Poll: **********The All New Official OcUK Anti-Virus Program Thread - KEEP ALL AV QUESTIONS IN HERE*******

[marc2003]

You can disable sounds or just have it set to run in silent mode while gaming ,Avast is quite customisable if you look in settings .

well duh. but in a normal world, you'd expect all that guff to be off by default and only get warned when something critical happens.

 

[KIA]

2: Software patching - I try to keep everything up to date, is there anything I should be concentrating on?

3: Harden your browser. I currently use IE11 which I appreciate is not the best (but I like its ease of use). I've tried Chrome and hated it (and I do not trust Google). I do like Firefox and am slowly migrating to that. But, how do I 'harden' my browser - be it IE11 or FireFox?

Java, if you use it. You can use Secunia PSI to make life easier.

Please see http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/03/help-keep-threats-at-bay-with-click-to-play/

plugins.click_to_play should be enabled by default in Firefox. To activate it for all plug-ins, go to Firefox > Add-ons and change all plug-ins to Ask to Activate. Click-to-play will give you the choice of white listing individual plug-ins on a per site basis.

 

[kration]

Java, if you use it. You can use Secunia PSI to make life easier.

Please see http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/03/help-keep-threats-at-bay-with-click-to-play/

plugins.click_to_play should be enabled by default in Firefox. To activate it for all plug-ins, go to Firefox > Add-ons and change all plug-ins to Ask to Activate. Click-to-play will give you the choice of white listing individual plug-ins on a per site basis.

Thanks for the help.

 

[kration]

Thanks for the advice so far, but I have one further question about Firewalls.

Firewalls - are they useful if so which should I use?

I'm just trying to get an idea of my my free defense against the crap on the internet, so:

1 - AV - Avast
2 - Scanner - Malwarebytes
3 - General - common sense
4 - Firewall - needed?

 

[KIA]

Windows Firewall.

You can use something like http://www.binisoft.org/wfc.php if you want outbound traffic control.

 

[Brad-York]

So which is the best one to protect my shiny new pc please, paid is fine too? One that doesn't slow the PC down.

 

[Elevon]

So which is the best one to protect my shiny new pc please, paid is fine too? One that doesn't slow the PC down.

If you want something that is more or less left alone then Bitdefender Free seems to do a nice job in that department,also probably lightess AV as well,very good detection rate ie one of the top AV companies.

 

[Scream]

Does anyone know if you can upgrade Kaspersky Small Business V2 to V3 in the same way you can purchase KIS 2012/2013 and upgrade to 2014 for free using the same serial?

 

[The__Malteser]

I'm looking for an un-obtrusive Anti-Virus to replace AVG. I have used AVG for ages, but my laptop is low spec, and it uses a lot of system resources, although I never got a virus.

I am currently using Windows Defender, but I'm not sure about it. This thread recommends bit defender, which I never tried.

I want the anti virus to be un-obtrusive, use very little resources, and not interfere with my gaming.

I have malwerebytes, so that is not an issue.

 

[Steampunk]

Try Kaspersky Internet Security. There is a 30 day demo you can try. Set it to concede resources, and enable the gaming mode.

 

[Bjones]

Antivirus programs start off well then gradually bloat out to force users to upgrade. I've had it with buying A two year licence deal . My PC might as well have a virus as it's killing the system.

 

[Elevon]

Antivirus programs start off well then gradually bloat out to force users to upgrade. I've had it with buying A two year licence deal . My PC might as well have a virus as it's killing the system.

Depends on the AV,my Avast free only uses 4.5mb according to Task Manager and 0 CPU usage at the moment.

You are are not forced to upgrade,plenty of choices including freebies out there.

 

[The__Malteser]

Depends on the AV,my Avast free only uses 4.5mb according to Task Manager and 0 CPU usage at the moment.

You are are not forced to upgrade,plenty of choices including freebies out there.

Avast you say. Hmmm.

 

[Elevon]

Avast you say. Hmmm.

Yep,I did not bother with the software updater tools etc not really needed in an AV,good job you can choose what you want installed with Avast .

 

[The__Malteser]

AVG is only 1.9?!

BS!!

 

[Elevon]

AVG is only 1.9?!

BS!!

That's their new 2014 version,supposed to be lighter then their old 2013 version.

AV Comparatives are one of the better AV test sites on the net.

 

[kration]

Yep,I did not bother with the software updater tools etc not really needed in an AV,good job you can choose what you want installed with Avast .

Does the software updater impact on performance? If so are there any other features of Avast I should disable?

 

[KIA]

Does the software updater impact on performance? If so are there any other features of Avast I should disable?

You should do a custom installation because it will attempt to install a lot of crap on your system by default.

Keeping software up-to-date is one of the most important tasks you can do these days. Have a look at Secunia PSI (free, no bloat) if the Avast utility isn't up to much.

 

[Elevon]

Does the software updater impact on performance? If so are there any other features of Avast I should disable?

I did not notice any issues,but then I keep my software up-to-date anyway so you could say a preferance thing,btw you can add and remove features on Avast even after install so not an issue if you want something you like etc....

 

[The__Malteser]

I was using AVG2014 and found it quite obtrusive. My laptop is a slow B980 @2.4GHz and 2GB RAM.

I went to bitdefender, and it was a pain. It maxed out my RAM, and was always doing something. It also maxed out my hard disk transfer rate, making my pc VERY slow (unusable) for a lengthy time (1 hour). Unistalled it. I might try Avast now.

Also, I am using Win 8.1 64-bit, and I always have a process called 'System' eating up my HDD transfer rate. It can go up to 12MB/S at times too!

I have been noticing it since I removed AVG. Anyone know what it is?