free anti-virus software?

[devon.818]

so i guess im not the most tech-savy, barely can use bittorrent and other sites.

had norton on my computer but it expired, no i have like 60+ virus's according to a scan i did on my comp.

been useing my iphone to do everything lately. so anything free i can download?

thanks.

[kts]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials. Works a lot better than the McAfee we used to provide to our students on campus.

http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

AVG is another free one a lot of people I know recommend.

If your computer is that infected it's best to back up any files you really need, wipe it, and start from scratch. Once a computer has been owned by a virus/bot/trojan/etc it's no longer your computer and they only way to trust it is to start from scratch.

[devon.818]

how do you back everything up? should i use a flash drive or something?

yeah the norton scan said i had malware and trojans and all kinds of fucked up shit....no idea how the F it got there so fast. but i do all banking on my iphone, so that makes me feel better....

[kts]

Yea copy it onto a flash drive, external drive, burn onto CD/DVD.

If you do reformat and reinstall get everything up to the most recently security patches and make sure you have antivirus software installed BEFORE you copy stuff off of the flash drive/DVD/etc. A lot of malware will sneakily copy itself onto any drive that gets plugged into the computer to help it spread and reinfect things.

How did it get there? Stop looking at so much porn. ;) Really though you need to be careful where you grab .torrents from, also you need to keep your OS, web browser, Flash, etc all up to date. If you don't it's trivial for malware to get onto you computer, even from visiting normal websites. It's crazy how much money is made from malware installs, which usually are done from a Flash ad or other ad on legitimate sites that have had their ad banners resold many times down the road to shady malware writers. They exploit old versions of web browsers or Flash to get their malware installed on your computer and then they get paid.

[devon.818]

i cant update my computer, i let a friend burn me a "copy" of windows vista, and its not genuine, so if i update anything, then my computer will go on lockdown...lol.

thanks though, gonna go get a flash drive and see what i can do. i had no idea im alowed to start over lol.

[samiam3356]

AVG is what the I.T. dorks at my work recommend

Malwarebytes to remove stuff

[kts]

i cant update my computer, i let a friend burn me a "copy" of windows vista, and its not genuine, so if i update anything, then my computer will go on lockdown...lol.

thanks though, gonna go get a flash drive and see what i can do. i had no idea im alowed to start over lol.

You're going to need a copy of windows if you wipe it and reinstall. sounds like you're a little F'd. (There is no way to "start over" with out having all the install discs good to go.)

Although having said that, if your computer happens to have System Restore on it you may be in luck and be able to go back to an "earlier version" of your computer before it got all of the malware on it. Check http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...System-Restore for more info.

Running a non-legit copy and not updating it (and I'm guessing you probably don't keep IE/Firefox/Flash/etc updated as well) is asking for a computer to get owned.

Newegg sells OEM copies of Windows 7 for like $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116983

Windows 7 is light years ahead of Vista, performance will pick up a lot.

[TrentW]

I've been using AVG and would highly recommend it. Gotta get myself an additional hard drive to backup everything though.

[selturk]

yea use AVG, here's the link:

http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

[Kvasi]

Avast if far better than AVG, it comes out mutch better on all tests ive read.

[AndrewBird]

AVG. Lowest CPU usage of any virus protection I have found. Currently only using 1.2mb.

/thread.

[TurboJake]

Avg + malwarebytes

[dirk619]

I use avast, it's pretty great.

[TurboJake]

Have you been using it for a while?

Remember a couple years back, when it would have an immediate pop up and REALLY annoying, loud as fuck alarm that would chime, and it would say "Caution! A virus has been detected!"

That shit was the most annoying crap in the world when the volume is up on your 5.1 system, it's 3 am, and the house is dead silent.

And then it switched to the three chimes, and saying "Threat has been detected!"

EVERY FUCKING TIME! you jump 18 feet in the air and the dog starts barking. And then you forget to silence the damn thing and tell it NOT to be audible.


THAT was reason enough for me to switch... Ugggghhh... Plus AVG found a lot of shit avast didn't. And it didn't false flag some stuff avast did. I like it a lot. and it costs the same. ($0)

For those that don't know, turn your shit to a normal volume you have it at. And then wait for it to be dead silent in your house, and click.

[Kvasi]

Used to have AVG until my ISP actually rang me up and said theyr ready to pull the plug due to all the shit my pc was doing without me knowing.
Did an format:c and went Avast and everything worked fine exept a littlebit slower reaction on clicking links when browsing. And u can turn those alarms off in sttings..
Now im using security essentials, comes out great in tests and i dont have to think about it.

As for the OP, at piratebay ull find ways to make ur vistaupdate work fine.. :)