anti virus programs-a discussion

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thank you :) glad to be here signed up after about 7 years of use lol.

i just mentioned mined because i ALWAYS look over its findings and it has never found a bad error in the 5 years ive used it. its pretty safe in finding things that lead to absolutely no where and thats about all it finds to keep it neat and prevent false system shortcuts. but i do understand the paranoia behind the use :)
 
For almost as long as there has been a "Spybot Search & Destroy" I've been using it and sharing it with my home computer customers.
I've made donations as I could afford it and I've urged my customers to do likewise. Having said that......

Spybot S&D is a great program for removing Adware/Spyware, but it has never claimed to be an Anti-Virus/Anti-Trojan program although I have witnessed it removing some Trojans.
For that reason, I have used and shared AVG FREE for myself and all my hundreds of customers. We all remain virus and spyware FREE.

I've spent a considerable amount of time and money, typing up and printing instructions for the use of Spybot S&D for all my customers. It's a GREAT program if set up and run properly. To every user, I stress the 1-2-3 approach..... update, immunize and scan, every week.

I find the user interface for ver. 2 to be way too "Techie" for my retired customers to deal with, whereas version 1.6.x was very simple and user friendly. I really had to search for a simple way to just get the most recent updates to ver. 2.

I also found that at the end of a scan, all my cookies and history were pre-checked for deletion. I don't want that! :oops:
Let me check what I want deleted, like in the older version.
Only pre-check Spyware and other known Malware.

I also heard a question about registry cleaners. On some forums, even the mention of that, is a NO! NO! :lip:
I have tried the much touted "CCleaner" twice over a period of several years and both times it has left my computer UN-Bootable.
I had to turn to a full C: drive restore (I use Ghost) to get my computer back up and running again.

Having said that, I do use a registry and junk cleaner, called "Easy Cleaner 2".
I've used it on my own PC's and the PC's of most of my customers with never any negative effects. However it's almost redundant to clean the junk out of your registry unless you re-compress it afterwards. Only after a re-compression, will it actually take up less space in RAM when it loads and improve system efficiency.

After removing Office 2007 from my HD, I ran Easy Cleaner 2 and then NTREGOPT to re-compress the registry and it reduced the overall size of the registry by 30+ megabytes. So I'm definitely a PRO-ponent of registry cleaning, if it's done intelligently.

That's about it!
Thank you, Safer-Networking for a great effort to improve an already great product.:bigthumb:

The Doctor :cool:
 
I' am using Kaspersky 6.0 for Windows Work Stations and of course Spybot Search & Destroy. My computer is indestructible when I use them. It's important tu use and up-date them on time. They are excellent :bigthumb:
 
I tried McAfee for a bit, but i did not really like it do to the system lag. On my old system it was quite slow...took 8 hours to complete a full scan.


Edit -tashi
Split off to correct thread
 
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Yea, but I'd wait to buy it. Version 5 is just around the corner. Eset has released a RC version, so it won't be long till' the final release arrives!! :D
 
Question about Firewalls

DrWho said:
For almost as long as there has been a "Spybot Search & Destroy" I've been using it and sharing it with my home computer customers.
I've made donations as I could afford it and I've urged my customers to do likewise. Having said that......

Spybot S&D is a great program for removing Adware/Spyware, but it has never claimed to be an Anti-Virus/Anti-Trojan program although I have witnessed it removing some Trojans.
For that reason, I have used and shared AVG FREE for myself and all my hundreds of customers. We all remain virus and spyware FREE.

I've spent a considerable amount of time and money, typing up and printing instructions for the use of Spybot S&D for all my customers. It's a GREAT program if set up and run properly. To every user, I stress the 1-2-3 approach..... update, immunize and scan, every week.

I find the user interface for ver. 2 to be way too "Techie" for my retired customers to deal with, whereas version 1.6.x was very simple and user friendly. I really had to search for a simple way to just get the most recent updates to ver. 2.

I also found that at the end of a scan, all my cookies and history were pre-checked for deletion. I don't want that! :oops:
Let me check what I want deleted, like in the older version.
Only pre-check Spyware and other known Malware.

I also heard a question about registry cleaners. On some forums, even the mention of that, is a NO! NO! :lip:
I have tried the much touted "CCleaner" twice over a period of several years and both times it has left my computer UN-Bootable.
I had to turn to a full C: drive restore (I use Ghost) to get my computer back up and running again.

Having said that, I do use a registry and junk cleaner, called "Easy Cleaner 2".
I've used it on my own PC's and the PC's of most of my customers with never any negative effects. However it's almost redundant to clean the junk out of your registry unless you re-compress it afterwards. Only after a re-compression, will it actually take up less space in RAM when it loads and improve system efficiency.

After removing Office 2007 from my HD, I ran Easy Cleaner 2 and then NTREGOPT to re-compress the registry and it reduced the overall size of the registry by 30+ megabytes. So I'm definitely a PRO-ponent of registry cleaning, if it's done intelligently.

That's about it!
Thank you, Safer-Networking for a great effort to improve an already great product.:bigthumb:

The Doctor :cool:
Click to expand...

Hi DrWho :)

I was curious do you use any type of firewall? What about backup software? If so, what do you recommend? I'm currently using CA technologies for my antivirus and firewall software (they are free with my ISP), but I'm really getting sick of the bs that comes with CA and I'm looking for alternatives. I'm looking into the AVG and I think I will use this in conjunction with SB as well. Any advice on the above is much appreciated.

I welcome any and all suggestions :)

Thanks,
Zoebatty
 
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I use Microsoft Essenteials for now and it is good. But I still want to try the Zone Alarm anti-virus since it has got good reviews.
 
If you look at the detection ratio Nod32 have had the last previous years, it has been fairly steady on the top of the list (the detection ratio list). I think the negative trend around Nod32 is based mainly on bugs, and not on the detection ratio, which has created misunderstanding and maybe doubts about Nod32. I have never had any problems with Nod32, and to be honest, it's the best purchase I've ever made in my life.

Some people says Nod32 miss some features and it's "outdated", something it's not. It's detecting more malicious stuff than their competitors, has the lowest false-positive detection ratio in the business and in the newest version, it has got many modern features (which has been requested for a while). And by the way, why do you need the newest features when it's still detecting more malicious software than the competitors? I am not promoting the software, I'm just saying my opinion. And yes, it is still the lightest av out there, and you won't even notice a difference if you run a full scan or not. ;)
 
gajuart said:
I use Microsoft Essenteials for now and it is good. But I still want to try the Zone Alarm anti-virus since it has got good reviews.
Click to expand...

I've been using Zone Alarm on my desktop for a few years now, and I really like it. Their support is also very good. F'rinstance, about two years ago, I was having some issues with getting updates. I logged into their online chat, and was advised to uninstall ZA and then reinstall, plus some other things that were getting into serious geek territory. The person helping me gave me step by step instructions which I printed out. I was able to do this successfully. :bigthumb:
 
I have used the free version of AVG and it worked and it did the job for a while, but it seems like any free trial of an anti virus software is ok...you get what you pay for. Now I'm using Norton and after comparing the two, Norton is much more secure, but I'm still using the free version. Does anyone else have experience with a good secure anti virus software? Please let me know!
 
Hello theteacher,

theteacher said:
Does anyone else have experience with a good secure anti virus software? Please let me know!
Click to expand...
This thread contains 8 pages of users personal preferences. ;)

theteacher said:
I have used the free version of AVG and it worked and it did the job for a while, but it seems like any free trial of an anti virus software is ok...you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...

Our own software is free for personal use. :p: As to free anti virus programs, http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.php?p=1095&postcount=1
7) An Anti-Virus product is a necessity. There are many excellent programs that you can purchase. However, we choose to advocate the use of free programs whenever possible. Some very good and easy-to-use free A/V programs are Avast and AntiVir. It's a good idea to set these to receive automatic updates so you are always as fully protected as possible from the newest virus threats. Microsoft Security Essentials is also an option. Remember- run only one antivirus resident at a time.
Click to expand...
theteacher said:
Norton is much more secure, but I'm still using the free version.
Click to expand...

A free version of Symantec Norton?

Best regards. :)
 
Norton seems ok - I know it gets a lot of stick but they've actually improved it quite a lot in the last few years.

Just my 0.02c :P

Thanks!

J.
 
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