Protection software

Cius

Cius

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Hey All

For the past few years I have been working off a work laptop so security software was not something I have had to worry about for a while. Before I got the work laptop I generally used AVG free or MS Security Essentials. Having recently gotten my wife a laptop I was kinda shocked to find out that in the past week my wife has had a lot of "incidents". Her accounts to a few websites where blocked after the account was hacked and someone from some strange country tried to hack her gmail. We think it probably means her PC is compromised and are really worried as she does internet banking off the PC.

So I figured its time to investigate protective software again. Just how necessary are all these products the big companies sell? Its seems to cost an arm and a leg. Last time I bought virus software it was not for only a years use! Is it really necessary to get both a Virus scanner and Internet Security? Are there good free options out there? Just curious as I am seriously out of date on all of this and am worried suddenly that there is key logging software or something on my wife's laptop.
 
Cius said:
Hey All

For the past few years I have been working off a work laptop so security software was not something I have had to worry about for a while.
Click to expand...

Thats like saying. I went to a whore house but decided to not use condoms because the girls looked clean. You ALWAYS have to be concerned about this... or it leads to:

Having recently gotten my wife a laptop I was kinda shocked to find out that in the past week my wife has had a lot of "incidents". Her accounts to a few websites where blocked after the account was hacked and someone from some strange country tried to hack her gmail. We think it probably means her PC is compromised and are really worried as she does internet banking off the PC.
Click to expand...

So I figured its time to investigate protective software again. Just how necessary are all these products the big companies sell? Its seems to cost an arm and a leg. Last time I bought virus software it was not for only a years use! Is it really necessary to get both a Virus scanner and Internet Security? Are there good free options out there? Just curious as I am seriously out of date on all of this and am worried suddenly that there is key logging software or something on my wife's laptop.
Click to expand...

A good combo is Malware-bytes + Antivirus + Firewall.

I would go for Malwarebytes + MSE (if you want a free home AV or something ) + Comodo Firewall. Also... dump IE, make sure she is using FF or Chrome.
 
Thanks, just noticed that I misread the forum header and this should have been in the networking and security section. No wonder the forum search found nothing. Sorry to the mods but could you move this please?

@Ghoti: When I said I was not worrying about it I merely meant that my work has decent security software installed on all work machines that is paid for and kept up to date. Hence for my laptop I have not had to worry about security for a long time. I use FF but the wife still uses IE. Will try to convert her over once again. This is a good excuse to switch her over. I can blame it all on EE :D

Will look into malware bytes and comodo firewall. In the interim I will make sure MSE is updated and her Windows firewall is turned on. Have not looked at her laptop for a while so I wonder if she did not just disable a few things without realizing what she did.

Edit: Just had a look at Malwarebytes and it looks like exactly what I need. Also like the fact that they offer a free version or a 1 user license without expiry for about R200. That I will happily pay. There is no way I was willing to pay R800 EVERY YEAR to the likes of Kasperky or Trend. Can't believe they now only sell their software by year when free versions are available.
 
Cius said:
Edit: Just had a look at Malwarebytes and it looks like exactly what I need. Also like the fact that they offer a free version or a 1 user license without expiry for about R200. That I will happily pay. There is no way I was willing to pay R800 EVERY YEAR to the likes of Kasperky or Trend. Can't believe they now only sell their software by year when free versions are available.
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I use ESET Nod32 anit virus and have been using it for the past couple of years. I'm very happy with it and haven't had a 'problem' yet.
I don't use the entire 'Internet protector/whatever' thing, just the antivirus.

It comes in at R299 for the first year and renewal is a bit cheaper - R200?

The norm does seem to be an Initial payment and then yearly renewal.
 
Hi Cius,
You can also look at products like Avast (www.avast.com). I have used the free version for many years but the professional one has additional functionality and is in more or less the same price bracket.
I run about 6 workstations/servers at home all connected to the Internet and I have not been compromised.
The software works well and has detected undesirable files in emails or USB drives

Regards
Tim
 
Cius said:
Hey All

For the past few years I have been working off a work laptop so security software was not something I have had to worry about for a while. Before I got the work laptop I generally used AVG free or MS Security Essentials. Having recently gotten my wife a laptop I was kinda shocked to find out that in the past week my wife has had a lot of "incidents". Her accounts to a few websites where blocked after the account was hacked and someone from some strange country tried to hack her gmail. We think it probably means her PC is compromised and are really worried as she does internet banking off the PC.

So I figured its time to investigate protective software again. Just how necessary are all these products the big companies sell? Its seems to cost an arm and a leg. Last time I bought virus software it was not for only a years use! Is it really necessary to get both a Virus scanner and Internet Security? Are there good free options out there? Just curious as I am seriously out of date on all of this and am worried suddenly that there is key logging software or something on my wife's laptop.
Click to expand...

Avast has failed me too many times in a span of less than a few weeks, so I don't agree with Tim.

My paid AV choice is and will always remain Kaspersky (Russians know software security). It's a great product and where even stand alone malware removal tools fail, Kaspersky always comes ontop.

If you are not willing to buy it for a year, then I suggest Panda Cloud AV Free. It's Cloud based, which means it synchronizes with many servers to receive the latest updates as they become available. It's not resource intensive and not a data hog either. I've used it for almost 2 years on my own PC and I utilize 3G/HSDPA prepaid, so it works well.

A standalone scanner/malware remover would be Malwarebytes (30 day free Trial is a must to activate when you install it, because it blocks and quarantines active malware straight away). Second must is Superantispyware. Both are tried and tested and have years of development on them.

:)
 
rward said:
I use ESET Nod32 anit virus and have been using it for the past couple of years. I'm very happy with it and haven't had a 'problem' yet.
I don't use the entire 'Internet protector/whatever' thing, just the antivirus.

It comes in at R299 for the first year and renewal is a bit cheaper - R200?

The norm does seem to be an Initial payment and then yearly renewal.
Click to expand...

+1
ESET's also worth a look. Been using it since 2009 I think, happy that it doesn't slow my pc down compared to the other stuff.
The antivirus alone's good and cheaper than the whole suite, you can then use Malware-bytes and some decent firewall (if you only get the antivirus and not the Smart Security).

ESET's currently on beta, so you can download the beta and use it for free for 91 days I think (uninstalling/upgrading is a bit of an issue though)
 
Sorry to hear you have had issues Teraside.
Would you care to share some of the specifics in case we are being exposed somewhere?

Tim
 
Tim the Techxpert said:
Sorry to hear you have had issues Teraside.
Would you care to share some of the specifics in case we are being exposed somewhere?

Tim
Click to expand...

Avast Malware/Virus definitions suck. I've removed Trojans, Worms and Spyware from systems that have Avast running and not disabled.

Installing Panda on the same system, after removing Avast, the Viruses are deleted in droves. I've never supported Avast and I don't see that I ever will.
 
Also with Avast, there are several methods of getting around it with hacking tools like Social Engineering Toolkit.
 
Avast doesn't work for you guys? What sites are you visiting or are you sharing USB drives? Been running Avast for at least three or four years and haven't had a single virus. Nothing beats infection better than prevention.
 
stevenv said:
Avast doesn't work for you guys? What sites are you visiting or are you sharing USB drives? Been running Avast for at least three or four years and haven't had a single virus. Nothing beats infection better than prevention.
Click to expand...

I repair machines, so this isn't my personal prerogative or motivation. Avast just sucks, period. I have had more than 5 systems with heavy infection the last 2 months, all running Avast (latest build and definitions).

Prevention is better than cure, but you can't expect Joe public to know that. 5 of 10 Laptops/PC's I remove malware from don't even have an AV product installed, or it's a preinstall of an unactivated product like Norton or McAfee.
 
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