Spybot SND, after installing itself 3 times and then telling me it failed, is now off of my computer. I currently have symantec which has worked OK for me in the past.

Can anyone recommend me a good free antivirus/spyware/etc program?

Edit: fixed subject typo so it doesn't get typwned by Trog

Try Spybot S&D instead.

Avast

Another vote for Avast.

I had a virus a few weeks back and downloaded this baby and it worked a treat.

Recommended.

Avast!

avg, although i should move on to avast

AYE! AVAST!
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm190/pointyfork/qgl/Pirates_Of_The_Caribbean_015.jpg
*yes avast is my suggestion too*

also I've had no problems with spybot, are you running vista with elevated privileges?

last edited by whoop at 20:10:22 10/Nov/08

Avast it looks like.

are you running vista with elevated privileges?

Yep.

Nod32

OS-X :P

I mean, Avast

+1 Avast

Set and forget, and it amuses the kids when it says "Virus database has been updated", and freaks out my wife when my son leaves the PC on and logged in and unplugs his headphones and it booms the same phrase out at midnight...

while you're in the middle of hitting it...


I've moved the kids and friends all over to Ubuntu for now.


Gaming types dual boot into oldskoool WinXP when they want to play a Windows-only games.


PC gaming is dying with my older mates :(


Which is good in a way because they can just surf pr0n, check out tv shows, and cruise the net with mininum hassle now.


My 3yr old has taken delivery of her 1st laptop this week. I've yet to get her Win32 virt machine sorted, but everything just works for her. So long as her kiddie shows play from the network share easily, and Tuxtype runs for her and big sister she doesn't even care

My 3yr old has taken delivery of her 1st laptop this week.

W. T. F.

isnt 3 a bit too young?

^not for mantra!

I installed ubuntu under windows just to test it (still requires a reboot to get in but uses virtual disks). I was actually impressed that this time it worked without me having to disable just about every ACPI option in my BIOS like I did last time and that it somehow knows and can use my TV card to record tv shows. Not even windows can do that. If all you do is browse the net, surf for porn and download movies (home made of course) and no games then yeah I'd give ubuntu a shot too.

How long until we see email & web viruses targeted at ubuntu though if it's gaining popularity?

How long until we see email & web viruses targeted at ubuntu though if it's gaining popularity?

Email and web? What do you mean .. through Firefox and whatever default email program Ubuntu has?

Well Firefox has been out for ages under Windows and I still haven't personally encountered any exploits through normal browsing (whereas with IE I can get infected in under a month with innocent browsing - many normal websites aren't aware they're hosting malware through 3rd party content or banners).

If Windows-based exploits for Firefox aren't that abundant even with its popularity, then one targeted at Linux is far less likely.

last edited by parabol at 01:09:24 11/Nov/08

How long until we see email & web viruses targeted at ubuntu though if it's gaining popularity?

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/security

whereas with IE I can get infected in under a month with innocent browsing

I still dunno how you guys manage it hey

yer, neither do i

i still run ie (8) on my laptop, surf to some pretty nasty places, and have no infections

1. You have symantic which is up there with the s***ness of mcaffee And other commercial brands that have jumpped on the virus bandwagon so I wouldn't even uninstall I would reimage but if you cant be stuffed uninstall it
2. Pay for a good virus protection because good protection is NOT free
3. Either http://www.nod32.com.au/ or http://klacampaign.kaspersky.com.au/front.aspx?campaign=go02 For the record I would go with Kaspersky as its very very efficient and is a complete package

You will be very surprised at what kaspersky picks up IMO its the most complete virus prot product out there today.

pfft
just use the free ones suggested in this thread and some commonsense and you will be fine

Sophos, I would not use anything else.

2. Pay for a good virus protection because good protection is NOT free

Haha, whatever.

Avast is free and provides good protection.

Yeah, Avast did a better job than software I bought (and promptly returned).

Don't forget when you pay for software you have recourse to the law. Why would a company that gives away software for free care if things go wrong. Might work for home users but would never work in the business world.

Might work for home users but would never work in the business world.

Useless point as almost all Free versions aren't allowed to be used in a commercial environment to begin with.

Useless point as almost all Free versions aren't allowed to be used in a commercial environment to begin with.

How is it a useless point when you missed the entire point. The point I made was that you have no recourse to anything if the software is free. I would trust software that I have paid for anyday because there would hopefully be support if needed.

How is it a useless point when you missed the entire point.

No I didn't miss the point. You said:

"Might work for home users but would never work in the business world.".

So you're saying it's fine for home users, which is the situation we're talking about in this thread. There is no comparison for business users as they are forced to pay for a commercial license.

I would trust software that I have paid for anyday because there would hopefully be support if needed.

Firstly you have official forums where you can discuss problems with Free versions of most scanners. You also have the option of upgrading to a paid version when you happen to come across a problem that you can't solve and if you're stubborn enough to not want to switch to a competitor's product.

The thing is, generally the Free and Commercial versions are similar apart from plugins and some features. They usually share the same engine and virus definitions. If the commercial version has issues, a patch for it as well as the Free version is usually released - since they don't want a buggy Free version out there as it gives potential upgraders a bad taste in their mouth of the product.

Seriously all of your points are easily rendered invalid.

Seriously all of your points are easily rendered invalid.

Seriously I don't give a flying f*** what you think on anything so it all balances out.

Why would a company that gives away software for free care if things go wrong.

because their handling of their free products is a strong indicator of how they handle their paid products.

hmmm, i do agree with what parabol is saying, but on the other hand, hes a smarmy git

Seriously you guys need to relax a bit. Seriously you do, was just trying to point out there is no such thing as a free lunch. Seriously, I promise that's all I was seriously doing. Seriously I could not give a f*** if you all got infected or not. Seriously I don't and I am been serious with my seriousness.

Seriously you guys need to relax a bit. Seriously you do, was just trying to point out there is no such thing as a free lunch

You are the only one who needs to relax, mate. Instead of defending your arguments, you just lash out and claim you don't care - which is funny because you still keep posting and replying like you do care.

just f***in' relax aye

Yeah shut up already. You were wrong, get over it.

My 3yr old has taken delivery of her 1st laptop this week.

W. T. F.

isnt 3 a bit too young?

I thought that was the average age of a COD4 player. (/me dons body armour)

+1 for Avast!

And when things get really hairy I use ComboFix - saved myself and my company from reformats more than once.

Email and web? What do you mean .. through Firefox and whatever default email program Ubuntu has?

Try opening a virussed up email or web page that exploits some vulnerability to run an exe in windows... now try it in linux notice how the exe doesn't run? THAT's what I mean, linux native "exe" riddled emails and malicious web pages.

You know... porn trojans and s***.

the link I gave you explains why this isn't such an issue on linux, provided you don't run linux as stupidly as windows tends to be typically used

Try opening a virussed up email or web page that exploits some vulnerability to run an exe in windows...

THAT's what I mean, linux native "exe" riddled emails and malicious web pages.

Well you have to make a distinction between an automated exploit (e.g. just preview a specially crafted email in Outlook and you're infected) and a zipped up virus that someone manually clicks on to run.

In regards to manually running an executable, that's an error on the part of the user. If they click on random programs they receive, then it's their fault. The number of these kinds of viruses could very well increase for Linux - they are trivial to write.

To get an OS-specific auto-exploit through they have to first break through the client application - but as I said: regardless of operating system, Firefox and Thunderbird aren't targeted for exploits that much. On Thunderbird in Windows I've never received an email that got me infected by just previewing an Email - in Outlook I've seen many people owned. So as long as I don't run executables myself under TBird, I'm fine regardless of OS.

I guess it comes down to what software you use and what your practices are.

last edited by parabol at 21:08:45 11/Nov/08

In regards to manually running an executable, that's an error on the part of the user. If they click on random programs they receive, then it's their fault. The number of these kinds of viruses could very increase for Linux.

That's pretty much what I meant. I guess I should have said email, web and dodgy exe virusses but it was 2am and the battery on my laptop was at like 6% and about to shut itself off when I posted that :)

the link I gave you explains why this isn't such an issue on linux, provided you don't run linux as stupidly as windows tends to be typically used

Yeah but what 12 year old showing off to his mates doesn't get a power trip from logging into his computer and running as root? :)

And when things get really hairy I use ComboFix - saved myself and my company from reformats more than once.

Great as it is, it won't always work. Works especially well for XP Antivirus infections (08), though if you encounter someone that has bought their tool (XP Antivirus), smack them upside the head.

Some tools to help you in the future Pinky:

Microworld
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

If anyone is considering actually buying anti virus software, look at Kaspersky.

whereas with IE I can get infected in under a month with innocent browsing
I still dunno how you guys manage it hey

+1

have always wondered what people complain about and why people fap over firefix

I'd say harden Windows XP or just use Vista.

http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/pages/TOC.aspx - Running As a Limited User
http://kay-bruns.de/wp/software/surun/ - SuRun
http://rwparam.whyeye.org/ - Run a application with certain parameters

http://www.sniff-em.com/secureit.shtml
http://www.sniff-em.com/hardenit.shtml
* SecureIT - used for changing user profiles to be a lot stronger.
* HardenIT - used once again for hardening the user profiles in XP

If not that then...
http://www.faronics.com/html/choose.asp

Which won't let your configuration go wild.

I use a variety of techniques.

If you can't work out the how limited user thing then:

http://www.tallemu.com/

Its a good aussie invention so I'd support it.

f*** off spamming c***