I only recommend it to indigent clients...
Even though I use the pay version that isn't much better. For folks that can afford it, I recommend ESET. I never tried their suite. Did you try Hitman Pro 3? Combofix seems to be a requirement in any malware warrior's toolkit. I don't recommend it, or HighJack-This!, or Revo-uninstaller for newbies. Some of those are known to rid the system of the Google redirect problem, or at least one variety of it. I tend to gear everything toward whether a non IT person can use it; as I try to make my clients as independent on prevention and repair as possible, with the least amount of cost as possible.
Because Avast only reacts to the perimeter like a firewall, and afterward it only reacts to malware that are immediately active, I think I've got away with so much because I always run CCleaner several times a day, and definitely before a reboot. This gets rid of dormant malware that may take advantage of the system in the PE environment. This is theoretical only, of course, as I am always operating in restricted rights accounts. I doubt if the sandbox in Avast Pro will work in Vista/Win7 64bit limited accounts, but I could be wrong. You have to configure your browser by drag and drop into the sandbox window, if you want it to be protected. When logged on as administrator, I always use Chrome for times I have to navigate the web - which is very rare on that account.
My clients use:
Comodo with Defense+
Avast v 5
MBAM with RTP(real time protection)
AdAware Free with AdWatch enabled
SpywareBlaster
Super Anti-Spyware - as a scanner only
Of course, we all know that signature based detection is a losing game now, but I've never found an AV with a better heuristic engine. AdWatch(Lavasoft) is coming close, and they keep improving it. ESET may be better, but since it is expensive and my clients can't afford it, I stick with Avast to keep an eye on its effectiveness. If it starts falling down too much, I may have to grudgingly go back to ESET NOD32.
One could always pre-install Ice Sword if you trust the developer, but so far, my Comodo DNS has prevented all redirects that happen to me in my honey pot. Defense + does such a wonderful job preventing and alerting of file manipulations that it would seem almost impossible for even the sneakiest rootkit to get hold of the system. Also when I get the DNS warning window from Comodo, I know it is time to purge the system.
Speaking of patches; I was surprised to get ANOTHER round of patches from Microsoft yesterday on top of the ones released last Tuesday?! This on a Vista x64 system. I also got a flurry of updates thru the Secunia PSI auto updater!! Have you tried it yet? It is just awesome how it works, even if I am logged in as a restricted user!!! Between it and FileHippo's Update Checker, which also notifies you on the limited side now; this could do more to close the gap on zero day threats!!
