avast still good?

[Infamous]

i had some issues on my PC, so i had to break down and get some anti virus.. is avast still the best free one out there? the freeware sticky @ the top of the forum is quite old by now. just wanted a friendly update.

[Cain]

No it is Horrible !!! I'll fix that sticky...

These are the best two, and both are FREE .... Get and run both frequently...

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Malwarebytes.org

[WalkinTarget]

I think its important to point out that there are anti-virus products and anti-malware products. Both serve a different purpose, and most of what we are seeing today is the malware variant.

In the old days, a virus wiped out either your data or your entire drive, no questions asked ! Soon, the 'black hats' who created it realized that you can't propagate a bug after wiping a drive, nor was there any financial gain to be had.

So what came next is what we see in today's trojans, a small program that, via social engineering, gets installed on your PC and hides in the background, capturing keystrokes (in the form of a keylogger) to pass along bank logins or credit card numbers. Simple, effective, and the only sign of it is that your PC may seem slower or less stable while its operating.

Back to anti-virus or anti-spyware. Avast, Grisoft, and Avira all offer a freebie anti-virus product. Of the three, I'd go with Avira Antivir, but in no way would I trust just that. It won't deal as well with the malware threat, regardless of what the information on it will tell you.

Like Cain said, you need to supplement any freebie with both of the linked scanners, MSE (MS Security Essentials) and MalwareBytes Antimalware. Between these three, you should be about as clean as you can be while still having money in your pocket.

[juneau]

I think its important to point out that there are anti-virus products and anti-malware products. Both serve a different purpose, and most of what we are seeing today is the malware variant.

In the old days, a virus wiped out either your data or your entire drive, no questions asked ! Soon, the 'black hats' who created it realized that you can't propagate a bug after wiping a drive, nor was there any financial gain to be had.

So what came next is what we see in today's trojans, a small program that, via social engineering, gets installed on your PC and hides in the background, capturing keystrokes (in the form of a keylogger) to pass along bank logins or credit card numbers. Simple, effective, and the only sign of it is that your PC may seem slower or less stable while its operating.

Back to anti-virus or anti-spyware. Avast, Grisoft, and Avira all offer a freebie anti-virus product. Of the three, I'd go with Avira Antivir, but in no way would I trust just that. It won't deal as well with the malware threat, regardless of what the information on it will tell you.

Like Cain said, you need to supplement any freebie with both of the linked scanners, MSE (MS Security Essentials) and MalwareBytes Antimalware. Between these three, you should be about as clean as you can be while still having money in your pocket.

Great advice WT.

[Infamous]

well, i have issues now.. my PC seems to never shut down the HD. causes crap loading on games, and everything else. I did a scan using a website called CA something( not cyber acoustics) and it said i had 1 trojan, and 2 viruses. i scanned again using a different site, it said i had nothing.

Spy bot scanned, found nothing, but avast found and "fixed" 2. afterwards, my Pc was running fine, HD not constantly spinning. However upon restart, same problems.

[WalkinTarget]

Infamous, if you haven't installed and run Malwarebytes, you need to. Dunno how to stress it any more than bolded, but website scans are for the AOL crowd that believes what they see on the web.

Due to DNS poisoning and other forms of high end site hijacks and rootkits, using the web to rely on security scans is like using a stapler to hang drywall. It doesn't get the job done properly.

[Infamous]

well, day 2, the MS essentials removed 8 items that the others never even found!! HD is silent at the moment. yay for me. Also noted that my cpu usage went from 15-30% @ idle to none, boy, wonder if i had issues, lol

I am running the others as suggested right now. hopefully this will end the problems .

[Infamous]

so, it seems this combofix is no joke,, can a novice use it? On the google searches for it, says you should know whats up.. well, to what level of whats up should i be?
After restart of my system, the HD is still running crazy, and i am unable to game. I have re ran the MS and malware products, but they both show up clean this time. So if this combofix is good, what do i need to know to use it?

[Duke{CLR}]

Could it be something that you have running in the background?

[Cain]

Yeah you have a boot sector problem, and you need ComboFix...

It is heavy duty industrial cleaning, so back up your important files first...

It is not difficult to use just a little scary to watch, but run MSE and MB first, then run ComboFix.....

A guide and tutorial on using ComboFix

Be sure to download it from this URL not any other one.

[Infamous]

right on, thx..
so, i ran the malware again while i was at dinner. nothing was found, but it shut the Hd problem down. I am planning on the worst case scenario and ned to reinstall windows... god i hope not, thats a lot of patching.
but, since i am planning for the worst, maybe i can get the combofix to clean it out for me.

[WalkinTarget]

Are you updating MalwareBytes and running a FULL scan on the PC ?? It does not default to a full scan, and everyone makes that mistake when they first run it.

[Infamous]

no, i did a full scan after my update... i do not want to reinstall windows, so i wil be sure to run a full scan again while i am st work tomorrow, if nothing, then i come home and mess with combofix. if that doesnt work,, new install.

[Cain]

ComboFix will most likely take care of you, it is amazing ...

[Infamous]

it found something too technical for me to know exactly what it was, suggested a program called MBR.exe.. i guess it fixes your something or other,, anyone ever heard of this program? easy and or automatic to use?