Free antivirus software article

buglawton

Found out today that MS Security Essentials is also no longer available for Windows Vista.

Kernel_Sanders

NiftyDigits wrote: »

It is still being offered via their website and is still being updated until next year at least.

This appeared on 11 April...

FrugalFreak_2

From the list of removal tools given in the article, I tried first Kaspersky and thenMicrosoft -- both caused my PC to freeze, or more accurately perhaps, my PC caused them to freeze???

As it may be, Sophos worked fine and reported no infection.

Win7 x64
AMD Phenom IIx4
Asus M4N78 SE
Radeon HD6450
Samsung SSD

(Home build SuperSurfer)

Razoo

FrugalFreak wrote: »

From the list of removal tools given in the article, I tried first Kaspersky and then Microsoft -- both caused my PC to freeze, or more accurately perhaps, my PC caused them to freeze???

As it may be, Sophos worked fine and reported no infection.

Win7 x64
AMD Phenom IIx4
Asus M4N78 SE
Radeon HD6450
Samsung SSD

(Home build SuperSurfer)

I thought I would try Microsoft's own Safety Scanner (msert.exe), as I assumed it would be the least likely to conflict with Microsoft's own operating system. However, when I tried to run the file, I received an 'Open File - Security Warning' saying that, "The publisher could not be verified," and that "The file does not have a valid signature." I couldn't understand why Microsoft's own file was being flagged up as a security issue, so I didn't proceed. It doesn't inspire much confidence.

It even made me check whether the MSE email that gave me the link was genuine.

Has anyone else had this problem?
___
Razoo

MattHawkins

Be careful when installing these "free" tools.

For example, the Symantec tool will install browser tool bars and other junk into Windows if you aren't paying attention. They will then use this as a springboard for nags and nudges to buy products from them. Their website is also unable to tell the difference between Windows 32bit and 64bit so may well give you an exe that won't run.

Their tool doesn't actually say it didn't find anything. You have to manually check a log file for that basic bit of feedback. Instead it throws up a dialog box which encourages you to install something you don't need without making it clear the "Zeus" bit of the process is over.

Doc_N

FWIW, Avira Free is a decent free antivirus, and it will, of course, deal with this little problem.

debitcardmayhem

Doc_N wrote: »

FWIW, Avira Free is a decent free antivirus, and it will, of course, deal with this little problem.

Are you certain? Give us an assurance that it will, and that it will deal with new threats too. Absolute tosh matey , no AV product can, nor will ever do so, people being human with their foibles and shortcomings cannot rely on the fact that the computer says yes.

Doc_N

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Are you certain? Give us an assurance that it will, and that it will deal with new threats too. Absolute tosh matey , no AV product can, nor will ever do so, people being human with their foibles and shortcomings cannot rely on the fact that the computer says yes.

My apologies - I should have said Avast Free, not Avira.

I take your point, but what I said was 'deal with this little problem' - ie the NCA warning re GameOver Zeus & CryptoLocker. No AV is 100% successful, but it's better to have one than not!


AVAST detects and protects its users from CryptoLocker and GOZeus. We also encourage users without any antivirus protection, or expired antivirus protection to download AVAST to scan their PC for GameOver Zeus.

[Deleted User]

I have read the Free Antivirus Software article with interest. It contains a lot of speculation as to whether software product A is better at detecting a virus rather than product B. One thing that is not mentioned at all is where any of the products recommended are delivered with an unwanted payload.

In my experience it is becoming more and more common for suppliers of free software to add unwanted products to their offering. In some case such payload is explicitly mentioned at installation time and you are given a clear and plain option to reject it. However, more and more often these days developers are starting to do this covertly and it can be all but impossible to avoid your computer being filled with the garbage payload. Even some paid for products adopt this reprehensible practice too. Since MSE seems to ignore this problem altogether, I am reluctant to take any notice of the products recommended by the article.

50Twuncle

Why is MALWAREBYTES never mentioned in these articles by MSE ?