Viruses: How do I keep myself safe from Viruses?

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Leo, I've been reeading some of your recommended Virus Program articles. I have only 1 problem with one of them, Panda Security Active Scan 2. I had a suspected virus problem with my computer, even thoufgh I'm running McAfee (set up upload new data and scan daily) on it. PROBLEM: Panda allows you to FREE scan you computer for viruses and finds quite a few. Then to remove them you must subscribe. After you PAY, it runs another scan and FIND NOTHING!!!! Waste of time and money if you ask me...

I use Avast. I works as good as any free AV except it's a little harder to use tham AVG as its interface looks like a mp3 player. I also have the malwarebytes antimalware that Leo recommends installed. Since I didn't pay to register it,so I can only use it as a standalone virus scanner. This is fine as 2 background AVs running at the same time can cause conflict problems.

The reason complacency is so rampant is due to over-inundation. Everyone who's peddling worthless software does his best to convince you of utter destruction just waiting to hit your computer. Add to that all the pseudo-experts who proclaim the sky is falling, and it sounds like computer euthanasia is more humane. I could complain that my computer stopped working after pushing it out a 5th floor window and still find people who proclaim it to be a virus that's responsible.

I've subscribed to the major PC magazines and have found them to be little more than extended hype for the products being advertised in their pages. While there may actually be a page or two of worthwhile information, the need to dredge several dozens of pages to reach it is not worthwhile.

And finally, as there is usually more than one way to accomplish a worthwhile task, there are still 'experts' who argue about which method is definitely The Best, and all others are invalid.

Email and occasional web surfing should not require your own personal IT department.

I have had my share of viral issues and used more than a few scanners? I was using McAfee as my main Internet Security + AV program along with Ad-Aware and Spybot as secondary scanners. This worked quite well for a while from 1999 to 2003! Then the company switched to Trend AV and so I switched to Trend at work and Norton 2003 at home and continued to use Ad-Aware and Spybot as secondary scanners. Then in 2006 I used Norton only and did fine until late 2008! So now I have Norton 360 and am using PC Tools Spyware Doctor along with Malwarebytes Anti Malware as secondary scanners which is working quite well! I do regular scheduled scans which I keep an eye on to see whats attempting to infect/invade my computer? I run full scans when the computer is not being used! I am also using a Registry Tool to keep my registry orderly and this has helped keep my computer speeding along! So far I have not had any compatibility or conflict issues between Norton and Spyware Doctor! I have been fortunate to not have issues with Norton since 2003 and it has done a decent job catching most threats, but as I say supplementing with a couple of secondary AV/Security programs is definitely recommended as Leo also stated! The only complaint is there Customer Service, it's not that they are rude or not helpful, just have a hard time understanding some of them on the phone cause their English is not great? The reality of the Cyberworld today demands preemptive action and as Leo stated "Complacency is simply not an option" not if you want your computing experience to be a happy, positive one? Just a thought, beware of the masquerade AV programs which are really malware and will install one of several Trojans on your computer which tell you your computer is infected with a bunch of viruses when it is actually not! Do some targeted research BEFORE downloading any AV/Security freeware or shareware programs! It's a brave new world out there!

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