Anti virus

[SoldieR]

So I took my pc in and they said I have a bunch of infectionss. I use bit torrent , piratebay and KAT. I'm careful that i only download verified torrents. I also convert videos from YouTube with youtube-to-mp3.com .
I have malewarbytes anti virus thing but only free, will that be enough?

[forgrin]

The answer is probably just to stop torrenting, or get a junk PC for it. My virus problems always started and stopped along with whether I torrented or not. I've had to clear my own PCs of viruses before and no single program is really going to cover them all, or act as a perfect preventative measure. A friend of mine in comp eng once said "torrenting is basically like f*cking cheap prostitutes. You have to go in with protection, but also with the expectation that it might not work, and if you do it too often you'll get an STD no matter how careful you are."

[gibson]

Go to staples and they'll do a free pc tune up for you that will eliminate anything small. Then go on amazon and pay 20-30 bucks for either Kaspersky internet security or Kaspersky total security.

[Jaeger]

Many good antiviruses like Kaspersky have 30 day or so free trials. So you can download one and clean your computer pretty good, and then if you dont want to buy it at the end of the trial just get a free antivirus. Remember to uninstall/disable your current antivirus if you do this tho, having 2 antiviruses active at a time can mess them both up.

Also remember that antiviruses only catch viruses, you need other programs for other malware as well, but I don't know much about that. Probably some of our resident computer experts such as @Aizamk

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@musketeer925

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will know much more about this.

[musketeer925]

Malwarebytes free is a good scan and removal tool, but doesn't do active protection. If you're on Windows 8 and 10, it includes active security (Windows Defender), but on older versions of Windows you need an active security solution. For Windows 7, I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... s-download), but if you're on an older version of Windows that is unsupported if I remember right. At that point you should really be thinking about upgrading to a newer OS.

[SoldieR]

I have Windows 7 and really dislike he changes into Windows 8 and the way you search through folders.

[musketeer925]

Windows 7 is perfectly reasonable, just would strongly recommend installing Microsoft Security Essentials. My upgrade recommendation was more directed toward XP/Vista.

[SoldieR]

Is that free?

Also, if I were to download torrents for music , then move the music files to another device, if the torrent contained a virus, would it transfer to the other device when I transferred the mp3s?

[zoom]

Pro tip for anti-virus protection: install an anti-virus program.

Use MSE, and format whenever you notice a deterioration in performance. Whatever you do, for the love of fuck keep downloading illegally, and don't pay for anti-virus, lest you'll turn into a sucker on the level of Forgrin, Gibson or Soldier. Oh, wait...

[SoldieR]

So I've seen a few names here. Kaspersky, MSE, malewarbytes. I have something I think is called ESET, and maybe avast. Also ccleaner.

Someone mentioned it's bad to have multiple. So what would be the correct combination of programs to use?
Currently have malewarbytes, ccleaner and eset

[gibson]

Many good antiviruses like Kaspersky have 30 day or so free trials. So you can download one and clean your computer pretty good, and then if you dont want to buy it at the end of the trial just get a free antivirus. Remember to uninstall/disable your current antivirus if you do this tho, having 2 antiviruses active at a time can mess them both up.

Also remember that antiviruses only catch viruses, you need other programs for other malware as well, but I don't know much about that. Probably some of our resident computer experts such as @Aizamk

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@musketeer925

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will know much more about this.

Well most of the time when you have anything more then a small virus you its a lot more complex than just running a program. These things hide themselves deep in your directory and resurface if you don't completely get rid of them. You usually need someone who's fairly computer literate to help you out if you have anything more than a bit of malware

[JakeyBoyTH]

use AVG it's the best free one. At least it did back in 2012 when I bothered to use antivirus.

TBH I would never take my PC in. Just backup all your important stuff and restore it. That works 11/10 times. Unless its like a rootkit or something pretty bad, Stinger if thats still around should take care of it.

[edeholland]

AVG isn't so good anymore :( They went for the money it seems

Bitdefender and Kaspersky are both very good, but in reality they are only a few % better than MSE. If you are an average user MSE should be enough. Malwarebytes is good to have on the side, it's won't conflict with an anti-virus program because it scans for different things and because it's not active protection.

Solution: reinstall Windows or make sure you get rid of every virus, run malwarebytes, install MSE, scan with that, leave active protection on

[JakeyBoyTH]

Yeah just re-install windows. If its a laptop or proprietary desktop you might be lucky and they have left a restoring partition. If it's Acer I think the hotkey is alt-f4 on boot. Re-installs windows and all the drivers too. When I bothered to get Antivirus (so long ago) I used McAfee. I have also heard good things about Kaspersky.

Of course my favorite antivirus is the linux kernel (:

[Gendarme]

Windows defender doesn't do a good job. If it did, it would tell you to stop using Windows.

[musketeer925]

Windows defender doesn't do a good job. If it did, it would tell you to stop using Windows.

It's supposed to defend windows, not you.

[gibson]

Yeah just re-install windows. If its a laptop or proprietary desktop you might be lucky and they have left a restoring partition. If it's Acer I think the hotkey is alt-f4 on boot. Re-installs windows and all the drivers too. When I bothered to get Antivirus (so long ago) I used McAfee. I have also heard good things about Kaspersky.

Of course my favorite antivirus is the linux kernel (:

Avg is bad now :( But yea any PC you buy from a manufacturer has a hidden partition with recovery stuff

[iNcog]

reformatting is a brute force solution if you want

though careful because usb drives can be infected with shit

[mGravitus]

Malware bytes, windows defender and CC cleaner are all you need.

Make it a habit to scan questionable files before open (torrents etc). And for the love of god, don't be someone who postpones scans for weeks.

Also, how did you miss the boat from windows 10? -_-