These are the ones I have used. All of them are scanners, upon command, or perhaps automatically, they compare files on your disc with a list of known badware/malware, and post big "Gotcha" messages when they find a match. They all take an hour or so to do your hard drive, and they all wait for you to personally OK zapping a malware file. Just in case they make a mistake. Which they never do. Since new malware is hatched every day, they all have provisions to download updated badware lists.
Most of them also install "realtime scanners" , programs that load into RAM at boot time and check all incoming stuff (email, email attachments, downloads) for badware, These scanners slow your system down a lot. I just removed a couple from my desktop, and the improvement in response is very noticeable and very pleasant. MicroSoft Security Essentials is the worse offender here. It slowed Blackbox down so much he was falling behind my typing. When a 600 Mhz machine with a Gigabyte of RAM cannot keep up with my 10 keystrokes/sec hand typing, something ain't right. Blowing away Microsoft Security essentials fixed things right up.
I have run all of these antivirus programs within the last few months. The computers all survived the experience. They are all free. They are all fairly easy to run, you download them from the web, run 'em, and tell 'em to zap everything they find. None of 'em will find everything. If faced with a difficult infection, try several of them. What one misses, another might find.
MalwareBytes. A relative newcomer. As a plus feature, no "realtime scanner". He just scans the hard drive, once, and doesn't bother you afterwards. Website BleepingComputer tipped me off to this one.
Spybot Search and Destroy Been around for a while. Started out as an anti spybot scanner and broadened out into scanning for most types of malware. No "realtime scanner", a plus feature in my estimation.
Lavasoft AdAware Another spybot scanner that has branched out. Installs its own "realtime scanner" and whines when it finds traces of other antivirus programs on your machine.
AVG Another relative newcomer. Still shaking the code down, but it works and does no harm.
ZoneAlarm. Started off as a firewall and the latest version includes a disk scanner and a "realtime scanner".
MicroSoft Security Essentials Fairly new from Redmond. Effective, is able to block some pesky infections spread from websites. CPU hog. Slows your machine a LOT, all the time. Consumes up to 90% of your CPU time. Difficult to turn off or remove.
2 comments:
I'd recommend ESET and Malwarebytes Pro (They've been around a LONG time and are very good). We use both in my office and it manages to keep 75+ Windows XP/7 computers virus free.
http://eset.com
ESET is a bit pricey though, but I've yet to see anything get through.
Hmm, I used to pay money to run things like Norton or Mcaffee or Eztrust. But over the last few years I've been cheaping out and running the freebies. I don't get hit very often, I don't fileshare music or movies, I don't let foreign flashdrives plug in, and I don't click on email attachments. So far the freebies have been strong enough to keep me running. I hope that lasts.
Will it come to pass that some really vicious virus drives us all away from Windows and in Linux?
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