I had a massive virus infestation recently. Something that : Currupted the bootsector was a rootkit loads of popups created new virus's. redirected me. pretty sure it infected my back up files too. gave constant BSODs. doesnt get much worse than that?. MSE couldnt get rid of it atall. It was a combination of Avira + Superantispyware portable + rebuilding bootsector + Malwarebytes + MSE + Checkdisk that fixed it lol. I couldnt even complete a virus scan without the PC bluescreening lol. Anyone else had anything that bad lol?
Heumm.. you know that Anti-Viruses software don't REPAIR your computer or files... it's there to remove virus attacks, but ideally, prevent virus infection.
would it be possible for one of the admins to pick the best antivirus thread out of the many on here, and make it a sticky please
Just one stickied thread so that people stop starting new threads Didn't work with "Don't buy new hardware till sandy bridge comes out" threads, though lol.
Another vote for MSE here! I used to use AVG but the new 2011 version seemed to irritate my computer. I also used to use Spybot Search and Destroy but decided I wanted to cut down on the number of startup programs running.
Throwing a vote to MSE or Avast. I'm using MSE on this machine but I do run Avast on my spare machine, purely because of its amusing name
Antivirus softwares are using a lot of CPU and memory while scanning your hard disk and when they monitor your system, they are using CPU and memory again. Maybe it's better to not use an antivirus software, because: 1.) You lose more time in the meantime by waiting for your applications than the required time for installation of Windows and the needed softwares 2.) You can make backups to save your data 3.) Viruses are always ahead of antivirus softwares. If an antivirus software is ahead of viruses, that means trouble. For example some operating systems have a feature that you always have to enter your password when you want to install a software and other security features which are missing from Windows. Those operating systems are safer from this point of view.
I would agree with you, if we were in 1995. But in 2010, this is no problem. And with well designed algorithms and a better embedded solution, this is no problem today. Beside, he have plenty of computational power and resources to spend for a A/V. Security firms.. the ones responsible for anti-virus virus definitions, this their job. They spend millions to get the latest virus out there, identify it, neutralize it, and update their definition which is sent to their own A/V solution and/or selling it via membership to other. Also, A/V solutions of today, include a variety of complex algorithms which can report to the user potential threat. Not only we run dual/quad cores today, which allows A/V not interfere with your CPU performance, but also 64-bit, which reduces CPU demand... well make it easier for the CPU to do the requested job, thanks to the longer address support, and new operation codes. Of course, you need a 64-bit A/V to take advantage of a 64-bit CPU, which exists (Microsoft Security Essential as a great example). In addition, HDD's today are MUCH faster than they were before. They are still 7200ROM HDD for the most models, but the head moves faster, and uses better technologies to make things go faster, like NCQ. Moreover, as disks becomes denser (more capacity per platter), the faster the head travels through data. And soon, SSD's will be mainstream. Again, an A/V job is to detect a virus before you execute it. It is EXACTLY there so that you don't have to re-install Windows every now and then, because you run without an A/V and decided to go with the "I just backup my stuff, which may or may not include a virus hidden in one of the files" so that I can re-install my system every time. Welcome to 2006, Windows already has all these features. Sorry mate, but time to upgrade.
and it's already been proven that, these other os's that require a password to run this that and the other, are just as vulnerable to viruses as other os's. what we really need is for people to stop writing viruses but that will never happen. so you are better off using some form of antivirus. i don't believe people who say they don't use antivirus, and have never had an infection - how would they know if they don't use antivirus? a powerful enough system probably wouldn't show signs of an infection.
@GoodBites: "Welcome to 2006, Windows already has all these features. Sorry mate, but time to upgrade." I haven't seen in Windows 7 and Windows Vista a password asked when a program was installing. I believe you that many security features were integrated, but I didn't meet this one. "Also, A/V solutions of today, include a variety of complex algorithms which can report to the user potential threat." Exactly that's the problem, complex algorithms eat your processor and your memory. My friend, welcome to the real world. I'm implementing complex algorithms myself and would like to use them and I accept the risk of the possibility of reinstalling the operating system which takes a few hours and backuping my data instead of reducing the speed of my applications. @RichCreedy: "i don't believe people who say they don't use antivirus, and have never had an infection - how would they know if they don't use antivirus?" That's in fact a good point, but I'm accepting the risk of having an infection rather than slowing my computer down. "and it's already been proven that, these other os's that require a password to run this that and the other, are just as vulnerable to viruses as other os's. " Who proved this, where and how?
Haven't tried MSE actually (can you use it with XP?)... I've tried/used most free AVs over the years. Hated all of them (I can't believe people are recommending Avast, its trash!) I now use Panda Cloud though and find it very good - small, unobtrusive, works. The only slight problem I have found with it is you have to do a reboot after it upgrades, but thats not really a biggy.
MSE. As Bill Bailey would put it, it's the badger's nadgers. I do run a spybot scan every now and then but it never comes up with anything except a few harmless cookies.