Anti Virus Software

My son is heading off to college and I just purchased him a laptop with Windows 7, 4gb ram with the i3 processor. Do you have any suggestions on Antivirus software. He has a trial version of Norton that we can purchase after 3 months but I currently use Norton and I think it slows down my machine way too much, therefore looking for some others that may work just as well.

Thanks

 

the uneducated answer is this:

lots of products, lots of look real products that are fake too. they call em script kiddies.
they make a product that protects against this or that: their aim is to get your info. i've wondered if they don't even just make you vulnerable to certain attacks and then you think you're protected when their found.

secunia psi seemed to have done some good things to my pc, and its free. it patches software you use for vulnerabilities.

i liked kis (i even still use it to avoid using norton because it liked to stall out all the time). Then somehow it suffered a massive inhuman failure and I wasn't sure it worked well so I moved to double checking built in operating system features, using the psi, monitoring the registry for out of place changes, being wary of active x controls, and limiting what the internet or cd's placed in the tray can do without my interaction. It works well enough but in truth I feel naked without the back of that corporate logo.

I also liked Windows Live One Care, it seemed to catch all those nasties that KIS caught, and never failed. It never slowed down my PC either, and they had put out that online scanner for some time that did a nice thorough job of looking at my computer; except it took all night long. literally. Then they yanked it off the shelves either because it sucked or no one liked the wording in the license, not sure which. Funny thing is i had bought it one month before they were set to discontinue it. go figure.

another thing to watch is the flash players. you tube is awesome, couldn't live without, almost broke this pc a hundred times on account of it too. not sure how hacked take advantage of an animation like that, but they do.

my friend swears by AVG. I used the free version for a while as well, except that I never saw it stop anything myself. I even had similar issues to times when I know I was infected with a computer problem, and it didn't alert me to anything, so I stopped using it.

Then there is software like spyware terminator that does a good job as well, but it comes coupled with something like web security guard by crawler.com. The original version they had out was excellent. It worked well, as of late it seems to alwasy cause IE troubles but that could as easily be IE8 itself. Apparently there were a lot of compromises. It's real time shield doesn't protect 64 bit computer's either.

Spybot is excellent too. The only thing about it is that teatimer.exe love's to fail, and not work at all unless spybot is installed after KIS, if you use KIS this is an issue. It has that immunization feature but programs like avg, KIS; etc. will prevent it from working in its entirety and give you a limited version of immunization.

clamav is another program that came recommended too, but i have yet to see it updated for windows since like two years back or so. linux maintains a good database though.

this is really a question you want to ask your isp provider. they'll recommend one for your network configuration and known problems i presume. ours has norton, and the version they use doesn't seem to slow down these pc's, i still don't like it much.

Secunia PSI
winpatrol to monitor your startup entries (i say winpatrol over msconfig.exe in windows vista or 7 because it has the plus database. its more convenient than bandwidth and time consumption for searching for an answer concisely detailed enough to keep you moving)
find a program to monitor your registry values that you trust, teatimer was good at this but it sure as hell liked to quit too..
use protected mode in internet explorere and in private browsing
manage your cookies in internet explorer
watch your active x controls
configure your hardware and watch that it remains as such
utilize your windows features effectively
wipe free space from time to time
keep operating system files hidden
don't show your drive letters
empty temporary folders when you can

 

Currently there are 3 favorites concerning A/V free software. AVG - Antivir - Avast Home Edition. All free. Have a look here at this link: http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=20

If you decide to remove Norton from any computer, make sure to use the Norton Removal Tool. Run it twice with rebooting after each run. http://www.majorgeeks.com/Norton_Removal_Tool_SymNRT_d4749.html

Additionally, there is also a program that's called Decrapifier or something like that. It is mainly used to remove all the "crap" (trial ware etc) from a new machine. Unfortunately I seem to be unable to find it here at MG atm, but it IS here somewhere!

 

If you're looking an anti-virus that is free you might look at these:

• 
  Avira AntiVir Personal - FREE Antivirus
  AVG AntiVirus Free Edition
  Avast! Free Edition

My preference of these is avast Free, but many folks swear by the other two as well. Each of the three also has one or more paid for versions that include extra features.

If I had to pick a paid for anti-virus, I would have to choose between NOD32 Antivirus and avast Pro.
No matter which anti-virus you choose, would also install these two on-demand scanners:

• 
  Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
  SUPERAntiSpyware

There are paid for versions of both of these as well. The paid for versions of these have resident(real-time) protection and automatic updating as well as a few other options.

EDIT: sheesh, I'm getting slower all the time. Oma beat me to it, but here it is any way.

 

i thought i'd add, encryption helps. so if you get the ultimate or business editions of windows vista/7 then you can take advantage of bitlocker encryption and truecrypt.org offers a windows and apple platform encryptoin software solution. if i had to suggest anti virus, i'd say pc tools free and as yet kis. i'm sure the failure of kis was one not commonly found, i have a tendency to screw upcomputers.

you can monitor your web surfing habits with PICS and ratings too from ie internet options. then if you're thinking apple, I can't help you!

You can go for a hardware solution and shop for AMD black, phenom being the higher end which are supposedly manufactured as such to help reduce virus susceptibility. PICS is a language of sort (to revert a moment). Like HTML. COM objects can help reduce virus ionfection too if you know how to program so being really secure means really knowing what you're doing. Being aware of hardware specification and output production. The matter of stopping code generated through a processor is ultimately one of two solutions: over power the output, or confuse the logic.

Airport routers have a nice firewall I hear as well, and there may be another implementation of that hardware which reduces virus susceptibilty (besides encryption) which I can't recall at the moment.

Having a sandbox can help, so when you do shop for anti virus look for one with a sandbox KIS does have one. It also lets you run an application while limiting the behavior of data that is suspicious from that application. It runs heuristics, you can add black and white lists monitor IM, mail, files, applications; etc. Freeware though, I liked PC Tools. It did slow down my PC though but I thought it was effective. Malware Bytes seems pretty nice. It runs scans relatively fast if you have a decently sized HDD. I haven't tried super anti spyware because on the geeks to go website, I believe it was, I had seen some malware removal tools related to super anti spyware as well as ad aware.

AVG has a link scanner as well, which you can download seperate of the anti virus database. It was real hard to uninstall, AVG sometimes presents this issue as well as recalling AOL issues with removal and being related to security comprimises I thought this was definately a bad thing. Turning off themes might help prevent hijacking of your start menu, that is just a theory I use though to make my PC as ugly as possible and as fast as possible but hearing the hijacking of visual styles and themes on websites seemed to have the roots in that thought.

McAfee makes a site advisor that maintains a database that will let you know if sites have been reported as malicious or phishing (the IE phishing filter doesn't seem very efficient to me) and as well, if your son uses the Firefox web browser there is adblock, WOT (which yuou can get for IE too) and WOT is similar to site advisor by mcafee.

I don't suggest the crawler web bar anymore or any internet toolbars besides stumbleupon, its really the only one that has never produced an issue (althuogh BING and MSN were not as glitchy as others like LIVE and Yahoo or your odd bar from ask.com; etc.)

KIS, McAfee, Norton, and AVG all have scanners that search for specific infections as well and removal tools for many of those infections. The intricate nature of well made viruses suggests that knowing what you're infected with and seeing its mutations or behavior from prior infection is the best way to know where to look in order to really maintain it if you feel you are infected but cannot utilize a commercial scanner to find it. There are databases, scanners, and removal tools for those instances and there are virus watch pages on many commercial scanner websites.

Filext.com can be useful in finding out what a specific extension is and if you know a bit about what you may have, then you can indulge yourself in finding suspicious files.

If you use win 7, UAC can help let you know if a program starts running and changing stuff, if it realies it but it is VERY VERY annoying! a lot of people advise not running in elevated modes like administrative, but to me that just leaves the administrative account open to really good crackers. Linux, Windows, or Apple (does apple even have an adminstrative account I wonder idk I don't use apple).

If you use a wireless connection get a sniffer like wireshark. This will let you see what is pinging from where for what reason...

Use a packet analysis tool if you have no life and are tiredly bored. I can't even decipher what the KIS one means. Its too cryptic, but the dumpcap utility at least tells me how many packets are coming in: for instance if you use a wireless modem to read the traffic in your area without even activating it, you can tell if you are recieving too much information. For this reason in Windows vista/seven background intelligent transfer should be off unless you need to update but it gets redundant turning it on.

Haha, you could always write an algorithm and build an OS. Good luck, I realize its a long spiel and subject to criticism. I left out one big point but for the life of me I can't remember what it was...

I'm wary of spyware terminator now that I see it likes crawler.com, but I do prefer it over malware bytes. I just wish that spybot could get in gear with teatimer because I'm a diehard fan of watching that brick wall build while you immunize your browser of various threats. I had almost taken it for script kiddy stuff because double click it would find, remove, and it would reappear and IE would still double click every page transtition. But it does that on a fresh install in Vista although it doesn't do so in 7.

A lot of these compatability issues could be directly related to vista/7 features though. I think I used Crawler on XP (which a lot of IT pros swear by particularly the 64-bit version). Spybot worked better on XP as well and this could be the same of the link scanner by AVG.

arite, back to what I actually came here for... gl

 

I found it. This is the link: http://majorgeeks.com/PC_De-Crapifier_d5223.html

 

I completely agree with plastidust up there. Avast! in combination with the dedicated anti-malware and anti-spyware gives a computer the best protection one can get for free, and really anything you pay for is going to be only slightly better if at all.

Also, If your are annoyed by antivirus software stealing your run time avast is an excellent choice.

 

Total Agree, Norton = Symantec so discard that, Avira works fast, i use it on windows 7 and no problems.

The best way to make secure your PC is take time with your son, teach him how to navigate on internet, educate him about systems and the danger in the network.

The childrens always are looking for games, try to help him when he wants play too because trying to download games or programs will be the virus on your computer.

 

It might be a good idea for your son to read and apply to what's in the link below to protect himself from malware as much as possible:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=44525

 

Hard to think a kid reading rules to navigate in internet.

Is better if you read that with him and explain everything.

 

Hehe, I learned almost everything myself by reading and applying the recommended stuff. Only excuse is that I'm a senior and got my first PC in my sixties. :-D If a senior can do it, a kid certainly can... As you say, it must be easier to have someone be with you and show/explain everything.

 

I agree, but
plastidust just forgot to mention...

You need only One real-time active spyware scanner.

This is noted in the very good article that Oma linked to:

Avast! Home also has an Internet Mail Shield and an Instant Messenger Shield.
Here is a Review of older version 4.7

If interested, there are links here to a recent review by AV-Comparitives.org of Anti-Virus products.