The best free security software

Hi folks,

I am trying to use "Bitdefender Online Scanner" from Page 1 ... and I am on IE7 and for life of me I can NOT get the Active X to download ... I keep accepting it but it says that my PC does Not allow it ... something in my software set up ...

I have searched and searched the net for answers ... and have gotten thru verifying my setup under Tools in IE7 and ensuring all the Active X stuff are checked .... but Nothing.

Q1: Does anyone know what else I can try?

Q2: Would upgrading to IE8 or IE9 solve this problem?

Otherwise I can't use any of these Free Online Scan Tools .. resources.

Thanks!

G!

 

Still using IE7?? What OS are you in? I won't trust any online scanner.

I use FF 6 as my main browser, and IE 9/ Chrome sometimes.

Why do you want to scan your system using 10 different products? What are you trying to achieve here?

 

Hi coolguy,

Well, I was running GMER and told me that I have "MSDMine?STacS" as of yesterday ... out of nowhere ... since then I have run FULL Scans with MBAM, SAS and F-Secure Online, DR.Web CureIt Quick Scan ... even I have run SAS in Safe Mode and MBAM Quick Scan ... and they tell me I am CLEAN ... I have even ran Sophos Rootkit and came back clean ... but when I did AVAST aswMBR ... it says I have an MBR ... and the darn GMER continues to show 2 Registry entry with the above STacS crap ...

So, I guess I am infected ... but how come the other AV and Malware remover can't spot it.

It can't be a "False Positive"!?!?

Q: I wonder if I do a Clean Reinstall from my Factory D:/ Drive and start all over again would get rid of this!?!?

I might have to post on a Specialty Forum Board to have them help me with clean up ... but I am of a mind just start all over again ... since probably I have clobbered my Registry enough by installing and unistalling various proggies and playing around!

Thanks,

G!

 

Sounds like a false positive.

 

Now, I have CA Internet Security Suite which gives me too many problems, so I wondering what you guys here would recommend as a AV and firewall for my computer.

 

Anyone?

 

I use Avira AV.

Pros
On-demand scan is fast
Free AV
Not a resource-hog (important because I record gameplays)

Cons
False positives

Can't speak for the other options except "corporate AVs".
I hate those.

Also, try to avoid shady websites.
Free AV + a little bit of discipline, that usually works

 

Lol...
I don't use Internet security suites.
In my personal experience, I find them a bit... well, an overkill, plus a good deal of them (unless they have a tried a tested background) end up causing issues.

I'm personally using Windows 7 own's Firewall, then Microsoft Security Essentials for an active AV protection, and MBAM as an on-demand scanner.

It's more than enough.

 

I would avoid piling on two antiviruses, not because of conflicts but because
1) Throwing more programs on your computer isn't great from a security standpoint

2) Two antiviruses are going to end up taking ~120MB of RAM and using a lot of Disk IO.

 

I don't think anyone suggested using AV's.

'kammy01'
I suggest you first remove CA Internet Security Suite, run Ccleaner to remove any leftovers from the registry/system, and install MSE.
Allow it to activate Windows 7 firewall and that's pretty much it.
Additionally install MBAM for an on-demand scanning (this is only in the event if MSE misses something - which in my experience was 'never').

And that's pretty much it.
If you don't want to use MSE for whatever reason, pick Avast free of Avira free instead (but only pick 1).

 

Hi kammy01,

From everything I have read from the pros here it seems if you have Windows 7, then the winning combination is like Deks and Hungry Man suggested ... just run MSE and Windows Firewall.

Actually if you go to the Microsoft Windows Malware page you will see that they are doing a Great job updating their AV database on a daily basis.

In addition to Malwarebytes (MBAM) ... I would also suggest having SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) Free version installed for "ON-Demand" scanning.

G!

 

SAS is essentially identical to MBAM (the only difference between them is that SAS includes cookies - which can be handled manually), so there's no need to have both.
Just use one for on-demand scanning.

 

When did you move from Avira to MSE? UI wise, I like Avira better than MSE. MSE slows down my system considerably sometimes (during updating, extracting zip files, etc)

 

Because Windows is closed source it's a fact that Microsoft is the only company suited to protect their operating system. Of course whether that gets put into practice or not is another story - we certainly don't see MSE heading the AV benchmarks (quite the opposite.)

 

MS did allow some part of the kernel open to security software makers.

 

That's different.

What Microsoft did is to allow companies to use kernel hooks if they have a signed certificate.

What I'm talking about is releasing the source code so that companies can build their security straight into it before it's compiled.

They're very very different.

 

Hi CoolGuy,

No, I haven't moved from Avira to MSE since I have Vista. But from scanning various websites and here ... kit seems the consensus is if you have Windows 7 the way to go is MSE.

G!

 

Hey Deks,

Manually ... what do you use for that ... CCleaner or what!?!?

Thanks,

G!

 

What makes MSE more preferred if you have Windows 7? I don't see any reason. MSE runs fine in Vista too. I don't know what you meant by "I haven't moved from Avira to MSE since I have Vista".

 

There's no reason I can think of for 7 to have an advantage over Vista in terms of MSE. But XP definitely has had issues with it.

 

I use Avira in Windows 7 (used it since in XP and Vista days). I haven't noticed any problem with it, except that new WebGuard feature, but that's not related to Win 7.

 

Hi KarenA,

I assume you are running Avira 10.2.0.700 Freeware ... how does your scan run for you and does it ever ask you to restart your pc when the scan has been completed!?!?

Thanks,

G!

 

its a great list.. will the mentioned antivirus programs will run on a 64 bit machine?

 

Yes, for sure.
With MSE, make sure to select the appropriate 64 bit.
Avast and Avira offer a single version for both 32 and 64 bit.

 

With MSE, is anything else really necessary for keeping a computer safe?

It seems to do well with virus detection as well as spyware..thanks!

 

I would only recommend MBAM as an on-demand scanner to keep 'just in case' in addition to MSE, and even then, I only run MBAM to update it.
I rarely scan the computer with it (only if I have reason to - and I really do not).

 

^^+1 for MBAM as recommended above.
Excellent for (bi)weekly on-demand scans.
Make sure to keep the OS and all your programs up-to-date; use f.i Secunia PSI for updating well known progs.
And either use a standard user account or at least UAC when using an admin account.

 

Conficker Eye Chart

Not sure where to post this.

 

@ Baserk: Can you include Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 1.5.1 in the list of free AV's?
In AV-Comparatives August 2011 'on-demand' test they score 99.3% with 1 false positive.

Additional comments: For Web & URL filtering component *without* the toolbar see Pbust post at Wilders:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1774441&postcount=67

 

Hi folks,

@ Baserk & other AV Experts ...

I Just downloaded AVIRA AntiVir Personal 12.0.0.849 and was all excited ... until I started to install it ...

Avira 12.0.0.849 is asking me to UNINSTALL ... the following Softwares ...

- Comodo Antivirus
- Comodo Firewall
- Javacool SpywareBlaster

1) Now, I know I am running Comodo Firewall with Defense + ... but I am NOT running Comodo AV ... so that is a Surprise to me.

2) I am kind of Disappointed that AVIRA now wants to Totally take over my laptop ... why do I have to uninstall Firewall and SpywareBlaster ...

Q1: Is AVIRA 12 now doing Firewall also? Or just wants Winodws FW running?

Q2: Would AVIRA cover SpywareBlaster stuff!?!?

Q3: What is Baserk & Other AV Experts here suggestion? Just to stay with Version 10 and the heck with 12 (2012) version?

Thanks,

G!

 

I'm using the pro version of Avira (10.2), but I'm also running Comodo free firewall as well. While it has not asked me to remove comodo, I do think that maybe you have overlooked some configuration options??? IN my experience, Comodo + Avira (personal or professional) is a great combo. You definitely want to disable the Windows firewall. I believe there is an option for Avira firewall in there, but I have it disabled because Comodo handles that quite well.

Both work well on my Win7 system. I also have them installed on a 12 year old Win2k machine, and even there they don't have much of a footprint, and they are monitoring every connection, every folder. It's a pentium 4 1.3 ghz lol. The biggest cpu-hog on that machine is firefox haha.

Take a peek through the configuration for Avira; you definitely do not need to uninstall your third party spyware and firewall apps. By the way, which did you install first? I always do chipset drivers, video drivers, then once HW is running smooth, straight to FIREWALL first, Antivirus second. This way you can setup the rules/parameters for Comodo to recognize Avira from the start and it doesn't go haywire with it.

Avira has limited definitions for rooting out rootware and spyware. There's no reason you can run a run-on-command spyware blaster in conjunction with Avira. But you will likly have issues if you have them both monitoring at the same time. So what I mean is, Avira should be on, and monitoring, all the time. Your spyware blaster I assume you run it, and then close it. It doesn't have ongoing monitoring services? Nothing in the start up? Type msconfig into your Start/run line. See what comes up as far as Comodo/Avira/spyware programs.

 

I didn't know that Avira had released the Version 12 on Oct 4, did they skip version 11?

 

Hi hankaaron57 & coolguy,

@ hankaaron57 ... Hank, I am currently running Avira 10.2.0.703 Free version ... and you are Right about 10.2 version ... it does Not ask you to remove Comodo or SpywareBlaster .... However, the version that I am talking about is their newest Avira that they have been calling "AVIRA 2012" and I suppose why 12.xxxx ...
You can download it from here Avira Free Antivirus 2012 - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com ... anyway try it for yourself ... you'll see what I mean ... when it Recommended to uninstall ... that is where I stopped and posted it here.

@ coolguy ... Avira has been talking all along that they would go from whatever version was their last ... in this case 10.2.0.703 .... to AVIRA 2012 (version 12.0.0.849) ... so there is No version 11.

Thanks folks,

G!

 

Yep, perhaps in anticipation of the 20 11 uproar over adding the Ask.com toolbar in the free version. j/k
They've announced that this year would only bring their Avira Service Pack 2.

Gonwk, a late reply but I've not used Avira 12 here, so I haven't got a clue why you would need to uninstall Comodo FW.
Perhaps an early (minor) bug or it really needs to be installed before installing Comodo.

 

Installed it, so far so good, finally Avira had changed the status window UI. I didn't see the notifier pop up during the initial update.

 

Hi coolguy,

If I recall correctly ... you use Windows Firewall + Avira ... so you would Not get any warnings ... Avira 2012 was only complaining about my Comodo FW and SpywareBlaster ...

BTW, Baserk's Page 1 does Link to Avira 2012 ... since Avira Free Download links to CNET download which is at 12 version! So ...

Thanks!

G!

 

Hi team,

I have just upgraded to Windows 7 and was wondering what the standard security setup is now that people run?

When I had Windows XP I seemed to have a load of security programs: Comodo Firewall, AVG and several antispyware programs.

Is this still required or is the native protection in Windows 7 up to scratch?

kind regards,

Raymond

 

You can check out: http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/579628-post-your-security-setup.html
Run Gizmo's Security Wizard: https://www.techsupportalert.com/SecWiz
It all depends on your computer skills and the level of protection and user involvement you want.
For example for my mother in law I installed on her laptop: Panda Cloud Antivirus, use Win7's build-in firewall, Google Chrome with Adblock for surfing and an external HDD using Win7's backup and restore for backups.

 

Hi folks,

Q1: which is Better " Comodo Firewall 5" or " PC Tools Firewall Plus 7"? and Why?

Q2: Which of the above 2 Firewalls would Integrate BETTER with the New AVIRA 2012?

Thanks,

G!

 

^^ Excellent Idea ....... Welcome Aboard Sunil.

Anyway folks ... just FYI ...

I decided to go with Avira 2012, Comodo Defense+, & SpywareBlaster as my Active setup. So far so good!

G!

 

Symantec released Norton 360 v6.0 Beta.

Norton Beta Software - Norton 360 Version 6.0

It's free as beta.

 

nice list.. however, mbam isn't just an on-demand scanner. The pro version also offers realtime protection & web-protection.

 

The pro version is not free and therefor doesn't belong on the list.

 

oh you are right

 

BTW just found out windows has build-in scanner program.
Might be useful for smbdy.

 

It seems that there is no easy way to disable the popup notifier in Avira Personal 2012 version. The usual method of modifying security options to deny execution doesn't work anymore as access is denied for modifying the "avnotify.exe" process.

The only way to block the popup is to create a software restriction policy for disallowing avnotify.exe. This will work only with XP Pro/ Vista Business or higher / Win 7 Pro or higher versions of Windows.

I had also noticed that the UI is a bit laggy in Avira 2012.

 

Perhaps it's possible to use 'Parental Control' as a ' SRP light' for 'Home' versions? Then basically allow everything except 'avnotify.exe'?
Haven't tested this though, just a thought.

 

If you have Comcast, Norton is pretty nice and it's free so they don't have to keep replacing internet servers corrupted by viruses

 

same here i have comcast as well get norton 360 free.

 

You can have the GPedit.msc/Group Policy Editor tool, developed by a member of the TheWindowsClub, now also on Windows 7 Starter/Home editions, page link