Help keep your computer clean and safe - the cheap way!

[draggar]

Let's all post our little secrets (some not so secret) little programs that help people keep their PCs clean, efficient, and safe!

Anti-Virus:

AVG (free): http://free.grisoft.com/

Housecall: http://housecall.antivirus.com
Runs in your browser for a thorough, accurate, and current scan. It takes a long time but picks up many threats that a lot of others miss


Malware / Spyware / Spam removal:

SpyBot: Search and Destroy (free) http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html

(also available at many other sites)

Ad-Aware (free): http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Use both of these programs for the best results, one will pick up some threats that the other will not.

Pop-up stoppers:

Pop-up stopper (free): http://www.panicware.com/

Firewall:

Zone Alarm used to be free, I'm sure you can find some links around that still hae the free version.

[volatile]

I also recommend these:

HiJackThis!
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/hijackthis.php

Crap Cleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/

AVG's Anti-Rootkit
http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Rootkit-Free/3000-8022_4-10662685.html?tag=lst-0-5

[ArenaBoy]

Can you find folk suggest anything for a Mac user please? :D

[draggar]

Can you find folk suggest anything for a Mac user please? :D

Eh, people who write malware don't bother writing them for macs, what do you think they use? :)

Hijack-This, I forgot about that one.

I can also recommend Black Ice (for a firewall), but it's not free and last I heard their prices went up a bit.

Also, some routers have hardware firewalls built into them (LinkSys), if you network look into those and the more security for a wireless network, the better.

DO NOT LEAVE THE DEFAULT PASSWORD. Even my mom knows how to get into those now. At the bare minimum, change the password in the router for wireless access, maybe even change the name and once you're set up, turn OFF SSID broadcasting.

Let's just say this, if someone has the password to your wireless router, they can change it and lock you out of your own router (you'll have to reset it and re-set up everything to fix that).

[volatile]

One more utility I forgot to add:

LSP-Fix
http://cexx.org/lspfix.htm

If you have internet connectivity issues that you can't seem to fix or you are getting re-routed this can help you. Just be sure to research the process before you delete them, otherwise you could FUBAR your system.

[LostMyMind]

I find Comodo to be very good and very free ;) Also they don't support Win 9x only NT and XP. They're working on Vista versions.

Firewall - http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Anti-virus - http://www.antivirus.comodo.com/

The firewall is better than zone alarm. You can really lock down the internet access. I can't really comment on the anti-virus because I don't get virus to "test" the strength of the anti-virus :lol:

They have quite a bit of free stuff - http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products.html

Comodo makes their money with products for servers and corporations. So they don't charge anything for quite a bit of stuff.

[Cutenoob]

Also try AutoPatcher - especially if you're doing a new install from CD!
http://www.autopatcher.com/whatsautopatcher/

Download this stuff onto other PC, open, burn to CD and then deal w/ new PC's updates this way.

I've also used this:
EBCD (emergency boot cd)
http://ebcd.pcministry.com/

Everyone else has the tools I use already posted :)

Cutenoob

[Naaman]

I also recommend these:

HiJackThis!
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/hijackthis.php



Once you have a HiJackThis log you can get a reliable explanation of what the processes are at http://hijackthis.de

[Cutenoob]

Autopatcher has now been taken down by Microsoft.

if you google around you MIGHT find a version somewhere, but don't bet on it.

[lordlundar]

Firewall:

Zone Alarm used to be free, I'm sure you can find some links around that still hae the free version.

Still is free:

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I swear on this one . . .

http://www.avast.com (http://www.avast.com/)

Works on pretty much every version of Windows. No Mac version, but there is one for Linux.

It's free and all you do is re-register once a year. I've been using this for well over a year now and have had no issues. :D

[The Gatekeeper]

Our license for Symantic is expiring and we are looking at other options. This is for my company. What are your thoughts on Network Anti-Virus? Does this also include protection for the individual computers (I don't know much about this stuff).

Thoughts?

[It's me]

Another excellent cleaner:

EasyCleaner http://www.toniarts.com/products/?PHPSESSID=119b2503b12041914ae5363d83001da2

I invariably find that the "Registry" and "Unnecessary" scans find things that CCleaner, Spybot, and AdAware miss (and yeah, I run all four!)

[gunsage]

While I'm not necessarily recommending this for anyone else, this is more of a "Is this a good idea?" type deal. Sometimes when I run Spybot and whatever else I may be using (I alternate between different crap as I don't really have a favorite, per se) there will be instances where a number of things are not only persistent (meaning they just keep coming back), but still others can't seem to be deleted by the program.

As a result, here's what I typically end up doing. First, I document what exactly Spybot, etc. is having a problem with. Next, I research to see if there are any permanent fixes that DON'T involve me "DOWNLOADING OUR OMG GR8 SOFTWAREZ!!!" That simply annoys me.

If there is a recommendation, great. If not, there are two other things I do. One, REGEDIT. Yes, I know it's supposed to be for advanced users, etc. I go in there and RIP OUT the exact file(s) that are supposedly causing the problems. Then, just in case, I go into HiJackThis (LOVE that tool) and find anything malicious involving that file or anything resembling it.

Yes, most of this probably isn't very good for my system. However, even with constant updates, regularly running scans, defragging just about every week, etc., I can't help but feel like there's more I should be doing for my computer. Any suggestions?

[Knightmare]

Has anyone here heard of Gizmo Richard's Support Alert? I subscribe to this, and he always has excellent information on just about anything you can think of. And things you never thought of!

Read it, try it out.. then pay the $10 a year for the premium edition. It is definitely worth it.

http://techsupportalert.com/issues/al_current.htm

[sms001]

Let's all post our little secrets (some not so secret) little programs that help people keep their PCs clean, efficient, and safe!

Just some quick pulls from my last "fixit" CD. (Thanks BartsPE!)
Note: I've been out of this game for a while and it changes VERY quickly.
Exercise due care and common sense.

Also, CoolWebSearch seems to still be around and I didn't see its nemisis on my CD, so tack on CWShredder.

*Avast Antivirus
a2
Absolute Shield
AVG Antivirus
*CCleaner
CounterSpy
Ewido
*Hijack This
Kerio Firewall
*Lavasoft Adaware
Microsoft Defender
Pest Patrol
*Spybot Search and Destroy
Spysweeper
Spyware Blaster
Winpatrol
*Zone Alarm

Online Info:
http://www.antirootkit.com
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/
http://castlecops.com
http://forum.ccleaner.com
http://noahdfear.geekstogo.com/
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/mailbot_az.shtml
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
http://www.malwarecomplaints.info/index.php
http://forums.spybot.info
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp
http://process.networktechs.com/
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.adwarereport.com/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/


Online Testing:
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym
http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp?cid=9435
http://www.bitdefender.com/
http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/
http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/AVLoad.asp
http://www.ca.com/us/

[NightAngel]

I'll go with Zone Alarm and Ad-Aware. I usually use Zone Alarm's Internet Security Suite and System Mechanic but I haven't been able to renew my subscription yet this year. Right now I'm using the Windows Live One Care trial. Which seems to be okay but not really quite as good as Zone Alarm.

[mae]

I've been trying out Avast! AntiVirus due to several recommendations on this board and I have to say it's one of the most unintrusive and easy to use programs I've ever used. Norton AntiVirius always tended to bog down the system when it was booting up. And while I like AVG and would recommend it, it always made me have to reboot when I didn't want to because of the daily update.

Thanks guys! :)