Confused on what programs to use against malware

I am wondering what is the best antivirus/antispyware program out that there that is not freeware? I have a hard time trusting reviews sites because they are so biased, so what ones offer the best protection?

Then its firewalls, what firewall offers the most protection that is moderatly noob freindly,zone alarm is a resource hog and has very few features but i like its easy usage i would like a firewall that offer more and equal protection without the hassle of setting up every single port to use and what port not to use.

Then its misc programs that aint used to remove spyware and such, i use spywareblaster and hostblocking are there any others programs that offer preprotection against spyware or offer a better one then the ones i use?


And please dont tell my to go use linux because im a hardcore gamer.

 

Don't worry, Butcer, advice like that is frowned upon here.

When it comes to trusting reviews, I'm with you - which can you trust?? And this site here just happens to be one of the ones with a good and deserved reputation. So I suggest scrolling to the very end of this page and clicking the link to Anti-virus or Firewalls and start browsing - you'll find freeware, shareware, and buy-it software. Also, look for "Pick" against the items in the list - they are ones that the Major Geek software finders particularly liked.

Hope you find something you like. :wave

 

I'm always finding something i like on this site, this is the best software/hardware site i have used because its offers unbiased reviews(*cough*top10reviews*cough) and opinion on programs and the forums have a remarkably low rate of zealots and flamebaiters (the linux zealots,the mac zealots and itunes zealots )

 

The flamebaiters and zealots are here. They just don't get much chance because they get jumped on pretty quickly. Also, see the little red triangle with an exclamation mark in it to the top right of every post? That's so we can report stuff and get it kicked off quick - I've had to report a couple of spammers already tonight!!

So now you know how to help keep the nitwits under control.

 

Okay this question has come up often so the geeks here have prepared a page of all the better if not best malware/antispyware/antivirus applications and they are all "FreeWare". Just because you pay for software doesn't mean it is "better". In fact a lot of open source freeware is far superior. Anyway a page with all the best stuff:

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=20

AVG is a very simple and solid AV. Spybot Search and Destroy along with Ad-Aware are very solid for the malware etc.

You will find all on this page.

 

Just want to second what Halo said....don't go for too many apps at the same time.
I have learned the hard way about that.

 

Here's my two cents:
Avira AntiVir (free antivirus)
Comodo BOclean (free antimalware/spyware)
Browser Hijack Retaliator (protects IE home page, blocks BHOs, prevents Favorites from getting hijacked, and MUCH more; mainly for users of Internet Explorer and I'm a 90% Firefox + 10% Opera user, but I still use BHR just because of what it does and it's resource friendly)
Online Armor (free "firewall"; this is in the firewall section but does SO much more than your average firewall)
Anyway, that's what I run on my home PC. Like I said above, dumping Internet Explorer is one of the best ways to protect yourself online. I liked the older AVG7.5; not yet a fan of the newer 8.0. No real reason why, but I've been using Avira's free antivirus for about 3-4 years and have NEVER had a full infection. Then again, I'm a safe surfer, and I know what I'm doing both on and off line. Another great program similar to Online Armor is Dynamic Security Agent (or DSA). For some reason, it isn't hosted here at Major Geeks, but all the others I mentioned are. Here's the links:
Avira AntiVir http://www.majorgeeks.com/AntiVir_Personal_Edition_8_d955.html
Comodo BOclean http://www.majorgeeks.com/Comodo_BOClean_Anti-Malware_d5616.html
BHR4.5 http://www.majorgeeks.com/Browser_Hijack_Retaliator_d4582.html
Online Armor http://www.majorgeeks.com/Online_Armor_Free_d4872.html
Firefox http://www.majorgeeks.com/Mozilla_Firefox_d2248.html
Dynamic Security Agent http://www.privacyware.com/dynamic_security_agent.html
Comodo also makes a very popular and highly rated free firewall. It recently was rated by a neutral testing organization as the best firewall; free or paid. Pretty impressive. I haven't used it much, but it is good: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Comodo_Personal_Firewall_d5033.html

Excellent advice.... one active antivirus app; one firewall. As for antispyware programs, there are many different types and they run in many different ways, so it's usually OK to run 2 or 3 different ones together (for example, I run BHR and BOclean without issues).

I hope this helps more than it confuses