[sidharth_j]

Here is what I use :-

Symantec Antivirus Corporate edition
Ad Aware personal for spyware
Spybot search and destroy, again for spyware
finally, zone alarm 7.0 firewall.

Havent suffered any spyware infection/virus attack for the past 2 years, ever
since I have started using this combination
Regularly update the softwares, and the firewall too.

[chetanhanda]

Zone Alarm Pro Firewall
Zone Alarm Pro Antispyware
Counterspy
..no issues for past 2 yrs with this combination

[nosfreak]

Kaspersky ... all the time.

i know how to handle to these adbots and trojans......

[tsk1979]

Does anybody here virtual machine for browsing to be completely immune from spyware etc., etc.,
I used to run vmware, but due to speed issues have dropped to Hardware firewall + software firewall(Comodo) + AVG

[ravradha]

Please recommend any genuine freeware AV, spyware , with regular updates. I have downloaded a couple of free ones but they just detect but do not flush out.

[lohithrao]

FOlks, have been using "AVG" free edition for a while and never have had any issues(touch wood

Wanted to know is it sufficient to have the free edition or its better to upgrade?

i was thinking of taking "AVG Internet Security"

What you guys suggest??

[greenhorn]

Linux

and on my sister's PC - that I'll revoke her rights to use it if she uses a thumb drive or downloads any exe file from the web and runs it without asking me.

And of course , firefox and noscript. And neither of my PC's have an internet IP since they are behind a router

No antiviruses, and running fine for several years on this combo

[pranavt]

Nothing. NAT/Router saves me from portscans and the rest is with common sense and a search engine.

[funda2max]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

FOlks, have been using "AVG" free edition for a while and never have had any issues(touch wood

Wanted to know is it sufficient to have the free edition or its better to upgrade?

i was thinking of taking "AVG Internet Security"

What you guys suggest??

Try Kaspersky Internet security. It is very good and wallet friendly. I got 3 user license pack for Rs 650/- in a store. It is the best AV in terms of detection and resources.

[amitk26]

Ubuntu 8.10 with Firefox 3.0 is my choice


but for rest of the folks at home dual boot XP is there with following.

1. AVG Antivirus for windows
2. Super antispyware free addition.
3. NAT and Port scanning disabled on Router ( ADSL modem is in PPPoE mode )

Superantispyware is simply amazing , It was used by System admin in our office to detect certain rootkits which were not detected by other tools including paid Norten products and also spyware S&D

@TSK : Virtualization is of use if and only if you do not intend to download and install anything on the machine, most of the times spyware gets installed with shreware / codec packs and other stuff which you want to try out. VMware is very slow for Audio - Video tasks so you can't install all this stuff on VM and run

Also IMHO there is no use of double hardware firwall on WiFi Router and ADSL modem and will slow down the system. Try running ADSL modem in PPPoE mode dialing from Router.

[n_aditya]

Hope I can post my query here, rather than starting a new thread...

Anyway here goes. Sorry for the long post but the background of the query would probably help me in getting proper advice.

I just bought an assembled PC for gaming use.

After successful installation of Call of Duty World at War (original DVD) the game does not start. The DVD has to be inserted into the drive for single player gameplay. Autorun does not work and no point in clicking on the game icon either. The system just hangs.

Traced this problem to the antivirus as it had quarantined the "autorun.ini" file.

Since the PC is new and has almost no data (no internet yet), i disable the quickheal antivirus to play the game. No fuss after this. Insert dvd and game auto loads. I checked the AV settings and stuff but i am unable to skip the quarantine action or otherwise for known files, hence the need to disable to AV to play the game.

I am also going to get an internet connection soon purely to download movies, games and music, apart from messaging and email.

Which would be the best antivirus software that I can use to protect my PC against any threats while online and otherwise?

The quickheal AV that i have is a trial version for one month and i have to update it later on the net.

Taking note of my requirements which are mostly internet and gaming use, which would be the best AV software that i should get?

I was suggested Kaspersky by a good friend (who's into big time overclocking and stuff) who has it on his office and home PC.

Do i have an option to skip checks for known files in Kaspersky? Or should I go for Norton AV of McAfee?

Please help and thanks in advance to all.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Which would be the best antivirus software that I can use to protect my PC against any threats while online and otherwise?

The quickheal AV that i have is a trial version for one month and i have to update it later on the net.

Taking note of my requirements which are mostly internet and gaming use, which would be the best AV software that i should get?

I was suggested Kaspersky by a good friend (who's into big time overclocking and stuff) who has it on his office and home PC.

Do i have an option to skip checks for known files in Kaspersky? Or should I go for Norton AV of McAfee?

Please help and thanks in advance to all.

Well there is nothing such as best but always a combination of tools work in case you suspect a virus/malware problem.

A cost effective solution is to use Avast or AVG free version , It is fully leagal to use them only catch is that you need to run them manually and features such as auto scheduling etc is available in payed version.
But yours being a gaming PC and not 24X7 Office PC you can easily set a reminder for yourself to run it on Bootup and a full scan once in a week.

Also now a days more threats are from malware so use Spyware S&D , superantispyware and Adaware.

Free versions of these tools are good enough for home usage.

[greenhorn]

aditya, this would be an ideal case to use a no_cd_you_know_what ethically

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Hope I can post my query here, rather than starting a new thread...
.
.
I just bought an assembled PC for gaming use.

I have a suggestion for you.

1. create partitions for your drive. create a dual boot system.
2. as soon as you install the OS (and the necessary utilities/software), take a image backup on an external drive.
3. to keep your data safe and OS image small, create another partition and point your document folders to that drive. I run vista and xp and both point to the same location in another partition for my docs, my pics etc. I see no difference whether i am logged onto either of them.

4. Encrypt the whole drive that runs your game. so when you boot into the other drive, even if it's attacked by a virus, your gaming drive is safe. "truecrypt" will let you decrypt the drive at the time of boot. not sure if it will slow down your system though.

Is there any other way to hide a partition so it is unaffected when you are booted on the internet partition?

my external drive is encrypted too, used only for backups and to anybody else it will look like an unformatted disk.

5. in case something really breaks your system, just reload the image backup. should take less than 30 mins. Or do it regularly anyway.

as far as antivirus is considered, I run the freeware (antivir avira).

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Which would be the best antivirus software that I can use to protect my PC against any threats while online and otherwise?

I use Avast Home Edition and completely satisfied with it. Not even a single virus attack on my laptop for the past 1 year.

AVG is also good.