Do you use : No Antivirus , FREE Antivirus , or PAID Antivirus and why?

[spooky2th]

Three years ago or so I went to a site having malicious javascript. It used a buffer overrun to create an exe. Windows Defender saw it. That was when defender was separate from security essentials and watched internet stuff, only. After downloading the javascript I tested with several antivirus packages to see which worked, even Kapersky. None saw it. Now I use MSE only.

Did you set the protection software up from their default settings to give them more teeth for protection? Like setting up a deeper heuristic scan, or scan all files and not by extension or format?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Malwarebytes is the BEST security addon on the market.

 

[Guest]

yeah skylyne i used to do lime wire before they got shut down and went legal and the other one seems like it was areis. been a few others that i would find something and download it then. as far as my research went i did read the links that others had posted with there results. for the most i have had real good downloads here and there.
windows 7 32bit and 64bit also office and visio and flight simulator 2004 and flight simulator x. so can't really complain. on the other hand i have also gotten some downloads that only half worked or didn't work at all. i just search for what i want to get and hunt for an iso download, so i never know where i might find what i am hunting for. also get alot of downloads from other people and some of those are not the cleanest. hit and miss. have gotten some real good downloads from my digital life website and those have always been good. i would like to find windows 8 and perhaps i will soon.
poorguy

 

[spooky2th]

Some good info about rootkits here:

Rootkit prevention and detection
Prevent and defend against spyware infection
Tools for virus removal and detection

http/www.computerweekly.com/feature/Rootkit-and-malware-detection-and-removal-guide

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Nice info there thanks for sharing.

 

[Nivaisu]

Currently I have adblock and no antivirus enabled for now to see if I would get infected without a antivirus enabled. If anything goes wrong, I might reformat.
Was using AVG free along with malwarebytes for years, weekly scan and no issues

 

[pgellen Anderson]

I recently had quihoo mobile protection that was great. It's sort if funny but I sent a less than favorable email and the next day my copy corrupted. So, I downloaded the big version and gave a bad review because qihoo mobile was in Chinese and of no use to anyone. There were many bad reviews. Once again, the next dat my virus program corrupted and no matter how I brief It would not reinstall. Go figure huh?
So, I got avg and paid a small about of money to protect all of my devices. I will stick to it but the qihoo product was out of this world. I tried to pay for it but couldn't. I would have happily paid.

 

[axgaming]

Some good info about rootkits here:

Rootkit prevention and detection
Prevent and defend against spyware infection
Tools for virus removal and detection

http/www.computerweekly.com/feature/Rootkit-and-malware-detection-and-removal-guide

thx

 

[spooky2th]

I recently had quihoo mobile protection that was great. It's sort if funny but I sent a less than favorable email and the next day my copy corrupted. So, I downloaded the big version and gave a bad review because qihoo mobile was in Chinese and of no use to anyone. There were many bad reviews. Once again, the next dat my virus program corrupted and no matter how I brief It would not reinstall. Go figure huh?
So, I got avg and paid a small about of money to protect all of my devices. I will stick to it but the qihoo product was out of this world. I tried to pay for it but couldn't. I would have happily paid.

Who to or where did you send the less than favorable email? I think that the gihoo product is a control tool for the chinese people and anybody else that uses it.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I use Bitdefender on my PC , Kaspersky on mobile.

 

[Skylyne]

I don't think I have seen anyone mention Webroot... It is by far one of the lightest and most secure and vigilant. It is paid, but 79$ for 5 devices, web based definitions, remote administration, and the best active monitoring I have run into. I worked on the consumer side of end device repair for years. panda, Norton, kas, spyware doctor, malb. but as USAFret said. The best protection against doing yourself harm is your own knowledge.

EDIT: oh and when the install breaks like ever freaking AV does, it doesn't eat windows alive. which is nice. nod32, kas, older Norton, avg, avast.. man when they break, they murder windows. (for the average user who cant repair it)

Blackbird initially posted a link to Webroot's sale price on Newegg... It's still on sale. $5/year for single PC Antivirus. I bought it at $4, so I'm assuming they are raising the prices slightly as the number of licenses available gets slimmer.

All he was basically saying is that it is protection. To get something. Something is better than nothing at all. He could have pushed Kaspersky, but he didn't.

In reality, using "any" protection software is not a good idea. Not only are there many faulty wares available, but one that throws many false alarms/flags can cause the user to ignore a legitimate infection, or actually cause a security flaw that allows an infection to spread without alerting the AV software. While this may not be the most common thing to happen, it can happen... and that means it's best to avoid poor security software. Catching everything with your security software is one thing; potentially endangering the computer directly because of poor software is another.

Three years ago or so I went to a site having malicious javascript. It used a buffer overrun to create an exe. Windows Defender saw it. That was when defender was separate from security essentials and watched internet stuff, only. After downloading the javascript I tested with several antivirus packages to see which worked, even Kapersky. None saw it. Now I use MSE only.

Care to share what script it was? Name, a link to an article about it, or even a file name (if you still have the report)?

http/www.computerweekly.com/feature/Rootkit-and-malware-detection-and-removal-guide

Very nice, and very basic.

I recently had quihoo mobile protection that was great. It's sort if funny but I sent a less than favorable email and the next day my copy corrupted. So, I downloaded the big version and gave a bad review because qihoo mobile was in Chinese and of no use to anyone. There were many bad reviews. Once again, the next dat my virus program corrupted and no matter how I brief It would not reinstall. Go figure huh?
So, I got avg and paid a small about of money to protect all of my devices. I will stick to it but the qihoo product was out of this world. I tried to pay for it but couldn't. I would have happily paid.

Who to or where did you send the less than favorable email? I think that the gihoo product is a control tool for the chinese people and anybody else that uses it.

Qihoo does has some sketchy business practices, and has a lot of controversy surrounding them.

- China's internet security giant Qihoo planning global domination
- How Qihoo 360 Won the Browser War in China
- Inside Life at Qihoo 360: Working Under Constant Fear of CEO Zhou Hongyi

The software is great, but I won't necessarily recommend or push anyone away from it. Until I know more about what is going on, how the programs are written, and so on, I can't say too much. It's definitely a software that is written in a very psychologically manipulative way; that can't really be denied.

 

[spooky2th]

Just got my first hit in a long while last night. Kaspersky blocked a Trogan, “HEUR:Trojan.Script.Generic.”
Looked it up and here’s a couple explanations of it. Although it apparently was not too much of a risk to my comp, seems it is some kind of browser redirector that enables downloading of malicious apps or something like that. I was using the IE browser.

http/blog.yoocare.com/remove-heurtrojan-script-generic/

http/www.mcafee.com/threat-intelligence/malware/default.aspx?id=153851

I was just reading an article.
This was the web site of the article in case anybody here wants to see if their protection software will stop it.
Actually, it was put into quarantine.

http/www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.625144

Thanks to, Kaspersky Internet Security! For blocking it.

Also, while looking up the trogan, clicking on this link, (http/security.stackexchange.com/questions/33664/what-does-this-injected-code-do) in a search list caused KIS to jump into action with a warning in the middle of the screen, not allowing the page to load at all. So, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

 

[bonitasuellen]

I'm using Norton Security with backup. I paid 94.00 for ten copies to use on all my laptops, notebooks, tablets and phones. I have used Norton for years now and haven't had any problems. It has caught quite a few very nasty bugs for me and now with the back-up feature, I feel better about any that might slip through.

 

[Guest]

hey all, just installed microsoft windows server 2003 enterprise edition which i found at a thrift store and i found that i was limited to free antivirus software. i found that clamwin free antivirus would run on this O.S. have read some good things about clamwin. thanks.
poorguy

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I have tried Clamwin portable , it' snot to bad for second opinion scanner.

 

[Guest]

yeah i haven't found many antivirus freeware that supports windows server 2003 or any of them. clamwin has no real time protection on the free edition, it does update on its own. we will see how it does. thanks.
poorguy

 

[dmessina]

Just free services like MSE or avast. Using adblock and ccleaner/avoiding certain websites certainly helps.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Smart surfing!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Skylyne]

Just got my first hit in a long while last night. Kaspersky blocked a Trogan, “HEUR:Trojan.Script.Generic.”
Looked it up and here’s a couple explanations of it. Although it apparently was not too much of a risk to my comp, seems it is some kind of browser redirector that enables downloading of malicious apps or something like that. I was using the IE browser.

http/blog.yoocare.com/remove-heurtrojan-script-generic/

http/www.mcafee.com/threat-intelligence/malware/default.aspx?id=153851

I was just reading an article.
This was the web site of the article in case anybody here wants to see if their protection software will stop it.
Actually, it was put into quarantine.

http/www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.625144

Thanks to, Kaspersky Internet Security! For blocking it.

Also, while looking up the trogan, clicking on this link, (http/security.stackexchange.com/questions/33664/what-does-this-injected-code-do) in a search list caused KIS to jump into action with a warning in the middle of the screen, not allowing the page to load at all. So, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Damn... hard to believe that malware is still being used to this day. It's five years old, and still infecting? Must work insanely well.

Also, Stack Exchange is just a Q&A website; nothing to really worry about from them. That link is to a question where someone posted the code for a virus that infected his website. Somebody decoded the script that made up the virus (first portion is Java, naturally), and it appears to be sending information to a website called Better Bail Bonds. Upon personal inspection, it's an empty page. Or maybe that's because I disabled Java?

Regardless of those details, Kaspersky will flag that page because the virus code is pasted in plain text, even though it's harmless in that form. I'd call that a high level of paranoia on Kaspersky's part; but, to each their own. According to one of the guys on there, Kaspersky flags that page with HEUR:Trojan.Script.Generic (same as what it caught on your computer), so take a peak at the link if you want to see a breakdown of your virus... or, at least, something similar to your virus.

 

[Tux_Linux]

Yes I use a paid antivirus for my main computer becasue everyone in my house use that computer. But my 2 laptops that I've got don't have any antivirus on them cause they both run Linux on them.