Over time, the posts in this forum have referenced various anti-virus/-malware programs. AVG and Spybot S&D used to be the apparent favorites, now replaced by Avira/Avast and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and SuperAntiSpyware. I have not seen (and may well have missed) any discussion that gives a reason for these preferences. Would it be worth have a pinned topic that makes recommendations for these essential programs, along with the reasoning?

Thanks.

Jerry

In my opinion, no. There are man comparison/review sites on security programs available on the internet. To make a 'sticky' of yet another, is a waste of space.

To some extent, recommended security programs are subjective: it is the experience of the person writing the review. Or it could be consensus. For instance, many of us used and recommended AVG up through v7.5. It was a good, reliable and stable program. But it changed in v8 which included a spyware/adware program and numerous update problems.

But this is not accurate:
We should all run one antivirus program, one firewall and 2 or more spyware/adware programs ALL the time. Examples of these would be (AVG), Spybot S&D.

But if a malware infection is suspected, then we would use programs that are more powerful to clean the malware. Examples of these would be Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware.

So your conclusion here is based on inaccurate data, and therefore false.

Thanks for your thoughts, Bobbye. You gave some of the logic behind the recommendations I often see expressed on the forum, such as the apparent disfavor of AVG now and the reason for using MBAM in cleanup. For those of us who want to stay informed but don't live and breathe this forum, I believe this information is quite helpful. (Or maybe that's just me.) To have a brief summary like this included in the "8 steps", perhaps, would pre-emptively answer questions from people who like to know the "why" behind things.

Thank you for the part you play in this excellent forum.

Best,
Jerry

Well I've recently been hit by a trojan, not thinking i'd be hit by something like this because I dont do a whole lot of surfing and downloading it still got me. After this experience and seing 11 threads this passed thursday about people and their malware/trojans/viruses I thought the same thing. Maybe a thread that would suggest some programs for our members to download and use. We dont own the internet, but I think maybe if we get one thousand of our members to get these protections then that's 1k less the site would have to worry about.

So maybe just a thread with some suggestions. After removing harmful items from my OS I'm to the point that I may just make a standard greetings to new members about visiting the section about malware/viruses. No one should have to be a victim of these things. It may also save you guys a little sweat.

BobBye we really appreciate what you guys do, thx again.

TechSpot does offer a thread with 8 Steps Preliminary Virus and Malware Cleaning:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58138.html

And if you look at that board, you will note that there are way more infected systems then they are volunteers to help clean them! I expect people who use computers to take some responsibility for what they're running, what potential effect it can have, what security they need on their systems. Unfortunately, my expectation is more a fantasy than a reality from what I see in their logs.
I understand and appreciate the wish for more knowledge about programs. You can find the information in various places on the internet.

As for adding an explanation as to WHY you should run such and such a program to help clean the malware, it isn't going to happen. Even as well as the 8 steps are laid out, we have people start a thread saying 'I read the 8 steps' then just leaving a HijackThis log!

And then when they no longer see their main problem like the Vimax ads, they assume their system is clean and are ready to stop. Or they do a System Restore BEFORE we have them drop the infected restore points- or they reformat and undo everything we've done!This is usually not the case, so try to look at the subject from our point of view- "our" meaning those of us who help with the cleaning.

You may sense a bit of frustration here....it's all based on real fact!

I understand. I wish I knew more about the subject matter so I could help, I'm limited to hardware solutions it seems.

sounds good to me. I've read through about 20 solved virus threads, it seems like the steps arent that hard to figure out. I'm sure there's a different procedure for different situations. I'm going to read up on it and see what I can see.

IVe written this if its any help. I will post it on Techspot if required and if anyone has alterations feel free to let me know here or PM and il see about altering

http://www.forum.iquorum.net/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=48

Thanks for the easy to read review rev_olie

There have also been quite a number of previous threads on this subject, including:

What do you think is the best Antivirus right now?

What's the best antivirus program?

AVG Free Antivirus

Instead of AVG? free antivirus recs please

I feel this debate will go forever, due to:

Personal Choice
Changes in Antivirus revisions
Actual abilities of Antivirus softwares
Varying Reviews across the Net (Here's another external review: http://www.av-comparatives.org/

So, there you go

Thats very true indeed. Ive put Norton down as 3 stars because i hate the software but there are hordes of people out there who swear by it because it somes with the PC.

I'm not even going to quote all the bad posts and threads on Norton
Lets just say this: To uninstall Symantec (Norton) Antivirus
Run the Norton Removal tool (But personal choice, I suppose )