Virus/Malware scanning software

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EvilGrins
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Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by EvilGrins »

No worries, my system isn't infected... but it occurred to me the other day it might be good to update or get something newer that's effective.

Other than the Windows Defender, which is part of Windows 10, the only other thing I've currently got is Malware Anti-bytes.

What do you lot recommend I get?
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Tyr
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Tyr »

The windows defender is all what you need.
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anth
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by anth »

Agreed. Windows Defender has also been quite consistent in real-world benchmarks the past couple of years: https://www.av-comparatives.org/comparison/
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by cromy »

As already said, Windows Defender is all what you need.
Despite the past, now It can do a lot of stuff and protects you system very well.
Also it can now protects system against exploits. It became a pretty complicated software :)
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Feralidragon »

Windows Defender, like everyone said (which already comes with Windows 10 by default, iirc), which is what I use as well.

Although, to test questionable software (something you download but you don't necessarily trust), rather than testing it against your main system, you can download it and test it within a virtual machine instead (if your machine is capable of running one, performance-wise, generally tied to whether your CPU supports VTX and other virtualization instructions).
That way, even without any anti-virus software whatsoever, at most only your virtual machine gets infected, and at that point you can simply restore it to what it was before in a very quick way, without damaging your main system in any way.
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by RocketJedi »

I cant speak on windows defender as in the past it's been useless. I'm sure its better now.

my recommendations are bitdefender + malwarebytes free or paid. I use both free versions, and my family stopped calling me for malware issues. Haven't seen infections in over 8+ years with this configuration
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Que »

Feralidragon wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2019 12:54 pm Although, to test questionable software (something you download but you don't necessarily trust), rather than testing it against your main system, you can download it and test it within a virtual machine instead (if your machine is capable of running one, performance-wise, generally tied to whether your CPU supports VTX and other virtualization instructions).
That way, even without any anti-virus software whatsoever, at most only your virtual machine gets infected, and at that point you can simply restore it to what it was before in a very quick way, without damaging your main system in any way.
*Could try SandBoxie for testing dodgy apps and so-forth.
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Dr.Flay »

(Disclamer: I am using MS AV on all my windows PCs)

On windows 10, Defender will do.
Defender and MSE for earlier windows is rubbish. I have a copy of a malware driver that is detected in Win 10 but not in Win 7 even though they use the same definitions.

Windows 10 is a lot safer because Defender thinks that many new files without a certificate are malware.
Each new release of WACUP is detected as malware and blocked. After a few days MS unblock it because it is not malware.
That is basically a glorified whitelist, as it has nothing to do with detecting bad behaviour or code.
It relies on the old EMET features that have been grafted into Windows as the Exploit Protection, to actually avoid malware doing harm.
(You can add EMET to earlier Windows)

Last year Defender stats look good due to the new way AV-Comparatives release their tests less often.
If you go back to 2018 and before when it was every month, you will see that MS AV is only sometimes in the top 5 (mostly not), and always has the highest amount of false detections, only matched by 1 other.
https://dr-flay.vivaldi.net/2018-anti-virus-comparison/
The only thing it shows any consistency with is getting it wrong every month.
Don't take my word for it, go and find 1 av-comparison page where it is not the best or equal best, at getting it wrong.

For general use Win 10 Defender will do you, but you need a second opinion scanner.
You can use a single engine or many. I prefer many.
You should make use of AV scanning in your browser, as your browser is your "first line".
AV scanning on the local PC should be the "last line" so you give it nothing to do.

I made a thread for AV and security tools you can use alongside the AV you already have
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/35766/s ... out-an-av/

Also worth noting that if you update taskmanager with Process Explorer from the microsoft site, you can enable the VirusTotal checks for each loaded task.
If you add your VT API key, it can also upload any unknown files to VT in the background.
A few of the Sysinternals tools have this ability, such as the Autoruns tool which scans all the stuff loaded during boot time.
VirusTotal ability turns up in a lot of places. Make use of it where you can.
Caveat: VirusTotal is updated monthly so definitions can be stale, so brand new malware may pass as clear. Be warned.
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Que »

Good info @DrFlay.. re browser , this is how 9/10 unwanted crap comes through.. I would highly recommend the UblockOrgin addon for the browser(s) of your choice.

Also Web Of Trust is not too bad. (Although there were problems with it years ago)

These two add-ons singlehandedly block 7/10 unwanted crap ;)
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by papercoffee »

Que wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:46 pm Good info @DrFlay.. re browser , this is how 9/10 unwanted crap comes through.. I would highly recommend the UblockOrgin addon for the browser(s) of your choice.

Also Web Of Trust is not too bad. (Although there were problems with it years ago)

These two add-ons singlehandedly block 7/10 unwanted crap ;)
Additional to uBlockOrgin I recommend uMatrix (same dev) blocking 90% of the scripts ...even when you click allow all scripts the really bad ones stay blocked and you have to allow them manually... but if a page only work with those bad scripts allowed, isn't it worth it and you can leave that page.
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Que »

papercoffee wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 3:23 pm Additional to uBlockOrgin I recommend uMatrix (same dev) blocking 90% of the scripts ...even when you click allow all scripts the really bad ones stay blocked and you have to allow them manually... but if a page only work with those bad scripts allowed, isn't it worth it and you can leave that page.
:tu: installing now!

Edit:

What the Hell , will install his other mod uBO-Scope as well.. lol
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Re: Virus/Malware scanning software

Post by Dr.Flay »

I actually use a little known blocker extension ContentBlockHelper, as it lets me block all sorts of page content as well as scripts and blacklisted domains.
My default is to allow video and in-line scripts from the same domain and block any from external sources.

WOT is a plugin I also use and trust, as the issue a while back was because their anonymised user data was able to be deanonymised by cross referencing with other info.
They fixed the issue once it was raised.
People often start freaking out about a plugin like that sending the pages you browse back to base.
That is the whole idea of how any service that rates the sites you visit, and is what smartscreen does in MS browsers, or the certificate validation in all browsers.

It is worth including HTTPS Everywhere and the Qualys SSL Grade extension.
I also use a GeoIP extension that shows extra info like whois and reverse lookups, so I get more idea of the validity of a domain.
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