Virus Scan question

[Liz]

I have McAfee VirusScan for viruses and spyware. Last year I also had Webroot Spy Sweeper. Someone told me I don't need both which I assume is true. I'm not one to buy everything available and want to keep the pc safe and at the same time, as simple as possible.

Any information?

Thanks.
Liz

[Peter_AUS]

Stick with what you have Liz and as I said last year, I use Eset Nod32 and that has been much better than all the ones you mention and others mentioned at the time as well. It seems to catch things others have failed to catch and I thought my system was very clean, until I found out it wasn't. But like everything, as new products come out, so do new ways around them. Just keep the virus definitions up to date and check your system regularly.

[SmartWombat]

It's good to have more than one anti-spyware program, but not more than one anti-virus.
Anti-virus programs tend to interact with each other and cause problems, if you use the real-time continuous scanning of files.
I have found that anti-spyware programs don't catch everything, I use both AdAware and SpyBot and each will catch about 6 to 12 problems a week.

[Liz]

Thanks Peter. I'll just do what you suggest for now.

Liz

Stick with what you have Liz and as I said last year, I use Eset Nod32 and that has been much better than all the ones you mention and others mentioned at the time as well. It seems to catch things others have failed to catch and I thought my system was very clean, until I found out it wasn't. But like everything, as new products come out, so do new ways around them. Just keep the virus definitions up to date and check your system regularly.

[Liz]

Thanks.......The McAfee seems to be doing a good job so far. I have a very simple set up. I think I'm going to keep the email offer for the upgrade to Spysweeper on hold for a while. This is the first McAfee anti-virus I've had that includes spyware, so I'll see how it goes.

I do have a simple set up and don't surf the web much except for here and a couple of other sites I frequent along with google. I don't know how much difference this makes as far as how much protection to have. Does it make a lot of difference? One person told me for what I do, I don't need much, but when I get a website myself, I should get more protection. Is this true?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Liz

It's good to have more than one anti-spyware program, but not more than one anti-virus.
Anti-virus programs tend to interact with each other and cause problems, if you use the real-time continuous scanning of files.
I have found that anti-spyware programs don't catch everything, I use both AdAware and SpyBot and each will catch about 6 to 12 problems a week.

[ekstasis16]

The fact is, if you have a broadband connection that is always on (as opposed to dial-up), you're at risk for all sorts of attacks, both benign and malicious. It doesn't matter if you have a simple setup or a complex setup, and it doesn't really matter how much you surf the web. Hackers will run programs to sniff open ports on your computer, even if you don't surf the web at all. However, the most common spyware attacks come from browsing websites with certain kinds of advertising that will install hidden programs on your computer to do various things.

Like SmartWombat said, its a good idea to have multiple spyware programs because there is so much spyware out there that no single program can keep up.

One of the easiest things you can do to protect yourself if you use Windows is to use Firefox (www.getfirefox.com) as your browser instead of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is much more vulnerable to spyware because of how it is built. I've been using Firefox for 2 years and have had very few problems with spyware.

[Asylum Steve]

Like SmartWombat said, its a good idea to have multiple spyware programs because there is so much spyware out there that no single program can keep up...

Yeah, this is a point worth repeating. And if I can add to it, one of your antivirus programs ideally should be a smaller name company. Many malicious programs specifically target the big two AV companies Norton and McAfee.

The second program can serve as a backup as well as giving you more complete coverage.

One good freeware AV program is AVG:

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/289/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

[ekstasis16]

Well, I would probably stick to installing only one anti-virus program, because again, like SmartWombat said, they can conflict with each other. But I agree with you about going with a smaller company. The Norton and McAfee programs are just monsters - huge programs that clutter up a lot of things. I've sworn by F-Prot (http://www.f-prot.com/products/) for several years after it saved my butt at work when Norton and McAffee and even AVG couldn't detect a virus going around the office. But everyone has a similar story about their software of choice.

Here's a review of 7 Antivirus programs:
http://antivirus.about.com/cs/before.../aatpavwin.htm

[Peter_AUS]

With Broadband, as long as you have your firewall turned on (in the modem hopefully) usually in medium mode, then port sniffers etc won't get through, might tie up your broadband, but I suggest to anyone that has Broadband, if it doesn't have a built in firewall protection then you need a different modem, they are basically standard these days with broadband modem/routers anyway in my experience being in the computer industry for quite a long time now.

I have tried everyone of the anti-virus spy-ware software that you can think of and that has been mentioned here, I go back to my original statement and say that Eset Nod-32 has been the most trusted I have found in 15 years.

[Liz]

Thanks for all the information - I'm having someone come to "clean up" etc....my pc. I want to be ready with whatever more software I need when he gets here.

I have Verizon DSL installed by Verizon. I also have Windows XP. Somewhere along the way when I got my first virus scan, I was told I already had a firewall that goes with the DSL.

Is this true?

Liz

[Peter_AUS]

As I said Liz, generally the modem for DSL (called ADSL here) have firewalls inside them which you turn on or off and can increase the level of the firewall from off, low, medium, high depending on what you want in the interface (usually accessed by a web browser page) that allows you to change settings of the modem easier. If you are getting someone into cleanup the computer then get them to look at the firewall side of things of the modem as well.

[Liz]

Thanks again Peter. I appreciate your patience.

Liz

[Peter_AUS]

Always got time for you Liz you know that.

[Ronnoco]

I have McAfee VirusScan for viruses and spyware. Last year I also had Webroot Spy Sweeper. Someone told me I don't need both which I assume is true. I'm not one to buy everything available and want to keep the pc safe and at the same time, as simple as possible.

Any information?

Thanks.
Liz

Actually they were wrong Liz. You do need both. McAfee is good for viruses but Webroot is far superior in the spyware, trojan, advertising malware category.if you read the testing lab reports.

Any program can claim to handle both viruses and spyware since the definition can overlap but at the moment combos that handle both viruses and spyware are not the best in either area.

Ronnoco

[Liz]

Thanks Ronnoco - I appreciate the information. Actually I just got another email from Webroot with a decent offer for an upgrade.

Liz

Actually they were wrong Liz. You do need both. McAfee is good for viruses but Webroot is far superior in the spyware, trojan, advertising malware category.if you read the testing lab reports.

Any program can claim to handle both viruses and spyware since the definition can overlap but at the moment combos that handle both viruses and spyware are not the best in either area.

Ronnoco