Comments on: Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:58:33 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by proactivedefend: News Update: Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure http://ow.ly/15Ny4A…

By: Antivirus

Antivirus — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:16:11 +0000

I have used Norton Antivirus on my Windows XP and so far it has kept me free from any infection. I run a scan twice a week and a few times it caught some spyware, which it was able to remove on its own. I know that sometimes the software that comes with a computer is not of the highest quality, but in this case, I am sticking with Norton.

By: AstralSin

AstralSin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:12:48 +0000

Avira is junk. The free version pops up these REALLY annoying popup windows advertising the commercial version every now and then and has a pretty crappy detection engine. Check out the free version of Blink from eEye Security. Not only does it have an antivirus, but it has a built in vulnerability assessment feature that checks your system for common vulnerabilities. I’m a security professional and I can’t recommend it highly enough! Again, Google it, you’ll find it faster than wading through eEye’s website.

By: Top 3 Reasons Kazaa Lite English Is Better Than Kazaa | Beyond Tech – Technology Ahead Of Your Imagination

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:07:10 +0000

[...] Even after the website displayed a “No spyware/adware” badge these problems remained present. Kazaa Lite English and its later versions don’t have this problem. They are spyware and adware free. It’s of course still important to be careful and take good care of your computer. Read this MakeUseOf article on how to keep your computer secure. [...]

By: cez

cez — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:54:03 +0000

can I install all of these and still keep whatever antivirus program that I have now? Mcafee on my laptop and norton on my pc.

By: tayker

tayker — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:24:10 +0000

Comodo is nice, but it’s a serious resource hog. I’m staying with ZoneAlarm.

By: sherif_shaaban

sherif_shaaban — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:18:33 +0000

Sysinternals Autoruns is great when it comes to finding anything that runs at startup.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:56:57 +0000

I would just like to say, in Laurence’s defense, that unless you are being completely damn retarded and downloading anything any website tells you to, as well as using IE, then a constantly running anti-virus program is basically a resource hog and nothing else. A once-weekly scan is all that should be deemed necessary.

I have never had a virus, I still do a once weekly scan with absolutely zero real-time protection, and I most certainly am not naive to anything to do with the internet. It is, quite honestly, beyond me how so many people can get viruses, adware, spyware, whatever. You must be doing something wrong, huh?

By: iheart

iheart — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:35:24 +0000

unfortunately, comodo firewall and threatfire do not go along well.

Do you think, i should uninstall comodo and use the PC tools firewall freeware version along with their threatfire, or should i rather uninstall threatfire, because currently, each time, when it pops up to tell me about a potentially dangerous program, that certain window does not go away, but got stuck on the screen, no matter how much i click in it, and say it should allow that program to work.

By: Spyware Terminator – Free Real-time Spyware Protection | MakeUseOf.com

Spyware Terminator – Free Real-time Spyware Protection | MakeUseOf.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:34:00 +0000

[...] among MakeUseOf readers), WinPatrol (system monitor), Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus, ThreatFire 3 (blocks zero-day attacks heuristically), SnoopFree Privacy Shield (anti-keylogger) and Spyware [...]

By: Buffet

Buffet — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:07:01 +0000

Personally, I prefer PerfectDisk’s defragger. Try it and I believe you’ll agree. As far as antivirus products go, after lots of trial and error, NOD32 is the only way to go. Ad-aware, Comodo Firewall, and of course, the program no one should be w/o, WinPatrol Plus. As for this Laurence cat, how truly naive you are my friend. You should immediately consult someone with some common sense who knows what they’re doing, before it’s too late. Good luck.

By: Laurence

Laurence — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:39:39 +0000

No I am constantly on the internet and I download heaps. It’s not that Ive never seen a virus, it’s just I’ve always managed to avoid getting any without using stacks of software and scans, just decent firewalls.

By: spybot s d

spybot s d — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:42:06 +0000

[...] do not have sufficient enough programs to make sure these pieces of junk are removed properly ahttp://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-programs-to-keep-your-computer-secure/Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 20th Jun 2007 09:26 UTC, submitted by TB OS News”Apple’s Safari is [...]

By: OZ

OZ — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:24:20 +0000

I’ll give Defraggler a try, but I’ve been very happy with Auslogic’s defragger (as found here on MakeUseOf). The less fragmentation, the better!

By: Virus worries « Later On

Virus worries « Later On — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:03:06 +0000

[...] and came across this highly regarded program (but new to me): ThreatFire, which I found via this list. I downloaded the free version and am running it [...]

By: Aman

Aman — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:00:25 +0000

Laurence: You must only be going to your email and the yahoo home page if you’ve never seen a virus in your life. Or perhaps you don’t notice the fact that they are there?

Generally, I am a strong advocate of free surfing, not limited by fear of threat from virus. I am more than confident enough that my computer’s security procedures can handle anything thrown at it.

By: Aibek

Aibek — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:57:19 +0000

Thanks for heads up, it’s fixed.

By: Laurence

Laurence — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:47:36 +0000

I used to worry about all of these things… but I honestly think now that if you browse with an eye out for potentially suspicious sites, you make sure you have at least 2 firewalls (the included windows one and another) and UAC turned on so that nothing can install without you being notified then I fail to see how something (excluding a targeted attack or hacker or something) could managed to get in.

I’m probably wrong but seeing as AVG simply slows down your comp and spyware detectors have rarely picked anything up on my comp Ill save myself the hassle. Oh, i do run one program occasionally which In really like…

It’s great.

By: Ashutosh Mishra

Ashutosh Mishra — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:43:06 +0000

Dunno why you missed out Avast!, it just works so much better than AVG and a tad better than AntiVir as well.

And there are no firewalls mentioned as well; I agree that they are really NOT security tools, but you still can’t do without them whereas you can actually do without an antivirus / antispyware if you know what you’re doing.

By: Weekly Links: June 6, 2008 : LostInTechnology

Weekly Links: June 6, 2008 : LostInTechnology — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:30:42 +0000

[...] Best Programs To Keep Your Computer Secure [...]

By: Mark O'Neill

Mark O'Neill — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:35:25 +0000

well then you’re very lucky Laurence! I strongly disagree with your assertion. Everything that Will recommends IS necessary! Browsing the net without these things is like covering yourself in honey, jumping into a bees nest and hoping they don’t sting you! In other words – VERY RISKY!

At the very least, you’re eventually going to encounter a website that tries to covertly install a spyware program or a trojan horse on your computer. It happens to everyone sooner or later.

By: Laurence John

Laurence John — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:12:11 +0000

Nice article Will, but I disagree that all this is necessary. I browse the net constantly and I’ve had one virus in my whole life. A decent second firewall (comodo) + UAC turned on should keep you safe.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:32:37 +0000

Don’t use Defraggler. Two MUCH better options are available. No offence to Defraggler’s producers. I really like CCleaner for what it does, but Defraggler is wimpy compared to it’s competitors.

I’ve “test” drive most of the free defraggers and there are two that do very good jobs if not better than commercial defraggers:

1. JKdefrag – very smart, but command line operated. Get “JKdefrag GUI”, read the documentation. Very nifty functions.

2. Ultimate Defrag Freeware Edition – Don’t go to the offical website. You won’t find the freeware version there. Google it and you’ll find the free version on download.com. Arguably better than JKdefrag and has better gui. A lot of features that aren’t very obvious. The PDF documentation has very useful information on defragging. Read it.

PS. You forgot the firewall category such as ZoneAlarm, etc.

By: Invisible GTalk, Google and the Moon, Vista tip « TechCast

Invisible GTalk, Google and the Moon, Vista tip « TechCast — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:47:50 +0000

[...] Keep your computer secure [Make Use Of] [...]

By: Rohit

Rohit — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:40:24 +0000

I am using avast for over a year, and very happy with this program. Also it’s free.

By: Altzan

Altzan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:32:24 +0000

Nice list. I downloaded a few of those and that’s helping me a lot. However, Defragger’s link is incorrect. It should be http://www.defraggler.com (you left out the ‘L’)

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:10:45 +0000

Just wanted to thank you guys for the post. I’ve been trying for months to find a program strong enough to remove the threats of Virtumonde and so on. So many programs delete the problem but do not get to the root of the issues. Threatfire finally did it! And much fast than so many of the others. thanks you guys!