Which computer utilities, Anti-virus, Anti-spyware softwares to use?

vanity | 30 December 2005 | NZerFromHK

[NZerFromHK]

I'm running an one-year old Compaq Presario P4 2.8 GHz with 512 MB of RAM and a nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 with 128 MB video RAM. Currently I have NSW (Norton Sys Works) 2005 installed for Anti-virus and system maintenance works, ZoneAlarm for firewall, and Spobot, Ad-aware, and Spyware Blaster for spyware removal programs.

I'm wondering whether this is the best choice I'm using? Is there anything else I should add (preferably free) or I should use in place of any of these utilities so to have the best protection?

Thanks in advance.

[goldstategop]

Its currently in beta. But the firewall automatically configured my Internet applications and OneCare like the AntiSpyware program so far has no problems and isn't a resource hog. I hope Microsoft keeps it lean when it goes "gold."

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The Microsoft (formerly Giant Software) anti sppyware beta program is really very good. Try it while it's free.

The only other suggestion I would make would be to dump all things Norton (Symantec) and use the AVG Free ver. 7 anti virus software instead. It is smaller and less bloated and won't hose your system like Norton tends to do to a lot of folks.

[cva66snipe]

The only other suggestion I would make would be to dump all things Norton (Symantec) and use the AVG Free ver. 7 anti virus software instead. It is smaller and less bloated and won't hose your system like Norton tends to do to a lot of folks.

I've got a question or three. If you downloaded AVG to try it and disabled Nortons in the start up options via MS Config should they conflict with each other?

IOW I think I'd like to give it a try but if my computer doesn't like it for whatever reason I don't want to go through reloading Nortons and it's updates again especially on dial-up. Also keeping it optional I might consider running a Nortons scan once a week till my subscription runs out just to convince myself :>}

[KC Burke]

One of my spare machines was an old laptop I used in the basement for surfing and e-mail running Windows 98 (first edition) with the upgrades that the windows has issued.

I had been using ZoneAlarm for the last year but when the update at the first of December came out and I went to upgrade it corrupted and totally shut down. It left part of the TrueVector component in place, however, and wouldn't let me reliably launch the MSE browser.

Went to the site and followed their directions for removing/deling the program to try and start fresh and it won't reload due to missing dll's. Tried reloading some of them over the net per their instuctions and now I apparantly have the TCP/IP messed up and can't connect at all.

As there is only minimal support for that small OS and this machine doesn't have the root drive capacity to upgrade to XP, I am now sitting with a machine the won't launch its browser and no good way to upgrade the OS to get something more stabil.

From the forums on ZoneAlarm, I am only one of a very large number having this or similar problems, evne with their new Pro release.

I would do a very good OS and settings backup before trying ZoneAlarm right now. In six months they may have this worked out, but problems to their freeware aren't very high on their list it appears.

[Uri’el-2012]

Got Root ?

[backhoe]

Appreciate the info- while a lot of people swear by ZA, a lot swear at it, too. Kerio is said to use far fewer system resources.

A couple of things come to mind- certain malware breaks the TCP/IP stack, and I wonder if any of the repair routines would fix yours? Buried in the replies of the forums here:

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?s=5afc5653492cc5c7bbcbc527160dba50&showforum=18

are discussions that, as I recall, have a few TCP/IP stack repairs. It is searchable, FWIW.

I wonder if you could "breadboard" ( just temporarily cable ) a fresh, larger drive as "master," set the old drive to slave, and install a newer OS, then copy your data from the old drive? I'm not at all familiar with the physical layout of laptops, and can't speak from experience- just an idea.

There is, of course, what I call the Linux Heresy-- some flavors of linux like Mandrake offer a dual-boot installation, preserving ( given a little luck, and careful attention to the Install routine ) Windows. You might have to delete some of the Windows software to gain enough room on the drive for linux. That would give you a more modern OS, web access, and the ability to load Windows if you need it for anything. Of course, learning a new OS is a Royal Pain, but you could get back the web that way.

[ThePythonicCow]

I tried PC Tools Spyware Doctor, thanks to your recommendation and some other good comments I found on it.

I think it has succumbed to the common commercial software disease of alarmist teasers. It found a couple of changes to my hosts file and registry that other tools I use and trust have made, and did its best to alarm me into being scared that these changes meant that I was infected with a couple of seriously nasty trojans.

However it did its best to not give me enough useful information to follow up, and to scare me into buying it right away, to remove these dreadful threats. For both the trojans it claimed I had, none of the various other, more serious and specific, symptoms are present on my system.

This means that I cannot trust its alarms. It is more interested in selling me the full version than in providing an accurate assessment of the problem.

Googling around, the other uses and comments I found for Spyware Doctor seem consistent with this analysis.

Off it goes.

[KC Burke]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have the complication that this laptop (IBM) has a small SCSI drive that had to be partitioned with a very small C root drive and the balance in D drive. I converted the D to FAT32 but some of the IBM accessories didn't allow converting the C:/ to FAT32 so it remains plain FAT.

With only 64 meg of RAM it isn't even a very good candidate for some of the full featured Linux as I understand. And I am sure I would have to reformat and re-partition the drive for the new OS. What a pain.

[ChuckHam]

Interesting. I've had none of the problems you describe, but there are others out there for you to try out. Webroot Spysweeper is also a good product and rates as one of the best commercial products. Of course no one product is perfect and the best way to keep the real nasty stuff off your system is to stay away from Porn and Warez websites and only download software from trusted sources. Anyway, good luck in finding a tool you like.

[ThePythonicCow]

Oh - don't worry about me finding stuff I like. As I posted above, I run several products, including Webroot Spysweeper.

It's not just the porn, warez and downloads that will get you these days. Microsoft itself rates the latest flaw as very serious - just viewing a web page can infect your machine, and the latest root kit technology is getting increasingly sophisticated at hiding.

From The Washington Post:

Windows Security Flaw Is 'Severe'

PCs Vulnerable to Spyware, Viruses

By Brian Krebs

Special to The Washington Post
Friday, December 30, 2005; Page D01

A previously unknown flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system is leaving computer users vulnerable to spyware, viruses and other programs that could overtake their machines and has sent the company scrambling to come up with a fix.

...

Mike Reavey, operations manager for Microsoft's Security Response Center, called the flaw "a very serious issue."

...

Unlike with previously revealed vulnerabilities, computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites or viewing an infected image in an e-mail through the preview pane in older versions of Microsoft Outlook, even if users did not click on anything or open any files. Operating system versions ranging from the current Windows XP to Windows 98 are affected.

[js1138]

I have switched every PC I deal with to AVG (free for home users, $25 for two year corporate license. Microsoft Anti-Spyware, free. ZoneAlarm free for non-XP machines.

I have one corporate machine set up with MS OneCare, free Beta. It's doing fine.

Many of these machines formarly had Norton but the users let the license lapse, and they got loaded with spyware and junk. It doesn't do much good if you don't keep it up to date.

I dumped Norton at home because the kept requiring the purchase of new versions, even after paying the annual fee. Then I got into a situation where it came up every week demanding activation. Norton is history.

[ChuckHam]

Cool deal. I try to stay on top of this stuff myself and I'm finding that since I switched to 64 bit Windows it's hard to find good anti-spyware. For the time being it appears only Spyware Doctor and Microsoft Antispyware will run for me. I run them both together and feel I have pretty good protection. The NOD32 64 bit version is good as well so far as antivirus goes. I run Webroot on all my other 32 bit OS computers along with Spyware Doctor and find them to be very complimentary to each other.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If you've had no troubles with Norton products thusfar, by all means continue to use it until your subscription runs out.
No sense paying for it and not using it.

But, when the time comes to re-up...forego it and use AVG. You won't regret it.
In the meantime, you can certainly disable Norton by using MSconfig...just be sure you've disabled all of the startup programs that Norton runs.
Then download and install AVG Free and update it and try it for a while. If you do, use MSconfig to disable the AVGCC process which is in fact the Control Center which does not need to be running all the time and using up resources. If you want the Control Center to run, start it up via the Start menu. Disabling it with MSconfig will not affect the agent that runs in the background protecting your PC nor will it affect the update service should you decide to schedule regular daily update checks.

Any other Qs? Feel free to ask.

[cva66snipe]

Thanks for the answer. The only thing I was considering disabling would have been Nortons if I ran AVG. I'm on dial up and Nortons takes a month of Sundays to scan even a simple e-mail I send. it's not my system resources as I have 768 MB Ram and only run a Pop up blocker, Nortons, and Zone Alarm as extras.

I have a Presario 6400 with XP so it's not too old. I will use the AVG on some junkers I tinker around with though. The only reason I haven't had them on line is no virus protection. I'll put it in one of the old ones so I can get used to it.

[ThePythonicCow]

Another site with comparative reviews of the top anti-spyware: adwarereport.com. It rates the top twenty as:

Antispyware Reviews

    Spyware Eliminator

    Spyware Doctor

    Spy Sweeper

#4     ZeroSpyware 2005

#5     CounterSpy

#6     MS AntiSpyware

#7     Ad-Aware

#8     Ewido

#9     NoAdware

#10    McAfee

#11    Spyware XTerminator

#12    Pest Patrol

#13    Spyware Killer Pro

#14    Spyware Begone!

#15    Spyware Cleaner

#16    Spybot S&D

#17    Trend Micro

#18    PALSol

#19    Spy Hunter

#20    SpyKiller