Replace MSE with Avast! (?)

[ice_top]

Well, I've decided to replace MSE with Avast!
They claim and reader/user reports on cnet report better results
to be had by using their product.
Fortunately, Windows live user controls aren't affected by such a move.
I tried AVG before and it caught other things MSE didn't.
So, I guess I'll stoop in and bow to purchasing AV finally.
Avast has a special for purchasing 3 PC license currently too.
So, I guess the beans are spilled.

[ice_top]

I've read other places of users reporting using TONS of various AV, Spyware, Firewalls, and such on their PC. But, I think Spybot S&D plus a good AV is the way to go.
I've used other AV bfore, but Avast! is by far the most user friendly I've used to date.

And no, I'm not browsing "dangerous" sites, I just think using AV protection by a company dedicated to security is better than a half a**ed effort.

[rwest]

Icetop it really comes down to personal prefference. None of them catch evrything. And all of them claim theirs is better and will have some form or way of backing their statement.

Even when searching for the best program for protection not one really stands out-ever. Even when someone does a complete review, one program never stands out from the others.

What does work, is people who regularly use different programs and say I think this one works well. I use MSE and it works just fine for me. Although; on that note I was able to browse for almost a year without any protection at all except the firewall from my provider.

The forum tends to keep a general consensus on what programs seem to work for most. Avast has always been in the recommended list. MSE came on a few years back and has been highly reccomended. Doesn't mean either one is better, just one of a few good choices.

AVG was one that was highly reccomended untill it became bloated and used more resources to run. It is still reguarded by many folks as one that works well, it just became resource hungry. So its not been reccomended much anymore.

And it used to be a problem mostly found on "dangerous sites', that's really not the case anymore. A lot of reputable sites can have beasties lurking around. The attackers seem to love places of high interest. I'd be very careful today of any link that will take you away from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and any media site. It's not going to neccesarily be on those sites, but can easily be a link.

One thing that I have found that works better than any program is to have a seperate user account just for browsing the unknown. If I'm just going to literally browse, I log off and switch to that account. If I get hit, I shut down and boot to my own account and delete the browser account. Works like a charm. Done it twice now in the past year or so.

[ice_top]

Originally Posted by rwest Icetop it really comes down to personal prefference. None of them catch evrything. And all of them claim theirs is better and will have some form or way of backing their statement. Even when searching for the best program for protection not one really stands out-ever. Even when someone does a complete review, one program never stands out from the others. What does work, is people who regularly use different programs and say I think this one works well. I use MSE and it works just fine for me. Although; on that note I was able to browse for almost a year without any protection at all except the firewall from my provider. The forum tends to keep a general consensus on what programs seem to work for most. Avast has always been in the recommended list. MSE came on a few years back and has been highly reccomended. Doesn't mean either one is better, just one of a few good choices. AVG was one that was highly reccomended untill it became bloated and used more resources to run. It is still reguarded by many folks as one that works well, it just became resource hungry. So its not been reccomended much anymore. And it used to be a problem mostly found on "dangerous sites', that's really not the case anymore. A lot of reputable sites can have beasties lurking around. The attackers seem to love places of high interest. I'd be very careful today of any link that will take you away from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and any media site. It's not going to neccesarily be on those sites, but can easily be a link. One thing that I have found that works better than any program is to have a seperate user account just for browsing the unknown. If I'm just going to literally browse, I log off and switch to that account. If I get hit, I shut down and boot to my own account and delete the browser account. Works like a charm. Done it twice now in the past year or so.

Very helpful reply, rwest. Thank you!
As for my emboldening the last part I'm the PC Administrator in my home, so I take that very seriously and useful.

I'll take some more time on this and when my trial use of Avast is done I'll make a decision as to what route to take.
I found AVG very useful as well, it did seem a slice more resource hungry if I remember correctly. All my CPUs can handle pretty much anything, so I'm not
too concerned about resources.

Thanks!

[rwest]

I actually found that method out by accident. some thing was wrong with my user account (last year) and I had a hard time figuring it out, but I had games linked to the account that were working fine.

Anyway I had setup a new account for me on the pc and was surfing and saw me get hit. Protections programs popped up and the scan bar was filling and, and, and.. you get the idea.

So I just reached over and killed power. It was a new account and I thought I bet I can just delete it. so I booted into safe mode and did just that. My next boot took me to my origianl account, ran malwarebytes and I think I still had AVG then, but nothing was found. created a new accoun and moved on.

Some time ago I was looking for some free software to try for encoding and decided to create an account to download and try before installing on my main account. I already had a ton of programs installed and thought it was paart of my problems. Anyway I remember on one of the downloads it just didn't look right-low and behold another bar came up and said I was infected. Well I accidentally clikced the wrong thing and stuff started happening. Shutdown, booted to my main account, deleted the other one, then ran some scans. Nothing found.

BTW I dont think I've ever heard anybody say AVG is not a good program, just most folks dont want a security program to use more of the pc than they do. Actually I think it was about the time SP3 for XP was released and along with AVG some very capable machines were slowing down.

[jdeb]

One thing that I have found that works better than any program is to have a seperate user account just for browsing the unknown. If I'm just going to literally browse, I log off and switch to that account. If I get hit, I shut down and boot to my own account and delete the browser account. Works like a charm. Done it twice now in the past year or so.

That is an excellent point.

[quartet-man]

Of course it is good to have the user account you surf with not be an administrative one. That can cause some hassles on installing, but it is worth it.
Another thing I think that helps is to use the private browsing when going to unknown sites. If I understand it right, that keeps all the junk it could dump on your computer from staying there.

[glc]

One thing that I have found that works better than any program is to have a seperate user account just for browsing the unknown. If I'm just going to literally browse, I log off and switch to that account. If I get hit, I shut down and boot to my own account and delete the browser account. Works like a charm. Done it twice now in the past year or so.

I use my Linux box for that, with Firefox. When I'm done, I clear all private data.

[kilgoretrout]

I use my Linux box for that, with Firefox. When I'm done, I clear all private data.

Or if you don't have a separate box, you can install Virtualbox on your windows computer for free:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Then you just install linux in a virtual machine(VM) using Virtualbox and do all your surfing through the VM.

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout Or if you don't have a separate box, you can install Virtualbox on your windows computer for free: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads Then you just install linux in a virtual machine(VM) using Virtualbox and do all your surfing through the VM.

I think that's a pain, all you need (that's what I use) is a Linux live cd. It is much easier to setup and actually use than VM just for browsing...

Here the thing to compare:

1) VM - first, you have to download and install Virtualbox, review any documentation to figure out how to use it
2) You have to have licensed OS to install and go through actual setup to be able to use it as a virtual machine...
3) generally, it is always slower than host OS, bugs you to install downloads, uses extra space on HDD, etc...

1) Live CD - download an .iso file and burn it to CD or USB stick.
2) boot your machine to it and now you have a spare and FREE OS that you don't care if it gets messed up...

If it is a CD, it cannot get messed up because nothing can be written to it anymore as far as malware (if any), etc.

i am thinking, VM=test OS, live CD=browse.
If you trying to use VM just for browsing, you are wasting your PC resources and space on HDD.

[glc]

2) You have to have licensed OS to install and go through actual setup to be able to use it as a virtual machine...

Not an issue with Linux, most distros are free.

[David M]

Originally Posted by rwest Icetop it really comes down to personal prefference. None of them catch evrything. And all of them claim theirs is better and will have some form or way of backing their statement. Even when searching for the best program for protection not one really stands out-ever. Even when someone does a complete review, one program never stands out from the others. What does work, is people who regularly use different programs and say I think this one works well. I use MSE and it works just fine for me. Although; on that note I was able to browse for almost a year without any protection at all except the firewall from my provider. The forum tends to keep a general consensus on what programs seem to work for most. Avast has always been in the recommended list. MSE came on a few years back and has been highly reccomended. Doesn't mean either one is better, just one of a few good choices. AVG was one that was highly reccomended untill it became bloated and used more resources to run. It is still reguarded by many folks as one that works well, it just became resource hungry. So its not been reccomended much anymore. And it used to be a problem mostly found on "dangerous sites', that's really not the case anymore. A lot of reputable sites can have beasties lurking around. The attackers seem to love places of high interest. I'd be very careful today of any link that will take you away from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and any media site. It's not going to neccesarily be on those sites, but can easily be a link. One thing that I have found that works better than any program is to have a seperate user account just for browsing the unknown. If I'm just going to literally browse, I log off and switch to that account. If I get hit, I shut down and boot to my own account and delete the browser account. Works like a charm. Done it twice now in the past year or so.

What is a separate browser account? How do you set up an account within a browser? All browsers? I don't understand how this prevents your computer from becoming infected. I would like to try this.

[glc]

Separate WINDOWS user account.

[David M]

Ahhh...that makes sense.

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by glc Not an issue with Linux, most distros are free.

Correct, but I meant Windows.

That's was my point: why bother setting up Virtualbox with Windows just to browse the net, if you could easily setup a free Linux livecd and do the same thing?

[kilgoretrout]

why bother setting up Virtualbox with Windows just to browse the net, if you could easily setup a free Linux livecd and do the same thing?

Do whatever you like, but personally, I don't like rebooting just to browse the internet.

[David M]

Originally Posted by acr98disc Correct, but I meant Windows. That's was my point: why bother setting up Virtualbox with Windows just to browse the net, if you could easily setup a free Linux livecd and do the same thing?

Because some people don't want to have to install and learn Linux?

[glc]

Originally Posted by acr98disc Correct, but I meant Windows. That's was my point: why bother setting up Virtualbox with Windows just to browse the net, if you could easily setup a free Linux livecd and do the same thing?

Review the post:

Or if you don't have a separate box, you can install Virtualbox on your windows computer for free: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads Then you just install linux in a virtual machine(VM) using Virtualbox and do all your surfing through the VM.

THAT is a lot more convenient than rebooting with a live CD.

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by David M Because some people don't want to have to install and learn Linux?

Live CD you don't even need to be installed, like VM, but just use it.

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by glc Review the post: THAT is a lot more convenient than rebooting with a live CD.

OK, I got it, thank you.

[David M]

I also said learn Linux.

[glc]

There really isn't anything to LEARN if all you are going to be doing is using a web browser. Today's Linux distros generally install/run themselves with no or minimal intervention.

[acr98disc]

Originally Posted by glc There really isn't anything to LEARN if all you are going to be doing is using a web browser. Today's Linux distros generally install/run themselves with no or minimal intervention.

For people learning thing is only that is: how to set up BIOS to get PC to boot from CD-ROM or USB first...

[doubledragon5]

I have used various firewall and Av. For yrs it was Zone Alarm and AVG, now I use Webroot along with windows firewall, which was suggested by webroot when installing..It is very user friendly imop, and so far have been happy with it..

The best protection for anyone using a computer is not the type of protecting you buy. It is you and were you surf when on the web..

[rwest]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 The best protection for anyone using a computer is not the type of protecting you buy. It is you.

Agree, but you have to be aware and be careful. Even the best and very intelligent users can be fooled.

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 and where you surf when on the web.

Not so true anymore. It's more diversely dependent on the host sites, not neccesarily the type of site.