Virus security programs

[devonwoody]

If a virus program is installed why is it necessary to do a scan.?

Surely the program is supposed to knock out the virus as it comes in?

If it has knocked it out, do you see a notification at the time.

 

[moz]

Nothing is 100% effective 100% 0f the time.

This is an excellent anti-virus and free for personal use - http://www.avast.com

Scanning your system regularly is good practice as well. These are good.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search- ... 22137.html

Hope that helps.

John

 

[theartfulbodger]

Everyone has a favourite, (a bit like PC's / Macs)..I use AVG Free for the viruses, and Spybot for the spy/mal/ad ware.

On the rare occasion either of them has blocked any nasty things I think a notification has been shown.

The beta version of Spybot 2 is out and seems to work well, scans faster than the normal version and has a resident shield, which should as DevonWoody says, prevent the need for so many scans.


EDIT

Here's the link to SB beta version should anyone else want to help debug err I mean use it
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

 

[thomvic]

Scans are advisable because nasties can occasionally creep past anti-virus software. Most, if not all a/v programmes have a facility to schedule regular scans of your whole system. This can go on in the background whilst you are still using your computer. All of the a/v progs that I am aware of advise you when viruses are found and give you options for disposing of them.

Richard

 

[Dodge]

When I got my new laptop last week I bought the new Trend antivirus protection

So far so good :lol: :lol:

One that we had in the past that was absolute crap though was Bullguard - the biggest pile of poo I have ever bought - My wife and I had virus after virus a few years ago when it was installed before we changed to AVG.

 

[knappers]

I have seen lots of stuff get past avg.
MS security essentials actually seems to be very good (and free), and would recommend something like malware bytes as a second line of defence.
Don't touch something like Norton with a barge pole.

Si

 

[Blister]

Sorry


Whats a virus scan :lol:

 

[Lons]

I've used Avira (free version) on 2 systems for almost 12 months now without problems and it's very user friendly. having said that I regularly scan for maleware using spybot and do a full system scan once a month. A lot easier than having to erradicate a virus IMO.

As an aside, I always disable the auto updates and scan schedules as they can slow up your machine but I am disciplined enough to do manual updates every few days. Just set it away when finished computing and tick auto shutdown.

Bob

ps - don't you just HATE those gloating "MAC men" - no names of course :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Harbo]

I gave up on AVG as it started to cause problems using the free version.
For the past 12 months I've used the Microsoft one together with Zone Alarm

 

[devonwoody]

When I got my new laptop last week I bought the new Trend antivirus protection

So far so good :lol: :lol:

One that we had in the past that was absolute rubbish though was Bullguard - the biggest pile of poo I have ever bought - My wife and I had virus after virus a few years ago when it was installed before we changed to AVG.

Dodge you say there was virus after virus, but what affect did they cause?

I think some of those virus programs dream up some for home consumption if you know what I mean.



It must be over twelve years since something clobbered me and I had to take the PC back into the Time shop and a member of staff had a floppy disk and some know how and got the pc running again.

And I'm a bad boy sometimes, I go everywhere!

BTW Trend micro comes free with Virginmedia broadband.

 

[Yetty]

Don't touch something like Norton with a barge pole.

Si

Si, I'd love to know more about your thoughts about Norton? are they based on a recent 2011/12 experience or something earlier? thanks, Yetty

 

[henton49er]

Some time ago, I had a virus on my desktop PC and had to resort to professional help to get the problem resolved. The two programs that the professional used were Malware Anti-Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware. Both of these can be used as free download products provided you do not want to use them for scheduled virus scans.

I now use McAfee Total Security which controls just about everything that happens on my laptop, and run the mentioned two freeware programs about every ten days or so - both will do a full scan of my system in about 20 minutes. Super Antispyware is particularly good at knocking out all the dreaded adware tracking cookies and similar things that are a nuisance but not necessarily harmful.

Each to his (or her) own method of protection, but I am content with what I have and have had no issues on three family laptops or the old desktop for a number of years.

Mike.

 

[knappers]

I have found that Norton runs too big a footprint, can slow older machines to a crawl, and block lots of things you may need that would take a novice or average user an eternity to figure out how to enable again.
It's bad enough fighting viruses, without having to fight anti-virus progs as well.
Si.

 

[Jonzjob]

Sorry


Whats a virus scan :lol:

I believe it's something that you have to do if you are unfortunate enough not to have a Mac? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: 8)

 

[devonwoody]

Sorry


Whats a virus scan :lol:

I believe it's something that you have to do if you are unfortunate enough not to have a Mac? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: 8)

Yeah but macs cannot do everything and some of what they do can be very expensive :wink:

 

[lanemaux]

Since I went to the Ubuntu Operating system my computer has been pretty much trouble free. I run ClamAv once in a while just to be sure and all I have found are broken links... darn few of them as well. Ubuntu is a free operating system that I have run for 6 years now. I think the secret may be that nobody writes viruses for Ubuntu. Waste of time for them I guess. And you won't hear any complaints on that score from me.

 

[Lons]

I have found that Norton runs too big a footprint, can slow older machines to a crawl, and block lots of things you may need that would take a novice or average user an eternity to figure out how to enable again.
It's bad enough fighting viruses, without having to fight anti-virus progs as well.
Si.

+1

I have used Norton for years and still have 360 on a desktop running XP but it will be off as soon as the licence runs out as it has become just too bulky and resource hungry. Like all of them, Symantec are trying to be all things to all people and grab the whole market and it just doesn't work. As I said, I'm happy with Avira on my other systems as it does all I want much quicker and free if you don't want the bells and whistles.

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

Not wanting to start a war, but the Pentagon (usa) has been hacked, they are still trying to extradite a lovely British citizen ( :wink: ), and I am sure the Pentagon do use Macs. yet they were hacked, so I suspect there is a lot of misinformation flying around?

 

[theartfulbodger]

I think the hackers cast their net wide, and play the odds. There's more PCs in the world so most viruses are written for PCs.

The Pentagon hack was a targeted attack against a single target.

In the other thread someone suggested that if/when Macs become more popular then they will face more virus attacks. I'd agree with that.

 

[PMK54]

I hate Norton but use Norton Internet Security on all of our (six) PCs because it works and they have helped when we've hit snags. But it does slow your machine down and older versions used to be a bit 'flaky', but touch wood it's been about 4-years since I had a problem. At £22 from Amazon for a 3-PC license (per year) isn't too expensive - I watch for even lower prices just as the old version is morphing into the new, Norton always updates to the newest version anyway. I have 2010 version license but Norton updated it to 2012 FOC.

Regarding scans, new viruses might sneak by your loaded virus definitions, so when the newest definitions are downloaded it's a good idea for the virus scanner just to check if that's happened.

I understand when a virus hits your machine you really regret not having protection software.