accepted over the past few years, the top antivirus programs normally seen in the list are ESET Nod32 or Kaspersky as the top contenders really. However, just behind those there are also some free antivirus programs namely AVG 9.0 and Avast! 5.0 which I've used myself and have been incredibly pleased with.
No matter what antivirus program you go with, however, you also want to have an anti-malware application, such as Malwarebytes.
binki
New Member
Micro$oft has a free anti virus software calles security essentials. We will probably switch to them as we purchase new computers.
Eset has been very good for us and has a small footprint but did have a few false alarms over the last year.
Mcafee was ok until a few years ago, it may have improved since then
Norton fell off of our list when symantic bought it and bloated it up. We never went back to them.
Kaspersky is ok, not too much experience with this one but it had some blowups like eset last year.
AVG is free and is pretty good.
These softwares are always changing so the best today may not be tomorrow.
Also consider using Spybot from SaferNetworking (free but donate if you like it) and Carbonite for automated offsite backup. Both of these tools are worth the price when you need them.
Eset has been very good for us and has a small footprint but did have a few false alarms over the last year.
Mcafee was ok until a few years ago, it may have improved since then
Norton fell off of our list when symantic bought it and bloated it up. We never went back to them.
Kaspersky is ok, not too much experience with this one but it had some blowups like eset last year.
AVG is free and is pretty good.
These softwares are always changing so the best today may not be tomorrow.
Also consider using Spybot from SaferNetworking (free but donate if you like it) and Carbonite for automated offsite backup. Both of these tools are worth the price when you need them.
choucove
New Member
Spybot is another common (and free) anti-malware application I forgot to mention but I have used it on more computers than I can count. It has a lot of features to control and administrate the security and operation of your computer as well. However, I've noticed recently they must not be keeping very updated on their definitions as there are some things it will not catch that Malwarebytes can recognize and remove properly.
Although off the general topic, Binki also recommended Carbonite for off-site backups. While this is a good option for a lot of businesses, there are a lot of other services just like Carbonite out there that I might look into first. The problem with Carbonite is that there are certain file types that it will not backup automatically, such as .exe applications, system files, and the list goes on and on. If you want to back up any of those files you have to add them to your list one file at a time which can become far too tedious for a lot of situations. Instead you might look into others such as Mozy, or one I have used recently is IDrive which you can sign up for 2GB of online storage absolutely free.
G-Artist
New Member
I only use free and that is for the only computer that hooks up to the Internet.
I recently dumped AVG and went to Avast because it has an on/off switch. I need that as I have a collection of programs that use a memory location that all AV programs identify as a potential virus. So, when I run those programs I just turn it off for a bit. That's very handy and not many AV programs will do that. In fact, most want total control over your computer.
AV protection is one thing. But most AV programs are just that - anti-virus. They will not detect other forms of malware which can wreck havoc or at least make you pull out your hair at times.
I run a slew of malware checkers every Sunday morning via a script. Just good housekeeping.
No one should ever allow the computer which runs their printers, plotters and design software to access the Net, ever. Then your only worry is when someone walks into your shop with their files on a thumb drive which can contain malware. When we get those, we plug them into this computer and transfer the files to our own thumb drive which we then transfer to whichever work computer we need to use. A few minutes work but great protection. Luckily most of our stuff comes in by e-mail and the files too large for e-mail (a rarity) are hosted on a Web site where we can download at our pleasure.
I recently dumped AVG and went to Avast because it has an on/off switch. I need that as I have a collection of programs that use a memory location that all AV programs identify as a potential virus. So, when I run those programs I just turn it off for a bit. That's very handy and not many AV programs will do that. In fact, most want total control over your computer.
AV protection is one thing. But most AV programs are just that - anti-virus. They will not detect other forms of malware which can wreck havoc or at least make you pull out your hair at times.
I run a slew of malware checkers every Sunday morning via a script. Just good housekeeping.
No one should ever allow the computer which runs their printers, plotters and design software to access the Net, ever. Then your only worry is when someone walks into your shop with their files on a thumb drive which can contain malware. When we get those, we plug them into this computer and transfer the files to our own thumb drive which we then transfer to whichever work computer we need to use. A few minutes work but great protection. Luckily most of our stuff comes in by e-mail and the files too large for e-mail (a rarity) are hosted on a Web site where we can download at our pleasure.
OldPaint
New Member
i recently got a "internet redirect virus." i have AVG free, spybot on the machine and it didnt catch it. HIJACK THIS will let you see what is running, and can remove them but you need to be computer savvy as to which is deleted. in the wrong hands you can destroy more then you save.
COMBO-FIX , http://www.combofix.org/ found and fixed the redirect codes in my computer.
so i can say it does what its indented to do.
COMBO-FIX , http://www.combofix.org/ found and fixed the redirect codes in my computer.
so i can say it does what its indented to do.
G-Artist
New Member
Well that depends on your firewall. And whether it is hardware or software based.
What MS gives you is a joke. A software freebie such as Zone Alarm will at least give you 2-way protection in that you can stop malware from phoning home.
I haven't seen many firewalls stop malware from getting into a computer (I seem to be the resident neighborhood guru when it comes to fixing malware infested computers...sigh).
Major government facilities are constantly hacked / infested because their biggest problem is that humans operate the computers. Be it foolishly opening certain e-mails or surfing less than reputable sites.