Internet Security??

lianse · Oct 5, 2013

Hi, not sure if i am posting this in the right section or not, so if not apologies for that.
Today I helped a friend who was having issues with her pc. Turned out after running malwarebytes on it that she had a few nasties on there, which i managed to remove so thats all good. The thing is she has been using avast, which to my understanding was meant to be good, but after checking with malwarebytes, there were 20 items on there that avast did not pick up on, not a single one.
So I am now wondering, is avast really the best of the free protection options? Does anyone have any suggestions as to anything better as I am concerned that it did not pick up on all the things that malwarebytes did, or even stop them from being able to get on to the pc in the first place?
Any help or recommendations would be most appreciated.

Oh and if it helps with recommendations at all, she has been using just avast with the windows firewall and nothing else at all.

Caliban · Oct 5, 2013

Greetings, lianse, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

avast! is very good, but no internet protection program is perfect or foolproof. When used as a manual scanner Malwarebytes will find files that online antivirus/antispyware solutions might miss - that's why it's a good idea to run those alternate scanners occasionally.

IMO if your friend keeps avast! and Windows updated and uses common sense in her surfing habits she should be fine.

lianse · Oct 5, 2013

Thanks for the reply.
I will tell her to keep the malwarebytes on there and maybe give it a run through once a week just to keep on top of things then.
Should she be using anything else alongside the avast or is that with the windows firewall ok on their own?
Sorry if it seems a dumb question, I normally just use paid for suites so am unfamiliar with the free av

DavidGP · Oct 5, 2013

Hi

To add to Caliban's great post I would also install http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/spywareblaster.html as it helps stop some malicious websites from installing malware on your PC, this application does not need you to buy it, you can donate if you think its good (I do) and it does not run in the background so does not add resources to your PC.

Great app I install on any PC and manually update once a week, if needed.

Avast has a free version and that is just as good as the paid version so you need nothing more, I would though add the above I have mentioned and you could as mentioned use Malwarebytes scanner (again free) to double check for malware.

I have on my PC the following for reference

Microsoft Defender (Windows 8)
Microsoft Firewall (built in Windows 8)
Spywareblaster
Malwarebytes (free on demand scanner)
NAT Firewall from my modem/router

plodr · Oct 5, 2013

Avast is a good av. Unfortunately, computers also need a malware detector too because an av program alone is not sufficient protection, as you discovered.
Keep malwarebytes on the computer and encourage your friend to scan with that about once a week, if running the free version. The paid version offers real time protection and well worth the cost, I feel. I currently paid for 4 licenses so our hardest working desktops and netbooks would be protected.

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Internet Security??

lianse Private E-2

Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

lianse Private E-2

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member