Bugs & Viruses

All of these programs seem to run together ok and give you a good level of protection for most things out there on the web. All have been running ok on several machines using Windows XP and are usually what I install as "standard" procedure on machines. I always install the first four and the rest are optional.

Don't forget that you have a personal Firewall if you are running XP, with earlier versions you ought to run one as a safety measure, but, I have found that using a Modem/Router with its own internal firewall to be worth the extra cost, the reduction in invasive attacks because other pc's can't "see" your PC is worth it!

DISCLAIMER!!. like all software, you use them at your own risk, but having said that I have been using them with no problems for some time & feel happy to continue.

Remember, before trying to sort out a computer that you think may be infected, make sure to back up all important files/documents, if possible on fresh media just incase whatever nasties you may have don't get onto your earlier backups...........just incase it gets terminal!

Avast 5.0 Antivirus

I used to recommend AVG anti virus but recently it has become a lot more complicated, interferes with the PC often when you are using it.

After hearing a lot of good comments about Avast I tried it on quite a few machines, all work well and Avast recently released V5.0 with a much better user interface. The link above is for their free version which can be used for 30 days before it has to be registered, still for free. They also do paid for versions with higher protection and multiple installations if required

Remember, Like all Antivirus, you must only use one, otherwise conflicts may arise when they run and find what they think are viruses but actually are the definition files on the other antivirus program!!

Spyware Doctor

Available as a Starter Edition thru Google, Starter Edition offers full scans and removal of threats, has real time protection and is available for free as part of Google pack , this will get you a free spyware scanner plus other tools which will do everything except automatically remove any infections when found! If you only want Spyware Doctor from the Google pack, unselect what you don't want, then it will first install Google Up dater before installing what options you selected

Once Spyware Doctor is installed, setup Onguard Protection & Computer Immunization when you want it to scan so that all you will have to do is when it has found anything it will pop up a notice asking you to deal with it. If that's too difficult then you can subscribe to the paid version!

MalwareBytes

A very good FREE Malware scanner, just watch the options that you get when it finds something, make sure that it hasn't found something that may of been confused as Malware, but isn't! Very good at deleting malware that is a scam, trying to get you to part with money for "Antivirus/malware removal software".

Often these are found in the operating system which cannot be removed because the files are active and thus protected. Removal will entail the infected PC's hard drive being removed and scanned with MWB by a host PC with the infected hard drive connected, here its operating system can be read as it isn't running!

Often trying to remove these types of Malware with out removing the hard drive often appears to of worked until the machine is switched off and then rebooted, this is when the untouchable files in the operating system reinfect the machine and the circle begins again!

Windows Defender

Been using this for some time and now already pre-installed as part of Vista. Works well in the background plus has extras that control changes to the XP registry files, which is one of the things that "nasty stuff" likes to change! Note, if you are running the latest AVG antivirus, Defender will be disarmed.

SpyBot Search & Destroy

Another free program that is very good at cleaning Spyware from your system, in its basic form it will scan for several types of spyware, dialers, adware & more, plus you can Immunize your system to block them.

Spybot can be configured to do lots more if you are brave, click advanced in the mode toolbar, but BE Careful!!, finally when running the up dater, avoid using the SecurityWonks site it usually give a bad checksum, the SaferNetworking ones are much better!