Who should use virus scan program?

[olicon]

For you search bar police out there, yes, I did search the topic. But there isn't anything that covers this particular topic, and I don't want to start a new idea on the 3rd page of a 10 weeks old topic.

So I have tried McAfee, I have tried Norton, I have tried a few free programs, all of them never catch a single real threat.. except that one time when McAfee found something after my computer had been freezing up every couple of minutes, and I pin pointed the virus, then search the folder in hope that McAfee will be able to get rid of it. Of course, McAfee said it couldn't. (I ended up killing the file from the registry)

Now, I have to say I have been surfing ever since the net was a much safer place, so I had a lot of time to learn to navigate the cyber space relatively safely. I also don't access pr0n site (OMG, a guy that doesn't do internet pr0n!?).. for fear that I would pick up some digital STDs.. So you can say that I play it very safe online.

Then I got a free trial with McAfee, installed it, and has been regretting the decision ever since. The program periodically slows down my laptop to a crawl, as well as add a dozen or so second to my start up time.
Should I just go ahead and get rid of it? I never even caught a spyware in the past 3 years (Firefox helps a lot). And the trial is running out in a month, and I have no intention to get the full version anyway.

And just who do you think needs these kind of programs? In my opinion, it seems like a 15 minutes crash cross on safe browsing is as good as a $100 program that can't get rid of viruses it finds anyway.

 

[megapenguinx]

Get rid of it. And porn sites aren't the only places you can get viruses. In essence, any page where you have to run a flash script gives the possibility of you obtaining a virus without you knowing. McAfee is just a really crappy virus scanner. Get something better (I can't really help you there).

 

[vampirekid.13]

avg free + adaware are all you need in terms of anti-virus.


now the issue is i dont know any good firewalls.

 

[Chiddy]

Symantec is used by my school and i have never got a virus when ive been using it

 

[Abi79]

I use Kaspersky Internet Security and it works like a charm. If you want to try the trial, go here: http://www.kaspersky.com/trials

 

[supermaster1337]

Nortan has been good for me....

 

[olicon]

That's partly why I said firefox is good for me. I use the various javascript blogger, and also ad blockers. That pretty much takes care of most threats other than hacking. But that's besides the point of the topic.

What I want to know is what kind of people do you think should use a virus scanner?

People who have no clue about computers find them to be a real pain to have. My mom, for example, have a really tough time with the virus scan on her computer. My brother, on the other hand, manages to infect his computer every other week, despite having a newly updated scanner. They don't know enough about computers to fully utilize the available range of protection from any programs, but they also don't know enough to keep the computer safe.
So if virus scanners are ineffective on this group, and the tech savvy simply don't need one, then who does?

I also want to add that of the 4 times that I had to format my computer in my life, twice was a virus scanner acting up for no reason (and deleted critical windows files), and once because of hardware failure. So aren't these things more of a threat than anything?

 

[Gruthar]

Symantec is used by my school and i have never got a virus when ive been using it

I do believe the Symantec AV is by corporate license only. It is decent, unlike their consumer offering, Norton.

Basically, not all anti-viruses are created equal. I dislike Norton and McAfee, because they are so bloated and resource intensive. AVG is decent, though I've had my share of problems with it, too. I have Sophos through my university, and I love it, though that's another corporate one. The best rated AVs tend to be either NOD or Kaspersky, though obviously ratings change over time. If you want to know who's on top, check http://www.av-comparatives.org/

I would say everyone running a Windows-based machine needs a AV scanner of some sort. Preferably a real-time scanner. Although I'm fairly tech-savvy and haven't had a virus in years, I've still have a few near-infections from time to time. There was one instance in which a flash drive I used to work on clients' computers got infected. When I plugged the flash drive into my computer, it attempted to auto-execute the infected file on my flash drive -- unsuccessfully.

But look at it this way. If you have a crappy AV scanner, it can cause all sorts of performance headaches. If you have nothing at all, you can easily pick something really nasty like a keylogger, and not know about it. One costs you time, the other can cost you a lot of things. Safe browsing habits certainly help, but they don't make you immune. What if your brother picks up another virus, and it starts attacking other machines on the network? What if someone passes you a trojan embedded in a document for work/school? It's rare, but it happens.

I think the problem here is you just haven't found a decent anti-virus scanner.

 

[demoman_chaos]

Viruses are the main reason I switched to Linux (to the 3 people who care: I use the Sidux distro). Linux is a fee OS that is 100% virus proof. It runs good on old PC's, does most everything you need, and looks good while doing it.
Only downsides is no tech support outside forums, Windows games don't really work too well, and it requires a bit more user-involvement.

If you must use Windows, I recommend Dual-booting with Linux (like I do). Windows for offline crud, Linux for online crud. Though, only select nerds will be able to get it all working well (like my friend Jordan who helps me when I have a PC problem).

Though there are the thick apes that need protection (and whose dad's should have probably worn protection), like my half-bro. His old PC was killed at least 6 times in a month, most all due to him using P2P music sharing programs like Morpheous, LimeWire, or Kazaa. AVG couldn't save him, and he was too dumb to realize that stuff was bad.
But really, any Windows PC needs at least a bit of protection.

 

[Insomniac55]

You need an antivirus program, there's no two ways about it. It's no longer the case where you can avoid infections by only visiting trusted sites/not clicking random links/not opening attachments you weren't expecting. Malware is getting worse and worse, and the ways in which you can get infected are getting more and more varied.

It's not unusual anymore to see a 'safe' site injected with malware which it then distributes until the problem is found. Ad servers are especially bad... you can be on a trusted site and if the ad server displays an infected ad, (and you have the vulnerability on your system it exploits) you will get infected.

The main purpose of an AV isn't so much to get rid of the infection... it's to block it before it does any damage. Many trojans and viruses now will search for a URL to download even more stuff after they successfully infect a machine. This could leave you with a nasty rootkit or somthing else that will be difficult if not impossible to completely fix. Google win32/virut to see what I mean. Some infections, even if you wipe all the active code on your system will still cause problems because they are buggy and corrupt some files they try to infect, which can leave windows broken and extremely difficult to repair.

I use AVG free at the moment, because it doesn't cause any problems with anything I have running, it has a decent detection rate and I don't want to go through the hassle of installing somthing better only to have it cause problems and have to switch back.

Two good free antivirus programs other than AVG are Avira and AVAST!. Both have free and paid versions, and both have very good detection rates. AVAST! is a little heavier on system resiources, while Avira is light but it shows 'upgrade to paid version' ads when you update and when it starts, which can be annoying. I haven't used either of these programs, just going off what I've read.

If you want somthing to supplement your antivirus I'd reccomend trying Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. It's got a free version which has a fully functional scan and removal capability (and won't interfere with anything as it's only an on-demand scanner), and a paid version which has scheduled updates and scans, and a realtime protection component to try and prevent infections before they can do anything. The realtime protection is designed to run alongside an antivirus, NOT to replace one.

 

[deletemeplease107]

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a good free online mac antivirus?
i jjust wanna be safe

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Nothing is 100% virus proof Demoman, but I'd guess that ~99% of the virusses in the wild today are written for Windows based OS, making them rather impotent against Linux. There are bound to be virusses that don't give a damn about what OS you run and destroy it regardless, but that won't be many.

As for who could use an AV-program. Everyone pretty much, especially if you run a MS OS. An unprotected PC is like an open honey pot, it'll attract stuff sooner rather than later.

 

[asinann]

Viruses are the main reason I switched to Linux (to the 3 people who care: I use the Sidux distro). Linux is a fee OS that is 100% virus proof. It runs good on old PC's, does most everything you need, and looks good while doing it.
Only downsides is no tech support outside forums, Windows games don't really work too well, and it requires a bit more user-involvement.

If you must use Windows, I recommend Dual-booting with Linux (like I do). Windows for offline crud, Linux for online crud. Though, only select nerds will be able to get it all working well (like my friend Jordan who helps me when I have a PC problem).

Though there are the thick apes that need protection (and whose dad's should have probably worn protection), like my half-bro. His old PC was killed at least 6 times in a month, most all due to him using P2P music sharing programs like Morpheous, LimeWire, or Kazaa. AVG couldn't save him, and he was too dumb to realize that stuff was bad.
But really, any Windows PC needs at least a bit of protection.

Nothing is virus proof, there just aren't enough users of any particular flavor of Linux to make writing a virus worth the time you would have to put into it. Apple said the same thing about Mac, the minute that came out it was deluged with viruses on a scale that Windows had never seen, just by claiming to be virus proof. Truth was, there weren't enough people running OSX to make it worth the time to write the virus.

 

[jonnopon3000]

For you search bar police out there, yes, I did search the topic. But there isn't anything that covers this particular topic, and I don't want to start a new idea on the 3rd page of a 10 weeks old topic.

So I have tried McAfee, I have tried Norton, I have tried a few free programs, all of them never catch a single real threat.. except that one time when McAfee found something after my computer had been freezing up every couple of minutes, and I pin pointed the virus, then search the folder in hope that McAfee will be able to get rid of it. Of course, McAfee said it couldn't. (I ended up killing the file from the registry)

Now, I have to say I have been surfing ever since the net was a much safer place, so I had a lot of time to learn to navigate the cyber space relatively safely. I also don't access pr0n site (OMG, a guy that doesn't do internet pr0n!?).. for fear that I would pick up some digital STDs.. So you can say that I play it very safe online.

Then I got a free trial with McAfee, installed it, and has been regretting the decision ever since. The program periodically slows down my laptop to a crawl, as well as add a dozen or so second to my start up time.
Should I just go ahead and get rid of it? I never even caught a spyware in the past 3 years (Firefox helps a lot). And the trial is running out in a month, and I have no intention to get the full version anyway.

And just who do you think needs these kind of programs? In my opinion, it seems like a 15 minutes crash cross on safe browsing is as good as a $100 program that can't get rid of viruses it finds anyway.

I have windows live onecare on my laptop. It is designed mainly for Vista, but works on XP if thats what you have. It adds only 3 seconds to my start up time, and never ever makes the computer run slow. If it finds a virus, it will kill it without hassle, and it even performs automatic tune-ups where it scans, updates, deletes unused files, defragments hard drive. You never have to actually open the program, with it your com is safe. The only thing i don't like about it, but you can turn this off, is that it checks for files that aren't backed up in their current state, and reminds you everytime you start your com to back up. but u can turn it off.

Also, it has an intuitive system to tell you when theres things needing done, and if summat's up.

Don't mean to be advertising this, but i genuinely find it the best complete protection out there. And it only costs £20 for a disc from a store, which gives u a year subscription on up to 3 coms

 

[Anarchemitis]

Avast! Home Edition is good, and free. Also get Spybot- Search & Destroy. Good for getting rid of those annoying Trojans.

 

[Legion]

It's funny that nobody is actually answer the question the OP is asking.

He isn't asking for recommendations on Anti Virus programs, he is asking what kind of people need them.

 

[jonnopon3000]

It's funny that nobody is actually answer the question the OP is asking.

He isn't asking for recommendations on Anti Virus programs, he is asking what kind of people need them.

Lol i realised this after i made my post...oh well

well, on topic, in answer to your question, everyone needs virus protection. It doesn't matter how good you are with computers, if you get a virus and you haven't got something to get rid of it, it is too late and you can watch your computer dismantle in front of your eyes. It's happened to me once before, and i am very tech-savvy. Since then it's the first thing i have installed on a computer.

But, another point. It is not just virus protection that is needed-spyware protection, malware protection, even a firewall are sometimes all nescessary. That's why all the big ones like norton and onecare are good-cause they are complete protection-everything rolled into one.

You can't go without some sort of protection, no matter who you are

 

[sirdanrhodes]

For me, Avast! is very good, picks up most viruses. I also have Windows Defender running at the same time, but it's shit.