# How Much Virus Protection is too Much?



## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

I have virus protection through AOL and McAfee. I have DSL through AT&T and they now want to give me virus protect for free. Free now, but perhaps not free in the future.

I know AT&T is losing business to cell service, so perhaps they want to offer bene's to keep me.


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## tkrabec (Mar 12, 2003)

Pick 1 AV & 1 Antispyware program, they can be the same or different programs

know that traditional AV & AS are on their way out, since they only work on signatures. You need one that does behavioral.

I love blink from eeye.com but on the cheap Microsoft security essentials is not bad at all


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

tkrabec said:


> know that traditional AV & AS are on their way out, since they only work on signatures. You need one that does behavioral.


Server security already does that (don't get me started), but I suspect that traditional virus and spyware scanning & blocking for workstations is here for the foreseeable future.

Antivirus software authors are now taking spyware seriously, so most contemporary antivirus software does both. If you have a scanner/blocker that you trust there is no reason to clutter your workstation with anything else. If you have a problem that your antivirus software can't detect or repair then you should download alternate scanners, but normally that's not necessary.


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## tkrabec (Mar 12, 2003)

Nevada said:


> Server security already does that (don't get me started), but I suspect that traditional virus and spyware scanning & blocking for workstations is here for the foreseeable future.
> 
> Antivirus software authors are now taking spyware seriously, so most contemporary antivirus software does both. If you have a scanner/blocker that you trust there is no reason to clutter your workstation with anything else. If you have a problem that your antivirus software can't detect or repair then you should download alternate scanners, but normally that's not necessary.


The Anti* has merged somewhat. 1 full time scanner (on demand) is more than enough, although a scanner that you can run as needed to catch stuff that the primary misses is also good.

Just like in medicine there is no cure-all, no one AV/AS/anti*/firewall can do it all, it takes all of them and some smarts on the users part to have a pretty good chance.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

tkrabec said:


> The Anti* has merged somewhat. 1 full time scanner (on demand) is more than enough, although a scanner that you can run as needed to catch stuff that the primary misses is also good.
> 
> Just like in medicine there is no cure-all, no one AV/AS/anti*/firewall can do it all, it takes all of them and some smarts on the users part to have a pretty good chance.


I suppose it also depends on your needs. For example, if I was visiting a lot of torrent sites I might consider additional protection.


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

I do computer security as a big part of my day job. This also involves removing malware on a daily/weekly basis. 

My experience has shown that the traditional desktop anti-virus programs such as Macafee, Norton (*excepting Norton Endpoint*), Trend Micro, AVast, et al are nowhere near as effective as MS Security Essentials, Malwarebytes and Super Aint-Spyware for stubborn removal of malware. All too often, these programs are the only things that work after Macafee, Norton, Trend Micro, AVast etc fail to remove or even detect the malware.

When I clean a pc, the first program I reach for is MS Security Essentials then either Malwarebytes or Super Anti-Spyware. If this combination of programs cannot clean the pc, the work stops there and the pc is re-formatted or re-placed with a clean one.

For home use, every user should have an anti-virus program installed and MS Security Essentials....I cannot say enough about this product. And no, I don't work for MS, but this is one of a few of their products I firmly believe in.

To comment on a previous poster's comment. Traditional Anti-Virus software is not on the way out, rather these companies were/are caught flatfooted by the 3 programs that I have mentioned. These traditional companies are now playing catch up and to some extent, are succeeding only to then add too many useless features that has only caused their software to become bloated and many cases, cause pc's to run slower then if they were infected with malware...

There will always be a place for traditional anti-virus once these companies learn that their software needs to be lean and not the bloated, be everything mess they are now.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Working in IT for a bank, I second everything Kari said, but would add SpyBot as another good anti-sypware/malware that occaionally finds things other miss.
I wouldn't have a computer online with Malwarebytes on it and always updated.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Kari said:


> Malwarebytes or Super Anti-Spyware


Kari, have you ever used or heard of Emco Malware Destroyer? Any idea how it compares to these two?


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

backwoodsman7 said:


> Kari, have you ever used or heard of Emco Malware Destroyer? Any idea how it compares to these two?


I have tried Emco a couple of times then found that it was not effective and missed obvious installed Malware that it should of found.


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

I have a purchased virus protection from McAfee- should I also get MS Security Essentials?


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

mnn2501 said:


> Working in IT for a bank, I second everything Kari said, but would add SpyBot as another good anti-sypware/malware that occaionally finds things other miss.
> I wouldn't have a computer online with Malwarebytes on it and always updated.


I second his second. 

What stinks is that in my job as an IT specialist for the government, if it's not approved for use on gov't computers we can't use it. And you guessed it - none of the stuff I get to use on my computer is approved...so 99.9% of what I do at work is simply manual removal. Fun fun. lol


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## legacy (Oct 16, 2005)

Microsoft advises you to remove your current AV program to prevent software conflict with MS Essentials. MS also advises you not to put multiple anti malware programs on your computer because software conflicts can cause "severe" performance issues.

In the past, I have used various anti malware programs, then uninstalled everything but Malwarebites to prevent conflicts.


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

Kung said:


> I second his second.
> 
> What stinks is that in my job as an IT specialist for the government, if it's not approved for use on gov't computers we can't use it. And you guessed it - none of the stuff I get to use on my computer is approved...so 99.9% of what I do at work is simply manual removal. Fun fun. lol


I'll third the second...

Microsoft has finally got their act together and MS security essentials is free and quite good. Malwarebytes has been a standby for years now too.

I use Nod32 from Eset for our work computers. It is a very good anti virus, about $35 a year.

I use MS security essentials at home and dumped the pay anti virus..


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

Txrider said:


> I'll third the second...
> 
> Microsoft has finally got their act together and MS security essentials is free and quite good. Malwarebytes has been a standby for years now too.
> 
> ...


The reason I recommend 2 programs is mainly redundancy. If one program does not catch the malware, hopefully the 2nd will.

As for NOD32. Thanks, I had forgot to mention it. NOD32 is actually quite good and more effective then most other AV products.


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## country bred (Nov 11, 2005)

I have only Windows Defender on my Vista machine. Should I download Microsoft Security Essentials? Is it compatible with Windows Defender?

Thanks to all.

Marcia


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