Life After Ad-Aware?

[Carl Martin]

In case you haven't noticed, there haven't been Ad-Aware updates for several weeks now. That's because Lavasoft has discontinued support for all versions of Ad-Aware SE Personal, and now supports only the dreaded Ad-Aware 2007. ATTENTION: Ad-Aware SE Personal users - Lavasoft Support Forums

Unfortunately, the reviews for 2007 have been mixed. (Resource hog, very poor detection rate - the worst in CNet's test.) ATTENTION: Ad-Aware SE Personal users - Lavasoft Support Forums

So, now what? Maximum PC wrote a great review of ThreatFire, which I have installed, but although it supposedly does a great job of blocking threats, I'd still like to have something that does a better job of scanning. SpyBot?

Carl

[Jokerswild]

Spybot S&D does a good job of scanning and always seems to find things adaware doesn't. But then again adaware found things spybot didn't also.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by Jokerswild

Spybot S&D does a good job of scanning and always seems to find things adaware doesn't. But then again adaware found things spybot didn't also.

That is very true Joker!!! I have always noticed that, that one finds things the other didn't.
Well that is a real bummer that they are not supporting Personal SE

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Carl Martin

So, now what? Maximum PC wrote a great review of ThreatFire

W00t - I wrote that feature.

In any event, if your computing habits are solid (keep a firewall running, avoid shady or otherwise illegal websites, etc), then you needn't be overly concerned with malware. Threatfire is excellent, and Windows Defender (free) does a decent job of rooting out spyware. Beyond that, I'd recommend periodic scans with Spybot S&D (spyware) and AVG (anti-virus). If you find that any of the anti-malware programs are frequently detecting nasties (outside of cookies - make it a habit to clear your internet cache once in awhile), then it's time to reassess your surfing habits.

If you do find yourself wanting to saunter on the shadier side of the web, I'd highly recommend running a Virtual Machine, which will keep your activities (and any resulting infections) isolated to a virtual partition.

Some other free alternatives:
Avast! Home Edition (anti-virus)
Avira AntiVir (formerly ewido)
AVG Anti-Spyware (you guessed it)
ASquared (anti-spyware)

[Parker]

I don't use any type of protection (other than windows firewall) because I only play games on my PC, I hardly ever go online with it.
I use my mac for everything else.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Parker

I don't use any type of protection (other than windows firewall) because I only play games on my PC, I hardly ever go online with it.

Just a word of caution - though the chances are extremely slim, even software and hardware purchased via retail can sometimes come with viruses pre-installed. Recent case in point:

It recently came to our attention that a limited number of Insignia 10.4” digital picture frames (model number NS-DPF-10A) were contaminated with a computer virus during the manufacturing process[...]some affected units were purchased at a Best Buy store or from Best Buy before the issue was detected.
Insignia Product Alert, 1/23/08

Originally Posted by Parker

I use my mac for everything else.

To quote Pace Picante commercials that, in all likelihood, were before your time: "Get the rope!"

[Carl Martin]

Great article - thanks!

I'm already running SpyBot and Windows Defender (does it really do anything?) along with ThreatFire. I was a little concerned about adding AVG or others with real time protection since I wasn't sure that it would be advisable to have two running programs with that feature. Is it possible to install AVG without RTP and just run scans on demand?

Carl

[halutzparilla]

alright so Adaware Ver. 1 is being obsolete,

which is better we got Adaware Ver.2 which is published on 6/2007 andf SpywareDoctor which is release on 9/2007, both have a decent amount of good reviews...

they have the same price at bestbuy.... okie why pay, for the constant malware monitoring like Ad-watch and Spyware's Onguard, features that you dont have on free versions...

[Parker]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Just a word of caution - though the chances are extremely slim, even software and hardware purchased via retail can sometimes come with viruses pre-installed. Recent case in point:

It recently came to our attention that a limited number of Insignia 10.4” digital picture frames (model number NS-DPF-10A) were contaminated with a computer virus during the manufacturing process[...]some affected units were purchased at a Best Buy store or from Best Buy before the issue was detected.
Insignia Product Alert, 1/23/08

To quote Pace Picante commercials that, in all likelihood, were before your time: "Get the rope!"

Wow, never heard of hardware coming with viruses...

Lol and what does "Get the rope!" mean? lol.... I don't think I ever saw that commerciall..

[screwballl]

look into Comodo Personal Firewall which is free and includes Defense+ which helps prevent malware from even installing. It is also the highest rated software firewall on the market according to independent testing.