Recommended Virus Protection

[rockytopva]

I use not to recommend virus protection. I would tell people to simply stay out of the sites they do not belong in and everything should be OK.

So far in the last month or so I have had to do a system restore on all my families computer (sisters, nephews, nieces, brother-in-laws). I have even have trouble out of mine here lately. So I give up... Time to find some good virus protection. Any recommendations? Which one do you feel is the best for the money?

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

Stay away from porn sites
Stay away from russian servers
update microsoft on a regular basis
microsoft is always on top of the problems
anti-virus software takes money from your wallet and slows your system down
microsoft has a free system scan ... look it up
they cannot advertise it because of some stupid monopoly laws
microsoft knows your system better than anybody
stay away from porn sites
dont download every piece of crap that comes along
best wishes

 

[rockytopva]

I don't visit the porn sites. But I do work with media and post my media at youtube.com/rockytopva. Most of the times I try to get drivers or something for a scanner and next thing I know a dozen other things came with the driver.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

never said you did .... but somebody else may have used your computer .... that is usually what happens

they use your computer because they have buggerd up thier own by visiting the wrong sites.

 

[Dan57]

No need to pay for virus protection, I've used Microsoft essentials and Avast Anti-virus, they are both free and worked good for me, I never caught an infection while using either of them.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

 

[Mungo]

I used to use Kapsersky but then reports were saying it was getting bloated so I switrched to Bitdefender.

I got it cheap via ebay.

 

[rockytopva]

No need to pay for virus protection, I've used Microsoft essentials and Avast Anti-virus, they are both free and worked good for me, I never caught an infection while using either of them.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

http://www.avast.com/en-us/index

Dan... Thanks... Will recommend that to my family and download it for myself as well.

Arnie... You are right... One must watch where one goes on the web. My family are not the porn type so I am not worried.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

YES ...... like Dan 57 said .... use Microsoft essentials ..... nobody is farther ahead of the virus problems than microsoft themselves

we are not told these things because Microsoft is always being threatened with monopoly infractions ...... eg: if they came right out and said their (Microsoft essentials) are better (or as good) as anything else on the market ..... it might put companies like norton and avast out of business.

the virus - protection business is a big industry that uses fear as a sales tool

microsoft simply wants to keep thier customers systems clean and operating .... and they do not charge for updates ..... if you look at the updates in your history you will notice they are nearly all security related

 

[Mungo]

YES ...... like Dan 57 said .... use Microsoft essentials ..... nobody is farther ahead of the virus problems than microsoft themselves....



microsoft simply wants to keep thier customers systems clean and operating

That's hilarious

. if you look at the updates in your history you will notice they are nearly all security related

That's because they produce such buggy rubbish in the first place.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

That's hilarious



That's because they produce such buggy rubbish in the first place.

Lets see now .... microsoft invented and produced the operating system we all use on our computers and they have kept it running all these years ....

and who are you sir ?

 

[Mungo]

Lets see now .... microsoft invented and produced the operating system we all use on our computers and they have kept it running all these years ....

and who are you sir ?

I'm someone who has used Microsoft products from the earliest times of DOS & MS DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, WIndows NT etc. For several years I was contract working in PC & Network Support.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

I'm someone who has used Microsoft products from the earliest times of DOS & MS DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, WIndows NT etc. For several years I was contract working in PC & Network Support.

Thank you .... wow .... you go back a long ways .... my beginning was around 1992 .... I literally had to hire someone to show me the on button .... engage the dialup modem ...... bring up IE .... the rest i figured out myself thru the years.

My first computer was a Toshiba lap top ($5000) .... my latest one is a Toshiba Qosmio 775 ($1700) ..... it is a "portable" with a 17 inch screen and more power than many desktops..... the sales literature said ..... "enough power to multi-task at the speed of a madman" .... i just had to have one ....

Back to microsoft for a minute .... the windows system has many downfalls .... but in fairness it was never designed for the huge amount of graphics and videos we have today ..... microsoft had to keep adding on to the software trying to accomodate everything

The best way would be to start from scratch with a proper system but impossible today.

Microsoft is not our enemy .... they are more like a good freind with lots of faults. ..... but they really do stay on top of security threats better than anyone.

 

[tim_from_pa]

I use not to recommend virus protection. I would tell people to simply stay out of the sites they do not belong in and everything should be OK.

So far in the last month or so I have had to do a system restore on all my families computer (sisters, nephews, nieces, brother-in-laws). I have even have trouble out of mine here lately. So I give up... Time to find some good virus protection. Any recommendations? Which one do you feel is the best for the money?

Actually, the best bet would be to get an operating system that does not get viruses the way you have been getting, but first of all, let me explain.....

There are many types of malware, so to make it simple I basically classify it as two types:

1) Deliberately installed malware you are tricked into downloading aka Trojan and similar. All operating systems, be it Microsoft, Android, Linux, Mac or whatever can get these. But it requires a deliberate action on your part.
2) Involuntary download e.g. "drive-by" virus which to my knowledge only Microsoft gets. All the hoopla about Macs now getting malware was because of some unknown action on the part of the operator i.e. #1 type virus, but technically that stuff was a Trojan, and we have not heard anything since.

Now the problem with those who say that Microsoft won't get viruses if one stays off infected sites (and I used to be "this way" as well) is that they are assuming everything is in the #1 category as if you are "guilty" of something (maybe a sneak peek at porn for example :lol: ). But as people are finding out, those who get viruses are not necessarily the clumsy clods that some self-assured people think they are. Let me give you examples of 5 ways I got viruses already, and then tell me what transgression I committed (these are #2 types)

1) Read an email. That's it! No permission to install anything, nothing. Just read an email. (I found out later that disabling the preview pain stopped this, but what's the point in having that if it does this? and then thereafter I disabled the window and was paranoid so I read all my emails in the source code--- pitiful to have to operate that way, just pitiful)
2) Visiting a site such as this. One time someone said on another Christian forum that the link was infected. So I just hovered the cursor over it to get the address. I then checked out the site using Android (no problems) but the Microsoft computer still got the virus WITHOUT clicking on it! Also, adverts sometimes have malware when they automatically pop up.
3) Looking up a picture. We had rats at work, so I did an image search so that I could find a site to educate myself on. Found a legit sounding website that sounded educational so I clicked on it. Got a virus. Didn't ask me for anything, just instantly popped in.
4) Typos in the address bar. Just type www.goggle.com instead of www.google.com --- well, they pulled the viral site off, but now it's something else that would not be surprised if it installed adware which only Microsofts are receptive to. Malware writers use this method to spread their junk knowing that people make mistakes like this.
5) Jumping browser. No matter what operating system one uses, it takes time to load all the stuff on a site onto one's screen. Sometimes we think it's all loaded, and we click on a link only to find the screen jumps and we end up clicking on something else. Heaven forbid it happens to be "get hot dates now!" or something. Even with the best virus protection, count on spending hours to clean that out or hundreds of dollars to have someone clean it for you.


Now, what virus protection should you use? If you have to stay with Microsoft, use Avast! It's free. Is that good enough? They stay on top if things as well as anyone. If you get a virus with the latest updates then you'll still have to live with it if you won't change to another OS. As for me, I consider getting viruses the 5 ways above totally unacceptable. I just had to switch to another operating system, and I have not had a stitch of virus trouble for over a year now, and I don't even use virus protection.