8 replies to this topic

[Enchantra]

OK, I've been dealing with virus problems on my Father's computer. AVG isn't cutting it anymore. He keeps picking up some lovely bootsector virus on Facebook, and after I told him to NOT play the game that he keeps getting the virus on, he played it again, and he has the virus again. I have some antiviral the computer repair guy installed on Dad's computer running in safe mode right now on his machine to see if I can nail it to the wall without Dad dropping $100 again to get it fixed.

So in your opinion, what is the best antiviral I can put on Dad's computer? At this point I'm game to anything, even if I have to pay for the program and the upgrades. I'm tired of dealing with the problem,and I'm fairly sure Dad doesn't want to have to take his computer up to the repair shop again after he only got it back two weeks ago from getting fixed for the same problem.

I'm even considering installing Linux on his computer, since it seems viruses aren't written to infect linux based machines...If I can't get him to understand doing a behavioral change like not playing a scrabble game on Facebook, maybe I can at least head off any further frustration combatting things ahead of time...

Dad is operating on Windows7 and using Firefox as his browser (And only because I made IE useless disabling every feature it had as I couldn't get him to understand that using IE he would get more spyware...)

[Jupey]

I use the Webroot software, its been rated highly for years and now is used by Best Buy's Geek Squad. I have used it for about 6 years and have no problems. I was even guilty of playing games on Facebook =]

[MonkeySloth]

Truth be told that Microsoft's Security Essentials is one of the best free ones. Though if you need to get rid of a boot sector for free try Avast!, they use to include a boot time scan in their free version but I haven't used it in a few years because I hated having to re-register with them every year.

Make sure that he's got UAC on with a password, if you do that then the build in security for windows will warn him every time something malicious tries to install itself. To one up that you can make his main account a limited user so he'll have to enter in an admin password to install anything.

[Lastman]

Kaspersky has a rootkit virus removal tool and they have excellent customer support. I bought a 3 year license (which covers 3 machines) for about $90. Worth every penny.

[Serenity]

I've found the combination of ZoneAlarm and Avast (both free) works well. Throw in some Spybot and Malwarebytes scans and things have stayed clean for years. There have been no viruses found since ZoneAlarm was installed. The hardware firewall in your router also helps. FWIW, I've played online games, but nothing from Facebook.

[Enchantra]

Thanks folks! I'm reading through the postings and gleaning information. The more information I have, the better I can combat this thing. Some days I wish I had never bought him a computer...Then again if I had not done that he'd be using mine, and my computer then would be having the problems.

[Vil-hatarn]

MalwareBytes is an excellent scanner--a family friend who works on computers recommended it to me. I think it also has a paid active protection component but I haven't tried that.

[Brother Jim]

I use the free versions of avast! and malwarebytes.

[sethohman]

I use AVG and Malwarebytes. I have had some nasty stuff pop up, but Malwarebytes in Safe Mode has always gotten rid of the nastiest of them. Malwarebytes itself is free. If you want active monitoring and automatic updating, it costs. But free to download up to date data files, and run a scan, and fix things.