Vista and virus protection programs

[Tony Vella]

I have been told that with Vista Premium you do not need a separate virus
protection program like Norton, McAfee, AVG, etc. I also noticed that these
kinds of programs running in the background use up quite a lot of resources.
Can anyone advise me what is what or at least direct me to some
"understandable" link somewhere? Thanks in advance.

 

[Richard Urban]

Do not *EVER* go on the internet without having antivirus installed and
updated. The same goes for anti spyware programs

Many use Avast Antivirus, free version from
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

You can also use SpySweeper from http://www.webroot.com/ (not free - but
good)


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[peter]

You will need an Anti Virus program...even with Vista.
2 free ones that work in Vista with small footprints are AVG and Avast.
peter

 

[HeyBub]

I have been told that with Vista Premium you do not need a separate
virus protection program like Norton, McAfee, AVG, etc. I also
noticed that these kinds of programs running in the background use up
quite a lot of resources. Can anyone advise me what is what or at
least direct me to some "understandable" link somewhere? Thanks in
advance.

1. Who told you an anti-virus program was unnecessary? Don't buy anything
from them.

2. You noticed wrong. Some programs are hogs (Norton, McAfee) others are
quite gentle (AVG).

 

[Qu0ll]

You can also use SpySweeper from http://www.webroot.com/ (not free - but
good)

Yes, it's great - unless you are running Vista x64.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

 

[Rock]

I have been told that with Vista Premium you do not need a separate virus
protection program like Norton, McAfee, AVG, etc. I also noticed that
these kinds of programs running in the background use up quite a lot of
resources. Can anyone advise me what is what or at least direct me to some
"understandable" link somewhere? Thanks in advance.

Yes an AV program is needed. There are some good ones that are free. I use
Avast. Some like AVG. For paid Kaspersky and NOD32 are excellent. Stay
away from Norton and McAfee.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page5.html#Vista
Scroll to the section on Antivirus/Antispyware

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have been told that with Vista Premium you do not need a separate
virus protection program like Norton, McAfee, AVG, etc.

Someone has lied to you. Do not trust that personm for any other sort
of advice, ever.

I also noticed
that these kinds of programs running in the background use up quite a
lot of resources.

Some do, and some don't. Avoid the commercial security suites, such as
Norton or McAfee. AVAST or AVG don't.

Can anyone advise me what is what or at least direct
me to some "understandable" link somewhere?

Links to what sort of information, precisely?



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Tony Vella]

Someone has lied to you. Do not trust that personm for any other sort of
advice, ever.




Some do, and some don't. Avoid the commercial security suites, such as
Norton or McAfee. AVAST or AVG don't.




Links to what sort of information, precisely?

Hi Bruce.

I hardly expected you people to take the time to "instruct" this old geezer,
and therefore I asked for a link to a page to read/research on my own. The
problem for me, originally, lay in the fact that I didn't know the buzz
words to search under. I feel better now with my AVG running in the
background. I am still not sure about spy/ad-ware and what to do about it.

The chap who gave me the wrong advice in the first place - that I don't need
an AV program with Vista - is one of those chaps whom I have never, in the
20 odd years I have known him, heard him say "I don't know." Which, I
guess, is the reason why I decided to go after a second opinion.

Thanks to all and regards from Ottawa.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi Bruce.

I hardly expected you people to take the time to "instruct" this old
geezer, and therefore I asked for a link to a page to read/research on
my own.

But you didn't really specify precisely *what* you wanted to research.
;-} In technical matters, specificity is crucial to finding what you
really want and/or need.

Do you need anti-virus protection for Windows Vista? Yes, certainly.
Do you wonder which of the myriad products is best? It's largely
subjective, but some information can be garnered here:

AV-Comparatives
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Windows Vista Security Software Providers
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/update/windowsvistaav.mspx

List of Anti-virus Software Vendors
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;49500

The problem for me, originally, lay in the fact that I didn't
know the buzz words to search under.

And therein lies the rub, so to speak. So-called "buzz words" change
with the fashions; it's best to use straight-forward terms when searching.

I feel better now with my AVG
running in the background.

AVG is a good product. Personally, I use AVAST; primarily because it
was Vista-ready first, and I see no need to change, now.

I am still not sure about spy/ad-ware and
what to do about it.

Vista's built-in Windows Defender, has, so far, proven adequate for
this purpose, at least for me. Microsoft acquired the requisite
technology by purchasing one of the leaders in the field, and
incorporating it into the OS.

The chap who gave me the wrong advice in the first place - that I don't
need an AV program with Vista - is one of those chaps whom I have never,
in the 20 odd years I have known him, heard him say "I don't know."

"People who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who
do." ;-}

Which, I guess, is the reason why I decided to go after a second opinion.

A wise precaution.

Thanks to all and regards from Ottawa.

You're welcome.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Drew]

Hey Ottawa !! grew up there...I personally use avg and run Sunbelt's
Counterspy for anti spyware... just my 3 cents............Drew .....Reno
Nevada

 

[Guest]

Tony, You'll be happy to know that as you already have AVG, Vista came with
all the rest. There's Windows Defender, anti-spyware, anti-adware, popup
blockers etc. all included with Vista. And, just in case, there's System
Restore.
Instead of aggravating over all this, go into Control Panel > Security
Center and study it. Make sure everything is "on" and set to your needs.
Also, hone up on System Restore and make sure it's enabled.
Everything you need to know is found on the numerous help links on the pages
in Control Panel. Wayne

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

The chap who gave me the wrong advice in the first place - that I don't need
an AV program with Vista - is one of those chaps whom I have never, in the
20 odd years I have known him, heard him say "I don't know." Which, I
guess, is the reason why I decided to go after a second opinion.

A lot of folks got this impression after misinterpreting an article on
how Vista fared when confronted with some common malware.

Then even more folks read media reports that drew this erroneous
conclusions from the original article, and so on.

The original article stated that when Vista with no av was confronted
with a sample of common malware, most or many of these were not able
to infect the PC. The article did NOT state or suggest that av wasn't
required in Vista; it was referring to some changes made to boost OS
safety, and how these related to the common threats of the time.

No single defese type - antivirus included - will protect against all
malware, and various types of defense "mesh" together more effectively
than concentrating on one type, or using multiple products of the same
type (such as multiple resident antivirus scanners).

Vista comes with firewall and resident "antispyware" defenses that
pass muster, in my opinion, but you do need to add a resident
antivirus. As others have noted, free AVG and Avast are suitable.

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

 

[Carlos Wisemann]

vista inbuilt firewall and windowsdefender are good enuff. but 1-care is not so good. kaspersky or nod32 is the best. amongst freeware try avast or avg.

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Rock]

vista inbuilt firewall and windowsdefender are good enuff. but 1-care is
not so good. kaspersky or nod32 is the best. amongst freeware try avast or
avg.

To whom are you replying? Please quote at least a portion of the message
to which you reply so there is some context. Many folks use a newsreader to
access newsgroups and only download the most recent messages, so they may
not see all the previous posts in a thread. That's why the Usenet
convention is to quote some of the message for context.

 

[Diamontina Cocktail]

Nod32 not good at all, in fact only around the same as Nortons.

in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[ArameFarpado]

Em Terça, 3 de Julho de 2007 22:23, Diamontina Cocktail escreveu:

Nod32 not good at all, in fact only around the same as Nortons.

Care to explain why you call "not good" at two of the rare AVs that can
still provide a little protection?
You don't know shit about AVs, don't you?

 

[Ryan Hayward]

I highly recommend Kaspersky.

Nod32 not good at all, in fact only around the same as Nortons.

in message