Best spyware / virus protection for...

M

Magice

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
217
I'm going to be fixing a friends computer up in a day or two, clean reformat etc.

Here's the problem. He constantly gets it infected with malware and viruses, so I want some decent live protection on it that won't do a great deal of a performance hit.

I so far have NOD32 and need to couple it with a good, lightweight, live anti spyware program. Which would be the best for live protection? Also, woult it be a good idea to install a good firewall vs the Windows one? (I don't have those kind of problems so I wouldn't know)

Thanks!
 
NOD32 just came out with a security suite with very good antispyware and firewall capabilities.

The performance hit is little more then with just the antivirus also which is amazing.
 
first set an account with limited privileges, and do all the internet browsing in that account.
there are several Antispyware

Spybot Search & destroy
Ad-aware
Spywareblaster (enable all protection)
Ccleaner
Superantispyware

so u have to install them and update, the scan the system periodically
 
I know all of those, I'm mainly looking for a primary that has the best live protection.
 
in order to get real time protection you would have to buy the program, u could upgrade Ad-Aware, and Superantispyware. Another gut program is Spyware Doctor v5.0 (not free of course) bottom line there are no good free real time protection antispyware. U might also want to try Sandboxie.
 
The best method I've found for friends like that....educate them. By all means, load them up with protection software, but take it a step further and explain some good browsing habits as well.
 
DeaconFrost said:
The best method I've found for friends like that....educate them. By all means, load them up with protection software, but take it a step further and explain some good browsing habits as well.
Click to expand...

like staying away from the pr0n popups :D;)
 
There are 3 requirements to be "safe" nowadays:

1) A proper browser.
2) Good AV software.
3) Some kind of antispyware/malware protection.

1) IE7 goes a long long way towards being the browser it should have been 3 years ago. IE7Pro just makes it even better. Firefox with the NoScript and Ad-Blocker Plus plugins will handle most if not all of the scripts/ad-related malware issues that try to infiltrate machines anymore. Opera, well, it works but I just don't use it myself anymore.

2) and 3) can be handled with one application now:

Eset Smart Security. Simple. You get NOD32 v3.0, arguably the best overall AV software on the market today, and the Smart Security suite now handles antispyware/malware duties also, and it has a firewall too.

If you choose not to go with that, at the bare minimum I'd say get Windows Defender. Of all the "antispyware/adware/malware" apps floating around, this one does it right. It's quick, efficient, minimal resource footprint, and Microsoft actually can be proud of this one thing for a change. Ad-aware, Spybot, HiJack, etc... all those applications have simply failed to improve since their introductions years past and are typically worse now than they were then.

The basic point of this is that you can protect your machine from malware these days without needing 5 or more separate applications fighting over who does what, when, and where. Eset Smart Security is the solution right now, in one package, very small, incredibly effective, and it simply kicks ass.

Hope this helps...

ps
I do recommend CCleaner as well, but it's not a malware/antispyware/etc tool. It's basically a simple but very effective Registry cleaner and temp file remover, both things which it excels at.
 
I use NOD32 and spyware doctor myself and it seems to keep most everything pretty clean. I won't go back to mcaffee tho as it bloated my system which my current programs don't.
As was mentioned, i'd go find the ones that are best reviewed or rated and go from there.
 
kamxam said:
I use NOD32 and spyware doctor myself and it seems to keep most everything pretty clean. I won't go back to mcaffee tho as it bloated my system which my current programs don't.
As was mentioned, i'd go find the ones that are best reviewed or rated and go from there.
Click to expand...

Thats a pretty good combo. I use spyware doctor at clients that have issues with spyware. With reseller rates it gets pretty cheap which is nice too.

I can't comment on esets spyware protection but if it is anything like the av scanner it should be very good. I'd try that to start out.
 
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