What is the best Anti virus for bootcamp?

[Sabrina2000]

I've just bootcamped and installed basic free avg....is there anything else I should instal to stay protected? would I need some spyware or malware protection as well? and what are the advantages of purchasing av as opposed to the free ones?

also, just a random issue - I had IE6 by default when bootcamp completed and couldn't manage to upgrade it - kept getting "IE cannot open the internet site" - even for the sites which had the upgrdae download ! Gave up in the end and managed to install mozilla which is working fine. Do I need to "uninstal" the iE 6/ or can I just delete the desktop icon and pretend it doesn't exist?

[pol0001]

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

[NZed]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

+1

but if you want a separate Anti-virus.. NOD32 and Kaspersky is nice

[mulo]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

+1

if you want a bidirectional firewall bullguard has a good one.

[thejadedmonkey]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

Agreed.

[Sabrina2000]

I tend to get very confused between AV, spyware, malware, firewalls and registry clean ups, and can never figure out if I need a separate one for all of them , or if one programme will cover them all......for example, with my current free avg, do I need a malware/spyware protection as well? Such as CC cleaner? or malware bytes? what 's a good free registry clean up? or is that included along with a good AV programme? Sorry - I'm not very computer literate. Thanks for the input anyway - appreciated.

[joec1101]

Eset Nod32 is the best i've found so far. It's really the only one i would recommend.

[vistadude]

I find the best versions are the corporate editions of antivirus products, as they scan well, shut up most of the time, and have no expiration date. They usually come with an anti-spyware product too.

Windows defender is okay, but is known to miss a lot of malware.

[chrono1081]

Nod 32 is nice, Kaspersky has always been great, if you are looking for just an AV Avira works well and is free, but I'd suggest using it in combination with malware bytes. Those two together usually find almost anything once its on your machine.

[munkery]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

This is the best integrated solution, obviously. It still can cause problems with major Windows updates. So can Chrome. If you have trouble with an update, delete these softwares, then update, and then reinstall the softwares.

[Hrududu]

Avast! is an excellent free antivirus. The boot-time scan its got is amazing and probably one of the best features I've seen. It also runs small compared to some of the bloated AV software options out there.

[munkery]

Originally Posted by Hrududu

Avast! is an excellent free antivirus. The boot-time scan its got is amazing and probably one of the best features I've seen. It also runs small compared to some of the bloated AV software options out there.

Avast! detection rates are not that great for the free version. On a system that had Avast! prior to MSE, MSE found a trojan that was not found by Avast!. The trojan was a Java downloader that used system resources constantly trying to download other more malicious payloads.

[Dr McKay]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

Definately, it has a slightly lower detection rate before they're on your system than some of the others, but a higher rate of finding Malware and getting rid of it in the event it makes it through.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by pol0001

I can recommend Microsoft's "Security Essentials". It's a good AntiVirus suite and it's free.

I used to think that as well, until I got a cheap copy of Norton's (newegg's egg shocker deals) and after installing it on my wife's computer - it was rife with viruses and malware. Security Essentials did nothing to prevent her PC from being infected.

These were not false positives either, as she was complaining about how slow, her computer was, how it was acting weirdly and she thought someone or something hacked into her contacts and started spamming people. After Norton's security was installed and cleaned up her PC, it was like night and day.

[Sabrina2000]

is CC cleaner ( malware cleaner?) generally recommended in addition to anti virus? is a separate registry cleaner generally advised in addition ?

also , if I was to instal MSE, would I first uninstal AVG ? or just instal over it?

[munkery]

CCleaner is a registry cleaner. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

The website makes it seem like you have to buy it but it is actually free.

Here is the dl link: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard

[Sabrina2000]

is a malware cleaner such as malware bytes generally recommended to go hand in hand with av?

and if I was installing MSE, would I first uninstal avg?

[munkery]

Originally Posted by Sabrina2000

is a malware cleaner such as malware bytes generally recommended to go hand in hand with av?

and if I was installing MSE, would I first uninstal avg?

Only ever run one AV software with real-time scanning.

Yes, uninstall AVG. Malwarebytes (free edition) does not have real-time scanning so it shouldn't conflict. Registry cleaners shouldn't conflict with AV software.

[clientsiman]

The best AV is common sense. MSE is good enough for me. I am also using Spyboot for spayware.

[tmagman]

I really like AVG Free... nice and lightweight and has done the trick for me for years.

I also keep a copy of malwarebytes and spybot search and destroy (both free) on the machine and run those once in a while which keeps it squeaky clean.

[munkery]

Spybot is great, but you may already have Windows Defender depending on which version of Windows you are running. MSE is an AV and spyware solution given that it includes the functionality of Windows Defender (MSE disables Windows Defender when it is installed). So, you don't need an independent spyware/adware solution if you use MSE. Supposedly, MSE has really good detection rates for rootkits, which are the most problematic payloads.

I would use MSE (AV and spyware/adware) and CCleaner (registry). CCleaner only needs to be run once a month or when there is an issue that it may fix. I would install other malware utilities, such as MalwareBytes, if I suspected an undetected problem to run a scan but I would delete them afterward.

More important than any software solution is to not run as superuser. Superuser is admin in Win XP and admin with UAC disabled in Win Vista/7. The most dangerous type of malware, rootkits, requires elevated privileges to install. Unless the exploit includes privilege escalation, rootkits can not install unless user running as superuser or the user manually authenticates installation.

Be careful what you authenticate. Run AV software to detect malware that includes privilege escalation even though not a 100% solution.

I would also recommend using a standard account in Win Vista/7 as well as XP despite UAC because having a unique identifier (password) attached to authentication removes a vector for malware to achieve elevated privileges. This vector being using spoofed windows to hijack authentication. If you have a password attached to authentication, hijacking authentication via spoofed windows will not allow privilege escalation because the spoofed window will not ask for your password.

Just my two cents.

[Steve121178]

Originally Posted by munkery

Spybot is great

Spybot is atrocious. AVOID IT, especially on Win7.

If you want free AV, then MSE, if you don't mind paying, then Norton 2011 or Norton 2011 Internet Security if you want further protection. Since 2009, Norton has been excellent. I strongly recommend it.

The only other utility I would recommend is CCleaner, it's great at clearing up crap & registry cleaning.

The perfect scenario is Norton 2011 Internet Security to handle AV, security & firewall & CCleaner (free) for the rest. You don't need to install anything other than those two items. Anyone else is a complete waste of time.

[munkery]

Originally Posted by Steve121178

Spybot is atrocious. AVOID IT, especially on Win7.

Spybot used to be a good product before this functionality was added to most AV software?

The quality could have slid since the release of Windows Defender because there was no longer any need to install a third party solution. The last time I used Spybot was about 6-7 years ago. Figured it was still ok because others still recommend it.

Why, use Norton when MSE is totally free and made by the same vendor as the OS?

[Steve121178]

Originally Posted by munkery

Why, use Norton when MSE is totally free and made by the same vendor as the OS?

In a nutshell, it offers vastly superior protection. Virus definitions update on the fly and within the Norton GUI there's plenty of options available to the user. In most proper AV tests it comes out top of the pile for detection & removal. If people go for the Internet Security version, you also get a firewall that's better than the (already excellent) Windows 7 built-in default, plus many other extras.

[munkery]

MSE updates definitions twice a day, I believe. Just how much Windows malware is there to warrant more than that?

MSE has better than average rootkit detection but it's browser exploit detection is a little below average. Most browser exploits are used to install rootkits as payloads so this really doesn't matter that much.

Socket-filter application firewalls that are typically used by end users are not very effective at stopping exploitation if an allowed application is the target of the exploit.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/arti...straw-part-1-2

Neither is AV software as a whole very effective at stopping unknown exploits for known vulnerabilities let alone unknown exploits for unknown vulnerabilities.

http://www.exploit-db.com/download_pdf/17066

http://m.computerworld.com/s/article...ainst_exploits

That is why it is important to maximize your use of UAC and run with a standard account.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...7&postcount=21