BleepingComputer.com: The BEST ?

Hi to all my family at Blleping Computer !!!!
A friend asked me the other day " What's the BEST all around antispyware,antitrogan,anti malware, anti everything that money can buy ? I told him that Avast and Zone Alarm should do it and they are free, but he insists on buying the BEST.
So, what is the BEST that money can buy ?
All help is very much appreciated !
Thank you !

Each security software has its own set of definitions which means that just because one program detects something, another program may not. Which is why its important to have more than 1 anti-spyware program on your computer. I have heard that ZoneAlarm and Comodo are good firewalls. And for Anti-virus I would recommend Avira-Antivir. The free version is GREAT.

There is no "best", IMO. Any effort to read on such will illustrate this point.

Protection of any sort...either works or it doesn't work. There are any number of different programs which work to protect the system...if users follow the instructions for using/updating/maintaining such.

Any defense can be compromised by users, unfortunately. That's the real weakness in computer security...users.

Louis

The best protection is to not connect to the internet - beyond that it's up to the user.

Here's why...Say you want to download a song or a program. So you go out and look for it. When you find it you download it and select "Run" or "Open". Windows asks if you're sure you want to do this - and you answer "Yes" because you want it. And you've just installed a virus on your system - and all the protection in the world isn't going to help you because you gave it permission to do that.

The next best protection is a paranoid user. They know that any time they visit the web, things will be downloaded onto their computer. So they're very, very cautious on what they allow. They never select "Run" or "Open" - rather, they always select "Save". Once the file is downloaded to they use their anti-everything programs to scan the heck out of it - and at any sign it may be malicious they delete it.

Beyond that, you'll get all sorts of arguments as to what's best. But what is best depends on what type of infection you're going to get. And if you knew that in advance, you wouldn't get the infection in the first place. Pick one of the good, reputable anti-virus programs for your primary protection (I use Avast Home Free), then load up on the anti-spyware apps. Firewalls are a matter of opinion these days - I prefer the last freeware version of Sygate Personal Firewall (available here: http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/pa...onal%20Firewall ) for XP - I don't like any of the current offerings for Vista.

Only have 1 anti-virus program running at a time - and only one firewall at a time (check to ensure the Windows firewall is off if you install another one).

Hi.

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Yes. That is true. If you never use the internet the chance of you getting infected is mininum. I have a computer that doesn't have internet connection, so I just use it for storage, because it is extremly slow.. that computer has been used for 5 years, and nothing bad has happened yet.

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I personally think that security programs is not what's doing all the work. You yourself has to take some responsibily as well. Think about it this way. If you go around opening unkown e-mails going to bad sites and except nothing to happen and let your anti-virus/firewall to do all the work. The chance of you cleaning the computer isn't high.

Having good surfing habits is the best protection you have. Anti-virus programs can help you remove some threats but some specific infections cannot just be targeted by regular security programs. Also everything you do is on your own hands. If your anti-virus programs say something is bad, and you think it is good and you allow it, the firewall/anti-virus program cannot do much. They can only warn you and scan your comptuer but at the end, the decisions is all yours.

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Well, I don't buy any anti-virus programs, I just download an anti-virus program from a trusted website. I use AVG 8.0 and Superanti-spyware. The best protection is having good surfing habits. Take a read in this forum: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum25.html

Also read this topic, it has some good suggestions on how to surf safe: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic123660.html

Read some of the pinned topics, there are some threads relating to security programs which can be found here

With regards,
Extremeboy

Just FYI - you can get infected without connecting to the internet. This happened to me in the early 1990's with a floppy disk for a game I got from a friend's father. It had the Joshi virus on it and it took down a lot of systems because we freely shared the game.

usasma, on Nov 8 2008, 02:09 PM, said:

Moral of the story: Don't use removable drives

Nah, just be careful what you put into your machine. I didn't even know there were viruses on floppies well I was a little kid in the late 90's so that's probably why =) .

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I got infected with a flash-drive so, you can get infected though. Just be careful what you plug into your machine.

I know a friend at school that told me a while back ago, that his computer teacher didn't allow flash-drives but allowed floppy disks, because she said that floppy disks does not have viruses...

None of my laptops have floppy disks unfortunately, so can't use floppy disks..

extremeboy, on Nov 8 2008, 02:26 PM, said:

I wonder how she got the job?

Teachers have degrees in teaching - not necessarily in computer science.
Also, since floppies have fallen out of use - there's probably not that much out there that's designed for them.
But the self-replicating infections that infect flash drives could (in theory) infect floppy drives also.

LOL,
Y'all seem like ya have too much fun !
I will have the friend read everything you have sent me. I will leave the protection thats on there alone . I believe it is good, just as you have said !
Thank you all for your awsome help !
I hope one day to help you all as you have helped me !!!!!!!!!!!

You are very welcome! Be sure to tell your friends about us.