Antivirus and antispyware

[ríomhaire]

So I got a new laptop and I'd like to install some anticrap onto it. AVG is the obvious choice for free, legal antivirus but what good free antispyware programmes are there (or a different antivirus if you want to suggest). Thank you, and no I couldn't use the search bar as I'm feeling lazy and tired.

 

[No Limit]

Anti virus doesn't work. Set up a limited user account and run your computer under that. Log in as an administrator only when you need to install something. If you have Vista they made this a lot more convinient. you usually don't have to even log off to install a program, it will let you input the username and password for the admin account right as you try to install something. In xp you had to do run as and that wasn't compatible with many programs.

 

[ríomhaire]

Why does using a limited user account make any difference?

 

[No Limit]

Why does using a limited user account make any difference?

A limited account doesn't allow you to install anything or make any kind of system changes. So if a virus wants to install itself it will need administration permission to do so. Obviously you won't give it that permission.

I have ran in to only one infection over the years using this method on a clients computer. And the virus didn't have the privileges to spread to the operating system, it only affected the users local profile and was extremely eaasy to clean off.

 

[giant384]

A limited account doesn't allow you to install anything or make any kind of system changes. So if a virus wants to install itself it will need administration permission to do so. Obviously you won't give it that permission.

I have ran in to only one infection over the years using this method on a clients computer. And the virus didn't have the privileges to spread to the operating system, it only affected the users local profile and was extremely eaasy to clean off.

ive never heard of a limited account stopping a virus from getting on your pc....i just use spybot search and destroy for spyware.

 

[No Limit]

ive never heard of a limited account stopping a virus from getting on your pc....i just use spybot search and destroy for spyware.

There are probably a lot of things you haven't heard of, doesn't mean they aren't true . But you don't have to take my word for it, ask Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/advanced/useraccount.mspx

and:

http://windows.about.com/od/security/a/why_limited.htm

Spybot search and destroy will not stop a virus in real time, virtually no anti-virus software will. Running as a limited account is the only protection you have in real time.

 

[AtomicSpark]

This suggestion he made is the simple and very effective security model behind any *nix biased operating systems. This is why Mac and Linux have very few, if any, viruses and other bad things.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

tea timer on spybot keeps anything from making changes too.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, using a non-admin account for everyday use is the best way to run your computer.
Another good free AV is Avira. Although it has a high detection of false positives so something like NOD32 or Kaspersky (neither are free) are a lot better.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Avast!

 

[Asus]

PDF results from AV-comparatives.org on different AntiVirus products.
First chart shows percentage of detected threats. The second line graph shows how many files it detected were actually false positives.

 

[VirusType2]

Yeah, using a non-admin account for everyday use is the best way to run your computer.
Another good free AV is Avira. Although it has a high detection of false positives so something like NOD32 or Kaspersky (neither are free) are a lot better.

I used AVG a/v for a couple years. It detected dozens of viruses that may or may not have really been viruses (false positives)

I switched and have been using Avira for a couple months. It hasn't detected anything yet, but I haven't noticed any problems either.

These A/V programs are free versions.

I haven't used Avira long enough to really say if it's good, but I read good reviews of it before I installed it.

 

[No Limit]

tea timer on spybot keeps anything from making changes too.

I'm kind of ashamed I didn't know about tea timer. How long has this been out and does anyone actually have some data on how effective it really is? Norton is supposed to protect in real time, but most viruses get right by it.

 

[VirusType2]

Isn't tea timer the same thing as a firewall?

If you have an effective one of those, you don't need it.

ER - well, my firewall (Online Armor) has something called program guard, which does the same thing.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Not a firewall exactly, just asks your permission (admin or not) for any changes to the system settings, usually registry values. It asks me usually when some bullshit program is installed when installing something else or sometimes even url links :O

 

[VirusType2]

I used tea timer for a little while, but I found it would ask the same permissions as my firewall, so I thought it was redundant. Maybe tea timer is more thorough.

Eh, I need to really reconsider the way I've been doing things anyway.

No Limit's suggestions sound pretty tight and resource friendly at the same time. But, I recommend to keep an A/V program anyway, at least to scan downloads. Foolish if you don't, IMHO.

 

[No Limit]

The only form of protection I use with this limited user set up is Adaware. I'll run the scan every so often and use it if I ever need to scan a single file/program. I've been running this way for 2+ years and I haven't caught a virus. I have also had this same set up at work on about 10 computers. Some of those users don't know anything about computers but constantly check their my space pages and other sites prone to virus attacks. I haven't dealt with a single virus at this company since I set this up over a year ago. The only time I did run in to an infection was on one of my client's computers as I said above. I don't know how he got it infected, it was that damn antivirus 2008 virus that is spreading like wild fire, but thankfully it only affected his local profile and didn't spread to his entire computer. It took me 5 minutes to remove simply by running hijack this and removing the offending processes.

I would highly recommend this to everyone. I don't know how in the world any of you have anti-virus running in the background, that shit drives me nuts and completely eats your resources.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

mine only takes 3k mem.

 

[VirusType2]

On my laptop, AVG A/V added about a minute to Windows start up time.

then there is CPU usage and annoying updates, not just memory usage.