Computer anti-virus, malware, spyware, trojan, etc. etc. scanners

Alright, so after a brief scare involving a possible compromise of one of my email accounts, I started cleaning house on my laptop. Ive changed passwords on almost all known accounts and I'm currently running Spybot, followed by Ad-Aware and Avast! virus scans.

 

Anyone recommend any other types of programs to keep my system on lockdown? Preferably free or relatively inexpensive. There used to only be so many but that this day and time there seems to be hundreds, I can't get the proper grasp on how great a program is...Im sure tons of wise computar sages on this board can help me out.

malwarebytes

  On 4/6/2012 at 8:33 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

Alright, so after a brief scare involving a possible compromise of one of my email accounts, I started cleaning house on my laptop. Ive changed passwords on almost all known accounts and I'm currently running Spybot, followed by Ad-Aware and Avast! virus scans.

 

Anyone recommend any other types of programs to keep my system on lockdown? Preferably free or relatively inexpensive. There used to only be so many but that this day and time there seems to be hundreds, I can't get the proper grasp on how great a program is...Im sure tons of wise computar sages on this board can help me out.

 

I use avast (free edition) and it's pretty great. No viruses/malware etc yet. I do a comprehensive scan with other software every couple months to verify avast is still working.

 

Updates are automatic and happen about once a day (new virus definitions etc)...

Yeah Malwarebytes, and relative newcomer (and looks 100% like those scareware apps but I assure you isnt!) but oh-so-effective, and free, SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/

  On 4/6/2012 at 8:43 PM, mcbpete said:

Yeah Malwarebytes, and relative newcomer (and looks 100% like those scareware apps but I assure you isnt!) but oh-so-effective, and free, SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/

lol holy crap, even though I know it's legit, I am having a really hard time downloading that because it is the fishiest looking site I have ever seen

How often do you guys notice your AV software actually saving you from something nefarious?

 

I don't run AV software at home anymore, just the occasional malware sweep. I run corporate level AV stuff at work because Im constantly plugging in people's USB sticks and those things spread crap around like crazy. At home though the only issue/virus/etc I've encountered over the years are those rogue ads that inject shit (f u imgur lol) - and I've had the same issue at work with the expensive AV so I'm not convinced it would have done anything in those instances. Speaking from my own experience, any machine I've installed AV stuff on has run like crap until it gets a format, not to mention the boot time goes down the pooper.

To prevent RATs/Keyloggers which steal passwords and info you pretty much have to remove them manually. As in, search for them from time to time, because AV next to never catches them unless they're some mass produced one.

 

Suggestions on how to do so:

-Get "Autostart program viewer" by Sysinternals (to check for unfamiliar startup processes because all RATs require a startup registry key as far as I'm aware)

-SvchostAnalyzer by Neuber Software (to check for fake copies of Svchost which spyware processes often hide in)

-Commview free trial to analyze packets if you're suspicious of a RAT, the full version costs like $99999 so only use it if nothing else is working and you're scared, don't waste the trial

-TCPview by Sysinternals as a replacement for Commview which isn't as great, to search for TCP/UDP connections that may be from a RAT.

I use AVG because it's free and works fine.

  On 4/6/2012 at 9:02 PM, ThatPortugueseGuy said:

I use AVG because it's free and works fine.

  On 4/6/2012 at 8:54 PM, ganus said:

  On 4/6/2012 at 8:43 PM, mcbpete said:

Yeah Malwarebytes, and relative newcomer (and looks 100% like those scareware apps but I assure you isnt!) but oh-so-effective, and free, SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/

lol holy crap, even though I know it's legit, I am having a really hard time downloading that because it is the fishiest looking site I have ever seen

I know huh ?! They really need to get in some designers to defishify the whole look of the site and application ... The design masks how well the thing actually works and with a low system footprint too.

AVG used to be good, now it's a bit of a system hog. After advocations from several friends and a few other watmmers, I decided to go with Windows Security Essentials. Usually windows stuff is garbage but I'm actually very impressed with how lightweight and effective it is.

 

 

I also use Spybot Search and Destroy for spyware/adware. Running these two in combo is akin to god mode as far as I'm concerned.

  On 4/6/2012 at 9:01 PM, Zeffolia said:

To prevent RATs/Keyloggers which steal passwords and info you pretty much have to remove them manually. As in, search for them from time to time, because AV next to never catches them unless they're some mass produced one.

 

Suggestions on how to do so:

-Get "Autostart program viewer" by Sysinternals (to check for unfamiliar startup processes because all RATs require a startup registry key as far as I'm aware)

-SvchostAnalyzer by Neuber Software (to check for fake copies of Svchost which spyware processes often hide in)

-Commview free trial to analyze packets if you're suspicious of a RAT, the full version costs like $99999 so only use it if nothing else is working and you're scared, don't waste the trial

-TCPview by Sysinternals as a replacement for Commview which isn't as great, to search for TCP/UDP connections that may be from a RAT.

 

nice tips!

Also Ccleaner is a great tool for cleaning up your registry, as well as temp files and caches and shit.

  On 4/6/2012 at 10:19 PM, thehauntingsoul said:

Also Ccleaner is a great tool for cleaning up your registry, as well as temp files and caches and shit.

/

I also use Ccleaner, it is great

Sorry, it's Microsoft Security Essentials, not Windows Security Essentials.

 

Anyways it's worth noting that MSE, Spybot S&D and Ccleaner are all free and phenomenal pieces of software.

microsoft security essentials

 

plus the free version of malwarebytes' anti-malware or superantispyware to scan with once a week or so just to make sure nothing got through mse.

 

also, use adblock plus and https-everywhere (and noscript if you can be bothered). lastpass is a good addon for maintaining secure passwords and logging into sites or filling in web forms automatically.

Comodo is free and it is so choice.

internet boxes:

 

AVG free

zone alarm free

malwarebytes

spybot search and destroy

ccleaner

hijack this

 

firefox + noscript, flashblock, adblock plus, adblock plus pop up filter, ghostery

 

on slower machines i usually have auto update switched off on AVG and only update when i'm not busy using the machine

 

i think the single best tool is: common sense, look where you're going, look at file sizes when you're about to download etc, mp3's usually aren't 495kb exe files

 

also, decent passwords and make backups - BACKUPS - remember, computers are just machines, machines break - guaranteed - someday your hard drive will die, usually when you need it most

 

backups - the more important it is to you, the more copies you need to make

Edited April 7, 2012 by volg4

  On 4/6/2012 at 8:39 PM, ganus said:

malwarebytes

hey, i might come out as a retard but i haven't had any problems virus related since, well, ms-dos... lol

 

i remember using something like f-prot and now i use avg.

 

what are these malwares and whatnots that you talk about? should i be concerned? just that, like volg4 said, i use common sense, i never download anything by mistake, it never happened, i even tried, as a test, running *.exe files that come in weird emails but then AVG stopped me from opening it... what is in danger in my computer??

 

apart from cracked audio apps like cubase and stuff (h2o crack and serial generators) which always make my AV go a bit crazy, but i turn it off during installation and later turn it on and it's all fine...

 

i don't play games, never downloaded them, and i guess there's where most of the virus are found, no?

 

even AVG, i don't install the mail and popup stuff, i only install the scanner and the resident shield

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2012 by THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON

  On 4/7/2012 at 5:45 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

apart from cracked audio apps like cubase and stuff (h2o crack and serial generators) which always make my AV go a bit crazy, but i turn it off during installation and later turn it on and it's all fine...

 

i don't play games, never downloaded them, and i guess there's where most of the virus are found, no?

 

still plenty of viruses can be caught by cracks of any kind afaik

 

if your antivirus is going crazy, i would research what it says or upload the file to virustotal, turning it off and ignoring doesn't seem like the best idea

Edited April 7, 2012 by david

  On 4/7/2012 at 6:59 PM, david said:

  On 4/7/2012 at 5:45 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

apart from cracked audio apps like cubase and stuff (h2o crack and serial generators) which always make my AV go a bit crazy, but i turn it off during installation and later turn it on and it's all fine...

 

i don't play games, never downloaded them, and i guess there's where most of the virus are found, no?

 

still plenty of viruses can be caught by cracks of any kind afaik

 

if your antivirus is going crazy, i would research what it says or upload the file to virustotal, turning it off and ignoring doesn't seem like the best idea

when i said "goin crazy" what i really meant was, actually warned be about something, most of the times these files are only accessed one time when you run them for the first time, you know, like a serial generator. i then turn resident protection off, use the generator, and then i turn it right back on. if i do a scan afterwards, it doesn't detect anything

.. what AV do you use? I understand if the warning you're getting is like a false positive, like how generators/cracks can be detected as hacktools and what not, but that would assume you knew as much.. if I was in your shoes, I would be uncomfortable in disabling my antivirus when it's clearly giving me a warning i'm not sure of, just to run the program you're trying to get. I'm still inclined to believe there's a chance you're infecting your machine unwillingly by disabling it.

  On 4/7/2012 at 7:38 PM, david said:

.. what AV do you use? I understand if the warning you're getting is like a false positive, like how generators/cracks can be detected as hacktools and what not, but that would assume you knew as much.. if I was in your shoes, I would be uncomfortable in disabling my antivirus when it's clearly giving me a warning i'm not sure of, just to run the program you're trying to get. I'm still inclined to believe there's a chance you're infecting your machine unwillingly by disabling it.

well, i think i know what i'm doing, i think... and yes, false positives... i'm using AVG, i've beeing using computers for more than 20 years, it doesn't mean anything, but it gives me the confidence, i'm almost sure if i had my computer infected i would notice it.

 

if when running an whole scan, with personalized scan level, so that it scans compressed files and system ones and whatnot, i get zero viruses found, could i be relieved?? is it enough?

Edited April 7, 2012 by THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON

I guess not entirely on topic but to avoid viruses, in conjunction with free anti virus software etc, I just make a mirror image of my OS and files on a removable hard drive, update it often. If I get a virus or even make some changes/tweaks to the system or drivers I don't like, I just flash the OS and load my backup.

 

Very noob stuff but quite helpful/not very time consuming either.