What, if anything, do you use for antivirus?

[Lonestar94]

AVG Free

 

[kapolani]

I use MSE(I also like AVG or Avast), Malwarebytes, and CCleaner. All three are free.

They are all pretty simple to use. I am new to CCleaner but it cleared up like 3 gigs of space up. Very useful program. It did delete all my saved passwords because I didn't know how to use at first though.

Missed this.

CCleaner is great!

Use it all the time.

When doing computer work for family and friends the software I use and install for them:

- MSE
- Malwarebytes
- (optional) Spybot
- CCleaner

As for the passwords - when cleaning make sure to uncheck cookies etc or it will get rid of your settings.

As an added note - I also install teamviewer so that I can remote access their comps and do maintenance from my comp at home.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Yes CCleaner is a good free product.

Used to use windows washer but have moved on to the free CCleaner. Not only does it make it a one stop shop for cleaning out your temp files, history and so on but you also have other options/tasks in it like a registry cleaner and other things that are bundled into one program.

 

[bigdnlaca]

I just get whatever that is on sale @ Ebay or Amazon for 15 bucks for 3 computers.

It is either Norton or McAfee. I never paid antivirus software @ regular price.

 

[djmajestik]

I just renewed my Kaspersky Pure. I've been using Kaspersky since 2007. Before that I used SystemSuite. Before that I used Norton. I dumped Norton because it got bloated and invasive. I dumped SystemSuite because it was ineffective.

For the most part I've really liked Kaspersky. However, this latest install had me pulling my hair out. I was switching from Kaspersky Internet Security to Pure and therefore had to uninstall the old one, not just put in a new activation code. It ended up being a beast to get it off my system, but I managed. I am considering going with something else next year. I've long considered trying Panda.

On the other hand, I might at some point switch to a Linux-based system, which (at least for now) isn't so plagued by viruses.

Avast, it's free, not bloated, and just does its job and does it well! But yeah, I have some linux boxes and if I didn't HAVE to run some of my DJ progs that only run on windows (and don't play nice under WINE) I would be only running linux (I like Ubuntu).

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I haven't paid for anti-virus since 2000.

I get malware every now and then, but nothing too serious.

No anti-virus software will stop everything. Safe internet practices can keep you pretty safe.

A combination of free stuff can do just about the same job as anything you pay for.

It's a waste of money to pay for this stuff

It really depends on the user's needs. I do think MS Security Essentials and AVG Free are pretty good. I might use them on a PC that I only occasionally use. However, on my main PC I do a lot of online banking and buying and selling with PayPal. That's why I want to use Kaspersky. It has a virtual keyboard that I use for logging in with my passwords in a way that even if I've caught a keylogger virus, the criminals won't get my user name or password. Kaspersky IS or Pure costs something like $80, but I never pay that much. I buy one version back and usually get it for about $20. I can handle that. I end up with the latest version anyway because of Kaspersky's policy of letting users with older versions upgrade to the latest for free.

In the case of my office suite, LibreOffice meets my needs extremely well, even better than MS Office, for the reasons I've written about. However, for image editing, meet needs are extremely in depth because I do professional photography. Photoshop, Lightroom, and some other paid programs are what I need. There's a free program named Gimp that's pretty good, but not quite enough for me.

It really depends on the person's needs -- that's the bottom line. There are a lot of users that could go with 100 percent free software and be just fine.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

Comodo dragon, $20 for 3 laptops per year and works great.

http://www.comodo.com/products/free-products.php

 

[kapolani]

It really depends on the user's needs. I do think MS Security Essentials and AVG Free are pretty good. I might use them on a PC that I only occasionally use. However, on my main PC I do a lot of online banking and buying and selling with PayPal. That's why I want to use Kaspersky. It has a virtual keyboard that I use for logging in with my passwords in a way that even if I've caught a keylogger virus, the criminals won't get my user name or password. Kaspersky IS or Pure costs something like $80, but I never pay that much. I buy one version back and usually get it for about $20. I can handle that. I end up with the latest version anyway because of Kaspersky's policy of letting users with older versions upgrade to the latest for free.

In the case of my office suite, LibreOffice meets my needs extremely well, even better than MS Office, for the reasons I've written about. However, for image editing, meet needs are extremely in depth because I do professional photography. Photoshop, Lightroom, and some other paid programs are what I need. There's a free program named Gimp that's pretty good, but not quite enough for me.

It really depends on the person's needs -- that's the bottom line. There are a lot of users that could go with 100 percent free software and be just fine.

I do all that on my main box as well. I use 3 different bank accounts. Two for trading.

I didn't mention another good tool to throw into the kit:

Lastpass.

You don't enter any passwords after initial setup. It then will enter your info for you when logging in. No worries about keyloggers.

I would put that whole kit I mentioned against any paid software.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I do all that on my main box as well. I use 3 different bank accounts. Two for trading.

I didn't mention another good tool to throw into the kit:

Lastpass.

You don't enter any passwords after initial setup. It then will enter your info for you when logging in. No worries about keyloggers.

I would put that whole kit I mentioned against any paid software.

Thanks for the heads up on Lastpass. That looks interesting. I might give it a try.

I've made a changed on my desktop PC. It's an older computer. I originally bought it in '08 as a debranded ex-HP no OS PC that I put Ubuntu Linux on. Before my ownership it was an HP with Windows XP Media Center edition. Later when I needed a Windows machine, I put Windows 7 Ultimate on it. It has that to this day.

It was slowing down, frustrating me. I would check and see that Kaspersky was scanning or updating definitions. I finally got annoyed and uninstalled Kaspersky, replacing it with Microsoft Security Essentials and then Comodo free as my firewall. We'll see how I like it. Kaspersky seems to be doing just fine on my 1 year-old Windows 7 laptop with the i3. I'll keep using it there.

 

[kapolani]

Thanks for the heads up on Lastpass. That looks interesting. I might give it a try.

I've made a changed on my desktop PC. It's an older computer. I originally bought it in '08 as a debranded ex-HP no OS PC that I put Ubuntu Linux on. Before my ownership it was an HP with Windows XP Media Center edition. Later when I needed a Windows machine, I put Windows 7 Ultimate on it. It has that to this day.

It was slowing down, frustrating me. I would check and see that Kaspersky was scanning or updating definitions. I finally got annoyed and uninstalled Kaspersky, replacing it with Microsoft Security Essentials and then Comodo free as my firewall. We'll see how I like it. Kaspersky seems to be doing just fine on my 1 year-old Windows 7 laptop with the i3. I'll keep using it there.

Lastpass is great. I don't enter CC or form info into it. I still shy away from that kind of stuff.

Get malwarebytes and run that weekly. If you heard of it and use it, then you know it's a pretty good tool.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Lastpass is great. I don't enter CC or form info into it. I still shy away from that kind of stuff.

Get malwarebytes and run that weekly. If you heard of it and use it, then you know it's a pretty good tool.

Yes, I have Malwarebytes. I agree it's a good tool. It's one downfall is it has a lot of false positives. It will brand almost any 3rd-party activation tool as malware, things such as keygens and activators. Of course some such programs do indeed come bundled with malware, but many of them only activate software without having to do so from the manufacturer without harming the computer. Most of the time it's an illegal activation, and I don't advocate illegally activating software. I'm only saying that MBam often brands them harmful even if they're not -- harmful to the computer, that is. They're harmful to some software manufacturer's bottom line. I know one guy who's paranoid about the end of the world and is stockpiling non-perishable food and supplies. He's also stockpiling keygens. In the event of an apocalypse that destroys Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and all the other software companies, you could still activate your software with these keygens. That was his reasoning, in any event. I guess theoretically that's a legitimate use of such software. Or maybe he's just a software thief finding a way to justify his actions.

I'm going in a different direction. I'm buying software less often and am instead finding genuinely free software that you can download legally and copy it as much as you want. At some point I'll have a Linux-based PC with 100 percent GNU freeware on it. And as long as I've saved the install files, I can always reinstall in the event of an apocalypse. Of course, in that case we'll likely have bigger worries than running our PCs.

 

[punchnjudy]

For scanners, I use a combination of trojan hunter and malwarebytes. I have mcafee, but their scanner hasn't worked well for me in the past. I've also used hijackthis in conjunction with sites that analyze the results (since I have no idea what any of it means).

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

So you're saying it's like a roach motel then.

I'm saying threads like these make me laugh. I never worry about such things.