Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: onjanana on 03/12/2010 21:22:34
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but does clamwin get rid of the virus or does it just do a free scan cos if so wat do i do next
[Mr Spam Attorney in Law - Go do one! Thanks, Mod!]
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Not heard of it. Wouldn't trust it, personally.
There are several decent free & respected antivirus apps.
I have used AVG and Avast. Both of which seem thorough.
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If you are running Windows, you might start off with Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, and it seems to be fairly effective and unobtrusive.
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I found Trendmicro Antivirus / Anti spyware and it has prevented malicious attacks on my computers for the last 10 years. On there website, they also have a free version they call Housecall that will scan and execute a disinfectant. It will find what others have not!
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Clamav/Klamav is a Free, Open Source antivirus that can be used in Linux, and doesn't require Dazuko. It seems to be able to scan files, but doesn't seem to be that comprehensive of an interface. Very Bare-Bones.
I would assume that clamwin would be related, but haven't used it. The virus removal options with KLAMAV were limited, but would direct one to the appropriate files to remove. I don't know about clamwin.
I guess I get tired of the "big name" antivirus companies that want to sell you their software over and over and over again to the point where some people have accused them of creating a virus-tolerant culture.
The two most popular "free" antivirus software programs for Windows are AVG and Avira
Avira: (http://free-av.com) now routes to (http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus).
AVG: (http://free.avg.com)
My personal choice was Avira over AVG. It just seemed easier and more intuitive to use, but they should be equally effective.
Some ISP services also provide a free copy of McAfee Antivirus. It is one of the SLOWEST antivirus packages, but it is also quite professional. It is worth considering.
YOU CAN REALLY ONLY RUN ONE ANTIVIRUS PACKAGE AT A TIME. RUNNING 2 WILL SLOW DOWN YOUR COMPUTER.
As far as antiviruses, my general rule is that if the antivirus is more than 6 months out of date, it is worse than not having anything (which is why I disliked the big-name programs that had a tendency to disable themselves if you failed to keep "feeding the meter").
You may also choose an anti-spyware package. It has been a while since I've been using the Windows based antispyware. There were 3 packages in the past.
Windows Defender (downloadable from Microsoft, they may have re-named it).
Like many Microsoft packages, it was a bit overly intrusive, and hard to configure to just scan when one wanted it.
Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/)
Adaware (http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php)
As long as you aren't doing real-time scanning all the time, you can load all three anti-spyware packages, and there are benefits of having more than one installed on your machine.
Be careful of any other spykiller/spywhacker types of programs. Many are actually spyware masquerading as killing off what they actually are, and can be quite annoying to rid yourself of.
I suppose that is the big problem with the free antivirus program is the alacarte approach of needing a little of this and a little of that.
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I would go for Kaspersky, it can be downloaded, you can just have a 1 month trial, good to remove trojan viruses.
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I've used Stinger (free) with good success. I take my computer physically offline, disable my AV (usually Avast or AVG), run Stinger from a disk, enable the AV program, and go back online.
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Stinger is useful as a second opinion to another AV, but is not a real-time antivirus program ...
Stinger is a standalone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection
http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/how-to-use-stinger.aspx
BTW If you are using a Windows system I second Geezer's suggestion (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=35698.msg333278#msg333278) of using Microsoft's "security essentials".
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get linux.
it doesnt have viruses.
teh main distribution is ubuntu
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get linux.
it doesnt have viruses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Virus
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Virus
Linux malware includes viruses, trojans, worms and other types of malware that affect the Linux operating system. Linux, Unix and other Unix-like computer operating systems are generally regarded as very well-protected — but not immune — from computer viruses. According to advocates like Scott Granneman, Linux provides better protection compared to Microsoft Windows.[1]
There has not yet been a widespread Linux malware threat of the type that Microsoft Windows software faces; this is commonly attributed to the malware's lack of root access and fast updates to most Linux vulnerabilities.[2]
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The problem with Linux is that many of the antivirus programs require Dazuko... which is not a straight-forward install... well... I guess I should try it again.
clamav/klamav seem to work, but have lots of false-positives, and are a bit cumbersome to use.
Most Linux distributions require a large number of additional utilities to be installed. For example, you can't hardly play an mpg video without installing additional utilities. Inevitably one ends up hunting down obscure libraries. The more customizing one does, the greater risk one gets of snagging malware.
It is likely that there is some cross-platform Java/WWW malware.
I would think there is also a difference in the users between your typical Linux user, and typical Windows user.
I will try anything once... [B)]
But I have a healthy sense of scepticism for certain things, so I don't just blindly follow links in E-Mail. I have a no-spam policy. I will not buy anything that comes to me in unsolicited SPAM. [xx(] And, if I get an e-mail from a company I work with (e-bay, for example), I usually go directly to e-bay rather than following the links provided in the message unless they can be verified as legit.
And, of course, I verify that the file types I encounter are the correct types before opening. I won't even download an executable if I'm expecting a text file.
Yes, I have WINE installed... but don't use it much.
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Microsoft Security Essentials does a good job for me !
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Well is hard to answer to this question, at least for me, because there are a lot of antivirus software out there. However I would say from my own standping that a good antivirus needs to be very light, very complete when it comes to online protection. There are a lot of malware sites that can infect your websites with a lot of viruses and collect your data and files using spyware tools. So I guess there's quite a lot to tell. I've been using the latest version of ZenOK free Antivirus (http://www.zenok.com/en/free-antivirus/) and it's working for me.
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Re ZenOK (I'd never heard of it) see
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=280565&highlight=zenok
They don't think much of it, and dislike its (alleged) "pyramid selling" strategy...
FWIW I've used ESET NOD32 (paid) for the past 5 years or more. Seems to do the job, and detects real stuff in email etc. NOD32 doesn't cause the system to grind to a snails' pace like Norton (used by my parents [V]) or McAfee (which I suffer at work)...
NOD32 gives multi-year or even year-by-year discounts, in contrast to Norton which on annual expiry always tries to set you up with annually-self-renewing credit-card debits for about 50% more than a brand new off-the-shelf boxed product would cost.
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Microsoft Security Essentials does a good job for me !
I agree with Neil. MS (finally) seems to have got its act together. A lot of the other stuff (I mention no names) seems to behave a lot more like a virus than an anti-virus.
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Microsoft Security Essentials does a good job for me !
I agree with Neil. MS (finally) seems to have got its act together. A lot of the other stuff (I mention no names) seems to behave a lot more like a virus than an anti-virus.
AVG Antivirus
Avira Antivirus
Spybot Antispyware
and
Adaware Antispyware
are all "SAFE".
Since I've been avoiding infecting my computer with Microsoft Software... I can't comment on their latest release. MS Defender was ok, but I preferred periodic anti-spyware scans rather than background scans so Defender was a bit cumbersome.
Commercial NAV and McAfee are a pain for personal use because inevitably the subscriptions run out, and the machines are left unprotected.
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Clifford,
MSE is nothing like MS Defender. MSE basically does the same job that McAfee tries to do, minus all the aggravation, and it's free. I've tried the other "freebies", but they all seem to have holes.
An OS does not really do all that much, but I've always thought the one thing it should be bloody good at is defending itself against viruses. Virus protection really needs to be embedded in the OS. It's not something that can be "bolted on" later without special hooks into the OS. MS seems to have finally figured it out.
If you are running on a Windows OS, you should give MSE a shot.
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Hmmm, very good point Geezer. Would be logical to have the AV embedded in the OS. Think I'll give MSE a shot on one of my computers (when I get time to play).