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ProfessorX
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05 May 2009, 1:01 pm

solinoure, I've seen a similar post on a computer-related forum yet, I'll do my best to answer this in the best possible manner as such.. I'd say there are several Anti-Virus apps out there.Everything from AVG,Avast,Kaspersky,Eset,and beyond.. what it comes down to is what are you looking for in terms of options and tools you seek in an Anti-Virus app..
I personally use Avast mainly cause of the inherent low lack of computer resources which it uses however, Eset tends to do a much better job in that area still, Kaspersky is very good as, it pertains to it's scanning ability as such.. Note, regardless of any anti-virus application you choose make sure you have your computer as a whole up to date i.e 2Gb ram, fast processor, and most importantly updated drivers for all components including your motherboard.. Well, I do hope this sincerely this has helped??



Orwell
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05 May 2009, 1:22 pm

I recently discovered Panda Cloud Antivirus. It's only for 32-bit Windows, but it's amazing. Very, very light and fast, perfect simple UI, and tests have confirmed it has good detection rates. Manual whole-system scans are possible but not necessary- it offers on-the-fly protection so you can just install and forget.

Sigh. I finally find a good antivirus app, and now I'm about to upgrade to 64-bit Windows that doesn't have it available yet.


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mlqqeae
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06 May 2009, 4:14 am

I'm a hacker and I can say that the following tools will be able to solve the hardest issues regarding the worst infections.

Avast! Antivirus
SUPERAntiSpyware
MG Tools
Combo Fix
Spybot Search And Destroy



Here is a small section of a tutorial I wrote a while back...

Quote:
============================================
Tutorial II Defeating the Worst Infections
============================================
For this simple task you will need some tools.
Combofix should pretty much do you good.

Open Command Prompt and type:
ipconfig /flushdns
This should "flush" your DNS effectively refreshing it.

Run Combofix.
Follow all instructions to the letter!
Computer will restart! Let it do so!
Do not manually mess with it!
Once it is completed completely.
Run MGTools for extra protection.
Run SUPERAntiSpyware
Afterwords make sure to update all your security

Below is a listing of recommended programs.
ALL OF THESE PROGRAMS ARE FREE! THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE!


ComboFix : http://www.combofix.org/download.php
MGTools : http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/files/MGtools.exe
SUPERAntiSpyware : http://www.majorgeeks.com/SUPERAntiSpyware_d5116.html
Spybot Search & Destroy : http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Avast! Antivirus Home : http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html



solinoure
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07 May 2009, 1:11 pm

Something with ZoneAlarm just didn't agree with my PC...

Out of no where, my PC won't boot up - BSOD every time. I can only get stuff to run in Safe Mode.

A couple of hours with the alieneare help desk and they get me running again using msconfig to disable all startup stuff. We reinstall the video driver and re-enable the star tup stuff but the ZoneAlarm apps won't run. But the system runs - so, I'm done with tech...

I go to uninstall the ZoneAlarm and BSOD! So, Safe Mode, ininstall - BSOD! WTF! ZoneAlarm won't leave...

So I delete it's files and tear it out of the registry searching every where for Zone Alarm and check Point...

Now none of my networking works and it won't let me reinstall drivers... they just fail... I screwed up my system... rebuild?


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Last edited by solinoure on 07 May 2009, 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Orwell
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07 May 2009, 1:15 pm

solinoure wrote:
Now none of my networking works and it won't let me reinstall drivers... they just fail... I screwed up my system... rebuild?

That's what I always do after breaking stuff. :)

Dunno why ZoneAlarm would have acted up like that, though. Perhaps it was conflicting with the default Windows firewall?


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Fuzzy
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07 May 2009, 1:50 pm

I like clamAV. You run it from your linux install against your unbooted windows partition. Assuming the authors are sharp about viruses, any clamAV will find will be utterly inert.


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solinoure
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07 May 2009, 10:16 pm

OK - I got my PC back on its feet without a complete system rebuild - weee!! !! Thank you system restore!

And I found this link on the ZoneAlarm forums for an uninstall tool:

http://forums.zonealarm.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=inst&message.id=85250

I'll let you know how that goes in a bit...


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Orwell
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07 May 2009, 10:37 pm

^Not sure if firewalls are the same, but a lot of anti-virus programs are quite resistant to being uninstalled, as I unfortunately discovered with Symantec.


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solinoure
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08 May 2009, 5:54 pm

OK - the ZoneAlarm removal proggy = epic fail. BSOD everywhere...

But this worked: (got this from http://forums.zonealarm.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=inst&message.id=83784)

Quote:
Please make sure that you have the latest version downloaded first:

http://www.zonealarm.com/trial


01.) Restart your computer
02.) When you see the screen go black and it starts booting back up keep
tapping the "F8" key (at the top of your keyboard)
03.) This should bring up a menu. Choose Safe Mode off the menu by
using the arrow keys on the keyboard to highlight Safe Mode and press
Enter
04.) If you get a message asking to go to Safe Mode, choose Yes. If you
get a help and support window, close this.
05.) Once you are at the desktop, Click Start, Computer
06.) Click Tools, Folder Options, View Tab

NOTE: If you cannot see the menu bar with the Tools menu on it, you have
to press the Alt-key on the keyboard and the menu bar should then be
visible.

07.) Place a dot next to "Show Hidden Files and Folders"
08.) Remove the check from "Hide Protected Operating System Files
(Recommended)"
09.) Choose Yes to the warning
10.) Click OK
11.) Double click C:

Note: In the future steps if you do not see any files or folders, please click
the "Show Files" link to view them.

12.) Double Click the Program Files Folder
13.) Right Click the Zone Labs Folder, click Delete, and choose Yes

NOTE: If you cannot delete the entire folder, please open the Zone Labs -
> ZoneAlarm folder and delete out as many of the files listed here as
possible.

14.) Close this window
15.) Click Start, Computer
16.) Double Click C:
17.) Double Click the Windows Folder
18.) Right Click the Internet Logs Folder, click Delete, and choose Yes
19.) Double Click the System32 Folder
20.) Right Click the Zone Labs Folder, click Delete, and choose Yes

NOTE: If you cannot delete the entire folder, please open the Zone Labs
folder and delete out as many of the files listed here as possible.

21.) Locate and delete the following files in the System32 folder if they are
present:

- vsconfig.xml
- vsxml.dll
- vsregexp.dll
- vsdata.dll
- vsdata95.vxd
- vsdatant.sys
- vsmonapi.dll
- vspubapi.dll
- vsinit.dll
- vsutil.dll
- vswmi.dll
- zlcommdb.dll
- zlcomm.dll
- zpeng24.dll


22.) Clear your Temp Directory per the instructions below.

- Go to Start -> Run
- Type %temp% and click OK
- Select all of these files and delete them

23.) Clear the Prefetch folder per the instructions below.

- Go to Start -> Run
- Type Prefetch and click OK
- Select all of these files and delete them

NOTE: If you do not have the Run option on the Start menu, you can press
and hold the Windows logo key and tap the letter R .

24.) Remove the necessary registry entries:

*Important Advisory: Deleting registry entries incorrectly may cause
serious problems to your operating system, which may necessitate the
need to reinstall it. Please make sure you are able to perform these
deletions correctly before you decide to edit the entries. If you are not
sure, you should seek help from someone who is familiar with editing the
registry.

For information about how to edit the registry in Windows, from your
desktop, click Start -> Run -> and type regedit. Click on Help -> Help
Topics. Under the Contents tab, click Change Keys and Values (this may
be found under the How to... section).

Also, you should always make a backup of the registry before editing it.
You can find this in the same section of the Help files.


To remove the needed registry entries, go to Start -> Run and type in
regedit. Choose OK, and use the folders on the left side of the Registry
Editor window to navigate to the specified directories below. Note that you
will remove the entire folder specified (eg. Zone Labs, vsmon, vsdatant):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Zone Labs
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsdatant


25.) Close this window, then empty your recycle bin.
26.) Restart the computer.
27.) Try to install the latest version again.


Then I reinstalled ZoneAlarm with these steps:

1.) Click Start - Run
2.) Type MSConfig in the run box and click OK
3.) Once in MSConfig, click the Startup Tab
4.) Remove the checks from everything
5.) Click the Services Tab
6.) Place a check in Hide All Microsoft Services
7.) Now remove checks from everything
8.) Restart your computer
9.) Install ZoneAlarm Free you downloaded in previous stage.
10.) Place your computer back into a normal startup process by
going back into msconfig and choosing the Normal Startup option on the
General tab.

TA-DA!! !

Lets hope my system doesn't blow up again...


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The river tells no lies - but, the dishonest man, standing near, will hear them. - Oma
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Fuzzy
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08 May 2009, 8:36 pm

solinoure wrote:

Lets hope my system doesn't blow up again...


In the Linux world we call that fun.


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Orwell
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08 May 2009, 11:59 pm

Fuzzy wrote:
solinoure wrote:

Lets hope my system doesn't blow up again...


In the Linux world we call that fun.

An afternoon well spent, eh Fuzzy?

I hosed my system today by circumventing the protection against rm -rf / built into the GNU core utilities. After that, Fuzzy gave me a fork bomb to wipe out what little was left of Ubuntu.


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Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
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10 May 2009, 2:39 am

None. They are all resource-hogs to computer savvy people.



Orwell
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10 May 2009, 11:46 am

P wrote:
None. They are all resource-hogs to computer savvy people.

Panda is quite light. In theory it is possible to do without anti-virus if you are sufficiently careful, but I wouldn't try it.


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Tohlagos
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11 May 2009, 11:14 pm

Orwell wrote:
Avast! works fine as a freebie antivirus, though you should also have Spybot Search and Destroy.


I use this combination as well and have had no problems. In addition to these, I run Malwarebyte's Antimalware once in a while. It has a free version.

I have used Spybot for years and have no regrets.

I did use Norton for a number of years, but it did slow my system -though it did protect it as well.



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17 May 2009, 1:58 am

I think NOD32 is good. It's easy to find a username and password to register NOD32 so you can get it for free.



QuantumCowboy
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17 May 2009, 10:30 am

Maybe it has been suggested already...

I have found Linux to be the best anti-virus package.


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