What anti virus is recommended nowadays?

[theSEMAR]

Off-topic: theSEMAR, if you don't use pirated software, do you buy your software, or do you use GPL software?

use GPL.

[RobertX]

No, you don't buy your software?!? (Don't answer, just a joke!)

Who here uses Clamwin before they are discontinued?

I liked the idea behind Clamwin being an open source antivirus project. I did not, however, like the software because it is stripped down when compared to other antiviruses for reasons like a lack of a resident shield. I guess I shouldn't complain because its free.

[ill88eagle]

If you want the best advice for Windows then just get Avira free anti virus.  It is pretty good I would use that one.  Better to be safe than sorry when using Windows.

Yea, well, no... https://www.tomsguide.com/us/avira-free-...-2207.html

[jbravo]

I've been using pc's since the early 80s and it seems as if every time a decent app becomes popular and successful *WHAM* sell-out!

[RodneyYouPlonker]

Really if you want the best and latest system these days to run with a good anti virus like Avira you need an SSD to keep it all running properly.  Especially on Win10, due to the demand of processing power these days having an SSD is a must.

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I did used to run Avira before I switched to Windows 10 so I might try it again.

And I was prompted to ask this question because I foolishly opted to allow something through my online defences and just thought 'i aint spending the next 8 hours tracking this down' and decided to just format and reinstall windows.

If you wanted to remove Avira you didn't have to format Windows and reinstall you could have just used the Avira removal tool instead.

[jbravo]

Didnt have it installed m8 - just wanted to download something off a dodgy site but let some malware in.

[waregim]

What's your choice operating system, waregim?

Its really hard to say at this point.

Linux is going downhill as its veering from its traditional 4 Freedoms GNU foundations, and crap is seeping into it that I dont like. Like trying to enforce security parameters that I do not want on my 'single user' network. If I want to upgrade the system Python or Perl I wind up having to update half the system. 35.Thousand.Packages.
There is always pip and cpan, but Linux is a PITA as long as its not multilibrary (Though Win32 on Win64 systems is a start). But its effing braindead on some crucial issues like by default not recognizing hardware like USB and optical drives (I use pcmanfm for that). And trying to screw with me when I boot to root. Also Linux seems to be losing capabilities. They deprecated kdm

Win seems to be getting more hackable as at least on Win7. I've turned it into an essentially Posix system. Cygwin is a good start, but it needs to be positioned correctly in %PATH% or else its a nightmare. Its a bit faster than Linux, so when I'm doing large network and net transfers its is the system of choice. Theres alot of crap in Win, but its reasonably multilib so that I can run alot of older stuff, and I have XP here for those it balks at. And Wine in Linux should handle it also.

I have Win10 here and totally dislike it, and some newer apps are trying to force its use. I'll use older versions when possible, or if not just get a replaceable boot drive to install it on the wife's machine if she should need it for online courses and disable it afterwards. Else just use the Win10 laptop. Nothing on it is not disposable, and its not connected to the network.

So.. its a toss up.
When I work with my Linux web sites, I do everything in Win first so as to iron out the code problems and only then send it to the host to the test the pesky 'permissions' issues. (Check out WAMP).
If I'm just going to cruise the web or work with specialized programs then Linux is the first choice. There is alot of stuff you just cant do in Win.

The right tool for the right job.

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I did used to run Avira before I switched to Windows 10 so I might try it again.

And I was prompted to ask this question because I foolishly opted to allow something through my online defences and just thought 'i aint spending the next 8 hours tracking this down' and decided to just format and reinstall windows.

If you're on Win7, see if you can use the System Restore function. Alot of crap disables it, but worth the try.

Also: install ERUNT and put it in the startup dir. It will create and store registry backups, and the boogers dont putz with it.

If you find a suspicious file you cant move or delete, get a Live Linux DVD/USB and wipe it from there.

With the right software and practices it shouldnt take more than 20 minutes to kill and infection.

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No, you don't buy your software?!? (Don't answer, just a joke!)

Who here uses Clamwin before they are discontinued?

I liked the idea behind Clamwin being an open source antivirus project. I did not, however, like the software because it is stripped down when compared to other antiviruses for reasons like a lack of a resident shield. I guess I shouldn't complain because its free.

ClamAV was always the very worst scanner I have ever seen. IIRC it didnt even attempt heuristics. Only signature matching.

Emsisoft has a command line scanner thats half-way decent for older files (nothing is reliable for new crap) that can be scripted in a batch file and used for post-processing things like torrent and nzb downloads. Slow but good.

As daemons, AV are worse than any infection I have come across so far.

[jbravo]

AV is either completely ineffectual, or a total resource hog.

And its so quick to re-install Windows 10 now, I did it in about 90 minutes (OS and all apps/games).

[RodneyYouPlonker]

AV is either completely ineffectual, or a total resource hog. 

And its so quick to re-install Windows 10 now, I did it in about 90 minutes (OS and all apps/games).

You don't have to keep reinstalling Windows every time all you need to do is make an image and just restore from that and it's much quicker that way.  No need to keep setting up Windows again and again just a simple image backup of your OS and it can be done in about 10-15 minutes at the most.

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There's no point in running Windows 10 on a machine that doesn't have an SSD to run from.  I made the jump some time ago now I have all my stuff loaded into SSD and there's no problems.  Like for example I have Avira on an old machine which is over 10 years old but on a very decent and modern SSD and it runs really well with Avira and has done now for quite a number of weeks and I'm very happy.  I have all the best set up you could imagine now I have worked hard on my set up for years now and yes I have the very best you can get.  Avira is German software and I have to admit they are outstanding as a company.  Don't get me wrong I don't just use Avira I have other protection systems but it just runs like a dream.

[waregim]

Just a consideration about SSDs:
They are indeed so fast as to make the platter ones look primitive.
However - they are not made to take unlimited read/writes. While I would certainly use an SSD in a desktop, I would put cache and temp dirs on a second platter drive. Streaming can run through terabytes quickly, and a typical SSD is limited to about 600Tb throughput.
Also SSD is useless as archival storage. They lose all data if unpowered for more than a few months.