Anti Virus Protection

[mikeschn]

I download a cpu/memory gadget this morning, from a website that looked like it specialized in gadgets.

Behind the scenes it installed a delta-search virus that messed up all of my browers. And my AVG Free didn't catch it.

It took the rest of the morning to scrub my 3 browsers clean (IE, Firefox & Chrome).

I'm not sure what the question is here? What went wrong? How could I have prevented it? Is there a better free anti virus package?

I obviously needed the gadget as I was compiling a program that was giving me out of memory errors, so the gadget was to watch my memory.

Any thoughts?

Mike...

[Verna]

Mike, I gave up on the free anti-virus programs. It seems there is just minimal protection on them. I pay about $40 every two years for AVG, and it's worth it. Norton seems to entangle itself into everything on the computer and is a memory hog. I know a lot of people who use the free AVAST who are happy with it. Knock on wood, I've had no problems since I got rid of Norton and went with the paid AVG.

In addition to the paid AVG, I do use 3 free "anti" removers: Malware by Anti-Malware, Spybot and Ad-Aware. Each of them find additional problems and correct them. They're very useful if you click on the wrong item, or if you're fooled (like this morning for you).

So, my personal opinion is that in addition to the anti-virus, you also need to protect yourself against other ways the spammers/hackers want to get you.

And, for what it's worth, these 4 programs were recommended to me by an IT guy on a woodworking forum. He takes care of the IT needs in one of the high rise condo buildings in Maui.

I just read the rest of your post: paid AVG tells me when an application is using too much memory. It doesn't do anything, just warns.

[GerryS]

AVG is definitely the best for the money. The other "big guys" are really bloated and nasty.

Your best virs protection though is Linux or Mac OS

[Shadow Catcher]

Because of two websites that I own I have been subject to deliberate attacks, at one point getting up to fifteen unique viruses a day and free AV does not cut it. I pay for ESET and so far nothing has gotten through. I do run Spybot S&D periodically as a cross check and have not found anything other than stray cookies. I do not download free programs.

[Zollinger]

I have Roadrunner and they offer McAfee free. It's O.K. I was a really big Norton fan until a couple of years ago. I agree with Verna about Norton entangling itself into everything. What ever you do DON'T EVER try the PC Matic thats offered free on TV. We have friends that their motto is "If it's free it's for me!" . All they did was complain about their computer after they installed it. Fixed the virus, but installed all kinds of sofware that ran in the background. I finally ended up wiping out their hard drive and started from scratch. A couple of months later the hard drive crashed and I got blamed for it. Needless to say everytime they now have computer questions I don't and won't help them out.

[toypusher]

I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials and it has done a much better job than AVG did and it is free.

[sid]

I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials and it has done a much better job than AVG did and it is free.

+1

[jstrubberg]

Mcirosoft Security Essentials here as well.

I used AVG for a number of years. Unfortunately in the last two years AVG has gotten a bad case of bloat and was starting to drag on my home machines.

Be aware, no anti-spyware, anti-malware package is going to stop a problem when you perform a specific action to trigger it. Case in point being clicking on a hyperlink. You clicked on it, and you system assumes you know what you are doing. That's why malware is such an issue these days.

I recommend you keep a copy of Malwarebytes downloaded and handy for cleanups. It's not a case of will you get infected, it's only a question of when.

[webbaldo]

I have to agree, AVG was good once over but like most AV programs its full of crap you'll never use now

another fan of MS security essentials here.

[TJinPgh]

Well, I use Linux Mint for my day to day web needs so it's not something I overly concern myself with.

On my Windows computers, though, I use the free version of Avast. I've had no issues with it.

You have to really read the fine print when you install things. Usually there's some sort of indication when you install programs that there's also going to be something installed with it that does the browser takeover that you mentioned. If you look close enough, there's usually a check box somewhere to bypass it, which is why the anti-virus program may not have flagged it. As, technically, it's not considered a virus at that point.

There are, however, some programs that don't give you the choice, though. Which may well be the case with what you installed. Sad that it still happens. But, it does.

[angib]

I've used (paid-for) Kaspersky for years and never had a problem but in its latest tests, the main British consumer association rated Microsoft Security Essentials better than any other free or paid-for security software.

[jeff0520]

Here's the only answer I've found for the continual onslaught of computer attacks:
http://fedoraproject.org/

The good news is IT'S FREE!
The bad news is you have to learn a new operating system.
Once you conquer the learning curve of a new operating system, it's rock solid and immune to all the malware. (Unless you do something TRULY epicly stupid, like running the WINE compatability layer for using windows software as Root. So long as you are on a user account and not on the Root administrator account, you are pretty much invincable

[mikeschn]

Thanks for all the ideas guys...

I've loaded Windows Defender instead of AVG Free on my Windows 8 machine. It doesn't get in the way... I wonder if it's turned on?

And I've got Linux Mint 14 with Cinnamon 1.6 running on the 2nd machine.

I've given up on running gadgets though... too risky!

Mike...

[pmowers]

Microsoft Security Essentials, Spybot Search & Destroy- with TeaTimer active.
Nortons acts like a virus- slows everything down. Use Sophos at work, I plan on waiting 20 minutes while it does its thing if I have left the machine off over the weekend.

If possible, I run Ubuntu 12.10, Windows 7 in Virtualbox. Nice thing about that is that I can keep a virtual copy of the drive archived so that if it does get corrupted, I just load up a new machine.

[Kathy53]

I have the Avira virus protection its free and works pretty good for me. For spy ware I have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.