HELP: Computer virus, spyware and firewall protection desperately required!?

Question

I have a new Toshiba laptop which I got for Christmas and the preinstalled McAfee Internet Security 2008's trial is soon to have run out, so I need to find potential replacements to compensate for it's firewall protection, spyware and virus protection, email scanner etc.

On my desktop I have AVG Free 8.0 but I know full well that it is ****. The virus vault works superbly at nullifying infections, but its detection rates and removal success rates were staggeringly poor even when compared to the likes of Ad-Aware Free 2008, and more notably, Spyware Doctor with Antivirus v6 (2009), when I recently had bad virus problems. But Spyware Doctor and AVG were competing with other and thus freezing my computer, so my Dad got rid of Spyware Doctor, and kept Ad-Aware as a secondary program as it doesn't have real-time protection to conflict with AVG's.

But now a new laptop is on the scene, and it's mine, so I make the decisions, and I know I won't feel particularly secure with AVG Free and Windows Firewall. So, with a little help from you guys... Hopefully I can find the ultimate solution!

OK, so two things I'm definitely going to install are:

Ashampoo Magical Defrag v2.34
McAfee Site Advisor Firefox/IE Plug-in

And now for the much more comprehensive stuff. I may only be 16, but I do know my stuff and thus would like advanced protection, without having to get a full Internet Security suite. I would like a personal firewall program to replace Windows Firewall, the best individual Spyware program and the best individual Virus program... All with nice interfaces.

Help will as ever be very much appreciated, don't just fire names at me please elaborate on your suggestions. Whatever it is, i'll crack it ;)

Thanks a lot,
Loz

Answer 1

Clamwin

Avast 4.8

avira

AVG8. but use only one anti virus

comodo firewall pro

malwarebytes anti-malware

SUPERAntispyware

ccleaner and mvregclean to clean your computer.

m

Answer 2

McAfee Site Advisor Firefox/IE Plug-in - i would add NoScript Firefox Add-ons



I would block third party cookies on IE.



Take it your be using a wireless router ( check to see if this has a hardware firewall)



Software firewall is a must even with a hardware firewall, I don't like Windows Firewall because it is a one way firewall, I use free online armour firewall, having used many free firewall, I like this one.



Anti-virus program.



You can only run one as you know - Do you want a free one or do you wish to pay ?



There are many points to look at when picking a Virus program, like:

How often does it update - a good one update as required or on the hour.

How much CPU does it use (will it slow down my PC)

How good is its detection rate

Does it pick up viruses in the wild ?



The best pay for AV I've used is Eset Nod32, its fast, light on CPU, updates when required & pick up on viruses in the wild.



As for free AV's the only one I would NOT use is free AVG, Why ?



AVG Free does not contain Anti-Rootkit protection so rootkits may be hidden in your system.



AVG Free does not contain the new Safe Downloads & Instant Messaging protection (Web Shield technology) so it does not screen your downloads and communication for viruses and spyware.



Spyware program



The best approach to spyware is the layered approach, no one program can do the job.



I'm going to give you links to people to talk to, these people don't all have my points of view but know what there talking about:



heebus_jeebus



http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AqqKtnLsC9WLaCCo8g9G5R_.0KIX;_ylv=3?show=RoMxIa1Jaa



Samuel Adams



http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AqqKtnLsC9WLaCCo8g9G5R_.0KIX;_ylv=3?show=DjGEJfaPaa



Michael



http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AqqKtnLsC9WLaCCo8g9G5R_.0KIX;_ylv=3?show=b800d7f1d7077674a5ca59615ae9b11caa



cotojo



http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AllWhFkM7lkKYuuITzQQavHsy6IX;_ylv=3?show=cbe5ac9d4d131e7e6adc392a47fdb091aa



big mal



http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AllWhFkM7lkKYuuITzQQavHsy6IX;_ylv=3?show=AA10240466



Muckdoomee



http://answers.yahoo.com:80/my/profile;_ylc=X3oDMTBxZjVlc3FkBF9TAwRzZWMDdXNyX3VzcgRzbGsDc2VuZGVy;_ylv=3?show=I84cekfHaa

Answer 3

AntiVirus: Avast! Home Edition , AVG Free Edition or Avira. I would recommend avast! Home Edition, AVG is good but sometimes stupid and Avira has many false positives. FireWall: Comodo Personal Firewall, Zonealarm Free or Sygate Free. AntiSpyware: Spywareblaster&Spybot Search And Destroy go well together, never had a problem and I'm using both of them for some time now. You can also use A-Squared free, AdAware free, Microsoft's Windows Defender or SuperAntiSpyware. All of these applications are free. Be sure to only use 1 firewall and 1 antivirus! Having multiple antispyware programs isn't a problem.

Answer 4

hmm...try http://www.safe4surf.co.nr and keep this in your favorites list its very helpful

Answer 5

Compair the best anti-virus and spyware detections rates

http://www.av-comparatives.org/



Just based from that, Avira Premium (not complete internet security) is the best. (avira is good agaist scripts, keyloggers, viruses Number 2 is kasperspy



From whatever firewall you choose, at least include "comodo memory firewall" <--it'll protect you from buffer overflow attacks. It won't slow your computer.

Answer 6

First off, I'd ditch AVG and get Avast Free Addition. For spy ware I'd go for Spybot - Search & Destroy or Ad-Aware Free 2008. I use two spy ware apps because one may pick up on problem that the other can't pick up. Plus it helps to partition your hard drive. Saving things to C can slow your windows down. I don't save anything to C ever. C is basically just for Windows. Also it would help to maybe get Window Washer from Webroot. As for the firewall, Avast does a great job in protecting against any intruders. I also recommend getting a different defrag program because Windows’ built in one sucks ***. Diskeeper always did the job well for me. But AVG sucks really badly. I would even go as far to say that AVG is a virus in itself. It's a resource hogging piece of poo.

Answer 7

I use Avast! Home Anti-Virus. It's free and works great. It does a good job stopping new viruses and the scanning works perfectly. I've used it to clean and protect every computer I have (5) and all of my family's and friends computers as well.



If you get it the Home edition is free, and turn off the sound the "Your virus database has been updated" notification is obnoxious"

Answer 8

check-superantispyware.com. o r AviaAntivirfree or AVAS.

Answer 9

i use windows firewall and avg (Free) for 5 years with no infections i guess it works well since my computers are on the internet 27/7

Answer 10

You need Norton Internet Security Suite. It covers all your needs.

Answer 11

Ok, you have AVG 8 and you seem to at least like the anti-virus part of it..I can't recommend anything better really, and I've tried them all. If you are looking you could try "Panda antivirus" it used to be really good, but I think AVG is superior...even the free version.



For spyware/malware I used a program last night that is really good, as it fixed a serious problem I had with 260 trojans, and bots that Spybot missed!



The program is called "Superantispyware" and you can find it here free, or you can pay $29.95 I think for the Pro version.



http://www.superantispyware.com/



For a firewall I have always used, and always will use ZoneAlarm. It is annoying for a week or two while you give it permission to access your regularly used programs, but after that it is just superior. I have a ZA wireless modem so I am protected that way.



Here is the site for ZoneAlarm, and you can try it free or buy the Pro version, it really is great.



http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/promotions/suite/zaiss_buynow.html?c=W200002



Good luck

Answer 12

I, like you am 16 and like to keep my stuff secure. dude to be honest, ad-aware SE and AVG are both really good when used together. I don't even have a firewall i use the windows firewall and nothing bad has happened so far, if you ever feel like its slow even a little, i scan with both and it gets rid of any problem.. but anyway some other good stuff is



malbyte's malware remover

spysweeper search & destroy is also good

Answer 13

I you can stick w/ avg it is one of the best virus programs out there.

Kapersky will work too. Though it costs money to own.

I used AVG with no problem for 5 years constantly downloading stuff.

And It found the viruses & deleted them.

Kapersky good too.

Norton not so good.

Especially Norton 360.