Virus Protection and Elimination

Prevention is much easier than removal.

Use ONE (only one) antivirus like Norton Antivirus 2009 Grisoft’s AVG (free) or Avast (also free). Grisoft updates every time you start up. Runs daily.

Remove ALL traces of free, trial, or previous antivirus programs before installing a new one. This may involve getting a removal tool (google “Norton removal tool” or “AVG removal tool” and COMPLETELY delete previous versions before installing new. You may have to search in SAFE MODE using the “advanced options” to find “hidden and system files.”

Update vs upgrade--my 2 year system (Norton 2006 was s l o w -- so I upgraded instead of updating)

Norton Antivirus vs Norton System Works vs Norton 360 vs Norton Internet Security

(more $ is not necessarily better; tradeoffs are in SPEED more than protection - in my opinion). 3-user Norton Antivirus has been available at Costco for $44.99 ish. (Single-user version is $39.99). Amazon is also an economical vendor.

Are you infected?

test for conficker: http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

How we get infected.

1 in 1000 web pages are infected. (source: IDG News)

What I trust:

Walt Mossberg (WSJ); Smart Computing, komando.com, bleepingcomputer.com, filehippo.com, download.com

Complaints I hear:

“I’ll never use Penicillin again. Trend Micro was COMPLETELY unreachable and would not help me when Dreamweaver stopped working as soon as I loaded Penicillin.”

“I hate Norton; it always runs and makes my system slow.”

* Think about it. How can they protect you and tell you how to get rid of their product at the same time?

Complaints I see:

Rogue Antivirus programs; Scare-ware: Free scans which give scary virus counts. Offers to clean for $39-$59.

AntiVirus 2009 (Jack alerted us to this 4-16-09)

Downadup/conficker

Speed Tradeoffs:

toolbars, autoupdating programs in MSCONFIG START, RUN, MSCONFIG, STARTUP tab)