protection for my comp (viruses, trojans, worms, etc..)

[lazarus]

So I had a friend visit, and he went to some unsavory sites on my computer, and I was left with 3 viruses. I have only been using the free stuff (AVG, Ad-aware, Spybot, and Spyware Blaster) and I update them about twice a month. But after this last incident, I would like a better line of protection.

 

Are there any review sites out there about the absolute best protection I can get for my computer? What are yall's experience with these products?

 

I am willing to shell out some money for this. Help please

[DNA]

I have used "spyhunter" from enigma for the last few years and it works great. You have to pay for it but I would not use anything else.

 

http://www.enigmasoftware.com/

[Sgt. Slaughterâ„¢-TopBrass]

NOD32 has some good ratings (I've only ever used the 30 trial, no issues). I use AVG on my work laptop, LiveOne Care at home.

 

NOD32

[dwEEziL]

I use Symantec AV Corp Ed (get it through work), Windows BitDefender (or whatever it is called), Windows Firewall (and sometimes an added IPSec policy), SpybotSD, and SpywareBlaster. I've looked into some other firewalls (running Kaspersky on another box but it's more hassle then help) but if you have at least Windows XP sp2, then the Windows firewall does a pretty good job. Also, all this is behind a properly configured router so I have the NAT protection too (only works for unsolicited requests of course though).

 

I've also recently found a utility called Sandboxie which runs selective apps in a virtualized sandbox environment. This means any changes that were made to your system while the app was running will be discarded when you close the app. This comes in handy if one were to download a questionable exe to help extend the life of one's trialware applications. Works very nice. Be warned though, it's free for personal use but if your computer is a member of a domain and is NOT a laptop, you're required to get a commercial license (for some reason, the developer allows laptops even if it's in a domain. Also, for some reason, he thinks that only commercial industries use domains...fool).

 

Along this line, I try to do all my browsing with Firefox and the NoScript extension. This extension prevents any scripts (js, java, flash, activex, etc) from running unless you have specifically ok'd the url. There are many other good extensions as well for blocking pop up ads and such. But they're all user submitted so you have to wade through the crap for the nuggets of gold.

 

For retroactive forensics, I use HijackThis and the online analyzer http://www.hijackthis.de/ . I also use a lot of the tools from Sysinternals (i.e., Process Explorer, Process Monitor, Rootkit Revealer, etc). Other good forensic tools are Hiren's Bootdisk, a Windows PE (preinstalled environment, read as Live disk) such as BartPE or Sysinternals ERD Commander, a good linux Live CD (Helix, Knoppix, even a Ubuntu live cd).

 

On top of that, just use plain old common sense. If you download something and it's called "dialer.exe", DON'T execute it. Also, for buddies using your system, set up a user account with limited rights so that even if he does do something stupid, he isn't going to do a great deal of damage (this isn't a 100% safeguard though since many exploits do user-elevation anyway). A sure-fire method for preventing your buddy from messing up your system is to set up a virtual machine. If he wants to use your system, start up the VM and let him use that. If he infects it crazily, you can just delete the VM and set up another one. If you are able to get VMWare Workstation (this is a pay-for app), you are able to do snapshots of the VM so you can boot up the VM, take a snapshot, let him run roughshod over the VM, then just restore the snapshot. All good. VMWare has a free Virtual Server, but it doesn't do snapshots, just VMWare Workstation and their higher end enterprise products.

Edited February 27, 2008 by dwEEziL

[Cujo]

i use nod32 for daily stuff. hijack this and spybot to find and remove stuff on client's machines.

[dragonfly]

Maybe pw your pc for when friends are over?

[ZeroDamage]

You should probably punch him in the growin for being an idiot and screwing up your machine. After you've made your mark, you should use Ubuntu for all of your web browsing and the like. You could also just punch him in the growin twice so he never comes over to use your computer again.

 

Seriously, there is little you can do to keep crap off of a Windows machine. The tools are only as good as the user who uses them, and who seriously wants all of that crap on their gaming rig. Once you infect a Windows machine with malware, you want to whipe and it reinstall. There is no 100% way to know for sure that you system isn't hiding a rootkit somewhere or a key logger that the antivirus apps are not picking up. It's dangerous out there on the internets now. My wife did this to me and it drove me to Ubuntu. Maybe your buddy has done you a favor, not of the sexual kind I would hope but maybe the special nerd loving kind.

[dwEEziL]

Pssssst zd...it's "groin".

[shaftiel]

Pssssst zd...it's "groin".

 

 

Dude, now his friends are in real trouble... all this time he has been hitting them in the growin, now he will be hitting them in the groin. Way to go dwEEziL.

 

 

 

 

 

Shaftiel

[dwEEziL]

That assumes he has friends.

 

/me runs out quickly and buys a cup

 

Laz (is this [VI] Lazerus, the Korean Luva?), I've never used this particular product, but it's currently on www.giveawayoftheday.com (that and www.woot.com are sites I try and check everyday).

 

[lazarus]

thanks for all the suggestions, I'll wade through my options when I get home.

 

Is there some sort of 3rd party review site for a bunch of these protectors? Like a consumer reoprts of internet crap blocker?

[dwEEziL]

Hmm, not sure. Google knows I bet. Most competing apps, even freeware ones, tend to always talk bad about their counterparts (or at least fanboys of one do about fanboys of another). I just don't recall a 3rd party site for this. You can check some of the magazine websites for their suggested apps (the only one that currently comes to mind would be www.maximumpc.com ).

 

Just read your signature and discovered you are indEEd Clyde. How you doing man? You still up north throwing down your teaching thing?

Edited February 27, 2008 by dwEEziL

[Cujo]

guest account also helps. less privileges.

[lazarus]

so no one suggests the prolific mcafee or norton. do these guys just suck that bad?

 

Dweez: whats goin on, man. I'm still chillin out in brooklyn. Working at American Express - Membership Rewards - Marketing. The wife is not working anymore, she's double-mastering in Library Science at NYU and Literacy at Columbia. We're just chugging along. If you wanna keep up with my goings on, check out my blog: klyde-lanta.blogspot.com. i update maybe like once a month. (and it's klyde)

Edited February 28, 2008 by lazarus

[dwEEziL]

Hehe, my bad man. If you check my original post again, you'll see that I said I use Symantec A/V Corp Ed. Symantec bought Norton and then distributed everything so that the Symantec brand does corporation/enterprise stuff and Norton does the home user stuff...and yes, typically, if it has Norton in it's name, it's poope.