What Security do you use?

thebull

I use ESET smart security ,Spybot and I have Firefox as my browser.
I do loads and loads of surfing and downloading and ESET has always protected me

MeganHerring

Need some new anti virus software as McAfee is making my computer really slow! Any suggestions?

gary38uk

MeganHerring wrote: »

Need some new anti virus software as McAfee is making my computer really slow! Any suggestions?

yes common problem with these things especially if its installed when you brought it. thing is they are usually more than anti-virus all bells and whistles. things you dont want.

try AVAST the free version
best free one out there at the mo.

rtanswell

As a techie running my own business and dealing with computers for over 15 years, my mind changes like the wind when it comes to security. Things evolve so quickly and threats evolve even more quickly.

However, the onus has to be on safe browsing and scheduled or regular scanning by the users.

At the moment I am recommending Microsoft's own free Security Essentials product as your virus scanner with Windows firewall and a decent router with a built in SPI firewall. For businesses at the moment I would recommend Sophos' products.

Of course I'm likely to be shot down in flames for suggesting that by other techies but it's very much down to opinion and the user has to be responsible for their own system. It's very rare threats get into home systems from attack (particularly if you're protected by a decent router firewall). Threats get in from user's clicking links, downloading dodgy software or files, browsing unsavoury pages or just being careless and relying on real time protection to stop any threats.

Fact is unless you regularly fully scan your system with your AV program, you may never know if something resides on your system even though you think that you are protected in real-time.

Once a threat has evaded the real-time protection, it can hide itself in your system, sometimes with no side effects and start to cause more damage or make your data insecure. Rootkits, trojans once in the system have already done the job of evading real time protection and then run in stealth mode. Most however would be picked up on a full scan.

I've tried many products in the past and in the main, I've not come across one that has completely protected a system purely on real time protection itself. Most just become a burden on older systems. Vendors like McCafee and Norton insist you subscribe every year and to part justify that, they release a new product for that year with added extras assuming that you have the required extra RAM or CPU power to run them. Often they end up making your PC less usable than if you were actually infected!!

Your security alone (in this case Microsoft Security Essentials) should not be considered as a good enough layer however. I recommend regularly using the following products in addition to MSE:

CCleaner Free - cleans temp files, registry and startup programs
MalwareBytes AntiMalware Free - Scans and removes many threats that elude AVs
SuperAntiSpyware Free - As Malwarebytes
HijackThis - Helps establish what may be lurking within internet protocols, plugins and your browser

There are many other tools that will be required should you be hit with something like Fake AV trojans (i recently was unsuccessful in removing a threat from a client's computer successfully as it had got deep into the OS and had corrupted many system files). But the key to avoiding this is to browse carefully, do not click anything you don't trust, download software from trusted sites and avoid filesharing sites and offers of free/pirated software, films, music files etc. Aside from carrying a potential threat, you could also be breaking the law.

I would recommend running a full MalwareBytes scan (make sure you update definitions each time) at least weekly whilst your AV product's real time protection is switched on as it will effectively run a double scan. Use CCleaner to clean temp files and Registry often and monitor startup programs. Watch what your kids and others who use your computers are browsing and downloading. If you can, run Malwarebytes scans in safe mode too.

As I said, it's very rare to have targetted threats on standard home users. Yes your Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail etc could be hacked (strong passwords regularly changed and different passwords for different sites are highly recommended) but your system alone will not be targetted to be got into unless it's indirectly via something like an email encouraging you to open a fake website/file to enter personal details or more recently, phone calls from "Microsoft" telling you your computer is reporting viruses to their "servers". Hang up on these straight away, they are trying to get your information and get you to install trojans.

On the business side of things though, I've seen directors hit with specifically personal attacks in order to be defrauded. Some very nasty bespoke viruses/trojans which have been unable to be removed without a full system wipe. But that's all done by criminals specifically after someone's wealth directly or through other means such as blackmail.

If you are infected, I would also avoid taking your PC to places like PC World, Comet etc. In the main, they just restore the drives to default factory settings causing you to lose your data at a ridiculous charge because it's the easiest thing to do and their staff aren't really qualified to take a look in a more technical way. Sometimes however, wiping a drive and re-installing the OS can be a lot quicker and cheaper than removing some viruses!

Personally I offer a fixed price for virus removal so that it doesn't run into hours and be more expensive than a totally new system!

Remember people, be safe, be responsible, don't trust anything, scan regularly and in the main you will be safe. If you do get infected, remove the computer from the network completely and attempt to clean it up while disconnected. Regularly update MalwareBytes, MSE, CCleaner and SAS so that if you do become infected, you can take the computer offline knowing you have the latest definitions to help you clean up.

Finally avoid the mainstream products such as McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky as they will generally protect you no more than the free products (AVG and Avira are far inferior to MSE, they used to be great free products but more recently they have become less effective). The mainstream products will also impact your systems resources more and make using your computer a chore rather than a pleasant experience.

waddler_8

Decent post, couple of things I'd comment on though.

rtanswell wrote: »

Fact is unless you regularly fully scan your system with your AV program, you may never know if something resides on your system even though you think that you are protected in real-time

I'd dispute that you have to run regular full scans. Most scanners have intelligent quick scans that scan memory, load points, and places on the system an active malware infection is most likely to be running from. Stuff found by full scans that aren't found by the quick scans are generally traces that are effectively benign & harmless on their own. It doesn't hurt to run full scans occasionally, but they're unlikely to find anything over the quick scan that can harm the system - anything that would be found would have to be executed by the user - thus the realtime/on access guard would get it.

rtanswell wrote: »

I would recommend running a full MalwareBytes scan... If you can, run Malwarebytes scans in safe mode too.

As above, mbam quick scan will find anything in memory/capable of entering memory that it's database is capable of detecting. It was designed so that the quick scan would catch all. Anything found by the full scan that's not been found by the quick scan will likely be traces.

Mbam runs at it's best in normal mode. Drivers it uses for better detection & removal don't load in safe mode.

GunJack

I'll second waddler's comments, but would also add that both avira and avg 2012 both came out higher than MSE in the av-comparatives testing.

rtanswell

Fair points but there will always be differing opinions as there are so many different threats out there it's hard to have encountered and tested them on all AVs. I found some minor threats on a system scanned with MSE that didn't show under an AVG or Avira scan. However this is also true for finding things on systems with paid protection in Norton and McAfee when scanning them again with Avira.

I guess my point is you don't have to pay for AV protection. But my firm belief is that really the user is ultimately responsible for browsing carefully and being cautious of everything. You wouldn't rely on your car's parking sensors without also checking the mirrors (if you do then you deserve to have a prang).

For me another key factor is overhead. It's all well and good having an AV that detects well but if it's making your system virtually unusable by creating big overheads and slow drive reads, then for me it's not doing it's job.

But fair comments as I said, you're right that most things found on a full scan that a quick scan missed are usually benign remnants.

5tevie

Keeping a computer free from all kinds of bugs has always been a problem best looked at by experts. I am not one of those. I'm just an interested amateur.
New guy, BTW. Just signed up this morning.
I run 5 computers here at home. My main PC (this one) is a Mac Mini Aluminium from Mid-2010 paired up to a 52" Plasma screen. My wife uses a PC with Windows XP Pro (SP3) and I have a very similar computer up in my bedroom. Then there is an Acer Aspire 5920 and an Advent Netbook, both running XP Pro (SP3), kicking around somewhere. My wife's PC uses an Ethernet cable to connect to the router but all the rest are wireless. It all seems to work very well.
For AV security on my Mac I use Clam Xav. I know that technically speaking I don't need to run any AV prog on the Mac because, as of this moment, there are no viruses aimed at the Mac. I use AV to stop any bugs travelling from my computer to one of the Windows PCs.
All of the Windows XP machines use the same security system. BTW, we use XP because we both like it. We thought that Vista was the work of Lucifer and Windows 7 is just to complicated for our old heads to get a handle on.
I digress, I do that a lot so please accept my apology.
Our XP machines all run the free versions of Avast AV, MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware which can all be run at any time to check the full computer or the contents of a memory stick or even just a file downloaded from the web.
On top of this, I have a home made programme that makes life easier for me to keep the computers safe, (we have grandkids, lol). There is an icon on each desktop named, "Night Scan". Clicking that button twice as you decide to go to bed causes the following actions......
1 ... The PC disconnects from the web and then reconnects.
2 ... The PC then runs off to the Avast website to get the latest update and then does a full scan.
3 ... The PC then does the same job for MalwareBytes.
4 ... Once all the scans are complete the computer runs a defrag programme and then shuts itself down.

I'd like to say that I made the programme myself but I didn't. It was made for me by a couple of guys that I know with a far greater understanding of computers than I.
Anyway, whichever AV programme you have installed on your computer, the main thing is to keep it updated and run it regularly.
Cheers,
Steve

rtanswell

Good post Steve. I'd certainly class you as a more advanced user from what you have said. Certainly sounds like a decent setup!

My main problem particularly with so many PC's at home and so much music, video and data is how to back it all up! I have it all backed up across several drives and important data in Dropbox and Acronis online but it's certainly a job managing to make sure the integrity remains! Still untrusting to a point of cloud providers when you look at what happened to Megaupload etc. They're good for backup but make sure you have a local copy somewhere safe too! Don't rely on the cloud.

Acronis' online backup is pretty good but in reality, you need a decent upload speed to benefit, particularly on the initial upload.

tombruton87

im not going to get into the argument of which antivirus is best as there are no totally conslusive tests. i would add to say TURN OFF UPNP on your router type thing (its actually a whole array of devices crammed into a tiny box). Its the devils work, what is does is allows any device on your network to punch a whole in your firewall. Brilliant joe blogs doesn't have to do anything apart from the click though menu.

So lets say you have your shiny new ipcam or internet connected printer that updates its drivers automatically. So mr hacker comes along he is bored one day and thinks hey lets attack some home users as I am far less likely to be caught. So they pop over to shodanqh.com or google, they search for your brand of ipcam which was probably made in china and no real appreciation has been taken for your security.

So they find your one. A lot of people use these to monitor there kids. something you don't want everybody in the world to be able to see. So they can see that which is scary enough. But then they use unsecured http for there firmware updates. SO the attacker spoofs the server and uploads there firmware to your cam. They can then launch an internal network attack. I found around 80 million devices out there that could be susceptible to this.(I did not try to attack these)

The original research that I saw on this subject was by digininja from random storm in leeds. He has not to my knowledge put how to do these attacks online for security reasons. However they are super simple and a massive risk.