Need Advise regarding Virus Scan Apps

[Reece]

Hi, I used to have McAfee VirusScan 4 but the new dats just cause an error, seems that the program is now too old, I reinstalled & works with the original old dats but will not work with the new ones. I then purchased a new version "VirusScan Plus 2007", only to find this will not install because I use Zone Alarm! & Ad Aware! what a load of crap! I certainly am not getting rid of them, I think you only get 12months use out of the program now anyway, what a waste of money!
What I would like is a Virus Scan program without all the extra garbage such as firewalls, managers, & shields! Could someone please point me to a good application, if one exists!
Many thanks.

[FIREWALL]

Hi REECE

Google > SUPERANTISPYWARE and give it a try.

I had Norton and it was a piece of crap and goes to many places in the computer and runs way more than it needs to in the background.

And this also removed a virus that Norton didn't even detect.

And Superantispyware is user friendly and doesn't dunn you to buy.

BTW the home edition is free. And the upgraded version is cheap and gives 3 year support.

It's worth it just to check it out.

[Skybird]

You buy Virus Scanners?

Get this for free, it is the leader of the pack in Germany, and tester's darling. I use it myself, with Zonealarm - no problems.

http://www.free-av.de/

Note you can switch the site to English in the left top corner.

Before that, carefully dleete all remains of previous AV scanners, and use a registry cleaner to make that sure. consider to do the same with Zonealarm as well, a then reinstall it.

[Reece]

This is great news, wonder what I'll get on ebay for the McAfee CD?
I use Spybot & Adaware but even with VirusScan they would all find different things, would be nice to find an app that found all virus's, trojans, spyway bots etc!
Downloading Avira & SUPERAntiSpyware now, the more the merrier!
Cheers.

[Tchocky]

I'd like to echo FIREWALL here, and advise against Norton.

It will bring your PC to its knees.

[Reece]

@ Skybird ... Luke Filewalker !!! 1.6% done with 2 deletions already ... this is going to take some time!! Noticed front page says licence valid for 1 year only, do you know what happens then?

[FIREWALL]

It takes mine about 2 minutes to scan my pc. I don't remember how many files but it's alot.

I'm gonna checkout Skybirds Virus protect downlwd and see how it works.

Can't have enough options when it comes to protection.

[Reece]

If you're like me and use msconfig.exe you will find an entry in Startup & in services that you may want to untick! Still scanning by the way! 27%, found total of 4 now!

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by Reece

If you're like me and use msconfig.exe you will find an entry in Startup & in services that you may want to untick! Still scanning by the way! 27%, found total of 4 now!

Please more info and pathway for above. Thx

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to some computer stuff.

Built my own rig but the rest I'm sorta self taught. Go figure :rotfl:

With members help I recently learned how to copy & paste. No Kiddin

Only been messin with computers since late 2004.

[Reece]

You will find msconfig.exe in c:\windows\system32\dllcache, just right click drag a shortcut to the desktop, you can tick or untick other things listed that you feel you don't need, can always tick on again, just be a little cautious in services, at the bottom of layout you will see a box to show non microsoft services only, tick that. Just don't be like me, I love RegEdit! I always make sure I have a Ghost image backup before attacking the register!!

[Chock]

You may find it useful to check the task list at this site:

http://www.answersthatwork.com/

Compare it with what processes you have running in the task manager, and it should point you in the direction of your issues. This is useful because there is a lot of misunderstanding where virus scanners are concerned.

For example, Ad Aware (which many people will recommend) is not a virus scanner in the real sense (this comes as a surprise to many who have it), it attempts to block things getting ON your system in the first place as a firewall, and has a few concessions to scanning your drive, but not being a dedicated anti-virus SCANNER, it is not often successful at this (it missed two on one of my computers just the other day). Conversely, stuff like AVG and Kaspersky (the best free and payware virus scanners by most accounts) attempt to clean up the mess AFTER the thing has arrived, but are less successful at stopping things getting on there in the first place, such as browser hijacks and the like. This is an important distinction, because many people will say 'oh use such-and-such, it always works for me', which is like saying, 'oh use a spanner to fix your car, I did that last week and now it is fine'.

So, you actually need two things (at least). One, a firewall, to stop the sh*t getting on there, and two, a decent virus scanner to clean things up if your firewall misses anything. Now, there are plenty of free ones out there, but like everything else in life, you get what you pay for with software too, so the free ones may indeed be very good, but they often lag behind the payware ones in terms of up to date databases and such, if they were as good as the payware ones, nobody would buy the payware ones. This is the trouble with free versions of stuff like Zone Alarm and AVG, so the thing to ask yourself is, how much do you want to pay for protection? which is annoying, but not as annoying as thinking 'sh*t, I knew I should have not relied on that free one' when you are faced with formatting your hard drive and re-installing all your stuff.

When you've got a virus scanner and a firewall, then you might want to consider a registry cleaner and a look at the dedicated DOS programs your virus scanner devs provide to clean out the really nasty ones, such as trojans like BackDoorFlood (which is well named, as it is a pain in the ass).

Personally, I use Ad Aware 2007 plus, Ad Watch 2007, AVG (bnot the freebie one), RegSeeker and VCleaner, plus a few others too occasionally, I don't like Zone Alarm myself, but many people do. So don't take my word for it on those, type a search into google or whatever for 'best virus scanner' and 'best firewall' and read some reviews, then compare prices with features. You may well find some free ones suit you, many payware ones have a chopped down freebie version (but you don't get the support you do with a payware one), and they aren't THAT expensive if you look around, so you may want to cough up some cash.

I know you probably know a lot of this stuff already by the way, but when you are looking for suggestions, everything helps.

Chock

[kiwi_2005]

Nortons 360 AIO never fails for me. Othewise next best antivirus i would recommend is Nod32.

[Stealth Hunter]

LOL, you know that Norton Anti-Virus is a "Back Door" program, right? That basically means it might SAY your computer is secure, but it's incredibly easy to get around it and enter that PC.

Norton must join THE FAILBOAT.

[Reece]

Thanks Chock, I like Ad-Aware but doesn't find all trojans! I have been using Zone Alarm for a few years now & never got a virus, ther only time is from downloading files that may have them embedded, The 2 apps recomended above are ok but I really would like to find a Virus Scan that will scan a particular folder like McAfee did. I download always to the same folder & when I have the files, I then got McAfee to just check those files! Any recomendations?

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

LOL, you know that Norton Anti-Virus is a "Back Door" program, right? That basically means it might SAY your computer is secure, but it's incredibly easy to get around it and enter that PC.

Norton must join THE FAILBOAT.

Rubbish, thats fear mongering. Nortons 360 AIO friggin owns. Nortons 2004 to 2006 were sh*t. Nortons 360 is a whole new appz.

I wouldn't use any other.