Discussion on:

Five free tools to keep your Windows PC running malware-free

Avira was too slow on the draw to prevent injections attacks. It could recognize the zip file; but couldn't stop it in time to prevent total pwnage of my clients machine by a .bat file. It did a remarkable job recognizing most threats though. Maybe it has improved. I hear it uses more RAM than most solutions now, so maybe it has improved on the trigger.

in my honey pot lab - I still recommend Avast - sorry! It has never let me down. Now as far as malware goes AdAware WAS king, until some shady characters bought it; so now all bets are off, and I'm looking for more solutions that work on limited accounts. SAS, MBAM, and other AM solutions either don't protect on limited rights, or they have very little feature sets. MBAM can block bad IP addresses. A good host file to keep bad ads off the web page goes a long way. File manipulation tools help; like Comodo Defense +, Threatfire, and Emisoft Anti-malware, but you will still see malware trying certain high-jinks that could really throw an inexperienced user off balance. Spyware Blaster is golden for active x threats no matter which account you are logged on to - Spybot Search & Destroy may have improved on this, but CCleaner can be the ultimate destroyer, if you run it often, and especially if it is run before log off, shutdown, or reboot.

I run many of these concurrently along with WinPatrol, and my PC has never run better. I use the same things on older XP machines, and only Emisoft can't be recommended on those. I could never get it to run, using the premium paid version. I'm using Mamutu on Vista Ultimate x64 now, with great results!

I would think MS Essentials would play well with all of these, but I and my clients stopped using it. It only stops about 75% of the threats that come through. The IE9 browser does a better job than that using smart sense scanning, ASLR, DEP, and the UAC(and limited user rights). IE also stops many threats by simply blocking bad pages, that have shady origins - I'm not sure how much of that are root certificates, or some kind of host file on the new browser; perhaps someone can chime in on that aspect. I know it works almost as well as WOT.
(edited) - MBAM now has root kit detection, and is capable of protection on the limited rights accounts now - it is beginning to look like a truly serious utility!!

for clients that don't have anything to lose, and don't like alerts. I can't attest to endpoint solutions, because my clients that use VPN usually use UTM appliances that have steaming AV/AM service; so I really have no say there, except that my sister has used the ZoneAlarm Z100G to great success along that line. Unfortunately CheckPoint had canceled that hardware series last I checked. They still support the services though.

but I like the scheduled update and quick scan tools, and anyone can use anything they can get as a blended defense. One thing is for sure - MBAM is as resistant to attack by malware as I've found, and it works wonders in safemode. I run it before running, SAS as a rule! MBAM is a heavy hitter when it comes to the vicious variety of malware. I would rather keep malware off the machine altogether, though, and AdAware used to do that before they got creamed by a bad buyer!

It is going to take a LOT of blended defenses to fight the new malware, who need very little system privileges, and don't set off the best heuristic tools out there. CCleaner is still King in my book - for now.

to recommend it. They didn't listen and SPLAT! They lost their machines, one after another. They listen to me now! At least with even an old version of Avast with the kernel NEVER updated. I've been able to completely recover most PCs. Especially enough to wipe and reinstall. Avast and SAS will take care of most(at least 97%) of the backup file infections after that.

Especially if you have an older, slower machine, after using CCleaner (free), Avira Free (highest rated free A-V in VB100 report) would be your best choice. For kid's computers that need a real-time A-V, Avast Free is the safest. AVG was the best 3-4 years ago. Since that time, it sunk toward the bottom of the free A-V recommendations. (Note: AVG may have 'seemed' to do a good job preventing infections so far for you but then again, it hasn't encountered the many vulnerabilities which it possesses. Switch before it's too late. Good luck.

but they are too darn expensive to recommend for my clients. The fact that they are based in Russia is doubly vexing on this, as the dollar is strong over there. They are making HUGE money at the expense of our clients, and quite frankly, you have to be very careful with the powerful kernel access they impose on the system. I see many more freebees that are plenty efficient, and WAY cheaper. Bear in mind you need many blended defenses to make a good protection for computing. Sometimes you are better off with solutions that work in an infected environment, and still provide a superior defense of your data.

Besides even Kaspersky can be thwarted by the new malware reality. They may have good heuristics, but malware don't need to be noticeable to AV/AM solutions to do damage to your data. Remember, they don't need to PWN the PC to get into your pocket book.

To be fair - I've seen ZAccess.backdoors that can defeat their Rescue CD, but that doesn't mean they may not have had the ability to keep backdoor trojans off the machine in the first place.

I still need a good rescue CD with an AV on it for such purposes. I like to make at least a 95% assurance nothing may be left on the hard drive. If they have something truly valuable to protect, I may wipe and re-install, then update all scanners before checking the backup files. If they have a business, and can wait at least two days for all definitions to update, I try to scan later, and just not recover all backup files right away.(especially by incremental backup date)

I have used Macrium Reflect to good result, The image backups are just one click away, and any situation can be imaged and recovered. It even does incremental images( although I'm sure at least one other utility does this) I've never had a failed restore yet - but I've only started using it in the last six months. Reading user reviews on CNET to rate the top five backup utilites is paramount.

Bear in mind the built in image tool for Win7 has the same good reputation, as long as you have a version above basic or home version. Vista home premium now has full file backup ability, which works flawlessly(as long as you don't need browser favorite recovery). I don't think even Vista Ultimate has image backup ability(at least I can't find it).

is it true that it is a cloud solution? I liked Prevx that way as an add-on AV to Avast. That was the only other way to double AV protection on a PC, because the cloud utility won't conflict with the one other installed AV.

As many of my clients are Face Book subscribers, I recommended the free Safe-online version from there.

I know Comodo's Defense+ is good but it doesn't protect the registry like tea timer. Lavasoft made SafeNetworking obsolete, but AdAware is going down the tubes with a questionable takeover last January, so I digress there.

If #5 were in force, the Users would know how to interpret "Tea Timer"; but then they shouldn't be running as anything other than a limited user anyway - right?

Enterprise grade security suites, were worse than single PC utilities. We had better luck using NT permissions and AD group policy - plus the usual locked down server techniques. Web white lists were pretty valuable there, just to name one.

I must admit, that ESET's products were tempting, but I like UTM gateways with streaming service so well, it would be tempting to try an enterprise class of that hardware first. Maybe Barracuda?

on Windows(especially after NT6) will get your almost as much protection as Linux. But even Linux is vulnerable with a browser using javascript or flash equivalent. The lower the profile on Linux, the less code on board, the lower the threat assessment.