Anti virus/anti spyware

[virgigirlie 0]

So, I need anti virus stuff for my laptop (Norton trial just ended). I don't do any banking or anything, just e-mail checking, paper-typing, and general time-wasting. I'm not downloading porn or anything (I watch it free on redtube). I'm mostly just worried about viruses that will slow my shit down or steal e-mail and forum passwords, etc.

I want to download free anti virus/spyware stuff. I want it to be legitimate and I want it to work. I have no idea what of the free stuff is reputable and effective. Again, I don't use my laptop (P.C.) for any sensitive information, so I don't want to spend a lot of money protecting it.

Suggestions? Please?

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." ~Catherine Aird

[MagicLou 0]

Uninstall the Norton trial and install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Any search engine will find it for you.

Lou
___________________________________
. . . now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb - Dark Helmet

[riddler 0]

Quote

Uninstall the Norton trial and install Microsoft Security Essentials.

+1. It's free, it's well supported (Microsoft), and it works. Anti-virus companies like Symantec and McAffee just got a death sentence from Microsoft.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[PhreeZone 14]

In the enterprise... not really. In the home space, partially.

MSE has no central reporting abilities, no manageability or anything else that the enterprise space has came to expect out of a product for the last 8 years.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[futuredivot 0]

Yeah, what are you? Some kinda EXPERT or something?

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[silent_pumpkin 0]

I know some that swear by AVG (free) and they need more protection than you will according to your usage.

[Smirniof 0]

Kaspersky is really good. Very satisfied :)

[riddler 0]

Quote

In the enterprise... not really. In the home space, partially.

I remember them saying the same thing about Netscape.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[wmw999 2,117]

My son is a big fan of Avast.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[regulator 0]

As an IT professional I use http://malwarebytes.org/

I use the free version all the time and it removed all kinds of spyware and malware. It's a great tool.

[kansasskydiver 0]

I agree Mbam is awesome.

Also a great cloud scanner is Hitman Pro 3.5 (if you ever get infected you can run a scan and remove viruses for free)

I also install Avira for home clients. AVG has gotten worse over the years IMO. After 7.5 it wouldn't update properly and started to slow the system.

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[PhreeZone 14]

I can list a ton of enterprises that are not allowing outside browsers in their environments and actively remove them

I know there are 2-3 people on these forums that are really plugged into the security sector and dealing with some of the largest names in the world for their security platforms. I deal in this area every day and the one thing that is driving the larger players is the demand for the deeper central management and reporting behind things like SEP 11 and ePO 4.5. The reporting and automation requirements are even being requested and utilized by companies as small as a couple of hundred nodes, its a basic requirement for every RFP/RFI I have seen.

For home users having the ability to automatically send and SNMB messages to a trap on the network for automatic notification for any malware detection is something they would never use but for enterprise usage its critical. They really are targeting two different markets with their products. Its the same thing with Symantec and McAfee. They both have consumer products and enterprise products and have different feature sets in between them. Right now the MS product and a lot of the other players are offering up a great consumer product for someone looking to protect their home computer but once you start getting to more then a few dozen systems you need the reporting to make sure things are updated and if they are detecting anything.

FEP (Forefront) is due out in Q3/Q4 this year but its still missing a ton of the basic items that even some of the niche players have in their product sets already so the only ones that will be jumping on that one are the ones looking to get it for free as part of their site license from Microsoft.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[PhreeZone 14]

Want to see something about MAB? Create these folders on drive:

c:\Program Files\AntivirusPro_2010
c:\Program Files\AntivirusPro_2010\data

And then create either of these registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AntivirusPro_2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\extra antivir

It will report your system is infected with a virus even though all you did was create folders/empty keys. They use file/folder detection to get inflated detection numbers off a system in some cases. Most other AV systems will skip over this since its not really malware.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Andy9o8 0]

Quote

AVG has gotten worse over the years IMO. After 7.5 it wouldn't update properly and started to slow the system.

I can confirm that. AVG used to be pretty good, but when my kid installed it in her computer, it slowed it down to the point where the computer was practically un-usable. We uninstalled it after about 1 day.

[GogglesnTeeth 6]

Quote

As an IT professional I use http://malwarebytes.org/

I use the free version all the time and it removed all kinds of spyware and malware. It's a great tool.

Agreed.... I work in IT as well. We use this all the time. If you are going to remove Norton... remember to use the Norton Removal Tool.
www.norton.com/nrt
this will make sure you completely get rid of Norton... that little bugger is a bitch otherwise. You don't want 2 anti-Virus programs on the machine... they will slow down your computer fighting with each other.

Download and run the NRT first to get rid of Norton, I use AVG, it's free and it works!

Goggles and Teeth

"You fall like a greased safe!!!"