Lightest/best free antivirus?

[standalone]

I like it because it's a lot lighter than the Comodo one.

I am using Comodo currently, glad to see that it topped the results. Is the difference between CIS and PF in terms of CPU usage significant? I have a plan to reformat my machine, may go with PF if the difference is high.

The impact of Private Firewall on my system is practically zero, most of the time it's like it's not there. But the performance of this type of programs is very system-dependant, of course. It could confict with something in your PC and thus be unusable for you. My specs are Q6600 (quadcore 2.4kHz) XP32 4GB RAM, nothing spectacular.

[Scoox]

Guys, you must try Sandboxie. I am not going to say it's a replacement for antivirus software, because it's not, but all I can say is that since I use Sandboxie my AV hasn't dealt with a single infection. That's two years.

It's not as straightforward as antivirus and you need to configure a few things first but it's worth the initial effort. If you don't have Sandboxie, you are wasting a lot of time.

I have a studio computer and an Internet computer. The studio computer only runs Sandboxie, while the internet computer runs antivirus just for testing downloaded executables, and its just sitting there doing nothing most of the time.

I've been going on about Sandboxie for ages. I've told people it takes a little bit of learning. And all that learning can be got for free in high detail over at wilderssecurity.com.


It's free. You can get a paid version which I have...

It's what the cocky people use that don't have AV. Though there are those that still advise using AV..

There are even other sandboxing programs - but Sandboxie seems to be the most used. I learned about it at KVR. Thank you KVR. Some very knowledgeable users here ..


It will take a few weeks of studying to learn how to use effectively, but it is just like when you become computer literate - you had to spend that time didn't you to learn how a computer functions? Now you want to be secure. Well it will take the same amount of effort... Don't want to spend it? No probs... Don't complain....


It costs less than an AV and it is full lifetime licence for ALL computers you have....

Yeah, I don't think people get it really. Antivirus software keeps getting bigger as the amount of malware increases. The Sandboxie approach is more like a "condom" approach which means you don't need to worry too much about what you run on your computer. When Sandboxie is properly set up, careful users should not need any antivirus software.

I'v recommended it to a few friends who I thought were clever and sadly none of them use it. So they are probably not that clever. And I very much doubt there'll be any posts in this thread with the first line reading "Holy sh*t Sandboxie kicks antivirus ass!".

[osiris]

Sandboxie is great, but the best advice is STOP downloading torrents....

[codec_spurt]

I put sandboxie on a friends computer.

He happens to come from Glasgow.
He also happens to be at Grandmaster level at chess.

Next time I saw him - he was not very happy.

Sandboxie f***ked his head right up.

I'm not sure why that was...


It's a simple concept. And it could fly right over your head.
This is the program that all those "oh, i don't use av" people use.
Cocky? Yes. Right? Maybe. Wrong? I don't know.


See http://www.dedoimedo.com/ and especially the sandboxing section over at wilderssecurity.


I'm running out of breath.

It's coz people want to make music and they would rather pay 50 quid and have the illusion their system is safe than take the 3 months it would take to learn about this shit - and it wouldn't cost them a penny. People like to believe they can buy security, the way that some people like to believe they can buy friends/love.


Good luck.


Get your head down. You have been given all the resources: wilderssecurity.com - it is the last time I am going to say it.


If any security expert on here things I am talking shi*e, then say so.
What forum would you suggest?

I picked up a lot of very valuable info at KVR, but if you want to take it further - there you go...

AV will slow your machine down. I have a seriously fast overclocked i5. It blazes at stock temperatures with the extra cooling. It has been tested to almost oblivion (oblivion itself is a step too far). When I put AV on there I can tell. It stops everything from being instantaneous and blink of the eye to - oh I just saw that.... I have a computer that is faster than my hands and fingers and mind put together - AV destroys that - I can not live with that.
I run a rescue disc or three every few weeks or so - Kaspersky, Bit-Defender-, AVG....

I don't use cracked software. Well. What I do in my day job is none of your damn business and rules are rules...


Sandboxie is free. The forum for it over at wilderssecurity.com is free. The knowledge that some of those guys give out. They are heroes - they spend days researching stuff - typing it up into an easy to understand essay.


At least check out the concept of sandboxing. As an alternative to anti-virus, for resistance against zero-day malware...


All the best.

[codec_spurt]

Sandboxie is great, but the best advice is STOP downloading torrents....

I downloaded about five gig of torrents today.
I will do the same tomorrow. I have an horrendous ISP bill.

Psst.

I know some sites where you can get some stuff for free - Graphics programs, 3Dprograms, 2D illustrator programs. Music programs. DAWs. Drum Machines.
Just Pm me and i'll hook you up.


I got all the best stuff. And all free free free, as in "free speech," not as in "free beer".


I love torrents. I have a big folder on my hd dedicated to it - it says: Torrentz, then again I never could spell very well, and where I live, there is no law that says you have to go to jail for putting a Z where an S would be. Otherwise all spellcheckers would be defunct. Oh yes, Not only am I well within the law, I also have the moral high ground, that you just tried to claim.

But bad luck old chap, I think you will find it is already spoken for.


Go onto The Register and suggest to stop downloading torrentz (whoops - just did it again - still not illegal yet - bad spelling that iz). See how long you last - you would be ripped apart.


Torrents are a protocol. And anyone that uses it to download illegal software is a very dull bunny indeed. Peerblock I hear you shout at the back. Ok, Peerblock only stops another machine from connecting and installing shit on you compo. It doesn't stop them from reading you. Good Buddy. When you torrent illegal software, you would be better off putting a big sign above your house - I DOWNLOAD ILLEGAL SOFTWARE - COME AND ARREST ME!!!.



VPNs and encryption - via secure shell and dark nets... That's where it's at.


For the really nasty stuff, the nastiest stuff you can get.
This is not a computer security forum.

But please, osiris, don't say that I can't dl the latest version of AVLinux from http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=avlinux via http://www.utorrent.com/

and then put it in my TORRENTZ folder.

So far - all that is 100 percent legal and legit. Even my spelling of TORRENTZ.
No law against it yet.....




And btw, to really burst your bubble - the torrent sites have rankings where if a virus is found - others will tell others about it. It is like the porn sites - the cleanest sites on the net - the top 10 porn sites in the world - you are cleaner than clean. Go to others you might get dirty but...

So. Not having a go. Being passionate. Just wanted to clear up a few terminologies used. Torrent is a protocol, it is neither good nor bad, like .html. I can put smut on my page or I can give you breathing exercises to ease your anxiety.







Still, give me a pm and I will hook you up with all those free DAWs and Graffix and stuff - it is all 100 percent legal open source software - in fact - why don't we widen the field. If anyone wants any of that software I just talked about - put a post here - and I will put one up back.


A lot of people spend a lot of time programming computers just so others can have something for nothing. It is all legal. 100 percent legal. Plus it is moral. Because some things in life are legal but not moral, but that is another argument for another day.

If anyone wants some free software (prolly best if you are running a linux distro first) - just ask here.

I'll hook you up.
It will probably be a torrent you get.
You can put it in your Torrentz folder.
I know it is where I keep mine.

[codec_spurt]

Oh sorry, I missed this one. Better late that never I guess.

What do I consider paranoia? This:

"This would never happen to me, because I have locked down my system so much, I can not use it.

It is a major pain in the arse. To be honest, once you have it set it up, most things are ok. But still...."

But probably you were just jocking around.

In jokus veritas


I have said before:
I have a computer with nothing on - nothing at all - no AV etc...

I have a machine I use for dirty internet use (pr()n) KVR

And I have another I use for internet and messing about with music.
I come from the three different perspectives that probably 90 percent of people would come from.


The machine that I have so locked down is totally clean and I switch everything off when I fire up REAPER, XT, Podium, Studio One, FLStudio. etc.

Works like a champ. But whilst I use it on the net - yes - it is a major pain in the arse - that is what allows me to be confident enough to switch everything off when I make music.

On my main DAW - it's like a Bruce Springsteen HotRod Racing In The Streets kind of machine. Nothing. Except system hardening. Emet. UAC.

I don't mind the pain in the arse machine = it is a test bed.

But my dirty machine (and believe me it is dirty) gets no viruses either.
I scan with rescue disks. I have security programs I paid for but don't use in real time.


Check out Secunia.
http://secunia.com/

It helps to keep your system up to date with latest patches.
And that is the main benefit of running a genuine xp install.
The small amount you would have saved by doing a dodgy is offset by the latest patches....


But it's good to see another HIPS aficionado on here.
It makes me feel.
Like.
I.
Am.
Not.
Alone.
Like.




I suppose what I am trying to say is - have one compo for internet. Have another for DAW.

But I know this is not always possible...


Anyway, I'm not an expert.
Just giving pointers.


I think it's great that a sofware forum for VSTs has such great little sub-forum for tips and tricks and diagnosis..


It must have helped someone somewhere I'm sure.

[t3toooo]

i think microsoft should take much much more care about releasing updates,the last two months something got out of control.


i don't know if anybody here have the problem to load more then four instances of kontakt because i have.
if i have more than four instances of kontakt loaded on my current setup,and doubleclick on any other plugin to open the gui (like fabfilter) my daw crash.

today i reinstalled ultimate and think about new strategies because unfortunately i don't believe in offline daw's.

it is not only that microsoft release security fixes but also bugfixes so it's just a matter of time when something gets dodgy.
if something is getting dodgy you can live with that or just say.

"oh,it's been 9 month's since i installed my os,time for a fresh install."

i don't believe anyone who say he's absolutely happy maybe only those people who strictly say.

"never touch a running system" and live with some bugs.

again,after one year you need,want to update the software and then you'll struggle again with the operating system.


the same you can say about those os updates after updates.
my ssd's should be big enough to handle my audio software but it's well growing with useless shit.

in my case i remember two failures.
one failure was to activate one plugin using my administrator account ONLINE because the devs choose to create separate activations for each account.


i think the other "failure" was to update the bios to often (on my new board).

to my big surprise i always wondered why i could not hotswap my drives because,after the fresh install i found i can do this now (without os updates) but i did the last bios update two months ago which seems to enable this feature but it didn't appeared.


(or maybe it's because i got rid of my ilok for now?)


however those things have probably nothing to do with malware but it is a indication of something that is simply going wrong.


i'm quite sensitive about the performance my machine.

the last days i thought about the two evils,to go or not to go online and i decided for the latter.

i downloaded eset,there it a nice firewall and it looks good so far.
when i ever have a slightly issue i will reformat my daw computer and install my plugins again.


on my os drive i keep things simple and creating a simple backup structure is helping a lot.

do i sound paranoid?

yes of course but at the end it is simply a reaction about what is going on with win 7.


i would say it's a hell but it is also how to deal with it.

[t3toooo]

in regards to the "best" antivirus.

i think norton internet security is the craziest software i've ever seen.


over two years ago i installed it on my mothers computer to replace kaspersky after reading very good reviews about norton 2010.


my mother is also using norton utilities on a regularly basis and i often shake my head how aggressively norton treats her system.
there are always registry entries/keys deleted by norton just because she was surfing the internet.

she is surfing every day but careful though.


two weeks ago i thought it's the end of her system because it had startup problems and whatnot,afterwards it seemed that norton was just fighting a war (again).
she used w-lan for some weeks and the system went literally crazy so i plucked the machine back to cable and two days later her computer is quiet and smooth like a fresh install.

there were times her system went really bad but after some days always! everything was perfect again.
btw,she is using internet explorer.

i think norton would be to aggressive for a daw computer but then i'm jealous that her computer works just fine for over two years and i reformatted my drives three times but only went online for updates.
and no there isn't anything illegal on my machine.

[VitaminD]

Not trying to be a dick... but the best antivirus, totally free is your brain.
I ran windows without protection for years and nothing happened (of course anybody can say "How can you know you had no virii since you did not have a virii detector to start with" to which the answer is simply "I would have felt it").
If you know what you're doing, from my point of view an Antivirus is just a placebo.
Maybe a firewall like C(K)omodo, if you want some sense of security but that's about it.

True story.

Well.. Anti Virus doesn't mean your computer is impenetrable from virii and malware.. it is simply a layer of security. The best network security (and AV) really IS your brain (outside of simply not connecting to the net ).. it is not clicking the link in your email that says you won the european lottery or that crazy dancing cat video.

AV will (hopefully) catch those for those who are too click crazy and curious for their own good.. but not necessarily.

That said, sometimes even sites/software one thinks are clean may not be.. so AV is recommended. Not that it will pick up and alert on all nasties, but AV really is a valuable layer of any network security system.


How would you have FELT the virii infecting your computer's files? As example.. how about a logic or time bomb virii/trojan that is quietly waiting in the background for a specific day and time or certain event to occur before detonating, either popping your system onto a botnet or frying your data. You would have absolutely NO way of knowing this was going to occur, without AV, until it is too late.

Of course the firewall MIGHT help on the botnet.. but not on data frying... go look at the CIH (Chernobyl) virus as good example.

[osiris]

(That was a little joke)
Some company actually had a file as a torrent and I had to ask how to download it
That being said, I think Chrome has Sandboxie built in.
But, I don't think I'd go online with NO virus protection.

[t3toooo]

i need to bump this since it turned out that my problem wasn't microsoft's fault even if it felt like dodgy malware.

my host crash when loading too many instances of vst3 and when clicking to open the gui but this in conjunction with kontakt,dear lord that did cost me nearly two weeks to find out.

however,now it's running with vst2 and i'm glad it wasn't win 7 that fooled me.

again i can recommend mse and eset which i'm using now it has some nice configuration settings and it's light on the system.

all good now and win 7 for the win.

[glokraw]

I'm using AVG just because it has been on this system since before I got it, but is there a better free solution out there that will give as good protection? Thanks!

Booting from one of the many Firefox/Opera equipped linux DVD/CDs as your boot OS
is the safe way, no hard disk to infest, every evil vanishes into the
cold ether exhaled by ram chips powering down.
Try bodhi, dpup exprimo, pclinuxos or treat yourself to Studio 1337, for
a portable production setup.
(you can of course mount a disk or usbstick, as desired/needed)
Cheers

[vata44]

I don't really think people need an anti-virus much anymore unless you are downloading tons of random executable files or whoring out with USB flash drives/external hard drives.

I just use the built in Windows 7 one... maybe once in a year i will run a free online one from a reputable company. Only thing I even come up with is spyware.

[lockheart]

Avira.

[chilln]

This tread reminded me of an interesting post from Noel Borthwick (CTO at Cakewalk) made to his Google+ page; regarding AV.

Noel's Google+ https://plus.google.com/100031147479819116208/posts

There is nothing more infuriating than Antivirus products that behave like viruses. I just had AVG toolbar install itself on my computer. No idea what caused it to get installed since I have not added any apps recently that I know of. I learned a new term today - Foistware!

I managed to uninstall it and will be on the lookout for this garbage if it shows up again. If you ever need an antivirus use Microsoft security essentials instead of products that behave more like malware than antivirus tools.

[AVG Security Toolbar is the worst foistware I've ever seen | ZDNet »

Summary: It's one thing to have an installer that pushes foistware onto your computer. It's another thing to have an uninstaller that doesn't properly remove and revert everything that it did. AVG is ...]

Here is a link on how to remove it:
http://forums.avg.com/ww-en/avg-forums? ... 402