Spyware or Virus Detector or Both

"avg" (free version) for viruses and "spybot search and destroy" for spyware / adware.

I work in IT and this is what I place on anyone's pc that can't afford to pay for this stuff (or doesn't want to -- like myself). both are updated pretty frequently as well.

 

nah, I downloaded it on a pc I built for my mom a couple weeks ago. the thing is, they will constantly try to trick you into buying the paid version through out the process of downloading it. just read between the lines a little and you will be okay.

http://free.avg.com/

 

Has anyone heard of Kaspersky Internet Security? Should I switch to Norton?

 

kaspersky is good. if you have that you should be fine.
norton has been terrible in the past but recently some of their products have become VERY good. I purchased a copy of it since it was on sale the other day. word of warning: if you do purchase any of the norton products; avoid norton 360.

 

I use Kaspersky Antivirus on my PC at home, and have someone here at work that uses it as well. I switched from Norton because it consumed too many resources and was overly intrusive or bothersome.

kaspersky seems pretty good, and they update frequently (virus definitions), though I've had some issues here at work with them sending my product update after submitting payment.

Recently, I upgraded one of the machine's here at work to Norton AV 2008, and it seems much better than the stuff I've used in the recent past from them, but I only went with it because A) it's not my machine, and is a machine that isn't used daily/frequently and B) the offer to upgrade was good.

Mostly though, I'm on a mac, and glad.

 

NOD32 you can try it free for 30 days. Works great for me.

 

good suggestion, but I think he wants something that is permanently free rather than a trial.

 

If you have Comcast you get McAfee Security Suite for free.
http://security.comcast.net/?cid=NET_33_3

 

mcafee is one of the worst AVs you can get. I hope you don't use it for your own sake.

 

Norton and McAfee are horrible.

Get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

It's great.

www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

 

norton isn't horrible. some of the newer iterations anyway. for mcafee you're correct. I've used this program a few times as well, I like it.

 

I don't think it is really necessary. I've done it before, but I think it is a little overkill. as long as you have 1 good one for viruses and 1 for spyware you should be good to go. in the future I'd suggest looking into a firewall as well if you don't already have one. glad I could help.

 

no, it's not. if you have a router/switch of some sort, typically that is a good start. comodo's personal firewall is pretty solid I'm told (and it is free): www.personalfirewall.comodo.com.

 

1) Get Avira's Antivir - it's probably the best free antivirus on the market and its scanning engine is probably better than just about every non-free one. Kaspersky's Internet Security is a complete package - it includes antispyware, antivirus, and software firewall. I haven't kept up with how good their antispyware and firewall are, but their antivirus is good and their scanning engine is updated often.

2) Don't run multiple AV scanners in the background - this could cause problems. You can have multiple AV programs installed (usually...).

3) Get and use something like Threatfire (free) in addition to your AV.

4) Windows Firewall or Comodo should be good enough for most people behind a router NAT/firewall. Another good one is PC Tools' Firewall Plus (and it's also free).

5) Get multiple spyware scanners - they don't both have to be running in memory, but having multiple ones you use to scan every week is good because no one scanner detects everything (just like antivirus software).

 

Oops... answered this in the wrong post. KIS has a great scanning engine and comes with a firewall and antispyware software. Its strength is its scanning engine, though. Norton's antivirus scanning engine is just as good if not better than Kaspersky's, but the problem with Norton is that it is bloatware that installs crap everywhere on your system and hogs resources and it could be a mess when you try getting rid of it.

 

Sorry dude, it is.

"I told you, there's no time to explain and I stick by that."