Computer security

[Jen12]

I just got an email stating that my automatic renewal for my Norton is coming up. They want $70.00! I'm pretty sure that is more than I originally paid for the software!

Does anyone know of a way to get this inexpensively? I'm not super computer savvy, so I go for the easiest way possible to do these things. Unfortunatley, this is what the software companies take advantage of.

[OakLeaf]

What operating system? How do you connect to the Internet?

On Windows, DH is plenty satisfied with Microsoft's new-ish free antivirus. Then you want to check the settings on your router's and/or computer's firewall, and use good computer hygiene. He hasn't logged a virus in years.

[Irulan]

Microsoft "Security Essentials" is what it's called. We run that, plus Malware Bytes (pro) on all our systems and it's been great. We haven an engineering firm with multiple computers, servers and so on. The company that builds our computers recommended ditching Norton years ago. It's a huge resource hog, for starters. You can run the Malware Bytes free version too, as there's only a few minor feature differences.

[Cataboo]

Go to ninite.com - it's an installation website that will install a bunch of software on your computer, and strips off all the additional things or toolbars that a lot of the free software tries to bundle in.

Scroll down to security and they have a bunch of options to check off - I like avast and run spybot & ad-aware to boot. But microsoft essentials and mal-aware is also an option on there.

[Norse]

+1 on the Malware. We also have Avast which was recommended by a computer geek guy who did some work for us. He doesn't like Norton and thinks McAfee is garbage.

[tulip]

My computer repair guy put Avast on mine. It's the only one he uses, and he knows about these things. It's free, too.

[Aggie_Ama]

Running Avast when I found out how expensive Norton was to renew. Been happy with it.

[FlyingScot]

I had ("had" being the operative word) McAfee. Their disclaimer is that it won't protect you from everything which by default means it won't protect you from ANYTHING. At least that's what I found out when I got the "defense center" virus that merrily downloaded porn on my netbook everytime I turned it on. I called customer service and they told me that they couldn't offer a guarantee that their service would protect me from all viruses and malware so they weren't responsible for any repair costs at any time. I pretty much figured out a 5 year old could produce a virus that would get by McAfee so I dumped them.

[ny biker]

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials. It was recommended by the guy who used to write the personal technology column for the Washington Post. I've had no problems with it.

[snapdragen]

I use Microsoft Security Essentials too, along with Malware same as Irulan.

[Koronin]

We recently switched from Avast to Microsoft Security Essentials also. (Although Avast is fine, never had an issue with it).

[AnnieBikes]

I also use MSE on my Windows 7 desktop, because it came with it and I read that it is very good (and free) but I can highly recommend AVG free version. I use it on my laptop which has Windows XP, just because it is old and slow anyway and I was not sure MSE would work with it. AVG will try to get you to pay for a "better" version, but the free one works great, has auto updates, and has kept my laptop clean as a whistle.

[Dogmama]

I had ("had" being the operative word) McAfee. Their disclaimer is that it won't protect you from everything which by default means it won't protect you from ANYTHING. .

McAfee sux. My DH is a private investigator, so he's always on questionable websites & opening any attachment that he gets. I drank the kool-aid & bought Norton 360. I really do like it. His computer has been turned into a boat anchor twice with viruses, so I think the Norton is worth it.

[smilingcat]

McAfee sux. My DH is a private investigator, so he's always on questionable websites & opening any attachment that he gets. I drank the kool-aid & bought Norton 360. I really do like it. His computer has been turned into a boat anchor twice with viruses, so I think the Norton is worth it.

If your husband HAS to open dubious websites and attachments, it might be worth running his computer on Linux machine and set its security so that it doesn't allow it to download without his permission.

I haven't had any problem with my Linux box. I've also have the security set pretty tight. And any virus that does make it through can't make heads or tails with the Linux operating system.

Besides, Linux is "free" if you don't buy an enterprise edition or some "canned" version such as Fedora, SuSE and so forth. It's pretty non-geek friendly these days.

Can't say about Norton, McAfee or any of those since I don't use any of them.

[hebe]

Microsoft Security Essentials here. My dh works in IT security, so if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me.

[FunSize]

Malware Bytes is amazing. I think the only main difference between the free and full version is that the free version your have to tell it to run scans (which is important), whereas the full version you can schedule the scans.

Norton and McAfee are horrible. Be careful while uninstalling Norton, sometimes even when you think you uninstalled it it is still there. (which makes putting another AV/AS on your computer I think there are actually free software downloads out there specifically to remove Notron.

[lo123]

I'll preface this by saying I'm a computer security engineer...


Their disclaimer is that it won't protect you from everything which by default means it won't protect you from ANYTHING. At least that's what I found out when I got the "defense center" virus that merrily downloaded porn on my netbook everytime I turned it on.

Unfortunately, that's the nature of anti-virus and anti-malware software. The bad guys are trying to come up with new ways to infect systems. The good guys are always a step behind. IMHO anti-virus is a dead technology, but a necessary one.

My suggestions:

1. Install one of the free anti-virus programs like avg, avast, etc.
2. Don't use Internet Explorer. Since it's still the most popular browser, most malware writers will try to target it first. I recommend Firefox or Chrome.
3. If you do run Firefox, install the plugin "no script". It's a bit of a pain at first, but it will prevent getting an infection from a trusted or legitimate site with bad code running on it.


Overall, don't click random links or links in email/facebook/twitter unless you KNOW that they're legit

When searching for things, look at the URL. If it looks like gobbledygook, don't click it. It's most likely search bait that will lead you to an infected site.

Don't 'unsubscribe' from SPAM by replying or clicking links. That only tells the spammers that your address is real.


Originally Posted by Dogmama
McAfee sux. My DH is a private investigator, so he's always on questionable websites & opening any attachment that he gets. I drank the kool-aid & bought Norton 360. I really do like it. His computer has been turned into a boat anchor twice with viruses, so I think the Norton is worth it.
In this situation, I'd recommend your husband get an IT savvy friend to set up a virtual appliance (not hard do, but it might be tricky if he's not a computer person). VMWare player is free. as is the Firefox browser appliance http://wiki.rpath.com/wiki/Appliance%3aBrowser_Appliance.
If he does all the surfing from a browser appliance, the virtual machine will be infected, but the Windows PC will not. I actually recommend this to anyone who's doing banking and general internet usage from the same PC.