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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: Awful on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:16:13

Title: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Awful on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:16:13
I've been pirating stuff alot lately (teehee) and ended up with some random ****e. What anti-spyware program would you guys recommend?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: CPTBadAss on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:16:54
I like Microsoft security essentials.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: SpAmRaY on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:21:12
I like Microsoft security essentials.

^^ this is good


I also like malwarebytes
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Photekq on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:23:08
I don't use one regularly. I'm just careful with what I download. It's very easy to not get viruses even if you pirate regularly.

I have malwarebytes & MSE installed. I scan once a month just incase but for the past six months they've turned up negative.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Awful on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:26:34
It's weird I've pirated stuff for years, but my favorite site got shut down and I got a little reckless..
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Photekq on Wed, 26 June 2013, 21:32:20
It's weird I've pirated stuff for years, but my favorite site got shut down and I got a little reckless..
I recommend you do the following :

1. Get a seedbox. You can rent seedboxes that are already setup or you can do the following :
-Rent a cheap dedicated server with debian server installed.
-Install seedbox software - rtorrent (torrent client), rutorrent (web interface - allows you to add torrents through a website).
-Setup SFTP. The use of SFTP means that any peers can only see the file size and file format. This way you simply cannot get done for pirating.
The advantage of a seedbox is that it will constantly seed your torrents at high speeds. It's also much more secure.

Why do you need a seedbox though?
2. Join private trackers. These are specific trackers, for example what.cd is for music, tehconnection.eu is for movies etc.
They are invite only. You have to seed what you've downloaded which is why you ideally need a seedbox. The files on these sites are usually higher quality (especially when it comes to music) and you won't find any viruses here.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: noisyturtle on Wed, 26 June 2013, 23:44:07
I like Avast because it's free, easy to uninstall if you wanna, you can turn off all the auto update **** if you wanna, and it is very customizable in terms of what and how you specifically want scanned.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Input Nirvana on Thu, 27 June 2013, 00:09:19
Mac

This is my download folder icon:

[attachimg=1]

I was looking for a VPN. Ya'll are say'in that a Seedbox is better?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: davkol on Thu, 27 June 2013, 02:21:24
I don't use Amazuntu and software by companies such as Google or Microsoft. Also, I use software mostly from trusted sources. (Who the hell would pirate free software anyway?) In other words, the best way to get rid of spyware is... well, just don't install it.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Thu, 27 June 2013, 03:08:38
This is actually a major part of my job, dealing with malware.

I wouldn't touch MSE for several reasons.
A. It's common, too common, especially for noobs, this means it's a ripe target.
B. You have all your eggs in one basket, I.E. Microsoft, who has a history of being sh*t when it comes to stopping malware. You have them handling your o.s. security, your av security... No. Diversity is good.
C. http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test

The only thing I have seen it do well was deal with a rootkit. However, it required making a disk and blah blah blah... Tdsskiller did it in a quarter the time and without a boot disk.



As for what to run, frankly most malware is coming in through web advertisements. In fact the last survey showed only 3% was coming through email and no single approach will stop it all (well, almost).

I have well over 300 systems running this setup, including my own, it's a multi-pronged approach, however, it's relatively low in resources and all of these programs are free(!). Anything I work on, ends up with this setup (unless they recently bought something like Norton) and the business owners and I try in earnest to make sure nothing gets on their network without being checked first as most have seen the results first hand. In fact, that is usually why I get called in the first place.

Level1
Run an adblocker. Adblock Pro for Chrome, and Adblock Edge for Firefox. This blocks 90%+ of the junk out there.
Level 2
Winpatrol. Winpatrol is a VERY low resource program (uses only 3megs of memory) that most of the time sits idle. Every few minutes, it simply scans every autostart location in Windows. It keeps a list of approved programs, and if something new pops up, it simply asks you if you want to allow it. It's a much better version of the U.A.C.  If YOU are careful, this program alone is the best anti-virus program there is, and is probably the only pro-active one on the market (rather than reactive). My brother and I went 6 months with only this and an adblocker and never caught anything despite being careless. In fact it was so good, I was worried about losing my business if I installed it on customer computers. I didn't need to worry, people are always the biggest threat.

At this point, it's pretty much only user error that allows the system to be infected, which is why...
Level 3
Avast Free. I have Avast Free running. This is their basic protection, I absolutely hate firewalls (biggest con job the anti-malware industry has put over on the general public, topic for another discussion) and "internet protection" packages. This is mostly to protect from anything I download or comes through my network.

If I suspect something has gotten through, that too has a multipronged approach.
First is Tdsskiller, this removes rootkits.
Second is ComboFix, this takes care of 90% of the junk you will get.
Third is Super Antispyware
Fourth is MalwareBytes.
After this, I uninstall all of these, then run CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the registry.
At this point, the system should be squeaky clean.

If I do have something I suspect is flakey, I run it on a system I use a sandbox system.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Thu, 27 June 2013, 04:29:54
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: davkol on Thu, 27 June 2013, 06:12:46
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Thu, 27 June 2013, 06:40:03
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^

Yeah, there are usually legal and easy ways to do that... hell apart from games I can't even pirate most of the content I consume becasue it's not on torrent or similar services becasue not that many people have it, and torrent traffic gets shaped so much (least for me) that Steam/GoG are much faster anyway.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: fohat.digs on Thu, 27 June 2013, 07:14:48
This is actually a major part of my job, dealing with malware.

Thank you very much for this. I have become bewildered with the choices out there.

Since I started using personal computers in the mid-1980s, I have always liked "utilities" programs and the (probably) illusion that I was running a lean and mean machine. I used the Norton family of products until about 5-10 years ago when the ever-increasing cost and bloatware pushed me away.

I have used a variety of freeware since, for my "utilities" mostly CCleaner and Glary Utilities in recent years, which make me very happy. I also use Revo Uninstaller, and move quickly to fully uninstall anything that I suspect has sneaked in unexpectedly.

For several years I used AVG but it eventually seemed to slow me down too much. I switched to Avast a couple of years ago and have liked it a lot. Windows Defender seems OK, and I run it at least once a month, but it never finds anything. I do strive to be careful with what I allow in, so maybe I beat it to the punch.

Malwarebytes was also something I used regularly for several years, but in the last 6 months I have been having occasional and intermittent boot problems (Windows 7/Gigabyte mobo/small Samsung SSD boot drive). After every recovery, Malwarebytes was corrupted. Experimentation showed that uninstalling MB solved the problem, and whenever I re-installed it, I had a boot crash within a week or 2.

I can do without it, although I do rather like like it, and on my boss's computer (he is completely incompetent) it made getting rid of the FBI ransom virus quick and easy.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Thu, 27 June 2013, 07:18:42
I thought I got Epic internet rap3d yesturday,  all my 3 w7 systems went down.. turns out, avast antivirus made an update that caused the page fault in non-page area x50  error....

 :D :D
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: SpAmRaY on Thu, 27 June 2013, 07:26:25
This is actually a major part of my job, dealing with malware.

I wouldn't touch MSE for several reasons.
A. It's common, too common, especially for noobs, this means it's a ripe target.
B. You have all your eggs in one basket, I.E. Microsoft, who has a history of being sh*t when it comes to stopping malware. You have them handling your o.s. security, your av security... No. Diversity is good.
C. http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test (http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test)

The only thing I have seen it do well was deal with a rootkit. However, it required making a disk and blah blah blah... Tdsskiller did it in a quarter the time and without a boot disk.



As for what to run, frankly most malware is coming in through web advertisements. In fact the last survey showed only 3% was coming through email and no single approach will stop it all (well, almost).

I have well over 300 systems running this setup, including my own, it's a multi-pronged approach, however, it's relatively low in resources and all of these programs are free(!). Anything I work on, ends up with this setup (unless they recently bought something like Norton) and the business owners and I try in earnest to make sure nothing gets on their network without being checked first as most have seen the results first hand. In fact, that is usually why I get called in the first place.

Level1
Run an adblocker. Adblock Pro for Chrome, and Adblock Edge for Firefox. This blocks 90%+ of the junk out there.
Level 2
Winpatrol. Winpatrol is a VERY low resource program (uses only 3megs of memory) that most of the time sits idle. Every few minutes, it simply scans every autostart location in Windows. It keeps a list of approved programs, and if something new pops up, it simply asks you if you want to allow it. It's a much better version of the U.A.C.  If YOU are careful, this program alone is the best anti-virus program there is, and is probably the only pro-active one on the market (rather than reactive). My brother and I went 6 months with only this and an adblocker and never caught anything despite being careless. In fact it was so good, I was worried about losing my business if I installed it on customer computers. I didn't need to worry, people are always the biggest threat.

At this point, it's pretty much only user error that allows the system to be infected, which is why...
Level 3
Avast Free. I have Avast Free running. This is their basic protection, I absolutely hate firewalls (biggest con job the anti-malware industry has put over on the general public, topic for another discussion) and "internet protection" packages. This is mostly to protect from anything I download or comes through my network.

If I suspect something has gotten through, that too has a multipronged approach.
First is Tdsskiller, this removes rootkits.
Second is ComboFix, this takes care of 90% of the junk you will get.
Third is Super Antispyware
Fourth is MalwareBytes.
After this, I uninstall all of these, then run CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the registry.
At this point, the system should be squeaky clean.

If I do have something I suspect is flakey, I run it on a system I use a sandbox system.

I forgot about winpatrol I used to use it all the time.

It goes on sale every once in a while for $0.99 I believe for the plus version!! In case anyone is interested.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Photekq on Thu, 27 June 2013, 07:32:15
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.
This is a load of ****. Pirating =/= viruses. See my earlier post. If you're stupid with how you use the internet then you'll end up with viruses even if you don't pirate.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Thu, 27 June 2013, 07:50:27
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.
This is a load of ****. Pirating =/= viruses. See my earlier post. If you're stupid with how you use the internet then you'll end up with viruses even if you don't pirate.

Pipe down kiddo, that's not what I said at all.

Quote
I've been pirating stuff alot lately (teehee) and ended up with some random ****e
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: linziyi on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:00:31
linux
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Photekq on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:08:09
Pipe down kiddo, that's not what I said at all.
You're missing my point. If someone manages to get viruses while pirating then they're probably going to get viruses even if they were to stop pirating.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:13:36
Pipe down kiddo, that's not what I said at all.
You're missing my point. If someone manages to get viruses while pirating then they're probably going to get viruses even if they were to stop pirating.

Why?
He said he was taking risks in order to pirate (which I assume means going off trusted trackers etc)... if he hasn't had problems prior to this (given that he is only asking for help now) it's safe to assume that he's fairly competent and that the only reason he has a problem is from downloading (trying to pirate) from untrusted sites, a problem he would never have if he didn't pirate...
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:21:23
Pipe down kiddo, that's not what I said at all.
You're missing my point. If someone manages to get viruses while pirating then they're probably going to get viruses even if they were to stop pirating.

Why?
He said he was taking risks in order to pirate (which I assume means going off trusted trackers etc)... if he hasn't had problems prior to this (given that he is only asking for help now) it's safe to assume that he's fairly competent and that the only reason he has a problem is from downloading (trying to pirate) from untrusted sites, a problem he would never have if he didn't pirate...

ah... I don't think there is such a thing as "trusted" pirate sites.

You take a risk with anything... internet files, that hot blonde that 12 other guys have gotten in before you, only 3 of which she admits to anyone...

So you see.....   Don't do anything with the computer that could epic screw up your life..

DO NOT online bank, DO NOT trade stocks on the same home line you use for pr0n, Everything else just keep a backup
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: boost on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:24:50
I don't use anti virus, just re-install all over again..lol
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Photekq on Thu, 27 June 2013, 08:57:46
Why?
He said he was taking risks in order to pirate (which I assume means going off trusted trackers etc)... if he hasn't had problems prior to this (given that he is only asking for help now) it's safe to assume that he's fairly competent and that the only reason he has a problem is from downloading (trying to pirate) from untrusted sites, a problem he would never have if he didn't pirate...
I still think it's highly likely that he would get the odd virus even if he stopped visiting The sites he is currently visiting. OP, correct me if I'm wrong in saying this.
Also, it's not the fact that he's pirating that's getting him the viruses. It's the fact that he's pirating the wrong way.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Thu, 27 June 2013, 10:11:57
I don't use anti virus, just re-install all over again..lol

This works fine if you arn't going to risky sites...  but..... who can do that these days... hidden links plastered everywhere
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Thu, 27 June 2013, 23:46:47

For several years I used AVG but it eventually seemed to slow me down too much. I switched to Avast a couple of years ago and have liked it a lot. Windows Defender seems OK, and I run it at least once a month, but it never finds anything. I do strive to be careful with what I allow in, so maybe I beat it to the punch.

You're welcome.

I used to use AVG on all the systems I maintained, but like you, I saw it become a bloated pain in the neck.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Input Nirvana on Fri, 28 June 2013, 00:11:44
Lelslieann:
Thank you for your info, I believe it is very helpful for virtually every GH'er. Valuable to have an educated, experienced, knowledgable offer of information. (and by experienced, I didn't mean "old" should you possibly be female and ridiculously overly sensitive about such silly things). I use Mac  so it doesn't apply to me but I fully recognize the extreme value of your contribution.

Baldgye:
Thank you for what sounds to be a moral judgement. Of course you're technically correct. We all know the what's legal/not legal regarding getting something for free via the internet when it's for sale on and off the internet.

This is my question for you....
Do you pirate anything illegally from the internet? Your first statements would indicate you do not, but your subsequent statements indicate you possibly do. Would like to know where you stand so I can possibly understand where you're really coming from. Keep in mind that the NSA is watching this thread. Choose your words carefully.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Fri, 28 June 2013, 00:39:42
Lelslieann:
Thank you for your info, I believe it is very helpful for virtually every GH'er. Valuable to have an educated, experienced, knowledgable offer of information. (and by experienced, I didn't mean "old" should you possibly be female and ridiculously overly sensitive about such silly things). I use Mac  so it doesn't apply to me but I fully recognize the extreme value of your contribution.

You're welcome
Female, yes, sensitive, not very.


Quote
Keep in mind that the NSA is watching this thread. Choose your words carefully.
NSA cannot keep information on US citizens, nor can their info be used to prosecute you. Plus, piracy is way below their  radar. The FBI on the other hand... They do watch IRC channels and do prosecute US citizens.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Input Nirvana on Fri, 28 June 2013, 01:02:45
Lelslieann:
Thank you for your info, I believe it is very helpful for virtually every GH'er. Valuable to have an educated, experienced, knowledgable offer of information. (and by experienced, I didn't mean "old" should you possibly be female and ridiculously overly sensitive about such silly things). I use Mac  so it doesn't apply to me but I fully recognize the extreme value of your contribution.

You're welcome
Female, yes, sensitive, not very.


Quote
Keep in mind that the NSA is watching this thread. Choose your words carefully.
NSA cannot keep information on US citizens, nor can their info be used to prosecute you. Plus, piracy is way below their  radar. The FBI on the other hand... They do watch IRC channels and do prosecute US citizens.

Rat bastards. All of 'em.

I'll pee in their cereal.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Fri, 28 June 2013, 03:39:03
Lelslieann:
Thank you for your info, I believe it is very helpful for virtually every GH'er. Valuable to have an educated, experienced, knowledgable offer of information. (and by experienced, I didn't mean "old" should you possibly be female and ridiculously overly sensitive about such silly things). I use Mac  so it doesn't apply to me but I fully recognize the extreme value of your contribution.

Baldgye:
Thank you for what sounds to be a moral judgement. Of course you're technically correct. We all know the what's legal/not legal regarding getting something for free via the internet when it's for sale on and off the internet.

This is my question for you....
Do you pirate anything illegally from the internet? Your first statements would indicate you do not, but your subsequent statements indicate you possibly do. Would like to know where you stand so I can possibly understand where you're really coming from. Keep in mind that the NSA is watching this thread. Choose your words carefully.

**** the amatures at the NSA it's GCHQ I've gotta worry about!

And no I don't pirate stuff, mostly because it's easier just to buy things legally. The only digital content I use (other than software) is music; which I use iTunes/beatport and bandcamp for, video; DVDs are hella cheap and for everything else there is YouTube/iplayer/Netflix and then games steam/gog or eBay...
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Fri, 28 June 2013, 04:56:27
I've been pirating stuff alot lately

Shameless statement haha.

I've been using MSE, mainly because it's light and works relatively well for a free program. Even works for the windows that you've pirated  ;) . Although, after what Leslieann posted, I may have to rethink using it.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Fri, 28 June 2013, 05:00:48
More
This is actually a major part of my job, dealing with malware.

I wouldn't touch MSE for several reasons.
A. It's common, too common, especially for noobs, this means it's a ripe target.
B. You have all your eggs in one basket, I.E. Microsoft, who has a history of being sh*t when it comes to stopping malware. You have them handling your o.s. security, your av security... No. Diversity is good.
C. http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test (http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test)

The only thing I have seen it do well was deal with a rootkit. However, it required making a disk and blah blah blah... Tdsskiller did it in a quarter the time and without a boot disk.



As for what to run, frankly most malware is coming in through web advertisements. In fact the last survey showed only 3% was coming through email and no single approach will stop it all (well, almost).

I have well over 300 systems running this setup, including my own, it's a multi-pronged approach, however, it's relatively low in resources and all of these programs are free(!). Anything I work on, ends up with this setup (unless they recently bought something like Norton) and the business owners and I try in earnest to make sure nothing gets on their network without being checked first as most have seen the results first hand. In fact, that is usually why I get called in the first place.

Level1
Run an adblocker. Adblock Pro for Chrome, and Adblock Edge for Firefox. This blocks 90%+ of the junk out there.
Level 2
Winpatrol. Winpatrol is a VERY low resource program (uses only 3megs of memory) that most of the time sits idle. Every few minutes, it simply scans every autostart location in Windows. It keeps a list of approved programs, and if something new pops up, it simply asks you if you want to allow it. It's a much better version of the U.A.C.  If YOU are careful, this program alone is the best anti-virus program there is, and is probably the only pro-active one on the market (rather than reactive). My brother and I went 6 months with only this and an adblocker and never caught anything despite being careless. In fact it was so good, I was worried about losing my business if I installed it on customer computers. I didn't need to worry, people are always the biggest threat.

At this point, it's pretty much only user error that allows the system to be infected, which is why...
Level 3
Avast Free. I have Avast Free running. This is their basic protection, I absolutely hate firewalls (biggest con job the anti-malware industry has put over on the general public, topic for another discussion) and "internet protection" packages. This is mostly to protect from anything I download or comes through my network.

If I suspect something has gotten through, that too has a multipronged approach.
First is Tdsskiller, this removes rootkits.
Second is ComboFix, this takes care of 90% of the junk you will get.
Third is Super Antispyware
Fourth is MalwareBytes.
After this, I uninstall all of these, then run CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the registry.
At this point, the system should be squeaky clean.

If I do have something I suspect is flakey, I run it on a system I use a sandbox system.

Thank you for this, it's very informative. Based on context, you fix/recover computers for a living. And it looks like you just gave the essence of your job procedure out :) . This will be very useful for many of us.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: davkol on Fri, 28 June 2013, 06:47:44
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^

Yeah, there are usually legal and easy ways to do that... hell apart from games I can't even pirate most of the content I consume becasue it's not on torrent or similar services becasue not that many people have it, and torrent traffic gets shaped so much (least for me) that Steam/GoG are much faster anyway.

Not always. I sometimes need some outdated software (because newer releases are not backward-compatible or bloated), and copying is the only way to get it to work.

Music? There's no official/legal way to get some bootlegs.

(http://www.lauexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/legal-dvd-vs-pirate-dvd.jpg)
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Fri, 28 June 2013, 06:55:38
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^

Yeah, there are usually legal and easy ways to do that... hell apart from games I can't even pirate most of the content I consume becasue it's not on torrent or similar services becasue not that many people have it, and torrent traffic gets shaped so much (least for me) that Steam/GoG are much faster anyway.

Not always.

That's why I said usually and not always.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Fri, 28 June 2013, 07:13:07
Thank you for this, it's very informative. Based on context, you fix/recover computers for a living. And it looks like you just gave the essence of your job procedure out :) . This will be very useful for many of us.
You're welcome, I hope at least a few find it useful.

I'm not worried about telling people what I use, it's only one aspect of my job, and people on here aren't potential customers. I only work on recommendation, I don't have a shop, I don't advertise, I don't even carry business cards, you have to know a customer to hire me and I don't come cheap.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: davkol on Fri, 28 June 2013, 07:24:32
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^

Yeah, there are usually legal and easy ways to do that... hell apart from games I can't even pirate most of the content I consume becasue it's not on torrent or similar services becasue not that many people have it, and torrent traffic gets shaped so much (least for me) that Steam/GoG are much faster anyway.

Not always.

That's why I said usually and not always.

Your "usually" means my "almost never". ~,^
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Fri, 28 June 2013, 07:37:46
how i do a virus removal at work

Manual removal
tdss killer
malwarebytes
superantispyware
avast free full scan (kaspersky rescue disk if necessary)
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: baldgye on Fri, 28 June 2013, 07:58:24
I would recommend having a job and simply buying things, its usually easier and quicker than stealing anyway and means you don't have to deal with the **** your dealing with now.

Try before you buy. ~_^

Yeah, there are usually legal and easy ways to do that... hell apart from games I can't even pirate most of the content I consume becasue it's not on torrent or similar services becasue not that many people have it, and torrent traffic gets shaped so much (least for me) that Steam/GoG are much faster anyway.

Not always.

That's why I said usually and not always.

Your "usually" means my "almost never". ~,^

No, it means in most cases, there are things you cannot get legally... These days those are few and far between, especially when it comes music. Hell even the bizzare and ****ed up world of Vape music (or what ever people call it) is easier to buy than pirate... And most of the sites that support that are in random languages...

Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Fri, 28 June 2013, 17:13:50
how i do a virus removal at work

Manual removal
tdss killer
malwarebytes
superantispyware
avast free full scan (kaspersky rescue disk if necessary)
Manual is good, but not always practical, and sometimes a royal b*tch to find.
Combo Fix gets most of them without the hassle.

I would rather use a 5 minute tool than spend an hour digging.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Fri, 28 June 2013, 17:25:21
how i do a virus removal at work

Manual removal
tdss killer
malwarebytes
superantispyware
avast free full scan (kaspersky rescue disk if necessary)
Manual is good, but not always practical, and sometimes a royal b*tch to find.
Combo Fix gets most of them without the hassle.

I would rather use a 5 minute tool than spend an hour digging.
usually manual removal is to just get passed screens that lock you out of your comp and such. We get a TON of ransomware at my shop. havent used combofix in a long time, may give it a shot again :P
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Input Nirvana on Fri, 28 June 2013, 21:53:11
I'm not worried about telling people what I use, it's only one aspect of my job, and people on here aren't potential customers. I only work on recommendation, I don't have a shop, I don't advertise, I don't even carry business cards, you have to know a customer to hire me and I don't come cheap.

THIS CHICK AIN'T CHEAP!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, that struck me as funny :)

I once told someone "You can't afford me".... I was never sure that was appropriate, but I still laugh about it.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sat, 29 June 2013, 10:53:40
This is actually a major part of my job, dealing with malware.

I wouldn't touch MSE for several reasons.
A. It's common, too common, especially for noobs, this means it's a ripe target.
B. You have all your eggs in one basket, I.E. Microsoft, who has a history of being sh*t when it comes to stopping malware. You have them handling your o.s. security, your av security... No. Diversity is good.
C. http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-another-antivirus-test

The only thing I have seen it do well was deal with a rootkit. However, it required making a disk and blah blah blah... Tdsskiller did it in a quarter the time and without a boot disk.



As for what to run, frankly most malware is coming in through web advertisements. In fact the last survey showed only 3% was coming through email and no single approach will stop it all (well, almost).

I have well over 300 systems running this setup, including my own, it's a multi-pronged approach, however, it's relatively low in resources and all of these programs are free(!). Anything I work on, ends up with this setup (unless they recently bought something like Norton) and the business owners and I try in earnest to make sure nothing gets on their network without being checked first as most have seen the results first hand. In fact, that is usually why I get called in the first place.

Level1
Run an adblocker. Adblock Pro for Chrome, and Adblock Edge for Firefox. This blocks 90%+ of the junk out there.
Level 2
Winpatrol. Winpatrol is a VERY low resource program (uses only 3megs of memory) that most of the time sits idle. Every few minutes, it simply scans every autostart location in Windows. It keeps a list of approved programs, and if something new pops up, it simply asks you if you want to allow it. It's a much better version of the U.A.C.  If YOU are careful, this program alone is the best anti-virus program there is, and is probably the only pro-active one on the market (rather than reactive). My brother and I went 6 months with only this and an adblocker and never caught anything despite being careless. In fact it was so good, I was worried about losing my business if I installed it on customer computers. I didn't need to worry, people are always the biggest threat.

At this point, it's pretty much only user error that allows the system to be infected, which is why...
Level 3
Avast Free. I have Avast Free running. This is their basic protection, I absolutely hate firewalls (biggest con job the anti-malware industry has put over on the general public, topic for another discussion) and "internet protection" packages. This is mostly to protect from anything I download or comes through my network.

If I suspect something has gotten through, that too has a multipronged approach.
First is Tdsskiller, this removes rootkits.
Second is ComboFix, this takes care of 90% of the junk you will get.
Third is Super Antispyware
Fourth is MalwareBytes.
After this, I uninstall all of these, then run CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the registry.
At this point, the system should be squeaky clean.

If I do have something I suspect is flakey, I run it on a system I use a sandbox system.

The only trouble with security programs that require a lot of user intervention, is that most people are impatient and not very smart.  I've installed various programs that require users to approve or deny applications, and almost always they end up clicking approve without even looking at what the program is, which can be infuriating.  This pretty much defeats the purpose of these programs for anyone but power users.  About 10 years ago, I had a buddy of mine that kept getting viruses because he would just click allow every time.  After he asked me to cleanup his computer two times in one month, I gave it back to him with his desktop wallpaper set to tubgirl, and created a local group policy to prevent him from changing it.  This in itself was punishment enough in my opinion, but he also still was living with his mom, and she needed to use his computer from time to time.  LOL I was at his house when she sat down to use his computer, and she FREAKED OUT.  He tried to blame me for it, but I told his mom that it was his computer, he could change the background anytime he wanted, but that he is just a sicko that needs mental help.  Needless to say, he now pays attention to what he does, and hasn't had a virus since!  The moral of the story is that the best anti spyware is not being an idiot.  In a business environment, this translates to snitching on problem users to owners or top management.  I had a guy years ago that kept going to tranny porn websites AT WORK and getting viruses.  I reported what he was doing to management, and guess what, the problem stopped.  I've had to do this on more than a few occasions to people, it's pretty disturbing what some people think is acceptable to do at work.

I'm not going to get into specific software too much, since you covered it pretty well.  I would like to add that Avira also works pretty well and is free, and Autoruns from sysinternals works pretty well to clean up systems manually if you are a power user.  If people insist on downloading warez, I usually tell them to download and run it inside of a VM or at least a sandbox.

Also, hardware firewalls are great, for business customers, and only if you configure them.  I'm not talking about Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, etc., I'm referring to business grade firewalls.  If you block sites that you know people are getting viruses from, they no longer have the option.  You can control what comes in and out of your network, and that's a powerful thing.  I'm pretty sure by your comments that you are referring to software firewalls though, in which case I would agree, because people just click allow on everything anyway just to get the "annoying" popups out of the way.  If you support 300 users, and they are all part of the same network, I would HIGHLY recommend using a corporate cloud based antivirus that allows you to create policies and push them out.  It's much easier to manage false alarm virus exceptions that have valid business reasons this way.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: SeriouSSpotS on Sat, 29 June 2013, 11:04:37
Microsoft security essentials, AVG is ok too.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sat, 29 June 2013, 11:08:43
Thank you for this, it's very informative. Based on context, you fix/recover computers for a living. And it looks like you just gave the essence of your job procedure out :) . This will be very useful for many of us.
You're welcome, I hope at least a few find it useful.

I'm not worried about telling people what I use, it's only one aspect of my job, and people on here aren't potential customers. I only work on recommendation, I don't have a shop, I don't advertise, I don't even carry business cards, you have to know a customer to hire me and I don't come cheap.

You're doing it right.  Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising there is.  When people see that you genuinely want to help, and that you don't just see their problems as a chance to capitalize, they tell all of their friends.  Having a good personality also helps, because people like doing business with people they like.  I also do zero advertising, and all of the business owners I work with always tell their other business owner friends.  Also, I charge $125/hr, which is much more than a lot of "tech guys" who usually charge anywhere from $25-$75/hr.  The way you justify the cost is with the quality of your work.  It's apples and oranges out there, and you don't want to compete with the person that charges $25/hr and takes 10 hours to do something that takes you one hour to do, because they are frantically searching google since they have no idea what to do.  The way I look at it is that I would rather have a few profitable customers, instead of tons of customers where I don't make a lot.

Also, it's nice to see there are ladies in this industry as well.  I've been in IT professionally since 2000 in a bunch of different companies, and have never physically met a female tech or engineer.  This industry is dominated by weird dudes with no social skills.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sat, 29 June 2013, 11:12:04
linux

This.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 29 June 2013, 11:16:24
I just keep a backup image of my boot partition on 2 different harddrives, after compression, it's only 70gigs, and it's setup to run every day... I have the whole month's worth of different states backed up which is only 4TB on 2 low rpm samsungs.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sat, 29 June 2013, 11:23:45
I just keep a backup image of my boot partition on 2 different harddrives, after compression, it's only 70gigs, and it's setup to run every day... I have the whole month's worth of different states backed up which is only 4TB on 2 low rpm samsungs.

Data deduplication is your friend.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Input Nirvana on Sat, 29 June 2013, 16:56:02
.......Also, it's nice to see there are ladies in this industry as well.  I've been in IT professionally since 2000 in a bunch of different companies, and have never physically met a female tech or engineer.  This industry is dominated by weird dudes with no social skills.

Would you care to rephrase? LOL
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sun, 30 June 2013, 00:16:10
.......Also, it's nice to see there are ladies in this industry as well.  I've been in IT professionally since 2000 in a bunch of different companies, and have never physically met a female tech or engineer.  This industry is dominated by weird dudes with no social skills.

Would you care to rephrase? LOL

No.  LOL.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: UniClown on Sun, 30 June 2013, 00:31:52
.......Also, it's nice to see there are ladies in this industry as well.  I've been in IT professionally since 2000 in a bunch of different companies, and have never physically met a female tech or engineer.  This industry is dominated by weird dudes with no social skills.

Would you care to rephrase? LOL

No.  LOL.

No "except me." At the end?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sun, 30 June 2013, 01:37:55
.......Also, it's nice to see there are ladies in this industry as well.  I've been in IT professionally since 2000 in a bunch of different companies, and have never physically met a female tech or engineer.  This industry is dominated by weird dudes with no social skills.

Would you care to rephrase? LOL

No.  LOL.

No "except me." At the end?

Trust me, the irony isn't lost on me.  Yes I'm kind of trash talking, but at the same time confirming my own statement.  I'm a weird guy that collects keyboards, buys alcohol and ammunition at the same time, reads really boring technical books for fun, among other unusual hobbies.  When I shoot pool with my friends, we don't wager money, we wager wonder palms AKA iron palm(from the movie Iron Monkey) - the loser has to stand there and get palmed hard as F in the chest.  I also LOVE really bad jokes, like "Q:What's brown and sticky? A: A stick." or "Q:How do you make a plumber cry? A: Murder his family."  Seriously, I haven't met a normal person who doesn't find me unusual.  I'm actually much more of a jerk in real life, but somehow I do it in a way that makes people laugh, so people still somehow like me.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Leslieann on Sun, 30 June 2013, 02:18:30
The only trouble with security programs that require a lot of user intervention, is that most people are impatient and not very smart.  I've installed various programs that require users to approve or deny applications, and almost always they end up clicking approve without even looking at what the program is, which can be infuriating.  This pretty much defeats the purpose of these programs for anyone but power users. 
I give a bit of on site training for it when In install Winpatrol, which helps. Things will always get through though and no matter what or how good the protection, they will get nailed at some point. You can only put so much protection before it's no longer increasing security at all. Which is why I do the multi-pronged approach.

The adblock alone makes a huge difference, Winpatrol and Avast are just insurance and makes them feel better. And yes, Avira is good, except when i tried it,  it nagged too much to buy the full version.


You're doing it right.  Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising there is.  When people see that you genuinely want to help, and that you don't just see their problems as a chance to capitalize, they tell all of their friends.  Having a good personality also helps, because people like doing business with people they like.  I also do zero advertising, and all of the business owners I work with always tell their other business owner friends.  Also, I charge $125/hr, which is much more than a lot of "tech guys" who usually charge anywhere from $25-$75/hr.  The way you justify the cost is with the quality of your work.  It's apples and oranges out there, and you don't want to compete with the person that charges $25/hr and takes 10 hours to do something that takes you one hour to do, because they are frantically searching google since they have no idea what to do.  The way I look at it is that I would rather have a few profitable customers, instead of tons of customers where I don't make a lot.
I rarely run into other techs at all. It's weird, you would think you would, but you don't. I do get called a lot to clean up their mess though.

I'm a bit above the 25-75 range, but I don't really do "hourly", I charge a set amount to arrive or dial in, and then go to a low hourly. This way I know I'm going to cover my gas, and the customer doesn't panic if things take a while. It works for both of us. I have lost a major contract to one of the bottom feeders. In fact one of the offices, the employees now pool their money to bring me in instead of the person the company pays for, they don't trust him after what the last two guys did.

I don't even understand how some of these guys make money at $25 an hour, unless you are charging for every minute, and charging insane rates for everything you do extra (which will anger the customers).  Many of my clients are 20-50 miles away, with gas prices like they are, a 20 minute job, 20 miles away means you pretty much make nothing.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: MOZ on Sun, 30 June 2013, 03:06:34
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 11:06:46
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: IPT on Sun, 30 June 2013, 11:19:58
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 11:50:40
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: MOZ on Sun, 30 June 2013, 13:44:56
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.

And you know this how?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sun, 30 June 2013, 14:22:34
Many years of experience on MANY different computers at different client sites.  Maybe they are better now, but for the longest time Norton was a resource hog, interfered with tons of normal line of business programs, and was a real PITA all around.  However if it works for you, and doesn't cause any of your applications to break, then use it.  Virus protection is just a security layer, and none of them protect against user stupidity 100%.  Not going to stupid websites that you know are suspect, and not downloading "free" commercial programs, is the best way to avoid viruses. 
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: MOZ on Sun, 30 June 2013, 14:32:52
Agreed, back until about 2010, I too would not have recommended it as I did not use it myself, but for the past couple of years it has been tremendous.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: IPT on Sun, 30 June 2013, 14:37:04
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Sun, 30 June 2013, 14:39:33
The adblock alone makes a huge difference, Winpatrol and Avast are just insurance and makes them feel better. And yes, Avira is good, except when i tried it,  it nagged too much to buy the full version.
Yes it does.  But if you tell people up front, they don't mind it as much.  I mostly install Avira on people's personal stuff.  Actually what I have for my managed services clients is the MSP version of Vipre.  I can manage all of the machines under my control with one central interface in GFI Max.
I rarely run into other techs at all. It's weird, you would think you would, but you don't. I do get called a lot to clean up their mess though.

I'm a bit above the 25-75 range, but I don't really do "hourly", I charge a set amount to arrive or dial in, and then go to a low hourly. This way I know I'm going to cover my gas, and the customer doesn't panic if things take a while. It works for both of us. I have lost a major contract to one of the bottom feeders. In fact one of the offices, the employees now pool their money to bring me in instead of the person the company pays for, they don't trust him after what the last two guys did.

I don't even understand how some of these guys make money at $25 an hour, unless you are charging for every minute, and charging insane rates for everything you do extra (which will anger the customers).  Many of my clients are 20-50 miles away, with gas prices like they are, a 20 minute job, 20 miles away means you pretty much make nothing.
Some of my customers that call me only sometimes are hourly, and some of them that call me all the time are on monthly service contracts for a flat fee.  For hourly customers, when people report an issue to me, I tell them upfront how long it will take.  After you've been doing this for a long time you can pretty accurately figure out how long a task would take.  For stuff like virus removal, I only charge for how long I or one of my techs work on the issue, not how long the scan runs - unless they insist I come on site and watch paint dry.  Usually I bill one hour for virus removal, most of the time I can do it remotely, and it only really takes up about 15 minutes of my actual time.  My service contracts range from $250/month for customers that I don't spend more than a couple hours a month on, to $4000/month for ones that call me daily.  Funny thing is that every time I do a rate increase, my business actually goes up.  I think psychologically people think that the company that charges more must be better all around, and they tell their colleagues that "the company I use is expensive but good."  You as the solutions provider just need to meet and exceed that expectation.  Also, I'm only giving out my numbers because you probably work in a different metro area, and for some reason most MSPs like to keep their pricing a secret, so I thought I'd share.  I'm glad you charge what you feel you are worth.  I hate when GOOD people charge really low rates, they cheat themselves and drive everyone's pricing down.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 14:59:13
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sun, 30 June 2013, 15:03:27
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

well, this is not completely true... when they tested the "best virus removal", you notice that the best software that removes more stuff, being more sensitive, ALSO shows more false positives..

So that means, there's a difference in phylosophy... do you shotgun viruses killing some stuff along the way that are just bystanding animals...  or do you snipe...

Overall... antivirus is like wearing an internet condom...  it sorta works, but not 100%..

And reformating your PC is like Abortion...

And Backing up your PC is like signing a prenup when you're getting married.

Pretty much you want to do ALL THOSE THINGS. from time to time.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: IPT on Sun, 30 June 2013, 15:10:06
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sun, 30 June 2013, 15:16:54
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12

He's right... most newer systems today have more than enough resources to cover the antivirus.. with no perceptible slowdowns.

Paying is fail,  this is true for everything if it WERE possible to get something for free

MSE isn't very good

AND

The best rated tools are technically free.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 15:18:30
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12

??? Okay haha

and yeah tp4 i agree with almost everything in your post
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Trent on Sun, 30 June 2013, 16:22:22
Symantec EndPoint Protection for a standard PC/Server (this is not the same as the bloated Norton Antivirus suite)
MSE sometimes
Malware bytes for occasional scan
Linux to avoid it all  :D
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sun, 30 June 2013, 17:46:14
Symantec EndPoint Protection for a standard PC/Server (this is not the same as the bloated Norton Antivirus suite)
MSE sometimes
Malware bytes for occasional scan
Linux to avoid it all  :D

this is the standard rollout for most mid size IT departments.

Endpoint protection is good stuff..
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: IPT on Sun, 30 June 2013, 17:56:59
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12

He's right... most newer systems today have more than enough resources to cover the antivirus.. with no perceptible slowdowns.

Paying is fail,  this is true for everything if it WERE possible to get something for free

MSE isn't very good

AND

The best rated tools are technically free.
personally I don't pay for my Norton IS IMO. I get the annual Fry's bundle with ghost that's always free after rebate. I then sell off the copy of ghost for 10-20 bucks.
Either way its silly to say Norton sucks and is bloated then argue that performance and system resources usage doesn't matter.
What is it? Norton sucks for being bloated and slowing down computers because of resource hogging or resource hogging doesn't matter?
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: UniClown on Sun, 30 June 2013, 18:01:30
Norton's way too intrusive. Popups in the corner all day long. God help your soul if by some chain of events you don't renew your subscription before it runs out.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 18:02:07
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12

He's right... most newer systems today have more than enough resources to cover the antivirus.. with no perceptible slowdowns.

Paying is fail,  this is true for everything if it WERE possible to get something for free

MSE isn't very good

AND

The best rated tools are technically free.
personally I don't pay for my Norton IS IMO. I get the annual Fry's bundle with ghost that's always free after rebate. I then sell off the copy of ghost for 10-20 bucks.
Either way its silly to say Norton sucks and is bloated then argue that performance and system resources usage doesn't matter.
What is it? Norton sucks for being bloated and slowing down computers because of resource hogging or resource hogging doesn't matter?


I never said it was a resource hog... -_-  In my experience, working in computer repairs and stuff like that, i have grown to not like Norton for multiple reasons.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Turkishrambo on Sun, 30 June 2013, 18:03:12
Norton 360 works well too, low on resources as compared to the older Norton.

Also, best practice is smart surfing, nothing beats it.
lol norton is terrible.
only for those who follow the herd and don't actually do any reaearch
lol you certain about that?



because i've actually gone and done the research?
look up the reviews and research from comparison sites.
Norton AV uses less resources than MSE.

http://www.antivirusware.com/testing/performance/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/which-free-antivirus-is-the-lightest-on-system-memory-usage/
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/totalprotectionsuites-apr2012.pdf

How much resources it uses doesnt really matter. Norton just sucks. MSE is not all that good either. Paying for norton is just fail. The best virus removal tools are free.

im sorry, i thought I was talking to someone who's older than 12

He's right... most newer systems today have more than enough resources to cover the antivirus.. with no perceptible slowdowns.

Paying is fail,  this is true for everything if it WERE possible to get something for free

MSE isn't very good

AND

The best rated tools are technically free.
personally I don't pay for my Norton IS IMO. I get the annual Fry's bundle with ghost that's always free after rebate. I then sell off the copy of ghost for 10-20 bucks.
Either way its silly to say Norton sucks and is bloated then argue that performance and system resources usage doesn't matter.
What is it? Norton sucks for being bloated and slowing down computers because of resource hogging or resource hogging doesn't matter?



I never said it was a resource hog... -_-  In my experience, working in computer repairs and stuff like that, i have grown to not like Norton for multiple reasons.
Norton's way too intrusive. Popups in the corner all day long. God help your soul if by some chain of events you don't renew your subscription before it runs out.

Yup.. popups that you can't close so u shove it off to the corner and try to forget about it lol
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Wildcard on Sun, 30 June 2013, 18:13:03
On the signature front AV is around 11% effective against new malware. Sometimes when you're downloading these older files, if they've been out awhile there is a better chance that signatures may detect the presence of malware. Some studies have said that they've found new malware that has brought this number down to as low as 5%. No joke. This is the reason why many companies choose to use a multi-layered security approach. AV detection engines can sometimes identify new malware which adds to their effectiveness. While I think there are many good options out there, I'd search for reviews on good malware detection engines that also include host based IDS. Also, many AV solutions out there do share signatures, so in some ways you're getting equal protection.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: tp4tissue on Sun, 30 June 2013, 19:56:27
On the signature front AV is around 11% effective against new malware. Sometimes when you're downloading these older files, if they've been out awhile there is a better chance that signatures may detect the presence of malware. Some studies have said that they've found new malware that has brought this number down to as low as 5%. No joke. This is the reason why many companies choose to use a multi-layered security approach. AV detection engines can sometimes identify new malware which adds to their effectiveness. While I think there are many good options out there, I'd search for reviews on good malware detection engines that also include host based IDS. Also, many AV solutions out there do share signatures, so in some ways you're getting equal protection.

Um.. stick with banking by mail.. Don't store work related stuff on personal line..  don't e trade with the same line you use for pr0n...

You're good to go.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Trent on Mon, 01 July 2013, 13:54:39
Symantec EndPoint Protection for a standard PC/Server (this is not the same as the bloated Norton Antivirus suite)
MSE sometimes
Malware bytes for occasional scan
Linux to avoid it all  :D

this is the standard rollout for most mid size IT departments.

Endpoint protection is good stuff..

I've seen corporations with Panda before, made me giggle.

Endpoint really is great.

Protip: OP you should be using a dedicated Linux system for torrent downloading if you are serious about avoiding viruses.  Get a spare PC, install Ubuntu Server 12.04 (or your favorite Linux flavor), install Deluge and go to the go go.  If a whole other system is not feasible, use a VM and snapshots.  Or do it on a raspberri pi for that matter, thats what I'm setting one of mine up to do (although 10/100 networking kinda stinks).
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: quickcrx702 on Tue, 02 July 2013, 01:00:03

this is the standard rollout for most mid size IT departments.


Endpoint protection is good stuff..


I've seen corporations with Panda before, made me giggle.


Endpoint really is great.


Protip: OP you should be using a dedicated Linux system for torrent downloading if you are serious about avoiding viruses.  Get a spare PC, install Ubuntu Server 12.04 (or your favorite Linux flavor), install Deluge and go to the go go.  If a whole other system is not feasible, use a VM and snapshots.  Or do it on a raspberri pi for that matter, thats what I'm setting one of mine up to do (although 10/100 networking kinda stinks).

You know what makes me giggle?  Anti-Virus in general.  It reminds me of the TSA, they might catch obvious stuff, but really determined people can still break through.  I've worked with companies that have run pretty much everything from Symantec Endpoint Protection, corporate version of Panda, corporate version of Vipre, Microsoft Foreskin(Forefront), McAfee, and damn near any other commercial product you can think of.  Do you know what they have in common?  NONE of them really protect your users from their own stupidity.  There are always a few idiots that manage to mess things up no matter what you do.  I had one power loser reformat and reinstall Windows to get it out of lock down mode, then wondered why he couldn't get onto domain resources.  Another fun one was a conservative Christian VP that had "Vote the Bible" buttons next to his PC, which was FULL OF GBs and GBs of PORN and was the reason why I had to do virus removal.  People treat their work computers like it's their home PC, so I can only imagine how some people treat PCs at their home.  Some people are idiots, and no amount of protection will help being stupid.  At one point I worked with a guy that wrote his own FUD crypters, and packed/distributed trojans to people just for fun of spying on them - you could scan them all day with any antivirus, and it would come up clean.  I watched him log in to somebody's computer, and change their grocery list to a bunch of sexually explicit objects including anal lube, toys, etc.  He packed the trojans into "free" software that he uploaded to warez sites.  It made me chuckle, not only from what he was doing, but also at how useless antivirus really is.  Smart surfing habits are the best protection there is.

Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Trent on Sat, 06 July 2013, 22:06:51

this is the standard rollout for most mid size IT departments.


Endpoint protection is good stuff..


I've seen corporations with Panda before, made me giggle.


Endpoint really is great.


Protip: OP you should be using a dedicated Linux system for torrent downloading if you are serious about avoiding viruses.  Get a spare PC, install Ubuntu Server 12.04 (or your favorite Linux flavor), install Deluge and go to the go go.  If a whole other system is not feasible, use a VM and snapshots.  Or do it on a raspberri pi for that matter, thats what I'm setting one of mine up to do (although 10/100 networking kinda stinks).

You know what makes me giggle?  Anti-Virus in general.  It reminds me of the TSA, they might catch obvious stuff, but really determined people can still break through.  I've worked with companies that have run pretty much everything from Symantec Endpoint Protection, corporate version of Panda, corporate version of Vipre, Microsoft Foreskin(Forefront), McAfee, and damn near any other commercial product you can think of.  Do you know what they have in common?  NONE of them really protect your users from their own stupidity.  There are always a few idiots that manage to mess things up no matter what you do.  I had one power loser reformat and reinstall Windows to get it out of lock down mode, then wondered why he couldn't get onto domain resources.  Another fun one was a conservative Christian VP that had "Vote the Bible" buttons next to his PC, which was FULL OF GBs and GBs of PORN and was the reason why I had to do virus removal.  People treat their work computers like it's their home PC, so I can only imagine how some people treat PCs at their home.  Some people are idiots, and no amount of protection will help being stupid.  At one point I worked with a guy that wrote his own FUD crypters, and packed/distributed trojans to people just for fun of spying on them - you could scan them all day with any antivirus, and it would come up clean.  I watched him log in to somebody's computer, and change their grocery list to a bunch of sexually explicit objects including anal lube, toys, etc.  He packed the trojans into "free" software that he uploaded to warez sites.  It made me chuckle, not only from what he was doing, but also at how useless antivirus really is.  Smart surfing habits are the best protection there is.



Any custom trojans will cut through most AV no problem.  But AV is very helpful in detecting and recognizing viruses, malware and spyware that have common, well known signatures.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: meiosis on Sun, 07 July 2013, 06:06:07
As someone who worked on the Norton Sonar system during my internship I am saddened. I believe we were the first to utilize sandboxing. Well I can't really talk about anything regarding my experience but....

Norton and many other AV's utilize the same databases so you can't say it is inferior.

But like projectD said, prove him wrong.

There was a lot of resource usage, but it was 95% efficient at protecting real-time.

Premium is much better than the free version sadly, if you want to be cheap: McAfee Free uses a good database

Speaking from the other side:

I know AVG is trash, Panda and that Kesper(sky?) were one of the best back in the day.

Honestly nothing will save you from a ring0 rootkit, but hackers who are capable of doing that are already working for AV companies, you have to know both sides of the story to work in the business.

MSE is light resource usage due to the fact they rarely update their database unless you manually allow it to update. (every 3 days a few years ago).

So do as you will, McAfee Free+Komodo+hijackthis = most of what you need.

Manually I debug any connections that seem sketch and sandbox on default.

Tip: Uninstall Java, drive-bys still exist sadly, bad code. =.=
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: fohat.digs on Sun, 07 July 2013, 09:28:39
Anti-Virus in general.

The internet truly is Pandora's Box.

For millennia it was a myth, but now it is true. Nothing, except perhaps the harnessing of electricity, has changed the world more than the freeing and dissemination of information planet-wide. We have just begun to see the effects of it.

There have been unfortunate victims, such as the defense of "morality" and copyright protection, but that is hardly more than incidental collateral damage.

We have stepped into a brave and frightening new world.

You youngsters will feel it far more than I will. We have to get used to it - it is not going away.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Trent on Sun, 07 July 2013, 09:50:12
Honestly nothing will save you from a ring0 rootkit, but hackers who are capable of doing that are already working for AV companies, you have to know both sides of the story to work in the business.

Truth right there.
Title: Re: Best Anti-Spyware?
Post by: Tarzan on Mon, 08 July 2013, 12:12:30
I've been using ESET NOD32 for years now.  Processor light, runs in the background, rules-driven so I can define how to handle detected issues, and effective.  Norton used to be the go-to solution, but it's been bloated beyond all recognition.   Kaspersky almost locked up my entire system, couldn't uninstall it fast enough.