I am looking for advice on a good, trustworthy, reliable Virus Protection program and a PC cleaner.
I am willing to pay a subscription if it is better.
PC Care |
||
PC Care
Offline
Posts: 913
I am looking for advice on a good, trustworthy, reliable Virus Protection program and a PC cleaner.
I am willing to pay a subscription if it is better. For virus protection I use the free version of Avast and for a cleaner I use free version of Wise Care 365. Are there better ones out there? Probably, but what I have gets the job done.
I use TrendMicro. Go to a Best Buy and just wander around, someone will come bother you and push it on you in a few seconds.
I hate TrendMicro but because I am remote desktop support. It has a tendency to get a little *too* defensive sometimes.
Same deal with Kaspersky, probably the best option on the market but you have to practically give blood to verify your DNA and that you aren't being influenced into allowing a remote connection. Avast if you are wanting free, and if you want really free lolMSE is an option. For PC cleaner I use CCleaner and Malwarebytes, though lately I feel like Malwarebytes has become less reliable. Malware Bytes' Anti Malware.
Leviathan.Comeatmebro
Offline
-healthy amount of common sense
-keep up with security updates(especially for your browser and flash) -seperate partition and OS if you go torrenting/digging through the really nasty porn and malware bytes, though if you follow the above rules you really aren't at very much risk with or without a cleaner/antivirus Offline
Posts: 13787
I use Malwarebytes and Super Antispyware.
Both can be downloaded for free, with like a 90-120 day free trial period, and you get the full service effect out of both of those trial periods. From years of experience and testing, Malware Bytes is the only program that can detect, remove, and return your system to normal after an infection.
Norton always fails in all 3 of these. Don't use that. PC Optimizer Pro, Driver Downloader Turbo will help with managing system resources. 24/7 PC Support for on-call 24/7 customer support.
Probably should run Defraggler and SearchProtect as well. *Use a separated admin account UAC can be turned on so you don't have to log off anytime you need to install something or change a setting that requires admin rights. This prevents most stuff from getting to core parts of your system unless you enter your password and allow it. Question anything that prompts for admin rights.
*Use a decent browser(hint, not IE). I like chrome myself especially for security. *Use an adblocker. You can get all kinds of stuff from ads. I only whitelist sites I trust and I want to support via ad revenue. *Use a scriptblocker. Notscripts or Scriptsafe are both excellent. This can actually make browsing a little harder as you have to build up a safelist and if you don't allow certain parts of sites most of them hardly work at all but it's saved me a lot of problems and once your safe list is built up, you only have to worry about sites you don't frequent. Remember that if you allow a script or source that is infected or has a problem, this extension won't help. Chrome is great for this since your extensions and safelists transfer with it to any chrome you sign in to making it a lot easier to use several computers. *Use safe browsing habits. It is usually easy to tell sites that are risky. Just be aware that it is very easy to give full access to your computer to any old site or program by pressing a button or even in some case hovering your mouse over them. After that, your A/V is your last line of defense. Manually scan anything you think may seem risky. I honestly don't think that which A/V you pick matters a huge amount. I'm partial to AVG free simply cause it's highly customizable but there are a ton of good quality free A/V's. Each is going to have some strengths and weaknesses, no one program is going to be able to catch everything though so be prepared. *Back ups. Google drive, dropbox, skydrive. Use them. Look around on your computer, what would you lose and not ever be able to get back if it died today? How far would that set you back... Back up anything you think might be important at all. With how cheap storage space and online storage is, you should have anything important saved in more than one place. *Restore points. A restore point is a type of back up that backs up your computer's system and installed programs. While installing major updates, most computers will automatically set a restore point, but I recommend doing them often. Starting from scratch unexpectedly sucks and it can save you a massive pain in the *** if you aren't terribly good with computers. Leviathan.Chaosx said: » Malware Bytes is the only program that can detect, remove, and return your system to normal after an infection. This is completely dependent on what type of virus/malware you get. A/V's do not log every action performed on your pc so scanning and removing a virus does NOT restore it to its former state. Sometimes removing reg keys and files is all it takes to clean it completely and have no lasting impact but if you get a virus that deletes data or changes major system settings, you might be able to restore it with a recovery tool but scanning and removing that virus is not going to restore that file. Prevention is best, removal after the fact can still have a high potential of loss. I don't like active anti-virus's as they consume a surprising amount of resources for what little real-time protection they actually give. MalwareBytes has never let me down. Use a user level account as mentioned (you can turn off the screen dimming so it doesn't crash FFXI) with UAC on, practice safe browsing and download habits, pay attention to what you're clicking (seriously duh, but so common), keep up on your updates as mentioned.
It hasn't been mentioned here, but PDF's are a very common source of malware, never download them from anonymous sources. Grumpy Cat said: » PC Optimizer Pro, Driver Downloader Turbo will help with managing system resources. 24/7 PC Support for on-call 24/7 customer support. Probably should run Defraggler and SearchProtect as well. MSE uses little resources, aside from that I usually run malware bytes.
I can't say that I'm a fan of Norton or AVG, haven't used/experienced avast enough to give an opinion. The only real reason I run an a/v is for flash drives. Offline
Posts: 1285
Malware Bytes, MSE, and AdBlock+ for me. Never had any issues with downloads or anything either I just stay away from the obviously and stupidly sketchy ones.
Necro Bump Detected!
[1229 days between previous and next post]
Offline
Posts: 368
Is there a disc in the CD/DVD drive or a flash drive or external HDD plugged into a USB port? If so, remove and reboot.
It does sound like your windows folder is corrupt in some way, and the normal way to fix that is a windows install USB and try to repair/reinstall. If you're able to get into the BIOS then you should be able to properly change the boot order to use the USB first. You'll have to be careful of what settings the BIOS has for EFI, as if it's not loading all USB drivers on boot it won't recognize a USB stick for the boot order. Keep messing around with the BIOS until you can get the USB to position #1 in the boot order, with all USB/legacy devices loading on boot up.
Offline
Posts: 797
Try the bios jumper on motherboard. You can google that to get basic instructions. Those proprietary boards are common looking enough. It should look like a black or blue plastic tab you can pull off and re-seat. It's possible its a board issue, have you kept it clean inside and no overheating?
Considering it's a bottom of the barrel PC it's probably went and ***itself. Probably blown caps.
Build, don't buy. Offline
Posts: 797
Which keypresses have you tried to access the bios. Do you know the model?
You don't need the bootmgr to access the uefi/bios.
How did you change the boot order if you can't get in it? It being HP garbage F12 could/should be the boot menu. |
||
All FFXI content and images © 2002-2024 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. FINAL
FANTASY is a registered trademark of Square Enix Co., Ltd.
|