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Anti-virus???

rogadodge
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,819
Thanks: 50
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Registered: ‎08-10-2010

Anti-virus???

My daughter asked me to look at her laptop, 'running a bit slow' she said.
The screen is covered with shortcuts to 'free to play' games. So I decided to run antivirus scans.
Microsoft security Essentials; PC is secure - no threats found.
Malware bytes :  1354 threats.
Ok, I know a lot of what Malware bytes picks up will be relatively harmless cookies etc, but the disparity is enormous.
Does this mean that MSE is inefficient, or that MB is hyper-efficient?
To be fair to my daughter, the AV databases were 600+days out of date. Shocked  I have had a word with her. Angry
12 REPLIES 12
wykehamhouse
Grafter
Posts: 260
Registered: ‎01-02-2013

Re: Anti-virus???

MSE is pretty poor these days. I don't trust it anymore, so I switched our PC to Avast.
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Anti-virus???

I use Avast but to be honest it isn't exactly good at finding trojans and rootkits etc.
Malwarebytes however does a better job. It did find signs of an infection I suffered but even then couldn't get to some files. I had to play many clever tricks including editing certain registry keys in a text editor, renaming things in safe mode, to name a few. Eventually MB managed to pickup the rest of the infection and deal with most of it but it was a massive pain.
To be honest though, MB was superior to Avast for finding the infection. Avast didn't find anything which was utterly shocking.
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
NorthEasterner
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,873
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Registered: ‎25-09-2012

Re: Anti-virus???

I've always used mccafee which is free to some plusnet customers, however I use BT's version of mccafee
No problems, however a virus was found and it got rid of it.  Simples.
Ex Plusnet Fibre customer. Sky Ultrafast (G.Fast) Customer using a Sky Hub 4.2. If you wish to say thanks, please click the thumbs up Thumbs_Up
w23
Pro
Posts: 6,347
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Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: Anti-virus???

No antivirus software is perfect (free or otherwise), all will miss some malware, some will report false positives (McAfee famously removed a critical Windows XP system file a couple of years ago severely breaking many people's systems), some will identify minor tracking cookies as though they were dangerous viruses.
I still use MSE on some systems (the slowest netbooks for example), Avast on other systems but I also run Malware bytes regularlyly on all my systems to help pick up anything that's been missed by the others then I run occasional online scans using Norton, Trend etc.
I use Open DNS to help block bad sites and, most importantly I'm aware of the type of sites to avoid and never click links from emails from unknown sources (and often known sources).
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Anti-virus???

A recent test of 6 packages put Bitdefender as the best of the bunch.
Windows 10 Firefox 109.0 (64-bit)
To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
rogadodge
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎08-10-2010

Re: Anti-virus???

Good article Strat, thanks.  Will look further into those. Try and get one that does all. But not even testing Malware bytes?
MrT
Grafter
Posts: 379
Registered: ‎30-06-2010

Re: Anti-virus???

I bought a copy of Bitdefender and was very disappointed with it.
It would not run at all on my Windows XP Home laptop.
It ran OK on my Windows 7 desktop.
It was a pain on my Windows 8 laptop - it kept wanting me to restart the system to complete its' updates. This defeats the benefit of Windows 8 fast start-up!
I gave it a month and then reverted to Norton Internet Security. All  Smiley now.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Anti-virus???

If you are serious about a paid security package I tend to use this site for comparisons http://www.av-comparatives.org/
Personally I use Kaspersky Internet Security - I buy two 3 user licenses each year. Usually from Amazon but buying the older version as the activation is good for the newest version as well. Typical cost about £8 per user per year
That product is consistently in the top rank
By the way - if you bank with Barclays you get it free
AlaricAdair
Champion
Posts: 5,658
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Registered: ‎21-03-2011

Re: Anti-virus???

I use Kaspersky too and have for several years. Probably for the wrong historical reasons I have a strong hate of the Norton products and when I tried AVG it was a pain to use.
Now Zen, but a +Net residue.
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
Thanks: 1,609
Fixes: 565
Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Anti-virus???

Ditto to all AlaricAdair has said.
Windows 10 Firefox 109.0 (64-bit)
To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
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Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Anti-virus???

Malwarebytes finds thing it describes as PUPs, "Potentially Unwanted Programs".  This is stuff with a veneer of respectability that has a digital signature and will uninstall normally via (add/remove) Programs but which fiddles with your browser settings.  Lots of software will do this but there is a spectrum between Google at the good end down to qone8 at the bad end.
Although Malwarebytes identifies PUPs as "threats", they are NOT selected for removal by default because whether you want the software or not is a judgement call.  I think you will find Malwarebyte's "1354 threats" probably pertain to all the files from 4 or 5 bits of PUP software. 
rogadodge
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎08-10-2010

Re: Anti-virus???

There certainly were a lot of 'PUPs', but also a lot of trojans and a few other things that I can't remember - deleted now. Smiley
Whatever they were, they were - not are, now. And laptop loads and runs a lot faster now.