free anti-spyware?

[Blaze]

hi

Are there any free anti-spyware programs that are excellent overall?

Does it run at a high level of performance?
Is it very effective? (finds everything out there)
Is it multi-threaded?
Is there an x64 version?
Is it proactive? (scanning and updates)

[Heretic]

Did you look here http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?t=16170

[Gekko71]

Did you look here http://descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?t=16170

Malwarebytes - it's on the list above.

[TigerRaptor]

Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware is great for on-demand scanning.

[Glowhyena]

I prefer Malwarebytes. It found and removed more than 10,000 viruses in my friends' computers.

[Heretic]

Did it run right after that?

[null0010]

http://www.safer-networking.org/

[Xamindar]

Just install Microsoft Security Essentials and stop using Internet Exploder.

I'd say install Linux but for some reason people prefer to torture themselves.

[Heretic]

Give it some time and Linux will come under attack as it has already has been.

http://insecure.org/sploits_linux.html

[Glowhyena]

stop using Internet Exploder.

Agree.

Use the hot and sexy browser called Firefox. I'm using it for years without issue.

[Heretic]

Yep firefox is immune to exploits.

http://fcw.com/articles/2010/08/26/powe ... ility.aspx

If you use Mozilla's Firefox Web browser, Microsoft PowerPoint or a peer-to-peer file-sharing application called uTorrent, you may already be compromised, according to a report in the British news site The Register. Hackers posted code to use the vulnerability to a hacker database, including specific exploits for several individual applications

[Sirius]

Perhaps not the best example, as that exploit requires some reasonably good social engineering to pull off, but there certainly have been vulnerabilities reported for Firefox. And Chrome, and Safari, and Opera...

Alternative browsers aren't a get-out-of-jail-free card (they aren't even always better than IE any more, unless you still have IE6) - being sensible about how you use your computer and the internet will take you a lot further.

[Heretic]

being sensible about how you use your computer and the internet will take you a lot further.

Exactly I couldn't agree more with this statement. You go looking for Serialz, warez, hackz, and porn you are looking for trouble. No matter what you are running for an OS or browsers.

[Glowhyena]

porn

I called it "Trap Breasts".

[Xamindar]

Alternative browsers aren't a get-out-of-jail-free card (they aren't even always better than IE any more, unless you still have IE6) - being sensible about how you use your computer and the internet will take you a lot further.

Being sensible includes not using a browser that is tied into the OS. I consider Firefox and Chrome much better than IE and even Safari not because they are immune to attacks (which is not true and I never said), but because there are much less vulnerabilities and the ones that are found are patched much faster than IE is. Also, adding the adblock, noscript, and betterprivacy addons help a lot with protecting against attacks and privacy issues.

Embrace, extend and extinguish did not work for Microsoft in the browser market and the world is a much better place because of it. Choices.

[Sirius]

Not using a browser that is tied into the OS - not really relevant? All that will do to help you is minimise your \"target size\" - while security-through-obscurity does actually kind of work in this way, it has minimal impact on whether you're going to be infected if you do the right thing in all the main areas. It has zero impact on phishing attacks, which are probably the most damaging.

Vulnerability count, patch time - varies, actually the lead has switched a few times here and IE is rarely last (actually I think Safari usually is as of late).

Add-ons - you could get things like this for IE as well. Not that the choice is as good as with Firefox (which is one of the reasons I use Firefox at home).

I completely agree that the world is a better place with competition for IE though. The gap in time between Netscape and Firefox was something of a \"dark age\" of the internet...

P.S. Curiously, the browser with the most reported vulnerabilities appears to be Firefox. This figure is ... slightly misleading, of course, because all Firefox vulnerabilities that are detected are reported. As I understand it, a lot of those in IE aren't. Also, many of the vulnerabilities come in from plug-ins. And then you have time-to-fix, which Mozilla is usually pretty good on; Apple not so great as I understand it, and MS usually only for publicized defects.

[Thenior]

Back to the OP...

I can't comment personally on the various free options mentioned, but typically, I have come to realize that most free Spyware tools are free for a reason.

At home, I still use Avast and Spybot, but @ work we use Symantec Endpoint protection, mainly for it's admin abilities and lightweight package.

But back to my point, a year ago we used to use AVG security. One person installed the free version of AVG, and got spyware, which AVG couldn't find. I installed our paid version, voila, problem fixed. I realize that example isn't universally applicable, but I tend to believe that a paid group of researches can release patches faster than non-paid. And when companies realize they have good engineering in a product, that's when they sell it.

But, like mentioned, learning good browsing habits really helps. If you suspect you may have a file with a virus, open it in a virtual install or something. But I haven't had problems with a virus or spyware in probably 3-4 years.

[Glowhyena]

One person installed the free version of AVG, and got spyware, which AVG couldn't find.

That has been made me worry about my computer because I'm using AVG Free version right now. But Malwarebytes.

Malwarebytes found no spyware on my computer because I stay from porn sites and downloaded programs from honest sites for years.

Well, I need to buy a full version of AVP. AVG or BitDefender which has game mode for next year.

[null0010]

I'd recommend Avast! and Spybot Search and Destroy. I've been virus/malware free for 3 years, except for one instance where I knowingly did something really, really, stupid.

[Blaze]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't really like Spybot because it's not fast enough and I don't think it's multi-threaded. I don't like SuperAntispyware because it's not proactive enough. Will Malwarebytes keep itself up to date, run scans without the user telling it to do that, and does it run some kind of process that checks for spyware in real-time like avast does?

[TechPro]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't really like Spybot because it's not fast enough and I don't think it's multi-threaded. I don't like SuperAntispyware because it's not proactive enough. Will Malwarebytes keep itself up to date, run scans without the user telling it to do that, and does it run some kind of process that checks for spyware in real-time like avast does?

If you buy it, yes. Otherwise updating and scanning is manual only.

[TigerRaptor]

That is why I said great for on-demand scanning. The free version of SuperAntiSpyware offers jack in real time protection. And the free version of Malwarebytes zero protection in real time.

But if you really want a anti spyware program that offers a lot for free. Look into Spyware Terminator then. If you like it or not will be your call.

[Krom]

Realtime protection is greatly overrated.

[TigerRaptor]

Overrated because to many people rely on it.