Home Antivirus

[leemac13]

Hi Everybody just wondered if I could ask for some advice.

I currently have AVG antivirus 2011 free edition installed on my laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. I also have spybot search and destroy installed aswel.

Is this suitable enough protection for my Laptop?

Or can you recomend a better program to use, preferably free programs if possible.

Cheers

[irsprint84]

Microsoft Security Essentials seems to me to be the best one at moment

[cpjitservices]

I like avast, it's fast simple and doesn't hog all system resources, I also install it on all the systems I do for customers and never had a complaint and detects 99% of nasty stuff, teamed with Spybot and Malwarebytes you can't go wrong for a secure system, I also use Defraggler and Ccleaner just to keep the machine in tip top condition.

[sukh]

Hi

MSFT System Essentials is good. Been using it for many years have had many friends move from AVG AV 2011. Is stable and works well.

Regards
Sukh

[elsiegee40]

Microsoft security essentials and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) here.

[leemac13]

Microsoft Security Essentials seems to me to be the best one at moment

Ive noticed with Security Essestional there's no firewall or email scanning, and no browser plug-in to alert you to bad sites before you visit them are there any programs I should install with Security Essentials to provide these services.

[jonbreen]

If you use Microsoft Security Essentials as your anti-virus and then use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Super Antispyware and Spybot Search & Destroy to scan for any other nasties that might be lurking on your computer you'll probably find that you won't get any infections for a long long time - I have

Regards,
Jon

[mac_shinobi]

Anti virus ( paid )

Vipre is meant to be really good
nod32 by eset
Avira

anti malware ( free or possibly paid )

super anti spyware
malware bytes
spybot search and destroy
hijackthis ( which is for internet explorer )

I would personally go with one anti virus so either vipre or nod32 and then use a combination of anti malware such as the ones mentioned above in my post.

[jonbreen]

With Windows 7 you might as well stick with it's build in Firewall, it's less intrusive than any firewall software out there and tbh you don't get many hackers trying to access home computers.

Internet Explorer 9 has just been released, it has enhanced security features which should help protect you from any bad websites.

As a general rule of thumb I always recommend to clients that they do not install third party toolbars or firewall services as they do cause more problems than they are worth.

Also can you tell me if you're running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7?

Regards,
Jon

[Michael]

I recommend customers AVG 2011 Free. It just works and detects threats really well.

[leemac13]

With Windows 7 you might as well stick with it's build in Firewall, it's less intrusive than any firewall software out there and tbh you don't get many hackers trying to access home computers.

Internet Explorer 9 has just been released, it has enhanced security features which should help protect you from any bad websites.

As a general rule of thumb I always recommend to clients that they do not install third party toolbars or firewall services as they do cause more problems than they are worth.

Also can you tell me if you're running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7?

Regards,
Jon

Hi Jon, Im running 32 bit Windows 7. Is the full version of IE9 out now or is it still the Beta version? Will installing a couple of different programs couteract the others rendering them useless?

[Arthur]

I've noticed with Security Essestional there's no firewall or email scanning, and no browser plug-in to alert you to bad sites before you visit them are there any programs I should install with Security Essentials to provide these services.

There is a very good reason those features are not included*. Windows includes a perfectly capable firewall, modern web browsers include security features such as phishing protection/sandboxing and almost all e-mail providers (your ISP, GMail, Hotmail, etc.) scan e-mail for viruses before it reaches your inbox.

* MSE v2.0 actually does include a plug-in for Internet Explorer...

• Windows Firewall integration: Microsoft Security Essentials setup now enables you to turn on or off Windows Firewall.
• Network Inspection System: This feature uses Windows Filtering Platform to enhance real-time protection by inspecting network traffic, and to help pro-actively block exploits of known network-based vulnerabilities. (Only available to Windows 7 and Vista users)
• New and improved protection engine: The updated engine that includes a Heuristic Scanning Engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.
• Enhanced protection for web-based threats: Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates itself with Internet Explorer to give protection against web-based threats. (Source)

MSE has always been very good at finding and removing malware, but it has relied mainly on antimalware definitions. The improved heuristic engine makes it even better at detecting threats; at the same time, we expect the number of false positives to slightly increase as well. The new Windows Firewall integration is a minor improvement: it lets you tweak Microsoft's firewall from inside MSE.

The network inspection feature does exactly what its name implies: inspect traffic as you browse. It uses the Windows Filtering Platform in Windows Vista and Windows 7; Windows XP users won't be able to benefit from this feature. The Windows Filtering Platform allows programs to plug themselves into the networking subsystem and monitor any network traffic, even whatever is allowed through the firewall. MSE also now integrates with Internet Explorer to better protect against Web-based threats by preventing malicious scripts from running. Version 1.0 only detected such scripts when they were written to IE's cache, by which point it could be too late. (Source)

[Arthur]

Internet Explorer 9 has just been released, it has enhanced security features which should help protect you from any bad websites.

You can only download the release candidate at the moment. The final version is due to be released on the 14th.

[Arthur]

I recommend customers AVG 2011 Free. It just works and detects threats really well.

AVG 2011 is a pig.

[jonbreen]

Thanks Arthur for adding very quickly to the benefits of using MSE and Windows 7 firewall

@leemac13, you definitely do not want to run two different anti-virus products at the same time however running other programs like Spybot, Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware will not conflict with MSE or eachother.