[SOLVED] Internet/PC Protection software recommendations


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Please, I really need recommendations on the best light-weight/non-heavy on the resources Internet/PC virus protection software for my Windows based PC.


I'm uninstalling CA Technologies | Internet Security Suite now as we speak.


P.S. I can't be bothered Googling


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Though I agree with Blue Protoman, the second choice that I'd recommend is FreeBSD. The third is Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, and if anyone can build anti-virus for Windows, you'd think they could do it.
 
will you people keep on topic my god use the comodo firewall (its free and it will sandbox unkown prosses) and microsoft security essentials. when i had windows on my netbook this combo worked very good on a atom 5% prosser ussage idling with this installed
 
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Yeah, AVG, it's free and pretty decent. If you're also looking for malware protection get Malware Bytes and/or Super Anti-Spyware. Both are free and very good.
 
thing is is that microsofts antivirus gets the new antivirus databases out there faster
 
I'm currently using Comodo Internet Security which seems to be pretty decent so far, I would also recommend AVG + Zonealarm.
 
AVG has become irritating as of late. I tend to use Avira Antivir or that other one, the name of which eludes me. There are free virus scanners all over the interwebs.


I don't tend to use a Firewall, and I wouldn't touch ZoneAlarm with a ten foot barge pole. If a process is illegitimately trying to communicate to the internets from your computer, then it's too late.


Most of the time I use a Mac, anyway.
 
Well the thing is, viruses nowadays usually have a pretty limited life-span, they will be out in the wild, detected after a week or in a matter of days, blocked by most Anti-Virus programs and then deleted (while also distribution stops).


As most heuristics of Anti-Virus programs are complete crap, the only time your program can defend your PC probably is after it has been detected - around the time the virus is dying out or has already died out.


So if you are actually attacked by a virus your program will be useless in most cases. (Case in point: A recent attack on my computer, which shut down almost everything - firstly MSE - and which I had to track down and remove manually).


Additionally those programs tend to be quite annoying with their alerts and messages as well as slow down the PC.


This obviously does not account for viruses "sleeping" on external hard-drives or USB sticks, which you can always scan manually.


So, personally I would recommend either running an Anti-Virus program which is easy on the hardware (dunno about AVG, but I can vouch for the MSE in that case and cannot recommend AntiVir - mostly due to annoying messages though, any Symantec product or Kaspersky - which probably is pretty good, but also way way too annoying for my taste, also slowed down the boot process to a crawl) or just disable the automatic detection and run it manually on suspicious files.


On top of that have your router's firewall enabled and _maybe_ install a software firewall, but I find those pieces more annoying than actually useful in most cases.


Oh and if you are on Windows, activate system recovery at least for your OS drive (why that is disabled by default is beyond me).


After all the best defence is just yourself paying attention to what files you download and execute and no Anti-Virus program can match that.
 
Oh and if you are on Windows, activate system recovery at least for your OS drive (why that is disabled by default is beyond me).
Is that an OEM installation? If I remember correctly, System Restore should usually be enabled by default.


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And indeed, antivirus software won't help you unless you know what you are doing. This can't be stressed enough.
 
I run MSE and Comodo. I've never seen an alert from MSE, not even when running manual scans. This either means that my PC is ship shape (which it ought to be) or it's not even trying. It's has a good reputation though, so I'm happy to leave it running.


By contrast, Comodo is like a hotel bouncer spoiling for a fight, and really gives you a feel for what's happening on your PC. Unknown processes do not simply walk into Comordor. Can't recommend it highly enough. It did go through a bloaty stage, but seems really good now.


MBAM is also installed for occasional scans. So there you go, 3 completely free and powerful tools - and I don't have to go near AVG :p
 
Please, I really need recommendations on the best light-weight/non-heavy on the resources Internet/PC virus protection software for my Windows based PC.


I'm uninstalling CA Technologies | Internet Security Suite now as we speak.


P.S. I can't be bothered Googling


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Thank you to everyone for all your awesome recommendations/suggestions and advice.


In the end, after much thought I went with the below, which Gruso also recommended.

will you people keep on topic my god use the comodo firewall (its free and it will sandbox unkown prosses) and microsoft security essentials. when i had windows on my netbook this combo worked very good on a atom 5% prosser ussage idling with this installed

Cheers all. :)
 
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