Identifying Malware and Protecting Your PC

[Shadowhunter]

Identifying Malware

• Your default browser page and/or search engine is new or has been changed (not by you).
• You receive emails without a sender or subject, often asking you to click on links or download a program (especially .exe or .rar files) and/or strange emails are being sent out by you without your knowledge.
• Your browser freezes or crashes.
• You are redirected to web pages other than what you intended.
• You are repeatedly plagued by pop-up messages and ads.
• Your PC lags, freezes, and/or crashes.
• There are new desktop icons you did not put there.
• Your PC restarts itself without prompting (not update related).
• Messages keep popping up referring to strange errors or corrupt files.
• You are unable to access certain programs on your PC or certain websites and your settings have changed.
• There are strange names in your list of installed programs (see Control Panel>Uninstall/Change a Program).

Popular Forms of Protection

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• Firewall ? a ?gatekeeping? form of protection on your computer that blocks attacks by monitoring and filtering data traffic on your PC.
• Antivirus or anti-malware software ? used to detect, prevent, and remove harmful programs such as viruses, Trojans, and worms from your PC.
• Antispyware software ? Spyware can be secretly downloaded to your PC. It can monitor your activity, collect and send your information across the Internet, and even hijack your browser.
• Spam filters ? keep junk and unsolicited mail out of your inbox.
• Pop-up blockers ? prevent unwanted ads or potentially harmful links from popping up in your display.

As this is all very important information for all computer users, my question is:

What software do you swear by to protect your PC?

Reviews, whether good or bad, may help us all make more informed decisions. Please share what works (or doesn't work) for you, and remember we have very knowledgeable and friendly members here who can help us with our Tech Geek questions!

 

[LadyDeath]

i so needed to read this.

In the past and present i have had alot of trouble not identifying malware. It had a time where i thought my computer was going to crash and BURNN! Thank god one of my friend helped me alot and showed me a program to download called Spybot Search and Destroy . It literally handles everything for you. Microsoft Essentials and all those other programs did nothing to solve the problem

Thank you shadow for this thread. i am definitely sharing this

 

[Shadowhunter]

I'm glad it helps! I hadn't heard of Spybot yet, looking forward to checking it out

 

[nirtime]

spybot is a really good spyware detection and dectection tool.

personally I've always used Avast Internet Security, the paid version. Have not gotten a virus since 2011 that I know off.

Eset Smart Security is also very good but is a bit too strong in that it limits your freedom.

*No anti-virus is fool proof.
-dont click on ads
-use reputable download sites
-dont fall for install our software and we will give you what you want to download schemes. Those are really just spam.
-The same applies to Androids.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I have the free version of Avira and I'm seeing a lot of concerns online about Avira being incompatible with Spybot. Can anyone confirm?

 

[nirtime]

Its always best to have one Anti-virus + firewall combo. It may be incompatible since both might conflict each other. Everytime I've seen two anti-virus software running on the same machine it always causes problems but I know Spybot is sort of a specialist for Spyware so if you're plagued with problems I'd recommend running it otherwise just ensure Avira scans regularly and you should be alright.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I haven't had any problems so I'll keep Avira going for now.

 

[Saxman642]

My de facto combo is AVG Free AntiVirus and MalwareBytes AntiMalware.

Both are free. Both work.

 

[nirtime]

My de facto combo is AVG Free AntiVirus and MalwareBytes AntiMalware.

Both are free. Both work.

Avg by itself is useless against anything serious. Good learn about your combo. Malwarebytes has been one of my favourites.