I just reinstalled my computer and within a week a virus took me out. I reinstalled again last night but I'd like to get some software on there to stop future problems.

I'm behind a router (which I thought gave quite a bit of protection) but I want to stop viruses and spyware from getting in.

In the past I've used Ad-aware and Spybot and I had Norton antivirus installed but the subscription ran out.

Can anyone recomend some quality FREE products out there to secure my computer? What about software with paid subscriptions?

Thanks,

Steve

Paid AV these days is generally bloated crap, especially Norton.

Spybot Search & Destroy is a good (the best?) free antispyware app, Avast is a good free antivirus, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is very useful if you find yourself with an awkward virus Avast won't remove.

To be honest, it's VERY difficult to just "pick up" a virus these days if you're behind a router and use NoScript when browsing. The only ways you'll get viruses are a) dodgy software/keygens or b) allowing Javascript by default and visiting a suspect site.

Stop visiting all those porn sites.

Avast is all you need IMO as long as your IQ > 5.

Legal Windows license (up-to-date security patches) and common sense is all you need.

Fixed it for you.

Quote :

Avast is all you need IMO as long as your IQ > 5.

I was about to disagree with you when I realised the only time I got a virus Avast couldn't remove (Vundo... ugh, bad times) was because I used a dodgy keygen.

Avira + COMODO Firewall.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Legal Windows license (up-to-date security patches) and common sense is all you need.

Fixed it for you.

They won't get rid of the numerous tracking cookies you'll pick up with general surfing (unless you disable cookies). Are you happy with advertising companies (and whoever they decide to sell your information to) knowing your internet browsing activities? Even if you don't visit porn/warez/dodgy sites it's not something most people would want...

Set Firefox to clear all cookies at the end of a session.

"avast home" is free and the best protection software i've ever seen.

I only use ClamWin because the last time I actually saw a virus was around 1990 I think.

I run AVG and Avast! together. No single AV gets everything, and these two rate pretty highly, between them I get like 98% protection. Both are free and use pretty much no system resources.

I use Sandboxie and VirusTotal.com when I am in win32

Quote from TiJay :

Set Firefox to clear all cookies at the end of a session.

Then you have to log back in to things every time you close Firefox. The easier solution is to only allow cookies from trusted sites, but if you left Firefox/IE at default settings you would accumulate tracking cookies. That was the point I was trying to make.

What exactly do tracking cookies do? Every month when I do a FULL system clean-up, using all the tools, do I get some tracking cookies. I never pay much attention to them, are they something more malicious then?

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

What exactly do tracking cookies do? Every month when I do a FULL system clean-up, using all the tools, do I get some tracking cookies. I never pay much attention to them, are they something more malicious then?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie#Third-party_cookies

Oh, cheers.

using paid-for AVG at the moment, as the free period ran out and have had no problems with it at all, it's a brilliant antivirus, made all the more so after the update for the Norton antivirus we had before that totally raped the computer

Quote from amp88 :

They won't get rid of the numerous tracking cookies you'll pick up with general surfing (unless you disable cookies). Are you happy with advertising companies (and whoever they decide to sell your information to) knowing your internet browsing activities? Even if you don't visit porn/warez/dodgy sites it's not something most people would want...

If you have time to worry about tracking cookies, I envy you.

NOD32 + Windows Firewall and you're in business. There's not effin reason for downloading aftermarket firewalls when the OEM one does the job right.

Quote from Riders Motion :

... There's not effin reason for downloading aftermarket firewalls when the OEM one does the job right.

+1

Aside from that you will not end up in Zone Alarms configuration hell

Windows Firewall is designed to do some of the job a proper, commercial firewall does and it doesn't even do that well (I realise this article is from 2004 btw). Getting a commercial firewall to replace Windows Firewall is a good idea. ESET Smart Security includes NOD32 (one of the best, if not the best, anti viruses available, Personal Firewall and an anti spam module.

edit: Go here to test your firewall's effectiveness. Try the "file sharing" and "common ports" tests first.

edit2: Also, Windows Firewall doesn't monitor outbound traffic, so if you have some malware on your computer that tries to send information to the Internet (e.g. a keylogger sending all of your passwords and credit card details) it will be able to without you even knowing about it.

AVG and AVAST seem to only have trial versions. What happens at the end of the trial? Do I simply get a reminder that "it would be nice if i bought it" or do I have reinstall it?

Thanks for all the speedy replies today too

Steve

Quote from speedfreak227 :

AVG and AVAST seem to only have trial versions.

AVG Free
Avast Free

For Avast you need to register to receive a free license key. With AVG you just install, and that's it.

Comodo is also free.

Thank you VERY much.