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Post by Torin on Apr 3, 2014 15:32:46 GMT
Hi,
Windows XP is no more in service in a few days and that's why my virus scanner program (Microsoft Security Essentials) is no longer supported.
Any hints which free virus scanner I should use now? I'll give Avira Free Antivirus a try. Anyone knows if that is working while playing HG?
~Torin
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Post by chainlink on Apr 3, 2014 15:43:20 GMT
Most of the free virus scanners are fine just look at the latest reviews for which one is currently performing best.
None of them should have any noticeable impact when playing NWN at least if you have a relatively modern PC, if they do then NWN is unlikely to be the only program that's suffering.
You are extremely unlikely to get a virus while playing the game as they generally occur through downloads or web pages that have been compromised.
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Post by Werehound Silverfang on Apr 3, 2014 15:51:15 GMT
Right now Avast is one of the highest rated and most efficient anti viruses. I recommend that one if you're sticking with XP.
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Post by Torin on Apr 3, 2014 16:50:14 GMT
Running now Avast, looks good so far. thanks Were!
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Post by Yojimbo on Apr 3, 2014 17:06:01 GMT
While I understand you are looking at Free solutions and an XP solution I want to just put in that my favored AV/Internet Security suite is Kaspersky which does offer a 30 day trial I haven't used it in XP in over a year but I suspect their software is still compatible and runs well in XP. I am not surprised MSE won't continue to support XP but it has fallen a bit out of favor amongst the free solutions for a while now. I have had too many issues with AVG to recommend it Avast has many supporters and from what I have seen seems reasonable. There was another option but it escapes me at the moment will gladly post it up if I remember so you and others have it to consider I also recommend checking out AV-Comparatives to see and compare many AV solutions. I would not overlook the false positive rating on these it is part of why I lean toward Kaspersky doesn't hurt the December 2013 has it as #1.
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Post by FunkySwerve on Apr 3, 2014 17:39:18 GMT
We use the free AVG at our work, but it's obnoxious. I still have MSE at home and have had a perfect record with it so far. It's one of three programs recommended by GeeksToGo, which is where I went to get help the one time I did have a malware problem. Note they also suggest you install XP's Service Pack 3 if you haven't already. Funky
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Post by Paradoom on Apr 3, 2014 18:57:51 GMT
I do not recommand to use a free antivirus solutions. Take Avira for example. You can directly install trojan's while it is running, because it doesn't have a decent "guarding hound", that checks your systems and programms behavior (unless it is a really bad made one). Same goes for the rest as well more or less.
Try (if you can) to make a user that does not have admin rights, and run everything under it. And also put decent passwords on your administrator and hidden administrator accounts and check especially your installed software. Most attacks on the system do not happen through weaknesses of the system itself, but buggy/unupdated programms.
And even if you put a paid virus scanner on your system like kaspersky, they cannot make your system save against unfixed exploits. And you can be sure there will some appear. It´s like you have a house with a topnotch security guard in the front, but the robbers already found several broken windows out of line of sight of him, to break in.
Over the long term get a new system/pc Torin.
A little tip: a really nice little programm that checks and removes a great amount of unwanted "enhancements" on your system is ADWCleaner.
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Post by hackenslay on Apr 4, 2014 1:41:11 GMT
I've been using and recommending Avast ever since the AVG Pentium bug. It's regularly rated in the top 3 antivirus programs (along with Norton which is apt to slow your computer down, the only reason I don't recommend it)
For adware/malware I recommend a weekly sweep with Malwarebytes, another excellent free product that only runs when you tell it to instead of constantly running. Adaware is another good one, but again, apt to slow an older system down.
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Post by Roo on Apr 18, 2014 0:53:56 GMT
Hey Torin, Somewhat late but my recommendation would be to use sandboxie while browsing the web. It's not an AV but in many ways its much more powerful (I rarely browse the web without it). I'm also a big fan of the noscript firefox addon among others.
Hope this helps.
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Post by illandous on May 30, 2014 14:12:17 GMT
I have switched from AVG to Avast. AVG started to get a bigger footprint and got noisy. Avast, you can turn all that stuff off.
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Post by hackenslay on May 30, 2014 19:24:06 GMT
The coolest thing about Avast? Turn off silent mode and change your language to Pirate...lol. Really got a kick out of it when I first found it.
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