Anti Spyware programs?

[Don]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware programs.
I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot Search
and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7 seems
like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very careful about
websites I visit.

So what do you think?

 

[Speaking in silver]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very careful
about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

Same here with AVG instead of Avast. I have installed Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware too, but I don't have it to start with Windows, I just run a
test from time to time, and never found anything up till now. I suggest you
can do the same with Spybot without the Tea-Timer resident module, and see
what happens

 

[Don]

Same here with AVG instead of Avast. I have installed Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware too, but I don't have it to start with Windows, I just run a
test from time to time, and never found anything up till now. I suggest
you can do the same with Spybot without the Tea-Timer resident module, and
see what happens

Sounds good, thanks for the info.

 

[Gary Richtmeyer]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very
careful about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

For the average home user who does primarily email, surfs the web a
little, does other typical stuff like word processing, Microsoft
Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/) is a
pretty good solution. It's free, has both an anti-virus and
anti-spyware component, does automatic updates and scans, etc.

I'm not a "softie", but over the last few years, I've installed AVG &
Windows Defender (on XP) on hundreds of customer machines; but I've
switched to using MSE as it has a smaller footprint and is simpler to
use for the less-technical user.

YMMV

-- Gary Richtmeyer

 

[Enkidu]

I'm not a "softie", but over the last few years, I've installed AVG &

Did you find AVG became a greater resourse hog after each upgrade? It
made my wife's older XP system pretty much unusable.

 

[Don]

Did you find AVG became a greater resourse hog after each upgrade? It
made my wife's older XP system pretty much unusable.

I did, I used AVG for years , and switched to Avast about a year or so ago
due to that.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very
careful about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

IMO:

Microsoft Security Essentials (Included Defender):
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

SpywareBlaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

And on the side.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.40
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

 

[Jim]

IMO:

Microsoft Security Essentials (Included Defender):
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx

SpywareBlaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

And on the side.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.40
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

I have this one running also. It checks for behaviors that look
suspicious. Has good reviews.

http://www.threatfire.com/

Jim

 

[Andy]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very
careful about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

From the first 8 replies...

I haven't run a virus protection program in 10 years. And haven't had a
virus in them there years.

I use SpywareBlaster and the Spybot Search and Destroy softwares every
day.

Antivirus softwares are more a malware, imho.

Comcast offers free McAfee anti-virus. Sony vaio win7(64) came with
Norton anti-virus. Problem is they are background AND alert interrupting
AND email intrusive, which is why I declare them malware. No harm, just
intrusive into my computing experience, again, imho. Not using them has
caused me NO virii.

Andy

 

[Van Chocstraw]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very
careful about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

If you run Firefox with No Script add on you should be safe.

 

[Don]

Thanks for all the great feedback gang!

I think for now I am just going to work with defender, my Avast AV, and the
windows firewall. I am always very careful on the net, think that will be
sufficient for me for now... At some point I may change to MS Essentials,
sounds like that is a pretty good program as well.

 

[Andy]

When I said background, I also, from the program's flagrant freedom, imho,
I consider it a potential "backdoor" invasion of privacy software.

I just can't grasp what it's constantly doing "behind my back" going for
updates, checking apps and docs and violating firewall permission access to
the internet without my knowledge. In that sense, it's a virus in and of
itself.

I'm totally opposed to any softwares that want to "AUTO" update. Including
Win7!!!

YMMV,

Andy

 

[Bruce Hagen]

That is not a bad selection, IMHO. You may be interested in this small
download. It lets you know if a site has a bad reputation before you
enter. Good when Googling and it is not intrusive.

 

[Don Wiss]

I did, I used AVG for years , and switched to Avast about a year or so ago
due to that.

Just yesterday it was recommended that I dump AVG Free and switch to Avast.
They way he put in AVG gets bloated. So Avast here I come!

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).

 

[Annie Woughman]

Antivirus softwares are more a malware, imho.

Comcast offers free McAfee anti-virus. Sony vaio win7(64) came with
Norton anti-virus. Problem is they are background AND alert interrupting
AND email intrusive, which is why I declare them malware. No harm, just
intrusive into my computing experience, again, imho. Not using them has
caused me NO virii.

Andy

I haven't trusted McAfee since I had a scary experience with them a few
years back. When I decided not to renew my annual license for McAfee,
imagine my surprise when I found a charge for the renewal on a credit card
that I hadn't even possessed when I had purchased my license the previous
year. The card that I had used to first purchase McAfee had been
compromised in an email, so I had it cancelled and a replacement card sent.
I called McAfee and made them remove the charge and demanded to know how
they had gotten that new credit card number. They tried to tell me that it
was the one that I had used previously and that I had enrolled in automatic
renewal. Both statements were lies. I also called the bank and told them
what had happened and did they give out my card number. They assured me
that they would NEVER give out credit card numbers. Needless to say that if
I EVER pay for an anti-virus program again, it will be on a disc from a
store so I don't have to give any anti-virus company any credit card numbers
or personal information.

 

[Andy]

I haven't trusted McAfee since I had a scary experience with them a
few years back. When I decided not to renew my annual license for
McAfee, imagine my surprise when I found a charge for the renewal on a
credit card that I hadn't even possessed when I had purchased my
license the previous year. The card that I had used to first purchase
McAfee had been compromised in an email, so I had it cancelled and a
replacement card sent. I called McAfee and made them remove the charge
and demanded to know how they had gotten that new credit card number.
They tried to tell me that it was the one that I had used previously
and that I had enrolled in automatic renewal. Both statements were
lies. I also called the bank and told them what had happened and did
they give out my card number. They assured me that they would NEVER
give out credit card numbers. Needless to say that if I EVER pay for
an anti-virus program again, it will be on a disc from a store so I
don't have to give any anti-virus company any credit card numbers or
personal information.

You can easily ask to change your credit and bank cards whenever you
wish. "I lost my wallet!"

Andy

 

[Andy]

Make sure to ask that there's no charge to make the change!

Andy

 

[MJMIII]

Smart move Annie. Installing McAfee on your computer is like putting a
screen door on a submarine.

 

[Dick Mahar]

Hey gang,

I have been running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium since Monday, and am
really liking it so far.

Just curious what others think about the necessity for any spyware
programs. I know Windows 7 has Defender, and of course the firewall.
I also use Avast for my virus program.

In previous versions of Windows, I would normally also run say Spybot
Search and Destroy as well.
I am wondering if the additional ones are really necessary now, Win 7
seems like it is probably pretty secure. Plus I am generally very careful
about websites I visit.

So what do you think?

I use Spyware Doctor with A/V, and run it every morning, and almost every
dy it finds a couple of poison cookies, and occasionally a Trojan. However,
it had found much more on my previous PC, which ran XP............ Dick .M

 

[Ato_Zee]

One rogue site hosed my machine, killed Kaspersky anti-viris
(it would't even reinstall) blocked access to many sites, etc.
No way to cure it, or fix the mess, not even system restore..
So just used True Image rescue disk, to restore from backup,
and 5 mins later nice clean system again.
Would even have restored to new hardware, if mobo had failed.
A backup kept off line is your best line of defence, I only
switch on the eSATA backup drive when I do backups, so
it only gets a few hours useage and is less likely to fail.
Offline storage would probably survive a neaby lightning strike.
Neighbour who got hit had his PC totaled, and now has
a lighning rod on his house (think the insurance paid for it
all including a new chimney stack).