Like Tree6Likes

Anti Virus Software

Closed Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
  1. #11

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    4,821
    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    This also relies on never sticking unscanned media such as as external drives, USB sticks and sometimes product installation CDs into your computer.
    No it doesn't - it just relies on you having your system configured correctly not to "autorun" anything.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    4,012
    Quote Originally Posted by Trance Omega:
    Mac os

    and dont have anti virus
    Took a whole 9 replies, must be a record.



    Sent from my GT-I9300 using GeoClicks mobile app

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    722

    these experiences of the paid for brands/versions using a lot of power and slowing the computer down...are they based on 2012/2013 copies or earlier?

    if i am using a usb that has been stuck into another computer then i am exposing my computer, no? sometimes this would be unavoidable...

    i have no intention of getting an apple product so that option is out of the window.


  4. #14

    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    4,821
    Quote Originally Posted by Blue88:
    if i am using a usb that has been stuck into another computer then i am exposing my computer, no? sometimes this would be unavoidable...
    No, not if your system is configured correctly.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    The paid products often have reputations for high resource usage. It doesn't matter what year- AV products only ever seems to get bigger and more complex, it doesn't get simpler and leaner.

    Ignore Grunt in this instance- he is being pedantic at the expense of being actually helpful If you are having to ask these questions, you probably don't have your machine configured 'correctly' and are probably not interested in learning the minutiae of how to safely operate a Windows machine in the absence of AV.

    If you stick a USB stick into your computer from another machine, if you have "autorun" options disabled then you're okay. But the whole reason that you're putting a USB stick into your machine in the first place is that you are likely to be accessing files on the stick. If they are Word/Excel/Powerpoint or .exe files, then these are fairly typical vectors for virus infection.

    Overall, your chances of virus problems are probably pretty low. But if you're not an IT geek who thinks about these things a lot, the sensible mix of cost/simplicity/reliability is just to go with one of the free packages.

    Edit: the only people who I think can sensibly run a Windows machine without AV installed are pretty IT savvy. And even then, amongst the people I know who know PCs, most of them just run something free anyway.

    Over the years in a home environment I have used Norton/Symantec, Trend, Kaspersky, AVG (paid and free), Bitdefender and the MS products. Bitdefender was pretty good a couple of years ago but I stopped using it as it started getting expensive. I would not touch the first three again. I am using paid AVG for a home server because it's cheap and low footprint (and free products don't cover server versions), and the free MS products on PCs.

    Last edited by jgl; 28-08-2013 at 02:45 PM.
    kimwy66 and HK2A430 like this.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    457

    ^ what he said (damn great post, btw).

    Being the "IT savvy" guy that I am, I use MS Security Essentials. It's free, it's fast, and it's by Microsoft, who also happens to produce my OS.


  7. #17

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tri-State
    Posts
    11,647
    Quote Originally Posted by joyojc:

    Being the "IT savvy" guy that I am, I use MS Security Essentials. It's free, it's fast, and it's by Microsoft, who also happens to produce my OS.
    I don't understand this line of thinking. You are trusting the company that produced an OS full of security vulnerabilities with providing security for your computer?

    There are other types of programs which are not traditional antiviruses that help keep the bugs out of your system. I like:

    WinPatrol

    Spyware Blaster

    When things get really hairy, HiJackThis is a tool that will help ferret out the bugs. However, it requires a high level of computer know how.

    Browser add ons also help avoid shady websites. I have Web Of Trust on my Firefox. It's not perfect, but it at least gives me a heads up to avoid bad sites.

    And if you have the luxury, use an older, secondary computer to download torrents and open up files.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    457
    Quote Originally Posted by huja:
    I don't understand this line of thinking. You are trusting the company that produced an OS full of security vulnerabilities with providing security for your computer?
    I never thought of it that way, thanks for the different perspective. To answer your question, I suppose I am, but I'd like to think that I'm the one providing security for my computer, not Microsoft, using MSSE as part of a common sense policy where I refrain from opening unexpected attachments, downloading questionable files, and visiting questionable sites. It has served me and the companies I have worked for well.

    For the record, I have no problem with Microsoft products despite them being the creators of Windows XP.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    3,677
    Quote Originally Posted by joyojc:
    For the record, I have no problem with Microsoft products despite them being the creators of Windows XP.
    Nothing wrong with XP.

    Anyway, I used to use AVG but changed to MSSE (under Windows Vista and Windows 7), seems to work fine so far.