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If I have anti-spyware protection, do I still need anti-virus p rotection or is it the same thing?
February 16, 2011
7 thoughts on “If I have anti-spyware protection, do I still need anti-virus p rotection or is it the same thing?”
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Clean Registry and Optimize PC
No they are not the same thing. Antispyware is required only if you have an internet connection. There are some areas of overlap like some anti spyware apps can remove some trojans, rootkits, etc. For dedicatd protection u need to run both antrivirus and anti spyware.
Try free antivirus apps like AVG,
For good computer security on a Windows computer, and to prevent virus and other malware you need to do a minimum of 4 things.
1. Run a firewall.
2. Use a good anti-virus with real-time protection.
3. Do a regular scan with a dedicated anti-spyware,
4. Keep Windows and all your other installed software, 100% updated and patched with all important and security updates.
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My recommendations:
1. For the typical home user of XP or Vista, Windows Firewall is adequate, even more so if one is using a router, which is a very good firewall in itself. Make sure your Windows Firewall is turned "on".
2. For your Anti-Virus……I would suggest Avast, the newest version 4.8. Avast now includes anti-virus, some anti-spyware capability and anti-rootkit components. And all for the low low price of free. You can get it here:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
(Always use only 1 A-V…You must NEVER use more than one anti-virus, Even an expired anti-virus can cause a major conflict…did I mention that you MUST uninstall any and all, old anti-virus products?)
3. For your Anti-Adware and Anti-Spyware needs…
SUPERAntiSpyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/
Scan with SUPER on a regular basis.
They have a free version.
4. Use Secunia PSI to insure that all your software is kept always updated and patched against vulnerabilities that are often exploited to compromise computers. Very important, unfortunately often overlooked by the user, but not the black-hats that code the malware! They know exactly where the weak points are.
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Its free as is everything else here.
I think that you have the anti virus anti spyware combined in the Yahoo internet protection. Anti spy ware is not an anti virus but are often combined when you get an anti virus program. I am using ATT internet protection on one computer and it also provides fire wall as well as anti virus and anti spy ware. Tell us the complete name of your security program and some one can tell you if you are adequately protected.
I just installed the Yahoo anti spy and did a scan. It revealed that I had a trojan. I chose to do nothing and rescanned and it found only a few cookies. I googled the trojan it said it detected and found it was a false detection by Yahoo anti spy.
So I suspect it tells a lot of people they have a trojan when they don’t.
…
Of course you need anti-virus as well. Look :
Anti-virus is a program that is designed to detect/protect/remove viruses, trojans and worms. Those are the serious threats.
Anti-spyware is designed to remove spyware, adware and other forms of sneak-ware. Some trojans gets also recognized as "spyware" because their primary intention is still – to sneak, lol. Remember the myth of Troy ? How did the Greeks won ?
On more serious note, anti-virus is a PRIMARY program. You can might live without anti-spyware. But NOT without anti-virus.
Thats an unbeaten fact.
Some help perhaps ?
FREE Anti-viruses :
♣ AVG
♣ Avast! Home
♣ Antivir Avira Personal
♣ BitDefender 10 Free Edition
♣ Dr.Web CureIt
♣ PC Tools Antivirus
♣ Rising Antivirus Free Edition
♣ EAV Antivirus Suite Free Edition
♣ Comodo BoClean
Recommended : AntiVir Avira.
Let me describe you 3 most known free anti-viruses :
1. AVG is useless and used only by retards. Its a "install and forget" program that does only basic protection and nothing more. It is unable to remove medium-high risk worms and viruses. I wouldnt advise it to anyone.
2. Avast! Home is decent antivirus. It has many functions, 3 levels of protection and serves much better than AVG. However : it detects a lot of false-positives, so much that user with no knowledge about it, CANNOT handle it and will often delete files that werent harmless at all. Besides, its awfully complicated.
3. Among all 3, Avira detects and removes most known threats and viruses. It scored high on the tests, its simple to use and able to remove stronger viruses, including those hiding in boot sectors of hard drives. I`d certainly recommend you to use Avira.
I made a full review on how to configure it, here : http://www.ecuhq.com/tested-programs-how-to-use-f32/antivir-personal-edition-classic-how-to-use-t143.htm
All available at :
http://www.filehippo.com
http://www.download.com
http://www.softpedia.com
http://sourceforge.net/
Hope it helped.
If interested in computer security, feel free to visit : http://www.ecuhq.com
They’re not really the same.
Viruses are programs that self replicate and may carry some form of payload that will do bad things. Trojans are programs that bring something unexpected. Spyware are programs that steal data.
The whole market of Anti-spyware, Anti-virus stuff is full of crud that costs $$$$ and doesn’t do the whole job.
I’d recommend using AVAST or AVG, they do free protection for home users. You can’t get a better price than that.
You may want to scan your system for spyware and viruses
i think that this website will help you a lot
http://free-virus-removal-tools.blogspot.com/
anti-spyware software is a kind of anti-virus program
first of all i want to make a point of saying a computer virus is one thing and spyware is another, spyware is a type of malware (software designed to be malicious) and a virus is software that is usually of malicious nature that also replicates itself
spyware is a kind of malware that sneaks in your system and then can do keylogging (seeing what you type), tracking your internet browsing etc…
other kinds of malware are:
trojans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing)
worms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_(computer_virus)
rootkits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkits
backdoor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_(computing)
more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware
Can I ask you what anti-virus you are currently using? (email me please on my profile) I use avast home edition link: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html and threatfire link: http://www.threatfire.com/ these are both FREE and highly effective at protecting you from malware
feel free to email me if you need more help, information or guidance i will happily help you
eddie