The best free security software

Hi Trvelbug,

I used to use Daemon Tools ... but I uninstalled it ... I think it might have somekind of malware ... run your Daemon thru VirusTotal and see what kind of Hits will you get!

G!

 

Hi folks,

I was wondering ...

Q1: People that are using Comodo Firewall with Windows Vista ... have you Turned Off the Winodws Firewall !?!?

Q2: And if you have turned off Windows Firewall ... Why and Have you noticed any problem(s)?

Thanks,

G!

 

Of course. Windows Firewall is a barebones program for complete newbs to computers that have yet to download a 3rd part program. It's like the Windows Experience Index - worthless. And no, no problems. Windows firewall is glitchy and often bugs out. Comodo is the definitive free resource for firewalls. Very customizable.

 

you have to turn OFF your windows firewall (so no conflict)... no need to turn it ON, because your comodo is very strong...
as far as i did that turn on both comodo and windows firewall, i have not experience any error, but they both using memory it means it can slow down your PC, so no need to use both...comodo is enough...!

 

Just note that almost all free AV's now-a-days come with anti-virus and anti-spyware. So your pretty much covered with just one app.

 

What? Did you even read the thread dude?

 

Where did you get all these wrong information? Please don't post false information and make others believe that.

 

Nope, good to have back ups in case that one program misses something.

 

for greater performance, i feel its better to run just 1 real-time AM. and run on-demand scans when-ever need be.

wht do u mean?!

yes. thats why i use virtualization app's (ie sandboxie [32bit], shadow defender [64bit])

 

I just use Comodo and MSE... I'm going to live off campus next semester and split internet with a few people in my apt (so I probably won't count of the router having great protection unless I am able to get access to it). Any other things I should consider getting to protect myself or do people think this is sufficient?

 

Other than perhaps your on demand malware scanner(unless MSE has a spyware/malware scanner), there really isn't all that much to get.

Why wouldn't you get access to the router though I wonder? If it's in your apartment, then I suppose you could at least ask the owner(assuming it's not yours) if he secured the network you're all using.

 

will the threatfire conflict with the windows defender???

 

Not at all.

 

actually i did this already, and it came out clean.
daemon tools is a legit program. of course you should download it from its official site and nowhere else. thats where the problems start.

 

What about
1 Avira Free
2 Spywareblaster
3 see 1 ?

 

Avira free is not a firewall. Try say, Comodo or Online Armor.

 

Good sticky, I just need anti-virus software.

 

Hey, just installed 7 on my thinkpad T61 and I am wondering what protection to get. Right now I can get Symantec endpoint protection for free, which has anti-virus, intrusion prevention, and firewall. Should I use this or should i go with a Avira AV, comodo firewall, and a anti-malware (suggestions?)

thanks

 

For anti-malware I highly recommend Exterminate It!

I've been using Comodo, and it's extremely safe software, and low-resources. Safe to the extent that you can customize it to ask you if you want every single registry variable changed if they attempt to change. It also logs every in/out going connection which is nice to look at, if not for safety's sake but to see what exactly your computer is doing interacting with other computers.

I'm using Avira as well and that seems to be very thorough, although trojans still get through, it's much, much less than I used to get.

 

Hi folks,

Has anybody heard of Trend Micro's "Web Protection Add-On" freeware tool ...

Trend Micro's Web Protection Add-On/

Q1: Is it worth to install!?!? Would it add another layer of Defense?

Q2: Would it work along with SpywareBlaster, WinPatrol, Defender, Comodo Defense+, Avira AV!?!?

Thanks,

G!

 

LINK

Here's a link to a Wilders thread where a few ppl have tried it and/or are still using it. Haven't tried it out myself as it doesn't work with 64bit. See for yourself.

Cheers.

 

Hi arjunned ... THANKS Pal!

@ Baserk ... I see that you have Rated PCTools Firewall 100% ... same as Comodo ...

Q1: Which one is Bullet Proof ... Comodo Firewall with Defense+ or PCTools Firewall?

Q2: Which is easier to use ... Comodo Firewall with Defense+ or PCTools Firewall?

MERRY XMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

G!

 

Anyone else having problems with downloading Comodo? It seems their download server is offline

 

Not my rating, it's Matousec's.
PCTools definately offers an easier learning curve.

Happy New Year, Gonwk!

 

How is Microsoft Security Essentials compared to Avast free?

 

I've added scores for MSE on page 1.
It's comparable to Avast, has lesser config options though.
Why not use them both for a week and then make up your mind?

 

Thank you.

On the first page, are the percentages the rate of detection of viruses?

Avast=98% , MSE=90%. Is that a big difference? It seems signficant to me.

If they are comprarable, would MSE be a clear choice since it seems a lot lighter on resources?

 

I use MSE and don't even realize it's there most of the time. I've actually been surprised as how well it's worked so far seeing as it's a MS product.

 

try norton internet security 2010
its the best !!

 

I got the free installed version of Norton on my new laptop. A lot less resource hungry than earlier versions.

 

Surprised Spyware Doctor isn't mentioned. It's free via GooglePack (pack.google.com). I use it for both spyware and antivirus. Works quite well so far, and doesn't seem to be as resource-heavy as Avast or McAffee...

 

^ Haven't used Spyware Doctor for some time to be honest.
Found it to be resource hungry at the time and it detection rates weren't all that great. Maybe I'll give it a run soon if I can find time.

As Arjunned has already posted, ' Alwil Software' have issued their new version of their free antivirus.
The name has changed from ' avast Home edition' to ' avast Free Antivirus' and more importantly, the whole package has gotten a serious makeover.
The GUI is now a pleasure to work with, I find, with the usual abundance of configuration options.

While I was able to bring the installer to it's knees clicking back and forth (minor bug), the program itself runs perfect.
Some of the old features like a boot time scan have remained, others have been added like a gaming/silent mode, a new heuristics engine and a new way to scan and emulate viri, promising even higher detection rates.

In short, I love it.
A full featured and revamped AV, with flawless signature updates, enhanced underlying coding (which we'll probably see proven in the next AV-Comparatives test results), a dramatically changed and improved GUI.
And all that for free, it's simply amazing.

 

For making Microsoft Security Essentials to auto update more often, apply the registry tweak listed here
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/...us-and-spyware-definitions-signature-problem/

I had applied this tweak and now MSE updates it's malware definitions 3 times a day by itself, as opposed to once a day/ once a week.

 

^Good tip.
You can also creat an update job with task scheduler as described here.
Usefull for those who don't/rather not do registry editing.

 

Thanks a lot for that post, I'm going to do that later on my laptop since I realized that MSE doesn't updated every day depending on when my computer is/isn't on.

 

I tried that task scheduled update job, but it displays a command window during the job. Is there anyway to make it invisible?.

 

Hi,

I am looking for help of my Firewall free. I have installed ZoneAlarm for my Window 7, but in had blocked all internet access, thus I had to uninstall it then. I have to use the dynamic IP (normal for our zone), so could any one help me by advising if I can use any other free Firewall (like Comodo). One concern is that, will it repeats the same issue with ZA when blocking my internet access due to my dynamic IP?

Thanks so much for help.
Hoadao

 

Dynamic IPs shouldn't trouble a software firewall since it's on your PC. If anything, your router(and its hardware firewall) should be causing you issues if you have a dynamic IP protocol it doesn't recognize.

Anyhow, I'd just use the default Windows 7 firewall, it's actually a lot better than it used to be in the XP days.

 

Thanks, Forever_Melody. I have tested with ZoneAlarm, and without it, my internet connection run like a champ. However, I also think I will stick to Window Firewall, since my normal internet use is not to risky.

 

Hi folks,

For "Online Virus Scanners" on page 1 that Baserk has listed ...

Q1: Has anyone used any of them? And which one is the most Effective?

Q2: The scan result from Online Virus Scanner ... woulld it be any different from let's sya Avira installed Antivirus Scan? Does it catch more Malware, Torjans, and what not?

Q3: Do you folks Turn-Off your Antivirus, Firewall and Vista's Dedfender before running let's say "BitDefender Online Scan"?

Thanks,

G!

 

Prevx is the only one, among the ones in the list, that is a separate application that needs to be installed. It can be installed along-side ur current AV, and scans every file on-access for malware. I personally run it along with any AV i use. Its free, for the lifetime of the product, only for detection. Removal of any infection found requires you to pay for the product. A great tool to have. Setup file is also very small; less that 1 MB. Also, it is a purely cloud based AV; meaning it requires an active internet connection, and doesnt need download of virus signatures. It checks your system for malicious content using its online "cloud" database.

Sites like VirusTotal and Jotti, are for scanning individual files only. For example: if your unsure of a file/program like "X.exe" , you can upload it to, say VirusTotal, which then shows your the various AV engines that have already analysed this file/program, to determine whether it is an AV or not. (i uploaded a trojan sample to VirusTotal to see which AV's have detected it and which of them have not. Here's the result. You can see that some AV's have missed it. Here are the results for the same file in Jotti.) Personally i prefer VirusTotal, because of more no. of AV engines.

As for answers to your other questions;
A2. With VirusTotal and Jotti you definitely get better results than a single AV solution.

A3. No.

If your looking for a cloud based scanner (application) then i definitely recommend Prevx and Hitman Pro 3.5 ( Hitman Pro detects malware using 5 AV engines - Avira, NOD32, GDATA[uses avast + BitDefender], Prevx, A2. Again, detecion is free for lifetime of the product. But to remove any infections found, you need to activate the 30-day trial licence, after which you need to pay for malware removal; although scanning still remains free even after the 30-day trial licence is over.)

Cheers.

 

Hi arjunned,

Wow ... Thanks for the detailed response ...

Arjunned ... acutally when I posted the message I was kind of in a hurry ... and I should have made it a little more clear as to which ones I was referring to or thinking about ...

I was looking for an "Online Application" that scans your entire Hard Drive to see if it catches any Funny things ... and from the ones that Baserk has listed, I wasw looking at these ...

Bitdefender Online Scanner
Eset Online Scanner
F-Secure Online Scanner
Prevx 3.0

Plus he used to have the "Kaspersky Online Scanner" which I guess he has removed it since my last visit ...

The other day I tried running Eset one but it said it will take 4 hours+ ... so I bailed out since I did not have the time to leave my laptop running for that long on the internet ...

So, my Question is for these Online Scanners to do their job correctly ... do I need to temporarily disable my Firewall, Antivirus, and Defender and WinPatrol and so forth!?!? Or can I just run it simultenously!?!?

BTW ... thanks for the Thumbs Up on using the PrevX and HitPro on the side for On-Demand ... I did not know you could do that.

Also, I too only use VirusTotal ... as you said much more complete scan.

THANKS agian arjunned.

G!

 

I think its fine to run the Online Scanners by ESET, BitDefender, etc. with your AV running in the background.

 

Hi arjunned,

THANKS!

G!

 

Will Avast! work well on my Acer Aspire one despite me having an intel atom processcor?

 

Avast! 5 will work very well on ur Intel Atom notebook.

 

avast! Home Edition
Avira Antivir
AVG Free 8.5

NOTE: If you use AVG, it doesn't include anti-rootkit so download a free copy of AVG Anti-Rootkit along with it and that'll complete it. But besides that, AVG is really good and people just don't like it because of that reason but not a lot know you can download AVG Anti-Rootkit free separately.

 

Actually ... I would never put AVG on that list of yours because of it's high resource consumtpion and low detection rates.

Since I haven't used Avast 5 (and I'm thinking about it because of all the praise it got ... just unsure right now as I don't know of it's detection rates in comparison to MSE and Avira), I cannot comment on it, but based on latest reviews, my opinion on the best 3 free a/v programs out there would be: Avast5, Avira and MSE.

 

Glad to know the new Avast tests so well. I have it installed, it has been a favorite of mine for quite a while because of low resource usage compared to AVG and Avira.

Has anyone tried Privatefirewall 07? I have it installed because it was built for W7 64bit and is compatible with Avast and Windows security. It is light on resources and seems to be getting good reviews although lightly used.

 

The new Avast is great, but Avira still uses less.