Anti Virus?

[malufet]

Using avast for 3 years now, never had problems.

 

[Hollowway]

Yeah I like Avast and AVG. And I LOVE Spybot search and destroy. And I also use a Mac at home, so that makes me feel safe (and I'm aware that I'm only safer because there aren't too many viruses written for OSX. I don't care what the reason - just that I'm safer!)
I've used the pay ones, and I agree that McAfee isn't desirable, and Kapersky tended to be way too invasive, rather than just a quiet background operation. Norton seems pretty good for the pay softwares, but it depends on the actual Norton version. We used an enterprise level at work which is awesome. But I've never had much luck with the single user home versions.

And definitely the best protection is to know what you're doing. I could turn off all my antivirus stuff and get less viruses in a year than having the thing antivirused up the wazoo and handing it over to some friends/people I work with. People download an amazing amount of suspicious stuff.

 

[Mwoit]

.

And definitely the best protection is to know what you're doing. I could turn off all my antivirus stuff and get less viruses in a year than having the thing antivirused up the wazoo and handing it over to some friends/people I work with. People download an amazing amount of suspicious stuff.

Pretty much the best advice. Don't be stupid online.

If you're really paranoid, you could always wipe and reinstall your OS on a regular basis if you think you have rootkits installed.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

But guys it says Im the 1 millionth visitor and all I have to do is download this executable called sp0rk and enter credit card info?

 

[AySay]

The only reason mac don't see much in terms of malware is people don't bother writing malware for 5 users . It is a social phenomenon, not better security.

Whatever goober. I can pr0nsurf in peace...

 

[Hollowway]

Pretty much the best advice. Don't be stupid online.

If you're really paranoid, you could always wipe and reinstall your OS on a regular basis if you think you have rootkits installed.

Actually, that's pretty decent advice. I run Parallels on my Mac for Windows stuff. But you can also use it (or VMWare, or a freeware version) to run virtual machines that you can simply close down and essentially erase if they get infected. I'm not sure if that keeps the more pernicious ones from crossing over into the main OS, though.

 

[Hollowway]

But guys it says Im the 1 millionth visitor and all I have to do is download this executable called sp0rk and enter credit card info?

And there are so many programs that are either posing as antivirus or are real antivirus with just bad business models, too. You can pretty much type any word and add .dll to it and search and a whole bunch of programs will come up purporting to have searched your machine and determined that the file is a virus and needs to be removed by their software. Conveniently available via a simple download button right on the web page! Whoo hoo!

 

[ZEBOV]

You can pay $25 a month on car insurance with this one weird old trick!
You can get a flat belly with this 1 weird old tip!
You can grow your dick 4 inches with this one weird old trick!
You can *fill in the blank* with this one weird old trick/tip!

I wonder if there's a weird old trick/tip to get a Carvin guitar for $5.

 

[s_k_mullins]

For my laptop, I use Kapersky...it came with my laptop when I purchased it, so I just keep renewing it and never had a problem.

For my desktop, I use McAfee, for the same reason.

 

[Customisbetter]

Here is my problem with anti virus in this day in age.

I am solely responsible for maintainig roughly 2000 desktops and laptops operated by adult employees, college students, and high schools students in a learning environment. Obviously I have a LOT of experience when it comes to dealing with the effects of nasty code. Most popular viruses are coded to be blatant and destructive. This allows a few things. It scares an uninformed user almost instantly. This fear can be used to extract money from the user thanks to the "you have viruses pay us to fix it" windows all over the screen. The malicious side allows the files affected to either be destroyed by the virus itself, OR destroyed by antivirus in an attempt to remove offending files.

Either way there is rarely a worthwhile way to repair the infected installation. This is why cloning software and backups are a FAR better investment than antivirus subscriptions which are always playing catch-up and are now acting against the user when cleaning.

TL;DR : Don't use always-on anti-virus, practice safe browsing, and don't let others use your machine.

 

[Iamasingularity]

Just a piece of advice guys, just have one anti-virus. There`s no use for more than 1 on a pc, and having more than 2 will result in confliction with the multiple antiviruses. Also security becomes so tight, that things wont be smooth, and you will have to enable many options/ports/etc to ensure there is no problem. And that is a pain in the ass. I use AVG by the way.

 

[GazPots]

TL;DR : Don't use always-on anti-virus, practice safe browsing, and don't let others use your machine.

Good advice, unless you're on a shared computer. Then you're better off either sandboxing or running regular malware/AV scans.


I wish i could get away with using this computer myself but the inevitable 'tard will always wander on to this and do something stupid no matter how much i educate them.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Good advice, unless you're on a shared computer. Then you're better off either sandboxing or running regular malware/AV scans.


I wish i could get away with using this computer myself but the inevitable 'tard will always wander on to this and do something stupid no matter how much i educate them.

I know right, one time I let my buddy play starcraft on my computer for maybe an hour while I left somewhere and he had decided to "download some cool skins" for the game, they came with some pretty nifty free malware too

 

[GazPots]

Yep, can't escape it.

 

[Gyver]

Thought Id chime in on this, I actually work for an Antivirus company. Im not going to say which. However, from what I see day by day is that indeed there is no be all end all antivirus virus. A layered security approach is always best, meaning have your fav antivirus installed, and a post infection/malware cleaner installed as well ie: malwarebytes/super antispyware. Have good browsing habits, and have the following always up to date as malware/virus writers are always looking for exploits when mass deploying their malware packages into the wild:

- Latest version of your browser (IE,Firefox, Chrome)
- Latest version of Java console
- Latest version of Adobe reader
- Latest Microsoft updates for your OS
- Latest version of Adobe Flash
- Latest updates for resident Antivirus
- Common sense

I can also tell you this, no OS is safe. We have already seen network spread OSx infection, and as common rogue AVs on Snow Leopard and Lion.

 

[Mexi]

Kaspersky Internet Security and don't be a douchebag on the internet. their nifty virtual keyboard keeps pesky keyloggers away

 

[FireInside]

Avira.

 

[Xaios]

I use Microsoft Security Essentials as my "always-on" antivirus program because of its small footprint and reasonable detection rate, and then I also periodically run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to check for anything MSE might have missed. It's a good system, but it's not perfect. At one point I ended up with one of those super annoying fake anti-virus programs, and it was a bitch to clean from my computer. Nothing I tried could detect it, so I had to track that sucker down manually, which took hours. This thing was well hidden, it wasn't in a typical spot for a virus and had made itself a hidden file. And then once I had killed it, I discovered my computer no longer knew how to use an internet browser. To fix that, I had to manually edit the registry.

It was quite the bloodsucker.

I need to point out, however, that at that point in time, I was literally only visiting six sites on the internet: SS.org, Google News, and 4 webcomics that I'd been reading for YEARS without issue. I'm definitely a proponent of safe browsing practices, there is still an inherent risk even when you're not wantonly traipsing around the internet like a moron.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Yeah like that one time Dddorian got a virus from SSO

 

[Iamasingularity]

Yeah like that one time Dddorian got a virus from SSO

A virus from SSO?