Another antivirus topic - suggest a combo to weed as many 'viruses' as possible?

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Another antivirus topic - suggest a combo to weed as many 'viruses' as possible?

Batman

Mad Scientist
19018 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Topic # 64204 10-Jul-2010 07:13

i know there's been a few forums in the past about antivirusing but
1) there may be newer better ones or rankings may have changed with newer versions
2) i actually think i'm really bad at searching as i never find anything within 2 years old - perhaps search can display an optimal balance between most recent and most relevant?

please dont say "stay away from dodgy sites" because the computer's not mine. a dude at my place has an acer gear with 64 bit win 7, i7 and mobility 5650 (gamer) who has crap that downloads 3gig a day and he goes "uh ok" and doesnt care.

i want to weed his rig. what do i use? anyone suggest a best combination of antivirus/etc software to run? i've ran hijack this and he literrally has so much stuff and i dont want to be responsible for "uh it's broke now dude what've you done" but is willing to accept scans.

what combo would you use to do a super thorough scan?

PS
how do you run a layer of secure/completely traceble environment that you can reverse application habits/changes just at a few clicks? apart from virtual environment? (sorry if it doesnt make sense)

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 349843 10-Jul-2010 20:54

It's likely the computer he has already comes pre-loaded with something like Norton or McAfee. Their virus scans will be about as good as most, I'd imagine. To run a different virus scanner really involves uninstalling the original AV, running its removal utility (have links) and then (following the normal reboots) installing the new AV.
If the computer isn't compromised, I don't see much point in doing this.
What you can do is install, update, and run a good demand scanner such as MBAM which is about as good as anything at detecting and removing malware.
HijackThis gives an idea of what's running on the machine. Your post indicates you don't really know what's safe to fix or not - it will always display a list "heaps" big of stuff running and most of it won't be bad - if I were you I'd leave that well alone unless you understand what each entry means and know what it implies.

pih

163 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

Reply # 349856 10-Jul-2010 23:32

MS Security Essentials... Best thing MS has ever done - Too bad it was 20 years too late. Malwarebytes' Anti-malware (MBAM). If they (or any antivirus) doesn't run, try a linux antivirus live CD, or you can try BART PE or similar. Or if it's really bad, have you considered a wipe and reinstall? Sad, but it will probably take you less time and you'll definitely end up with a better result.

heretohelp

360 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 363961 5-Aug-2010 22:45

Please stay away from microsoft security essentials. it may be good but when it goes wrong its not good. i have come accross mulitple computers where it has gone wrong.

Stay away from mcaffe and norton

these are what i would use buddy

1 Avast as your antivirus. make sure you remove any other antivruses.

2 malwarebytes great anti malware

3 spybot. lagging behined these days but does pick up some stuff malwarebytes doesnt get. just make sure you dont install the teatimer or sdhelper when you install it.

the above should be run in safe mode. avast should be run as a boot scan

those would be the best things to start with. i would suggest also as an optional extra

a: ccleaner go to advanced option and uncheck the box that says leave thing sfrom last 24hours

b: if malwarebytes or avast find somthin turn your system restore off then on again after you have run all three of the above just to make sure somthin not going to come back in there

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

billgates

3830 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 234

Trusted

Reply # 363964 5-Aug-2010 22:47

MS security essentials. works great specially the new security essentials BETA which added couple of of extra security measures.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Bung

2545 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 340

Reply # 363974 5-Aug-2010 23:26

heretohelp: Please stay away from microsoft security essentials. it may be good but when it goes wrong its not good. i have come accross mulitple computers where it has gone wrong.

these are what i would use buddy

1 Avast as your antivirus. make sure you remove any other antivruses.

2 malwarebytes great anti malware

3 spybot. lagging behined these days but does pick up some stuff malwarebytes doesnt get. just make sure you dont install the teatimer or sdhelper when you install it.

the above should be run in safe mode. avast should be run as a boot scan

those would be the best things to start with. i would suggest also as an optional extra

a: ccleaner go to advanced option and uncheck the box that says leave thing sfrom last 24hours

b: if malwarebytes or avast find somthin turn your system restore off then on again after you have run all three of the above just to make sure somthin not going to come back in there

I recently picked up a variant of the Alureon trojan that wasn't picked up by Avast, Malwarebytes or Spybot. MS Malicious Software Removal Tool identified it but didn't stop it. MS Security Essentials did.

Batman

Mad Scientist
19018 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2470

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 363977 5-Aug-2010 23:36

i guess there is no 100% and everything has its downside ... hmmm avast it has been for him! thanks

Ragnor

8027 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 387

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 364115 6-Aug-2010 10:56

If the machine is already compromised with several virii the best solution it to backup the user data off it and reformat and do a clean new install.

Otherwise I usually use MS Security Essentials as the day to day AV + Malwarebytes scan

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
61341 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12099

Administrator

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 364118 6-Aug-2010 10:59

I used Avast for years. Now using Microsoft Security Essentials only.

Backblaze cloud backup (personal and business) | Geekzone broadband switch | Amazon (Geekzone aff) | MightyApe (Geekzone aff) |

My technology disclosure | Business Transformation | Enterprise Content Management | Customer Relationship Management