jono300

iTrader: (8)

As part off my daily routine I normally like to run a full AVG internet security 2011 virus scan and then followed by a run off spybot search and destoy, normally things come up clear apart from the occacsional " This software is signed with a broken digital signature " message via AVG and the usual tracking cookies found with spybot.

just wonder how much off a risk the broken signature errors carry, ie can they be innocent ??

lastly, is there any other software I should be adding to the above for scanning / protecting my pc ?? thinking in terms off rootkit finders or with a clean scan with the above software titles does this normally indicate things should be pretty much okay ??

thanks,

john

Ant

Ditch avg and run ms essentials

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Yep have heard good things re this MS essentials. is it free ? you reckon its better than AVG as to be fair AVG does always come highly recommended in most pc mag / website tests ??

Ant

I stopped using avg ages due to it being quite memory hungry

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

IMO AVG isn't all that. Remember mags and websites often get revenue for plugging products, so IMO its always worth taking these editorial reviews with a pinch of salt.

I've had to sort out some pretty seriously infected PCs with AVG (free) installed. AVG was either disabled by the malware or the infection couldn't be detected, or if it did detect it, it couldn't clean/fix it.

Whether that makes it better/worse that any other free anti virus I don't know as I had to disinfect the PCs the old fashioned way (find the culprit, stop it running, then delete the associated files and reg keys), but I have found it pretty bloaty and it seems to take forever to do a full scan too (which in turn slows down disk access which slows down the computer), its rather annoying with the notification pop-ups too.

MS essentials is free. So long as you have a legit version of windows installed Whilst I've used it and find it pleasent to use and not too bloaty on resources, I'm yet to have a infected PC come back to me from a client with it installed (The ones with AVG I tend to give back out with MS essentials installed instead of AVG). So I guess that's a good thing.

All my PCs run Nod32 (which you have to pay for)

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Okay thats great certainly do appreciatte the info and will certainly look into this MS software, going back to the other question would you say a scan off both av and spybot should be enough for most home computers or is there anything else required these days ??

I see that AVG has a rootkit finder option built in, any idea if the MS one does and if not is a sepearate rootkit finder software a must- bit confused if the normal av sofware detects what a stand alone rootkit sofware would detect ??

StiX

iTrader: (4)

Might want to try Malwarebytes as well?

Ant

Scanning daily is not needed imo as the av will have live detection. I rarely scan mine

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

IIRC last time I used AVG free it insisited on doing a full scan on startup. Can't remember if it could be re-scheduled to weekly/monthly etc.

Generally speaking you only need to daily scan certain areas of the PC, mainly the web cache and system areas as thats usually the entry point for most viruses....and as Ant says a good AV will pick it up on live detection...more often than not its a trojan in the web cache from a dodgy website.

Most AV software do cover rootkits...rootkit is just another name for a type of unwanted infection really, like malware, trojans, viruses etc. Most AV software strives to cover them all these days.

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Okay cheers thanks again for the info guys, yes Malwarebytes is another one I do use ocacsionally.

what about these broken signatures found by avg- should I be worried as has found 3 off them ??

Littleted

Microsoft security essentials and just sit back and relax, maybe run it once a month, but its proactive so no real need.

I sometimes use adaware or spyboy every 3 months if kids have been on.

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Okay now persuaded to make the change over to MS security essentials !!

have d/loaded it and its now doing its scan. must admitt pc browsing etc certainly seems to be a bit quicker since removing avg.

one thing - the ms software - seems a very small d/load , does it really offer as much overall protection as avg ??

lastly my av protection will now consits off :

1/ ms security essentials
2/ malwarebytes / spybot
3/ ms rootkit finder

should the above be enough for general home pc use ??

craigo

iTrader: (1)

Those are the three i have run now for 18 months with no issues at all

Ant

Yes that will be fine, I only run ms essentials

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Okay great first scan with Ms essentials found a backdoor trojan that AVG obviously missed ??!!

just wonder if when a pc has been infected with such a trojan if any off my personal data has been taken ?? can computers have such virus without attack ie would you have to be unluck for your pc to be the very one they used to gain data even thou it was infected ?

again thanks guys really do appreciatte the advice given.

john

jonc

MS Security Essentials is good but by no means the best. Have a look at this site for a good comparison of AV products
http://www.av-comparatives.org/en/home

Cannon Fodder

iTrader: (100)

I've just removed AVG2012 and installed MS Essentials and I have to say I'm quite impressed by it, I also run Malaware as well.

My first impressions are that MSE is far less of a system hog than AVG so it's a thumbs up from me.

Galifrey

iTrader: (3)

+1

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Yep have to say again that first impressions with MS is that its is so much better than AVG, as I say according to its first scan found a backdoor trojan that seemed to have escaped the scan done by AVG just an hour before ??!!

I think the thing with computer magazine / internet sites reviewing several av softwares is that for some reason in the majority off cases each reviewer comes up with a different winning title !!

but again thanks for the recommendation for MS !!

mike1210

The big advertisers always get good reviews.....If you get my drift