Dear IT people:Do I need an antivirus program?

[Sunday21]

Dear IT people,

My university gave me the laptop that I used to use at work. I can now use the laptop for my own nefarious purposes at home. I imagine that I need to install virus protection, right? Can anyone recommend a free package? Thank you! 

 

[zil]

If it's Windows, yes, you need AV and a firewall.  Windows 10 theoretically comes with that - no idea how good it is.

If it's any other OS, AV would be wise but isn't as critical.

I've never heard of a decent free AV - other people may disagree.

[Sunday21]

@zil. Thank you! I have Windows 7. Tom recommends paying for protection. https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-antivirus,review-2588-5.html

I was wondering what other people do?

[JohnsonJones]

I am absolutely NOT an IT person, but my work installs Norton Antivirus on all our computers, though that may be only those actually owned by the college and such.  I believe that costs money.

At home my son installed called AVG anti-virus free and another called malwarebytes.  I use them about once a week to do a scan.

He absolutely loathes mcafee (I'm not sure of the spelling), and if he finds it on a computer I buy he does all he can to uninstall it.  He compares that to a virus, so probably avoid that one I think.

[zil]

9 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

@zil. Thank you! I have Windows 7. Tom recommends paying for protection. https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-antivirus,review-2588-5.html

I was wondering what other people do?

Norton. Just the basic AV and firewall. I don't use the included plug-ins, but that's because I know how to prevent emailed viruses manually, and don't let websites auto-run scripts.I also read the URL of search results before deciding to click the link, which gives a pretty good idea of whether they're questionable. I can't say I like Norton, but I prefer it over others.

Edited January 16, 2018 by zil

[Ironhold]

Avast is a pretty good anti-viral program, and it does indeed have a "free" version. The big thing to understand though is that you'll sometimes have to restart your computer for updates to take effect. 

Malwarebytes is practically a must, and any AV or other "maintenance" program that won't let you install it needs to go. I kid you not when I say that it'll root out things other programs will miss. You can get it for free, but I went ahead and got a paid subscription for the higher-tier services. On occasion you'll have to manually tell it to seek updates, but the people at the "help" forum will walk you through it. 

Spybot is another good one you want to have handy, and in fact Spybot & Malwarebytes work like a tag-team: what one misses, the other usually picks up. It's also free. 

From there? CCleaner is a pretty reliable system maintenance tool, but you have to be careful with it. Using it to clean your system is like using bleach to clean your kitchen: it'll get the job done, but you have to make sure you don't get anything you don't want it to get. I also sometimes use Eusing as a registry cleaner. 

 

All of these can be gotten from download.com without issue, and IIRC all but Eusing have reliable websites as well. 

[Sunday21]

@Ironhold. Big thanks! Do you think that I would be good with: Avast (Free), Malwarebytes (pay), Spybot, and CCleaner? Perhaps run CCleaner first and then run the rest? If programs as described seem a good combo, do you mind telling me what level of Malwarebytes you bought? I am wondering if this combination of services will slow down the computer. Do you think paying for Norton would be a better option? Thanks!

Edited January 16, 2018 by Sunday21

[Ironhold]

I haven't used Norton in over a decade, not since I got struck by a virus specifically written to target the then-current version of it. 

For Malwarebytes, I just bought a basic subscription. I think it was $40 for the full year or something like that. 

Get Avast or your main anti-viral on your system first, and run that. Then go one at a time with the other programs, installing them, updating them, and running them. 

Malwarebytes is something you can likely run daily, and in fact if you have the paid package the system will automatically set itself to run once a day. On my system, it can take 10 - 20 minutes per run. 

I run Spybot and Avast at least once a week. With Spybot, sometimes you'll have to run the updates twice in case something fails to download. It takes about 30 minutes to run on my system. Avast is supposed to update automatically, but not always. If you run the "full" scan, it'll go deep into your system and go from there... but depending upon what you have it could easily be a few *hours* to complete. 

 

Also, some other things - 

1. Never use Internet Explorer as a browser. Period. Only use it to download another browser, such as Firefox or Chrome. 

2. Research ad-blocker attachments for your new browser. You may have to go third-party, such as Ad-Block Plus. 

IE doesn't support ad-blockers, which is why it's no good as a browser anymore. Why are ad-blockers so important? A lot of websites pay for their upkeep by selling advertising space to third parties. Hackers have realized that if they breach these third-party ad services, they can infect multiple computers at once. So by using a reliable ad-blocker and getting an anti-virus or anti-malware with active protection enabled, you stand a good chance of blocking any nasties located in the advertisements. 

3. Never use Kaspersky. 

Kaspersky is a flaming mess even on a good day, such that it can and will bog your system to the point of bricking it up under certain circumstances. It also doesn't play well with other programs, and in fact Spybot used to warn users outright that if you tried to run it on a system that had Kaspersky the two would fight it out. It doesn't help matters any that Kaspersky is a Russian firm, leading to paranoia about who their #1 customer actually is. 

[Sunday21]

@Ironhold. Thank you very much indeed! 

[mirkwood]

I use MacAfee.  Never had any issues.  I have noticed that the IT people seem divided into the MacAfee vs. Norton camps.

[bytebear]

I used Windows Defender.  Part of Windows 10.  Works great for me.