Anti-virus/Spyware protection

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

Mac,

I used to use Antivir, but have since switched to MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). You might try using them both in combination especially if it looks like Antivir is giving you too many false positives.

Thanks, the_meanstrosity. It's behaved ok so far apart from the original scans so I'll continue with it for a while. They don't recommend using two checkers together - in fact they specifically advise against it - and one of the problems I read of on the forum was that a second virus checker used with AntiVir actually reported this trojan in an AntiVir file. So go figure

Another thing I love about the Windows environment: yesterday I clicked on the "Updates available" balloon and upgraded my PC. This morning I read that MS will release updates next Tuesday - 34 of them!

I'm not sure if the report that Google have removed all Windows PCs from their operations is true but it's understandable if it is.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I wouldn't advise using both Antivir and MSE together at the same time. That could lead to more problems than it is worth as they might step on each other pretty often.

If you are looking for a pretty light footprint for an antivirus, MSE does not use many resources and does not seem to adversely affect system performance. It does not have the best score however when compared side by side with some of the other Antivirus products right now in detecting threats however.

If Antivir is not working well for you, the free Antivirus I usually recommend right now is Avast.

I really think any of the the quality free ones (Avira, Avast, MSE, etc) combined with smart browsing habits are the best protection. I personally like MSE because of the small footprint.

I didn't know that Avira and MSE together could cause problems. What kind of problems might you see with both installed?

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Mac Howard

Thanks, the_meanstrosity. It's behaved ok so far apart from the original scans so I'll continue with it for a while. They don't recommend using two checkers together - in fact they specifically advise against it - and one of the problems I read of on the forum was that a second virus checker used with AntiVir actually reported this trojan in an AntiVir file. So go figure

Another thing I love about the Windows environment: yesterday I clicked on the "Updates available" balloon and upgraded my PC. This morning I read that MS will release updates next Tuesday - 34 of them!

I'm not sure if the report that Google have removed all Windows PCs from their operations is true but it's understandable if it is.

Not a problem. Sorry for the poor recommendation. I just assumed Avira and MSE could work together. Do you use Malwarebytes as well? Might not be a bad idea. I couple Malwarebytes with MSE.

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

Not a problem. Sorry for the poor recommendation. I just assumed Avira and MSE could work together. Do you use Malwarebytes as well? Might not be a bad idea. I couple Malwarebytes with MSE.

Yes, I do. In fact that was part of my recent security upgrade. Everything seems ok so far apart from the false positives that still come up when I do an anti-virus scan.

I was fascinated by some figures on malware which I came across while searching for answers. I can't remember the exact figures but they went something like this:

Malware items currently on the Internet:

Apple: zero
Linux: 100
Windows 87,000

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

Not a problem. Sorry for the poor recommendation. I just assumed Avira and MSE could work together. Do you use Malwarebytes as well? Might not be a bad idea. I couple Malwarebytes with MSE.

Yes, I do. In fact that was part of my recent security upgrade. Everything seems ok so far apart from the false positives that still come up when I do an anti-virus scan.

I was fascinated by some figures on malware which I came across while searching for answers. I can't remember the exact figures but they went something like this:

Malware items currently on the Internet:

Apple: zero
Linux: 100
Windows 87,000 (or was it 97,000 - I don't recall now)

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Mac Howard

Yes, I do. In fact that was part of my recent security upgrade. Everything seems ok so far apart from the false positives that still come up when I do an anti-virus scan.

I was fascinated by some figures on malware which I came across while searching for answers. I can't remember the exact figures but they went something like this:

Malware items currently on the Internet:

Apple: zero
Linux: 100
Windows 87,000 (or was it 97,000 - I don't recall now)

Those figures aren't exactly accurate, but I am assuming it is trying to prove a point. Apple does have some malware out there, it is just not that common right now for people to write malware for Apple, but some does exist. Also much of the linux malware that is written is pretty difficult to actually run on those systems unless ideal circumstances (ie: the user doing the most idiotic series of events possible to get it to run), but still some does exist though.

Obviously Windows Operating systems are the largest targets for attacks right now which is what I am assuming you are trying to illustrate here. I just feel it important for Apple users to understand the need for safer computing as well. Especially as much new malware is coming out targeting platforms that in the past wern't as common (Apple, or even we are starting to see some malware attacking cell phones especially the iphone)

[Alan T]

While on the subject of Apple vulnerabilities, there was a new report of MAC spyware out there this week. Behaves similar to most windows viruses. Requires someone to download a "free" piece of software from a specific site that is infected. Once that software is installed on your OSX system, during the install, it installs spyware that will scan your drive, routinely send pieces of information to servers on the internet and insert itself into other applications on your system such as Safari, Firefox, etc to monitor your internet communication.


Mac spyware infiltrates popular download sites • The Register

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

I really think any of the the quality free ones (Avira, Avast, MSE, etc) combined with smart browsing habits are the best protection. I personally like MSE because of the small footprint.

I didn't know that Avira and MSE together could cause problems. What kind of problems might you see with both installed?

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

Not a problem. Sorry for the poor recommendation. I just assumed Avira and MSE could work together. Do you use Malwarebytes as well? Might not be a bad idea. I couple Malwarebytes with MSE.

Running Malwarebyte scans on a routine schedule isn't a bad thing and can be done with other AV running. Generally you don't want two memory-resident AV programms running at the same time though as it obviously will impact system performance, but they can also stomp on each other and possibly even report false positives of the other AV that is sharing memory space with it.

You can run an Antivirus product in parallel with a system state monitoring software (like Windows Defender or WinPatrol) without too many issues if you want.


Generally with an AV product, in my opinion finding one that detects the most viruses while reporting the fewest false positives is the primary importance, followed closely by the secondary importance of low footprint.

The reason I don't recommend Microsoft Security Essentials to people is that it doesn't fully meet my primary objective of an antivirus product. MSE does a great job with having a fairly small footprint when installed, and it has one of the best results for the fewest false positives. The problem where MSE is not as good as others is that it does not keep up when detecting script malware which is pretty important these days. In AVC's most recent report, they only gave MSE a 2 star rating, primarily due to MSE's detection rate only being in the 93-97% range as well.


In most recent tests, the best AV seems to constantly end up being GDATA, but that is not a free Antivirus, thus I don't recommend it much here as usually people are looking for a good free Antivirus. (Symantec was also another good non-free AV and I believe was their 2009 winner)


For people interested, here are AVC's 3-star AV products for this past spring:




I personally use Avast and Avira on my family's systems at home and both are in this list. (Not on my work system)

[sterlingice]

Bump for Firewall advice. The only thing Cnet gives more than 4.0 to is Zone Alarm which apparently now comes bundled with some Spyware, so... *sigh* Anyone with some good Firewall advice these days. It looks like Avast/Avira/AVG are all decent Antivirus options and Malwarebytes took over the mantle of good Spyware program from the old Spybot/Adaware duo. But I'm stumped at freeware firewall now...

SI