What do you use to scan & "clean" your PC for viruses/malware nowadays?

[moproblems99]

Currently using Cylance on my personal machines.

Oh gosh, Cylance. Good Times.

 

[Solaris17]

Oh gosh, Cylance. Good Times.

One day their dash will be intuitive, I can feel it.

 

[moproblems99]

virus as a service (Can I coin VaaS?)

I would really call it MaaS myself.

As in:

• MaaS Burritos!
• MaaS tequila!
• Maas Taco!

Por favor!

Seriously though, Malware as a Service is pretty legit and common. I'll still give you credit.

One day their dash will be intuitive, I can feel it.

I'm more chuckling about when it is still training and you are doing security work.

 

[windwhirl]

I would really call it MaaS myself.

Darn it, you were faster. YOU WIN THIS TIME

EDIT: Actually, no. At least Kaspersky got ahead of us

 

[johnspack]

Linux. No seriously. Otherwise Malwarebytes ,Firefox with Ublock Origin and and a few other plugins. And very safe surfing habits.

 

[8BitZ80]

I used to use a subscription anti-virus called CA Antivirus. It was crude software with license verification issues and I'm certain there were a couple of viruses that flew under it's radar.
Then I moved to AVG Antivirus Free, which has some pretty annoying popups and resource-hogging scans, but it's kept my computers clean so it's good enough.

 

[delshay]

I use Norton Premier Security Software. AFAIK it very good at preventing your computer getting all sort of nasty software getting installed in the first place. This is where I think it excel, but I don't think it's so good at removing them.

 

[Vayra86]

Windows Defender. When in doubt of infection, I run Anti malware bytes and/or Hitman Pro just once, but I haven't done that for over a year now.

Other than that... Firefox with Ublock origin keeps the door shut to begin with. Ads can serve malware, for example.

In fact, clicking ads and referrals, plus your own email through clicking on links in phishing mail, are the most common attack vectors today. My safeguard in terms of account security isn't PC security anymore, it is 2FA. If a company does not provide 2FA, Im not spending a DIME. Account security is an illusion anyway. You can have a 16 bit passkey and still get your shit leaked by the millions.

PC security is a similar illusion IMO. The amount of crap out in the wild... take ransomware. In the beginning nobody had a decent defense. We were all vulnerable for many weeks until MS produced a Windows security update for it. The best approach here, is again some form of redundancy. Not in passwords but in usage. This can be a backup of vital data. Or just knowledge that you can clean install everything and suffer no damage for it.

 

[Regeneration]

On demand free tools to clean infected systems:
McAfee Stinger
Norton Power Eraser
HiJackThis

Free protection:
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
Kaspersky Free

Paid protection:
ESET or Kaspersky
Both can be found for cheap on eBay or cdkey sites.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Admittedly, my memory is not as good as it used to be but I honestly cannot remember the last time I initiated a manual scan on either of my two primary systems. And it has been a very long time for the other 3 systems here, 2 of which are regularly (well, regularly before this covid-19 mess started) used by invincible ("it will never happen to me") teenage grandkids and house guests. I mention the grandkids and guests because I know they are not (nor do I expect them to be) as disciplined, experienced, or "security aware" when it comes to "practicing safe computing" as I am.

So what do I do with my computers?

1. They all run the latest version of their respective operating systems. For Windows, that's Windows 10.​

2. I keep the operating systems current. That is, I have not dinked with Windows Update's default settings.​

3. They all run Windows Defender and it is kept current.​

4. I avoid being "click happy" on unsolicited popups, links, attachments and downloads.​

IF I suspect something suspicious on one of the "guest" computers, I might manually scan it with Malwarebytes just to be sure Windows Defender (or the user - always the weakest link in security) didn't let something through. But ever since I started using Windows Defender (actually starting with its sibling, Microsoft Security Essentials), Malwarebytes has never found anything beyond a couple "wanted" Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs).

Bottom line, if you follow steps 1 - 3 above (most of which is automatic if you don't dink with default settings), number 4 (don't be "click-happy") will become your top priority and primary defense against the bad guys.