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Newbie needs recs on antivirus, etc

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queensgrt
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:26 pm    Post subject: Newbie needs recs on antivirus, etc Reply with quote

I have XP and have been running Panda 2009; yesterday I was infected with a multitide of worms, viruses, etc and Panda just gave me the runaround. I got Geek Squad to remotely remove all this and they put Norton on for 15 days. If the free things are OK, I'll try them, but I don't want this to happen again and am happy to pay for software. Do I need antivirus plus firewall, plus adware/spam protection? All this is a little over my head, I think. Thanks so much for your reply.
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JKemp
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Panda is not exactly top notch. I'd recommend of all free one's, AVG. It's tested as one of the best free AntiViruses around. You can also buy the paid version of it which includes loads of features but doesn't bog down your PC like norton does (though i hear there latest version is much lighter). I would NOT recommend Norton/Webroot, Symnatec, BitDefender,or PCtools. Ones i would recommend includeing paid ones are AVG,Avast(also free),Kaspersky, and ZoneAlarm. I've heard good on all them and have personally used all but ZoneAlarm. Again this is my personal experience computer to computer/network results do vary, but overall i feel those ones are significantly better than "others" out there. You don't need a ton of diffrent software, for spamware, spyware etc. Most antivirus kits come with it included as part of there package. Be careful by all the features on the back of some though, the ones that pack them jammed with "extra features" tend to leave your computer lagging and near dead when running scans etc.
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Ignatius
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd second AVG free if it's for home use. I support a small business network and they use the paid AVG (it's cheaper than some of the major corporate AVs) and it seems to work very well. There's a built-in firewall and it doesn't hog resources.
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PhiBer
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that will protect you.

In order to understand how infections occur, you need to understand vulnerabilities in the coding of all software on your PC that is used on the Internet (e.g. Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Java, QuickTime, Internet Explorer and other browsers, etc).

To make a long post short, my suggestion would be the following:

Use multiple layers of security (e.g. defense-in-depth). This includes Anti-virus (no AV is better than the other in the sense of being able to detect 100% of viruses...I would just use a free one such as Avast), anti-spyware software, patching ALL third party software on a regular basis (Java, QuickTime, Flash), patching your Microsoft software, using script blocking software in conjunction with FireFox (NoScript), and not opening shady attachments in e-mail, browsing to shady websites, or downloading warez.

To see if you have current known vulnerabilities that might need to be patched, use something like F-Secure online health scanner that you can find at: http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/onlineservices/fshc/front.html.

Also, if you have some time, do a quick search on "zero day exploits." This will help you better understand why Anti-virus software cannot protect you from all viruses.

//PhiBer
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