anti virus

[W5GA]

Ok, geeks....what's good, what's bad, and why? Time to renew, and I'm not terribly impressed with McAfee.

[KC2UGV]

Avast! with AVG as a second. Both free :)

[NQ6U]

I second the above and recommend Spybot Search and Destroy as an additional protective measure well.

[ad4mg]

Avast! with AVG as a second. Both free :)
Seconded. Add malwarebytes, and scan monthly. I prefer Avast! as well, seems easier on system resources than AVG.

[N1LAF]

Avoid using Internet Explorer and Outlook

[ad4mg]

Firefox & Thunderbird FTW.

[kf0rt]

Firefox & Thunderbird FTW.

:agree:

Wish they'd fix the caching / memory leak (or whatever it is) problem in the Windoze version of FF though.

[N1LAF]

:agree:

Wish they'd fix the caching / memory leak (or whatever it is) problem in the Windoze version of FF though.

Well, look what OS it is sitting on....

[kf0rt]

Well, look what OS it is sitting on....

The OS ain't the problem.

[N1LAF]

Fix for Firefox memory leak on Windows

This seems to help out with the memory usage quite a bit. Generally, when you minimize a window the memory usage goes way down because that application isn’t active. Unfortunately, Firefox by default doesn’t adhere to this behavior. Here’s how to force it to.

Type the following into your address bar in Firefox:

about:config

Continued at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fix-for-firefox-memory-leak-on-windows/

[kf0rt]

Fix for Firefox memory leak on Windows

This seems to help out with the memory usage quite a bit. Generally, when you minimize a window the memory usage goes way down because that application isn’t active. Unfortunately, Firefox by default doesn’t adhere to this behavior. Here’s how to force it to.

Type the following into your address bar in Firefox:

about:config

Continued at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fix-for-firefox-memory-leak-on-windows/

I'll give it a try; thanks, Paul. Thing is, I rarely minimize FF (and have never heard of minimizing an app reducing memory footprint by any substantial amount, at least under Windows).

[W5GA]

Avast it is then. I was already using Malwarebytes, and have added Spybot. Thanks, guys!

[KJ3N]

Ok, geeks....what's good, what's bad, and why? Time to renew, and I'm not terribly impressed with McAfee.

SMcAfee is about as bad as Norton in bloatware. :yuck: :disagree:

AVG with MalwareBytes and Spybot Search & Destroy. I've not seen anything get past this combination here. :rock:

Oh, like someone already mentioned, lose IE and Outlook (more like OutHouse for the shit it lets in) in favor of FF and Thunderbird. Install Ad Block Plus for FF.

FTW :agree:

[ad4mg]

Avast it is then. I was already using Malwarebytes, and have added Spybot. Thanks, guys!
Avast! allows installation on multiple computers under the same 'free' license key. Once you register your free version via their online registration, and get the license key back by email, you may re-use that key to validate Avast! free on any other machine you want to install it on. Very handy for multiple computer households.

If you read the fine print on AVG Free's agreement, they only allow you one instance of the free program. It doesn't appear they actually enforce this, as I've had several machines here at the house running AVG Free at the same time.

[kb2vxa]

Spybot tends to miss things so I replaced it with Malwarebytes which only missed one thing in over a year I have been using it. That was caught by Microsoft Security Essentials, ever since every scan has turned up nothing and the beast has been behaving. Now if anything comes down the pike I don't notice anything, Essentials being memory resident works in real time behind the scenes. Pretty good combination if you ask me.

[W5GA]

Spybot tends to miss things so I replaced it with Malwarebytes which only missed one thing in over a year I have been using it. That was caught by Microsoft Security Essentials, ever since every scan has turned up nothing and the beast has been behaving. Now if anything comes down the pike I don't notice anything, Essentials being memory resident works in real time behind the scenes. Pretty good combination if you ask me.
Interesting...I had just the opposite happen this last week with Malwarebytes and Spybot. Guess using both is a good idea.

[W5GA]

Avast! allows installation on multiple computers under the same 'free' license key. Once you register your free version via their online registration, and get the license key back by email, you may re-use that key to validate Avast! free on any other machine you want to install it on. Very handy for multiple computer households.

If you read the fine print on AVG Free's agreement, they only allow you one instance of the free program. It doesn't appear they actually enforce this, as I've had several machines here at the house running AVG Free at the same time.
Thanks, Luke. I've got several here as well, so that's good to know.

[W1GUH]

Avast it is then. I was already using Malwarebytes, and have added Spybot. Thanks, guys!

Let us know if it messes with your FF, OK?

[W5GA]

Let us know if it messes with your FF, OK?
If what messes with FF?

[W1GUH]

When I downloaded and installed it, during the installation I got a warning pop-up from FF saying something to the effect of, "A program wants to change FF". Glad FF caught it, I told FF not to accept the change, & it was just fine.

This is a pet peeve of mine. When programs want to dick with something else on my computer and doesn't even have the decency to ask permission. McAfee did the same thing. Both got 86'd because of this.

In contrast, not all programs do this. When I downloaded and installed a Nero trial, it had the decency to ask me if wanted the Nero toolbar. THAT's how it oughta be.

OTOH, others haven't had this happen with AVAST!, so I don't know it it's an "always" thing. That's what prompted my request.

Oh, and about McAfee. Someone mentioned they had difficulty getting rid of it. I just saw evidence that it's not really gone despite having uninstalled it.

Got a warning from Window: "McAffe has stopped working properly."

Well....DUH...of course it did. It's gone! But Windows thought it was still there.

ARGH!!!!

For now I'm condom-less. Never had a problem with malware anyway.

[KA9MOT]

Avast was just trying to install a Toolbar. If you don't want the toolbar (and I don't) just deny it permission. No biggie and certainly no reason not to use it.

I've recently discovered Advanced System Care. I'm not real sure about it yet, but I have discovered that it will allow you to make changes to your registry that will prevent Winders from booting. An easy fix, but..........that is allot of power for a curious person like myself to abuse.....

[KA9MOT]

Fix for Firefox memory leak on Windows

This seems to help out with the memory usage quite a bit. Generally, when you minimize a window the memory usage goes way down because that application isn’t active. Unfortunately, Firefox by default doesn’t adhere to this behavior. Here’s how to force it to.

Type the following into your address bar in Firefox:

about:config

Continued at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fix-for-firefox-memory-leak-on-windows/

WOW! Awesome advice! Grassy Ass Amigo!

[W1GUH]

Avast was just trying to install a Toolbar. If you don't want the toolbar (and I don't) just deny it permission. No biggie and certainly no reason not to use it.

I've recently discovered Advanced System Care. I'm not real sure about it yet, but I have discovered that it will allow you to make changes to your registry that will prevent Winders from booting. An easy fix, but..........that is allot of power for a curious person like myself to abuse.....

Of course what you say is the right reasonable way to react. But that kind of brash presumptuousness ties my panties up in a knot every time. And, on a less irrational note....it gives me a bad feeling of "WTF else did they do to my machine that I don't know about. Especially considering what kind of time sink restoring things could turn out to be. Time that coulda been spent doing something I want to do. Just sayin'...

[kf0rt]

Fix for Firefox memory leak on Windows

This seems to help out with the memory usage quite a bit. Generally, when you minimize a window the memory usage goes way down because that application isn’t active. Unfortunately, Firefox by default doesn’t adhere to this behavior. Here’s how to force it to.

Type the following into your address bar in Firefox:

about:config

Continued at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fix-for-firefox-memory-leak-on-windows/

Well, it was worth a shot...

5053

I can run FF all day long and not see this. Push photos at it for a half hour, though.... Never been convinced there was a memory leak; feels more like a caching problem.