Av Recommendations

So I have been using Avast for almost 10 years now, but here in the past 2 years or so they seem to have fallen way behind. My information is less secure, my card info has been stolen multiple times and it is clearly via pc use because the information is being used overseas and I live in a town so small that organized crime (skimming and selling lists) just doesnt exist here.

I am looking for recommendations for a new Anti-Virus. I have heard good things about avira and bitdefender. What I really want is something that can do scheduled custom scans, root-kit, and boot-time scans, and also updates automatically. Heuristics and firewall are a must, so those will need to be included. Also the ability to remove PUP's, Malware, and Bloatware would be preferred.

Free is not a selling point for me. I am not concerned about a price tag, I am looking for performance improvements only, and I am willing to pay for them if that is what is required.

So anyone have any recommendations based on that?

 

this is what i use on my windows computers. better than the big boys.
vipre has yet to interfere with anything i do, and is light on resources, and works great.
https://www.vipreantivirus.com/

 

I use this and its not expensive for a Years Subscription.

http://uk.pcmag.com/kaspersky-internet-security-2015/34300/review/kaspersky-internet-security-2017

 

Comodo Internet Security 8.4.0.5165

AV, Hips, Sandbox, Game mode, highest rated FW.
Compare the free and pro versions here:
https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/free-internet-security.php

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I had heard of Comodo in a few other readings I've done. Wasnt sure how well they performed though. What is "Hips" though?

 

Here is a good article about HIPS.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/hips-explained.htm

 

That's Host Intrusion Prevention.
The FW in Comodo is probably the single highest rated for protection in the Matuosec reviews.

 

I totally agree with DavidGP that it's user behaviour that is the key to this rather than the particular flavour of AV and firewall you use. Downloading from dodgy sites or clicking links or opening unknown attachments in emails in particular and you are asking for it. In 25 or so years of intensive use of computers and the internet I have never picked up anything more serious than the occasional PUP, and that's just using either the Windows built-in features or popular free alternatives such as AVG. For Win 10 I'm just using the Windows firewall and Defender.

 

TBH David I can't claim any expertise at all in this field but yes, it certainly reads well but it's going to find it tough improving on my past record of zero problems.

 

HIPS is behavior monitoring. Standard a-v recognizes malware by name, which is hit and miss, so sercurity companies started adding HIPS elements to their programs like monitoring for key logging or screenshot grabbing or even some deeper behaviors like adjusting the privileges of a process or contact the internet.

HIPS is in all the best products. It's easiest to control in Private Firewall of the programs I have looked into, but you have to be willing to put up with alot of pop ups as it monitors 21 HIPS behaviors for all processes.

Comodo took some of the work out of HIPS by coming up with more creative monitoring of behaviors. That's pretty clear in CIS and in Comodo Firewall. Much as I like CIS, I run some scripts, and it doesn't have easy configurability to deal with this. I also ran into disappearing files issues with CIS, and I could not find a single record of the event to know what was missing. I noticed empty spaces on the desktop where a file was, and that's what really moved me away from CIS .

Some a-vs have pretty good HIPS, like 360 Total Security from Qihoo. Doesn't monitor processes for internet connection attempts, so still need an easily configurable connection attempt detecting firewall to run with it.

 

I've just recently removed Avast and now rely on Defender with Windows 10 ver. 1607
Also, as DavidGP mentioned, SpywareBlaster and Malwarebytes for scanning.

In addition, I use OpenDNS and added hpHosts via uBlock Origin in the web browser, based on a tip from satrow who mentioned that hpHosts is the primary basis for Malwarebytes Antimalware active web protection.

I think it's important to note that the latest antivirus tests that I've seen do not include the latest version of Defender. Several enhancements were added with the Anniversary update 1607.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us...-new-windows-10-version-1607#windows-defender

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/29276/windows-10-whats-new-in-windows-defender

Also, with Defender, I think all three options, Real-time Protection, Cloud-based Protection, and Automatic Sample submission, should be Enabled.
I also have SmartScreen enabled for further protection.

Bitdefender got a very good test/review rating at Tom's Guide, and a new more configurable version is already available as a Beta.
There has been concern that the software is not Windows 10 compatible, but on their web site, they state that it is W10 compatible.

http://www.bitdefender.com/win10/

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/bitdefender-antivirus-free,review-3523.html

 

Don't forget to update uBlockO regularly via add-ons >uBlockO > Show Dashboard > 3rd party filters, hpHosts is usually updated several times per day (I'm using hpHosts in my hosts file to avoid too much duplication and safeguard all programs):

 

satrow, which other options after Malware domains do you recommend?

 

I have the Auto-update filter lists option Checked. Doesn't that take care of updates?
Are you suggesting that putting the hpHosts file in "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\" would be better than using it only in uBlockO?
Even so, there would still be the issue of keeping it updated. I'm certainly not going to be downloading and copying that file several times a day.

That's an awful lot of blocking that you have enabled there!

 

Here's the remainder + the full hosts list:




I try to keep the ad/tracking stuff in the browser, the malware blockers in the hosts file (which I update using HostsMan daily, just a few clicks). hpHosts is split into 3 parts, the ad/tracking's in the browser, the main part + the partial (which I think are the updates for it). HostMan can scan for and remove dupes in the hosts file but I'm pretty sure there must be some dupes in uBlockO, I really don't have the time to root through the all, it takes so little browser memory, it's hardly worth it.

I think that uBlockO should update each time the browser is opened - but my browser uptime might be from several days to ~10 (unless I'm testing/benchmarking, etc.), so I check once a day, when I do the hosts file (currently 12MB, HostsMan can turn off the Windows DNS client Service, a very big hosts file can cause a browsing speed hit otherwise, Windows works fine without it, maybe costs an extra minute or two per several days. Nothing noticeable.).

I go to some very strange sites pretty regularly, comes with being a mod., you need to checkout any unusual sites members link to, so I'm okay with carrying a little excess blocking around, makes up for the stripped down AV (Avast Free, file system shield only) I use. There's some HIPS -type software as well, and other, mostly passive, security software and tweaks, some from way back.

Oh, and I have to turn off my hosts file when updating it, otherwise there's a block on an Amazon servers range where some of the other lists are served from, that felt odd the first couple of times.

Works for me though