anti-virus programs

[wyatt]

oops only free for 90days better use AVG

[HiloHaole]

Get AVG. It updates VERY fast. The speed and megs you have is pretty good while it's scanning. When I notice it scanning (there's a second icon on my task bar on the right) I sometimes pause it and then "unpause" it when I'm finished viewing something very i/o intensive. I use Ad-Aware SE, Spybot, and AVG (all free) and run them often in that order. Sometimes you may want to boot up in "Safe Mode" and run them. Some smart viruses/trojans are only found and eliminated when scanning in "Safe Mode."

[Hazen]

AVG, Spybot, Ad-aware. All free, or easily made so. Nothing EVER gets through. Make sure to set your internet and firewall settings up in windows/explorer. Norton, Symantec, and most others are big, expensive, inefficient and cumbersome to remove.

If you are up to it, "Hijack-this.exe" is a helpfull program that can help you get rid of extraneous crap that old non-exsistent, or unused programs boot up everytime you use your computer. Then use RegCleaner to get rid of unconnected registry entries. An ungodly number of programs try to install themselves and update or datamine everytime you boot. I personally would rather have my computer running fast and free than have every program i've ever installed trying to update constantly. HijackThis and RegCleaner should only be used if you understand them !!! Very important.

I recently lost my killer computer to some power surges, i've been using a craptastic backup emachine someone threw out a few years ago. I keep it running so clean most people think its a new, fast machine. If you learn how to tweak and simplify your processes you can really eek a lot more out of older hardware and stay a few years ahead of the upgrade race.
I've since invested in a uninterrupted power supply (UPS) about $150 at the big box store near Wal-mart. It informs me daily of surges, spikes, brown-outs, and outright power failures. I'm prety sure it's saved me a lot of money, plus I never lose anything to a blackout, and I have a some spare power in an emergency. I don;t think most areas are as troublesome as mine for clean power, but it's a good investment ESCPECIALLY if you do buisness through your computer or don't backup as often as you should.

My 2 cents

hazen

[oink]

AVG is good and I have used it. I currently use Avast: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

It works well. I have the free version on this machine and the pro version on the office machines. It generally does not slow the machine much but can with at least one internet based program I use.

I highly recomend Spybot( http://www.safer-networking.org/ ) and Adaware( http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ ).

HighJackThis( http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/progr...hijackthis ) can be a life saver but should be used only with the assistance of someone knowledgable enough to give competent advice. Examples include: http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/ and http://www.cybertechhelp.com/
Go here for a larger list: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.php

A resource that should not be overlooked by the infected is Cwshredder: http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cws...nload.html
Just use the free version.

Trend Micro's free online scanner has filtered out baddies for me that installed scanners have missed: http://www.trendmicro.com/spyware-scan/

Hope that was of assistance to someone and hasn't violated any forum rules.

S. FL Islander to be

Edited by - oink on 09/12/2006 06:17:17

Edited by - oink on 09/12/2006 06:20:55

Edited by - oink on 09/12/2006 06:23:01

[Lokahi]

Dave
yep most of the big brand names are ginormous resource hogs..forget em. I have used AVG, Spybot and Adaware for 5+ years and no complaints or problems...and it's all freeware with frequent updates. One item of interest is you have only 256MB of SDRAM. I don't know what OS you are using but if WindowsXP that alone will be the edge of RAM limit and throw in any applications and the other numerous processes that run in the background and you are pau. Now if you add one of the major antiviral programs...well forgetaboutit! Upgrade your RAM (fairly cheap) and use the freeware. You will be a more happy guy.

[HiloHaole]

I highly recommend oink's suggestion of Trend Micro's free online scanner at http://www.trendmicro.com/spyware-scan/. It found a keylogger on my PC that had not been found by Spybot and AVG. Now I include it in my almost-daily scans.