@haiden. i`m no guru myself, nor beyond a bit of laziness, but i have not had a virus/rootkit for ages.using a mainstream free av. agv, avira. you might even consider mse, if your install happens to be legal. but apart from that i`v got winpatrol. tdss killer by kapersky, malwarebytes & adaware. these give no trouble and are free. i find winpatrol very handy for preventing installers from writing to your startup folder and monitoring running tasks.
I don't know much about we but surely I need an anti virus for my computer. Only expert people may be like you can do that. Reinstalling/formatting an operating system (if any malware/spyware or any other wares that corrupt the system) in the computer is not that easy for leyman like me and calling an expert to format or reinstall the software will cost too much to bear for a student like me, that's why I need some protection in the form of antivirus.
that`s just the point, sid.. you decided infection is not an acceptable risk for you. that makes your decision right, for you. i think that`s what it about, everyone has to evaluate the risk for himself, and make his own decision. perhaps there is no absolute answer, the answer is different for each individual user. that why i said perceived risk, as opposed to the real risk earlier. as for the `simple reinstall`, it makes me drink to much coffee and smoke to many cigarettes so i don`t make a habit of it......
IMHO we cannot do without a DECENT virusscanner and by decent i mean, able to pick up 96% using standard scanning and 98% using heuristics scanning, unfortuately, such product does not exist, so the average HOME user should be kept safe using at least ONE product for virus/malware scanning, whichever comes first. (and there's NO way to tell which will come first)
As you said in your post infection is not an acceptable risk. I think no antivirus gives cent percent guarantee to protect the system but installing an antivirus gives some sort of solace or peace of mind that my PC may not be infected even though I know the obvious . Another fact that I can't afford calling an expert for doing re installation of OS from time to time in my limited pocket money.
you don`t want self-appointed paid experts, you want to be in control of your own system! which requires some bootable device to reinstall when neccessary...and a backup. and NO panic! for no anti-virus will guarantee that you don`t get infected..so long as you can access this site, i feel sure people will help you, free of charge.
Every year I buy a license for Kaspersky, I use this AV system since 2007... Really, I need of an antivirus system, I'm a downloader and tester for many applications on the world.
if you make your own programs and put them on line you want to make dead-sure that they clean, i can understand that. in your case... average user is another matter.
For free use, and other PC's installs, I use the Microsoft Security Essentials, no ++AV False-Positives as AVG or Avira...
you are a lucky man! i would do the same if my install happened to be legal... much smaller footprint!
I think one of the best and first steps to protection is a good backup plan. A few years back when I was in your place I bought a copy of Acronis True Image it saved me many times since then. It is pretty easy to learn and is pretty inexpensive. It is a good place to start with backing up your system and files. What operating system are you using?
hello, I use Essential Microssoft Beta on Windows 7 Ultimate X 64 and AutoRun Pro Antivirus (which I automatically launch at startup) for some time and I have no worries. When do you think? WIKIMACK
From my personal experiences: A good AV alone can not protect you 100%. Consider having a second application to check behind your primary AV. I personally use 'Eset Nod32 AV' and occasionally) recheck with 'Malwarebytes Anti-Malware'. Common sense is paramount when using the internet or selecting applications for your computer, but these days; NOT having an AV regime is like walking around blind-folded with your money in your hands. How long can your data remain safely uncorrupted when you take no measures to protect it? I'm not paranoid, but I like what I have on my PC and wish to keep it. Physically backing up important files to discs periodically insures that they will not be lost due to equipment failure. Using 'Free' AV programs used to require total reformat and re-installation on a fairly regular basis. So, I purchased good AV apps and have eliminated the need to 'start-from-scratch'.
okay, so now we have seen a lot of personal opinions pass the revue.. and very interesting it was, too; at least to me.. i especially appreciated josh`s point of view; if you put software online. then keeping it virus-free takes on a new dimension... but assuming the back-up issue is in hand, i still think that jayblok`s original question still stands.....
Year after year, the last word remains almost the same: the selection of an antivirus is not so much of its performance, since we can now say that all are at least good on this point. None is infallible, but on our tests, we do not notice aberration: even on sites recently infected, and even online at the time of our tests, it is very rare that even the most basic free does not block These threats. The difference depends mainly on what you expect from a virus. You have to see this type of product as a safety belt or an airbag more or less sophisticated. You will not necessarily need, but be aware that no such free antivirus does behavioral analysis, which can be useful in the case of completely unknown threats: a shield as SONAR (Symantec) or Active Virus Control (BitDefender) analyzes the behavior of the ongoing process of activity and detect suspicious behavior, even if the threat is not yet identified. Will you really need protection as advanced? Hard to say, it's extra security, but you can very well, as you say regularly, you settle for one of the most basic free antivirus, and do not encounter any infection. To continue the analogy of cars, we could say that all depends on your driving style. The more you drive "dangerously", the more we will recommend a complete enough protection. On this point, the references do not change from last year: BitDefender, Kaspersky, NOD32 or GData seem to be the best choice. For the general public, will continue to find Norton pretty effective, especially for its reputation technology file. The virus has still some gaps in its basic version, including the lack of analysis of research results on the internet besides AVG: pity that such a feature is reserved for the security suite. In addition, there is a notch below the other in detection. To the extent that the behavior analysis module is often effective as a last resort, the user is still safe, but without the protection module surfing included in Norton Internet Security, it seems somewhat less effective in blocking threats to the source (ie before they can even download them). The free themselves, on the whole improved, particularly with Avast version 5 is a success, a marked improvement in terms of its ergonomics, while appearing quite light and efficient with respect to the block. we note a very attractive means: TrendMicro Titanium. Exclusively based on an analysis "in the cloud," the lightweight antivirus Trend has a serious advantage: a block malicious sites by IP address seems a very robust! A significant safety when we know that many of the infections resulted from an unfortunate visit ... Too bad his record is contrasted by a relatively large CPU usage during scans. Happy new year 2012 WIKIMACK.