PC Protection...

messiah · Post by **messiah** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:36 am

What are you using to PREVENT infections?

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:39 am

stay away from warez,movie and porn sites.

I don't even have a anti-virus on my pc's no more that I'm that much aware of what I do. If I had to choose and stay free i'd use http://www.Avast.com you can register it free and its one of the best I've ever used.

As for spyware removal - http://superantispyware.com is one of the best when used along with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:51 am

Spywareblaster = Immunized
Spybot = Immunized
SuperAntiSpyware = Weekly Scan
Avira = Weekly Scan
UAC = On
Firefox = AdBlock Plus, NoScript and Flashkiller add-ons installed

And staying away from torrents, Russian pr0n sites, and "funny" video sites that require a codec install.

messiah · Post by **messiah** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:56 am

^^ Souds like overkill

- Never had a problem with spyware and trojans- I downloaded some new NDS Roms from romulation and got something- ended up re-imaging the machine.

Now that I'm back up, was needing to find something that would prevent infections going forward.

I keep hearing about som MS One Care Safety Scan..

Anyone know anything about it?
I dont want to load my machine with a buttload of Antivirus-

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:58 am

messiah wrote:^^ Souds like overkill

- Never had a problem with spyware and trojans- I downloaded some new NDS Roms from romulation and got something- ended up re-imaging the machine.

Now that I'm back up, was needing to find something that would prevent infections going forward.

I keep hearing about som MS One Care Safety Scan..

Anyone know anything about it?
I dont want to load my machine with a buttload of Antivirus-

Just stay with avast antivirus its very light on the resources and does a great job. You can load superantispyware and run it when you want it like any other program..other than that I wouldn't worry about anything else for now.

If you have Vista turn OFF the UAC..most annoying thing I've ever seen and to me is nothing more than a certified virus built into the OS by Microsoft..

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:59 am

messiah wrote:^^ Souds like overkill

- Never had a problem with spyware and trojans- I downloaded some new NDS Roms from romulation and got something- ended up re-imaging the machine.

Now that I'm back up, was needing to find something that would prevent infections going forward.

I keep hearing about som MS One Care Safety Scan..

Anyone know anything about it?
I dont want to load my machine with a buttload of Antivirus-

Umm, 'kay.

Not sure why you even bothered to ask, then.

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:08 am

Sava700 wrote:If you have Vista turn OFF the UAC..most annoying thing I've ever seen and to me is nothing more than a certified virus built into the OS by Microsoft..

Sigh. More of the anti-UAC FUD. You may be leet powerusorz, but people getting infections and other problems should leave it on. After an initial setup of Vista, it's nowhere near the intrusive beast people make it out to be.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:11 am

Burke wrote:Sigh. More of the anti-UAC FUD. You may be leet powerusorz, but people getting infections and other problems should leave it on. After an initial setup of Vista, it's nowhere near the intrusive beast people make it out to be.

what? Its horrible.. very annoying for even a regular user let alone a power user like myself.

One prompt maybe..but not 4 or 5....I hate working on Vista machines when I have to use a network resource you go through 5 different prompts including one for credentials and thats very annoying and not needed.

Enjoy it if you want but I'll never recommend to keep it on even for a 90year old woman that only uses email.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:26 am

Sava700 wrote:I'll never recommend to keep it on even for a 90year old woman that only uses email.

An end user like that would never have to do anything that would require UAC.

She'll never see it.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:27 am

Adblock plus(so handy), Spybot immunized, and Spywareblaster for adware/spyware

Avira Antivir for a virus scanner, easily the lightest free virus scanner and one of best detection rates on a regular basis with AV Comparatives.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:27 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:An end user like that would never have to do anything that would require UAC. She'll never see it.

prob right!

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:33 am

messiah wrote:What are you using to PREVENT infections?

*Keep up with Microsoft updates (which includes Windows, Office, etc)
*Never leave your local Administrator password <blank>
*Don't download software/files from P2P/torrents. The software often has a special "package" embedded in it that you don't want (such as a bot/trojan), and even songs/movies from torrents are coming with media player exploits..so you play that "free" movie/song...blammo..your PC is now infected.
*Keep good antivirus protection. Pay for..NOD32, Kaspersky, AntiVir Pro, Bit Defender. Free...Antivir. Even "legit" websites are becoming infected now, doesn't matter how careful/smart you are, one day a trusted legit website might get hijacked and a drive by trojan injected into it...you go to visit that website on your daily routine...blammo..you're infected.
*Stay away from any 3rd party media codec installs
*Be careful with "free" software, read up on it first to see if it's good, clean, legit. Many screensavers, windows themes, etc..are a common vehicle used by trojans to hit your system
*When installing software, cautiously go through the install routine, pay attention to the "extras" it tries to install, unchecking what you don't want.
Often they come with light ad-ware..which begins to snowball your system
*Keep your PC behind a NAT router, not on public IP addresses
*Spybot Search and Destroy..frequently update it and "reimmunize" each time you update. The host entries it puts in each time you immunize are blocks for bad sites, and no slowdown on your system.
*If visiting questionable sites, use an alternative browser like Firefox or Opera...they're a little safer.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:35 am

messiah wrote:What are you using to PREVENT infections?

Norton anti-virus
norton internet security
windows defender
ad-aware
spybot search & destroy
spyware blaster
and a router

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:49 pm

Spybot - Immunized
IE-SPYAD
Router with Tomato Firmware

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:01 pm

What Burke said.

Think · Post by **Think** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:09 pm

MadDoctor wrote:What Burke said.

ditto

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:41 pm

i install avast on my friends pc's when i work on them. they usually don't have any issues with it. but like sava said. i don't use anything. have not had an issue in years

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:46 pm

Spybot-SD
Comodo Firewall - (in case any unknown programs try to send out packets.)
Avast! - Free Anti Virus on one computer
McAfee - on my other computer
Bitdefender - free version, just use that one as a "manual scanner" on both computers.
Wireshark - To analyze incoming and outgoing packets (usually leave both computers on, and have that running at night when I am asleep)
Hardware Nat Router

Watch your internet browsing and downloading habits.
Use a Hardware Nat Router instead of Windows ICS.
Keep all software up to date.
Use a software firewall, it does help.
Using a Anti Virus Program that runs all of the time (real time scanning), PLUS another anti virus scanner from a different software company, that just does "manual scanning", whether it is a online internet scanner on a web site, or a manual scanner on your computer. Using both gives you more protection (don't put all of your trust into one program)

Go to different security / anti-virus sites.. see what new viruses are out there... and see what new exploits are out there. New exploits = new viruses that will emerge shortly.