anti virus software

[J. Hulme]

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

this’ll detect more or less anything and its free.

[Vince Francis]

If you go onto the microsoft website, they have a couple of really good programmes.

They have spyware beta, new and free, also on the site is a free prog from computer associates, with free firewall. Load those and service pack2 for windows (thats if you have it), and you should have no probs

Vince

[Derek Heron]

thanks for the pointers
i shall look in the morning
if i can sleep i lock all the doors and windows but i just dont feel safe
and i just watched dawn of the dead!
dex

[Dave Bruce]

been there, had that, an absolute nightmare. I have Panda Titanium on my computer but still seem to get hit. There was an antivirus test in the latest Computer Shopper and Panda didn’t come out very well, AVG even beat it but that isn’t my experience, when I have read it fully I may change my anti virus.

Cheers

Dave

[budone]

I know plenty of people who use the free programs and still get hit.

Funny never hear of many who buy Norton or mcafee.

Anyway i run McAfee personal firewall and Virus scanner – I’ve never been hit yet – touch wood!

The big thing is you need to keep these things updated DAILY! it’s no good once a week or once a month! My McAfee checks for updates constantly and almost everyday i have an update to download.

[Nicola McIntosh]

another point to remember av software does not detect trojans you need a programme like spybot or spysweeper you can find most freebies on http://www.download.com or http://www.majorgeeks.com 😛

nik

[Gordon Forbes]

I go Mcaffe norton puts so much sheeeet on you computer its a wonder it does anything after you install it all, sayin that so does McAffe with all that privacy and internet security gumpf. I uninstalled half of it and my connection is back to what it was now.

Scare mongerin is good business especially bout hackers etc etc they do exist for sure but everybodies next door neigbour isn’t one same goes for the pedos you would think ther were millions of em the way they go on.

Get yourself an ADSL router with a built in firewall. Leave it on all the time internet is always on wireless if you want it 4 port hub and nobody can see you behind it no matter how much they snoop.

[Peter Normington]

One of the best protections if you have broadband is to use a router, such as a netgear, its the first defence, then have a software firewall and av software aswell, try this site to see how secure you are, scroll down and click “shields up” then check your puter out by clicking on the varios buttons, http://www.grc.com/default.htm lots of info on the rest of the site, but this is very usefull for checking your ports, site is 100% safe
Peter

[J. Hulme]

quote niknaxpc:

another point to remember av software does not detect trojans you need a programme like spybot or spysweeper you can find most freebies on http://www.download.com or http://www.majorgeeks.com 😛

nik

So you didn’t read the link Nik, oh yes it does!

And it does a lot more, doesn’t mess your network up either like PC-Cillin Norton, Panda and the rest, doesn’t crash your computer like AGV, even protection against auto diallers!

This is the only antivirus software I’ve found that actually works (!)
The rest (in my opinion) is rubbish!

[Gordon Forbes]

Peter are you running Signlab 7

Not hijacking your post honest

[Peter Normington]

forbie yes i am

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote outline:

quote niknaxpc:

av software does not remove trojans

i quoted it wrong… 😳

outline….. you twisted my arm i’ll give it a go, i do not like the others either you mentioned i like avast anti-v. and spysweeper oh and crap cleaner!! 😛

nik

[J. Hulme]

Hi Nik, it blocks them or denys access, when one is detected it’ll give you a small box with about 5 or 6 options.

It’s good, honestly 😉

[Nicola McIntosh]

i’ll take your word for it outline!! 😛 i’m downloading it just now…56k taking forever anyway i’ll let you know in a few days what i think!! 😀

nik

[budone]

Nice link Peter,

I hope it’s telling the truth as it says i have a very cool computer, which is hidden very well. I have a perfect “trustealth” rating

[Peter Normington]

Yes it will be telling the truth, you cn check, disable your firewall and try it again you will get scared
Peter

[John Singh]

That’s a great link Peter

Blinkin’ frightening as well

John

[Carrie Brown]

Thought I would add my 10 pence worth 😉

We use a number of different things, Kerio firewall for our main pc’s which stops most things, and is very simple to use with pull down menu’s etc…

As for antivirus software there are a number of good ones but we use norton 2005 antivirus. This stops alot of ad wear to stop your browser from getting hijacked. Even though companies offer definition updates every now and then it is worth upgrading your anti-virus software too as hackers and virus writers keep getting better and better, so the anti-virus/firewall programs have to be updated too. We had norton 2002 which was great 2 years ago but because of all the new types of virus’s they used to slip through older anti virus programs, hence we had to upgrade.

[Vince Francis]

Hi

In reference to the free software progs, these are given out by Microsoft. I would then expect them to be very safe.

I have completed scans from the site Peter has suggested, and has shown no problems.

Ez Firewall is from Computer Associates
I am also using McAfee
and Microsofts Antispyware Beta

I have used other progs in the past, and have had nothing but problems. This is only my opinion, but why pay a fortune if Microsoft give you 2 of these for free!

Vince

[Stephen Morriss]

I use a router with a built in firewall, zonealarm & AVG on the computers, never had a problem with AVG letting viruses loose on me comp but I usually check for updates every day.

As for the wireless side of things you should set your wireless base to use the security bits (sorry my memory is rubbish) that will be there somewere.

Everything is crackable but most crackers won’t bother if there is some basic security beyond using passwords like “letmein” 🙂 go on how many of you use it 😳

[Peter Normington]

Thats exactly my set up, router, Zone Alarm and avg, never had any problems, both are prof. versions and update daily. another safety tip is never ever download e mails from the server, unless you want them, set your e mail prog just to down load headers, or view the mails on the server, using something like mailwasher, dont bounce any mails back though this just tells people that you are there.
Peter

[Shane Drew]

Bowber/Peter this is my setup too. I’ve tried most of em, dumped Norton coz it loads too much stuff on the drive, CA EZ trust was good but my license expired while I was away, and they wanted me to buy at full price again, Tried AVG free for a year or so, never had a problem but upgraded to pro vesion and was very impressed.

Interestingly, a mate of mine upgraded to CA EZ trust paid version from AVG free at the same time, got hit with a trojan dialer the next week. Never had a problem before that using AVG free. May be a coincidence, not sure.

I think the key here is that education and protection is important. I still have some clients that think it is all a crock, and can not be convinced that it is important. A sign shop I know was of the same opinion until he rang me to tell me his computer was doing some strange things. He had no virus or firewall protection. Got an ‘expert’ out to look at his computer. He stopped counting at 47 infected files.

Cheers

[Nicola McIntosh]

first class piece of software outline!! 😛 😛

i thought my pc was clean as a whistle….antvir guard found a lovely flashkiller trojan 😀 i am very impressed!! 😉

Nik

[J. Hulme]

Hi Nik, glad you like it !
Don’t forget to download the free update everyday!

😉

[Nicola McIntosh]

whewww.. just done so outline, i thought it had automatic updates 😮
i have to disable avast anti-virus though, total conflict…but i’m happy!! 😛

Nik

[Nigel Fraser]

Thanks for the link Peter, it’s a useful test to try !

I was pretty impressed to get this message after testing mine –

“Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist!
One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND (that’s very cool!) which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion.”

“Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer.
All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet.”

Not sure what it means but I guess that means I’m ok then 😕

Nigel

[Steve Lamb]

Outline

Where you from? and what do you do?

[Nigel Pugh]

Worth a visit to http://www.doxdesk.com once home page has loaded look at the list down the left hand side and click on Parasites, while this page loads your pc gets scanned for nasties.

Also if you can find this site merjin.org, this is a good site with sound information about all the new virus etc going, only bad point this site does move to mirrored sites now and then because of all the virus writers keep trying to take it down.

Jus remember I’ts a war out there, keep ya head down an hold onto ya valuables.

[Lee Jones]

All good advice here, most of all the virus / firewall combinations will protect you from most of the script kiddies out there, but none of them can stop everything, until it is known about, and as there are thousands of virus, Trojans, worms and dll injection scripts being made daily its not surprising.

My choice having tried them all over many years has come down to Kaspersky labs for viral infections, and Outpost Pro for the firewall all going through a firewalled router.

To see just how good your combination is, or not, go to this web site which has many tests to download and help and advice of how to improve your set up.

code :http://www.firewallleaktester.com/index.html