Adware and Others

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I've been using SpyHunter 4 to detect things, and So far I've defeated 55 infections, including SafeSearch, remnants of an old Conduit infection, Slick Savings, Plus-HD, and SPYWARE. How did spyware get in my computer, DESPITE McAfee Total Protection?!? That is just bullcrap. I'm not sure whether my machine is clean or not, so what's the best software that detects malware and other crap like that? I'm getting sick to death of this malware runaround.

McAfee is terrible, I recommend Avast Internet Security (The free version is decent too) and or MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (Detection rates are off the charts).

I tried Avast on my old computer, and it was a virus in itself! And MalwareBytes told me that I was clean, even though SpyHunter told me I had all kinds of crap, and it was legit, too.

Avast is one of the highest scoring and most respected AVs around, as for MBAM, the detection rates are exceptional. SpyHunter 4 is not a trustworthy product at all, maybe even dangerous to have on your PC. If you want to check out some comparisons for yourself, try av-comparatives. org

A little Googling indicates that Spyhunter 4 may be a fake anti-virus program and may indeed put malware onto your computer or claim your computer has viruses it doesn't have. It has a very dubious reputation.

You might want to read the scathing revues of spyhunter here too:
http://download.cnet.com/Internet-Spy-H ... 52549.html

It may be telling you that your computer has viruses that it hasn't really got, just to con you out of a registration fee. In other words Spyhunter sounds like scamware.

Yep. I did it again. Thanks, guys, for pulling me out of the toilet once again. I'll try to be more careful next time.

We can't afford a different subscription, and based on how stupid I am, I'm going to require something with more protection than basic antivirus, free or not. If I had my own job and and a lot of money, I would have a subscription to Kapersky Internet Security, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Pro, and HitmanPro (verified by BleepingComputer.com), all on my new Touchscreen laptop with Windows 8.1. As for now, it's just this old Toshiba, McAfee, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Free, and the hope that I don't have any more crap in my computer.

Some background first - by trade I am an IT technician - basically a PC break/fix guy. One of my specialties used to be virus detection and removal. Side note - one of the best things about being an Aspie is the awesome databank we have in our heads, and I put that to great use. Learning and knowing virus signatures and comparing scan logs to my databank made me a pretty damn valuable asset. Anyhow...

Anti-virus (AV) and anti-malware (AM) programs are a dime-a-dozen. Everyone has their preference, but there are programs that totally rise to the top and if you do enough research, you will find their names in the top 3-5 of just about everyone's list. One thing I will caution you on, though, is that not all AV software is created equal; some are good and some are awful depending on their detection style (heuristic, signature-based, file emulation, etc.), and no AV program detects 100% of viruses.

In my years of virus removal I have tried and tested many products geared for viruses and malware. In that time, I have found that Avast and Malware Bytes were the best AV and AM programs for the money (free). I've been using Avast and Malwarebytes for years (since 2008), though recently I've switched from Avast to Microsoft Security Essentials (I'll explain later). Avast had a nice small footprint that didn't bog down even low-end systems and the detection rate on MBAM was incredible.

So to you I recommend the following:

Malwarebytes is very dependable and is always being updated. Free or pro version, this is by far the best AM program you could use. The free version only offers manual scans but for $25 for a lifetime license, you can purchase MBAM Pro which does autoscans. For the most novice of users, or ones who have children, I would highly recommend the pro version given its low cost and the fact that MBAM is a very respectable program.

As for Avast free, I recommend not installing the full version (just the antivirus) as the suite will bog down just about any computer, especially systems with a mid-low range CPU, slower hard drive(s), and minimum-low spec RAM. If you're going to purchase an AV solution, pick Kaspersky. It has a relatively small footprint and for the past 8 years or so, it has been in the top 3 AV solutions every year. Screw McAfee, Norton's, or anything else.

The reason why I stopped using Avast is because it was beginning to get too big, and MSE has a decent detection rate. Plus I wanted to test it and see if it was a viable alternative to Avast (which I think it is). As it stands, with my background in virus removal, and the fact that I'm the only one who uses my computer, I can afford to run lighter AV solution. My friends and family, though, I tell them what I told you; free - get Avast and only load the AV scanner (not the suite). Pay - Kaspersky's the best around. Use both to scan your computer and you will have about a 95% detection rate.

One last thing, and I cannot stress this enough...always make backups in case that 5% makes it through. Documents, pictures, and whatever you would be devastated if you lost....make backups. Storage is cheap. Hell, you can buy a 1TB from Best Buy for around $75. There is no reason why you shouldn't have at least 1 or 2 backups of your files. And in that vein, run your backup drives at least once a year for a few hours if you store them. After 3-5 years of being idle, hard drives (spinner drives) will tend to fail and/or not perform properly.

I have an external hard drive that I've had since 2009. I've backed up TWO computers on it: the one I'm using plus the predecessor computer, Toshiba06, aka my very first laptop (Toshiba Satellite A105-S4244). I do have some old crap to clean out of the backup drive, but it's still good.

I could probably afford to tell Mom that the McAfee she got me for Christmas isn't doing any good for me and that I want to go to Kaspersky. What I want to know is will my computer handle PURE 3.0 this time with SP1 or will Internet Security be a better choice? PURE 3.0 disagreed with my computer; the program often refused to start and crashed during scans. But I think that was the 2013 version, but I don't remember exactly. I hope the 2014 agrees with SP1, that's all I can say.

As for MBAM, I'm not sure Mom trusts it. I can tell her that I trust it and you guys have good experiences with it. Mom's pretty wary about online stuff, and I don't blame her. I'll do my best to convince her to do it, though. Wish me luck!

Kaspersky Internet Security should be good enough for your needs. PURE probably has bells and whistles you don't need and they might've been the problem before. When you get into security suites that do just about everything, sometimes that makes things worse than if you had nothing. Here's a forum post that explains the differences between PURE and Internet Security: http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=180628.

My question to your mom is what made her choose McAfee? Was it in a magazine or on a TV commercial? Do they use it at her workplace or at a friend's workplace (if so...ugh...my employer uses it, too...it's better than the Sophos we used which is utterly worthless)? Something had to drive her to decide to use McAfee even if it was a conversation with someone at the local tech store. I don't know of any way to convince people of things other than to give them multiple sources to check and do their own research. It's not like MBAM is advertised anyplace. I would suggest sitting down with your mom and going through reviews for MBAM along side of her. Google it yourself, too.

Good luck

^ I use MBAM too, the free version just to manually run periodically or if I've downloaded something I want to virus check prior to installation. I used to use AVG until it got too bloated then tried Avast for a while but was sick of all the false positives it gave - I'm a software developer and my computers are full of my own software and Avast didn't like finding software it didn't recognise. I now use Microsoft Essentials which seems to work fine and isn't a resource hog. I don't tend to visit dangerous sites or download suspicious packages so it is fine for me. I wouldn't touch McAfee with a barge pole - it is garbage and worse than that they have a tendency to both let malware through but give false positives too. The only reason McAfee does so well is they sell their software in packs at supermarkets to the unsuspecting public who doesn't know any better.

I recently bought a Windows 8.1 notebook computer and that has come pre loaded with Kaspersky and so far so good. It is unobtrusive and doesn't appear to be a resource hog. It also hasn't gone ape-shit on having my software loaded onto the computer! I might even take out a subscription for it when the three month trial period is over - this is my wife's computer and she is less savvy than me about potential security threats and despite only giving her a limited user account on the computer there is always the chance something could sneak past her... she has a terrible habit of just clicking anything when message boxes pop up just to make them go away.

I'm quite the noob when it comes to knowing which is a suspicious site and what isn't, so that's why I like having IS or higher (if it has a site checker on it). One thing I don't like about Kaspersky is it doesn't work with Firefox, and I use it all the time, ever since Chrome got screwed up. I could use Internet Explorer, but I'm kind of scared to.

Mom chose McAfee because "it said all the right things." In other words, the words on the box looked promising to her compared to the others she looked at, especially when it came to malware and stuff. I guess she doesn't know about McAfee's reputation. I guess I'll have to make up a report for her that explains how different antivirus programs work. (I just found my senior project assignment for today! )

I honestly loved Kaspersky IS from the start. It agreed with my computer and I never had an infection while I had it. I wish I could go back to it. I'm going to go for it.

Thanks for the advice!

I'll just add that I've heard lots of anecdotal evidence (for several years) about how bad McAfee is. Only last week I visited my physiotherapist and he was using pen and paper to book sessions instead of his computer. The computer had got a virus and he didn't know how to get rid of it. Apparently it had McAfee and the virus had still got onto the computer past McAfee and McAfee was unable to remove it. Worse still it was a paid subscription for McAfee!

He asked me to take a quick look at his computer and I went to download MBAM but their website detected that his computer had French regional settings/configuration and redirected towards the CNET website to download the French version of the software but I don't trust CNET any more. CNET has turned to the dark side and now wrap crapware/adware/malware around software they host as I discovered myself when trying to download a popular package. Rather than risk compromising his computer further I explained the problem and suggested he needed professional help to fix it.

You have to be soooo careful where and how you download software from nowadays. It is a sad day when you can no longer trust companies such as CNET. I recently heard there are also similar problems with Sourceforge bundling malware with legitimate downloads but haven't personally verified this yet.

I know, right? I got Spigot the last time I downloaded something from CNET. Fortunately, MBAM took care of it without even breaking a sweat.

I hate how I have to have a site checker of some kind just to make sure I'm not going to some dangerous site by accident. My grandmother needs something like this, too. I might recommend Kaspersky to her as well.

Again, beware of McAfee site advisor. It is rubbish. Not only does it list sites hosting malware as clean but also gives false positives to clean sites! I had a run in with McAfee a couple of years ago over this. One of my customers (who used McAfee) said his computer refused to download software from my site because McAfee said it was malware. This is software I've written myself and it is perfectly safe to use. I had to jump through hoops contacting McAfee who finally acknowledged they'd made a mistake and changed the status of my site to "minimal risk". However, I'd lost sales and money due to their incompetence and they never apologised or explained why they'd made the error in the first place.

Looks like she fell for their marketing hype. If you want to find out what is the best software, do a google search and find discussions about it and see what other people have to say about it. It is far better to go on recommendations from knowledgeable people rather than adverts written on a box!

Um yeah I had spyhunter once only to get my computer completely infected with spyware worms and trojans like the bagle worm sasir and blaster worm I had to fdisc the hard drive it was so bad! Careful of those fake antivirus softwares you can get lotsa nasty malware and stuff that can kill your computer!