Internet Security Software

Internet Security Software : Which Antivirus Do You Use On Your PC?

Internet Security Software

Everyone should be running some sort of internet security software / antivirus software on their computer to help protect or firewall against viruses, malware, phishing, tracking, ransomware, identity theft, and to help protect your privacy to the extent that you can on the internet.

There are all sorts of bad things that can (and probably will) happen to your computer if you have no internet security protection.

Looking back over the years I have used a wide variety of FREE and PAID antivirus / anti-malware software products.

Every now and then (about once a year) I reevaluate what I’m running on my PC’s and will occasionally change up to something else. The latest reviews for antivirus software may influence my decision to switch, but sometimes I don’t.

When it comes to internet security, I wondered which antivirus or malware software that YOU may be running on your computers. I’m sure it will prove interesting to compare notes or discover what may be more popular among users.

There’s lots of great free software out there as well as paid software.

Often a company offering free antivirus software will also offer paid versions with more features and functionality.

Differences Between Internet Security Software

Some of the differences between one antivirus software and another may be subtle and others very noticeable. It depends what matters to you.

That said, generally speaking, the top brands have refined their antivirus software to be fairly comparable. But you might want to check reviews and comparisons for the following:

– Real time functionality versus occasional or manually enabled scans
– Speed hit (all internet security software will slow down your PC to an extent)
– Benchmark tests for real world effectiveness

 

Internet Security Software

Some of the internet security software / antivirus software / malware protection / privacy protection / that I’ve used in the past (or present) include:

Avast
AVG
Bitdefender
CCleaner
Kaspersky
Malwarebytes
McAfee
Norton
SUPERAntipsyware
Windows Defender (built in to Windows 10)

Note: One of the best places to perform internet protection while browsing is within the browser itself. Browsers like Firefox offer plugins that will further protect you from tracking, privacy intrusions, nefarious advertising, and other such malicious activity. Be aware though that some of these plugins will disrupt functionality on some websites.

– Ublock Origin
– Privacy Badger
– Ghostery
– ?

Okay lets hear from you. What measures are you taking to protect your PC and/or to protect your privacy online?

70 Comments

  1. Currently, Microsoft Security Essentials
    Malwarebytes
    SuperAntiSpyware

    Have also used Avast and CCleaner, but the person who put Avast on my computer didn’t tell me how to use it, so I wound up deleting it. I had some problems with the new version of CCleaner, so I deleted that, too.

    I don’t recommend Norton or McAfee. I suspect they GIVE you viruses if you don’t renew your subscription. In fact, Norton kept charging my credit card every year even though I notified them I was not renewing. I finally had to ask my credit card company to give me a new card with a different number.

    1. CCleaner has snuck in Avast on the sly when updating.
      Piriform owns both Avast and CCleaner.

      In few months ago CCleaner became hacked and users were advised to remove it from their systems. Since then it’s been sorted out. However – if you use CCleaner be aware you will need to be very careful about doing updates – check the downloads and uncheck the “free” add on’s that come with it.
      Last week I updated and afterwards an Avast icon appeared on the desktop. – I use Bit Defender.

      I needed to go right into the registry to clean Avast and CCleaner out.
      That’s the last I will ever use CCleaner.
      I have 5 machines to clean out..

      I use Bit Defender – one of the best anti-virus products of 2018.
      Last year when doing an update to my subscription there was a mix up.
      Bit Defender is based in Europe.
      I ended up paying too much however in the end I had two years worth of subscription.

      I used free AVG for many years but now this system slows my operating systems too much.

      IMHO One of the issues with newer very good anti virus software products is when they get popular some larger company buys them out. Then the AV software gets bloated with other products from the larger company.
      Norton and McAffee being a good example.

      Also I.M.H.O – M.S. WIN 10 Windows Defender is not enough.

  2. I use the free Norton that comes from Comcast for real time protection on my Windows8 machine.
    On my Windows10 machine, i use Windows Defender.
    I also use CCleaner, Super AntiSpyware, and MalwareBytes for manual scans at least monthly.
    I have always used more than one, I feel that the redundancy is more than worth the time.
    Often times, one will catch something that the other may not have.
    Just be sure to update your definitions every time you scan.

    1. Next time you board an AirBus 320 being cold started, look at the bulkhead IFE screen; command line Linux boot. It’s a zero-tolerance zone for malware. I never noticed any McAfee or Norton splash screens.

  3. CCleaner, Malware Bytes were installed by my computer guru, aka DD.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody wrote a program that would randomly scan stuff that we had no interest in. You could park your phone by the computer when you were not using it and it would like you were home to the data miners while confusing them as to what your real interests were.

    Am I being paranoid since I put a piece of tape over the lens on the top of my screen? I know I can’t turn off the microphone that is listening to me. I can see the lens on my laptop and I presume my smart TV has one also but I don’t see it. Is it behind the screen?

    I’m starting to think that computers can read my mind. Yesterday I did a search for the quote, “We have met the enemy and he is us”. I thought it was by Pogo. Anyway as I started typing in the search box I got to we have and the computer started showing probable matches. Top match was Pogo. I didn’t even get to the word met before it showed up.

    1. @me,

      You are not being paranoid by taping over your computer camera lens. It is well known that hackers ‘can’ get in and watch you via that camera. NSA surely can too… That said, some of the premium internet security software will have the ability to block the camera and microphone from other apps using it.

      If you have an external microphone jack, you can plug in a dummy plug which will disable the internal mic. Otherwise, find out where the tiny hole is for the actual microphone and tape it.

      1. Mine is taped all of the time from day one. Got rid of Cortana asking me questions too. None ya Cortana, none ya!

        1. How did you get rid of cortana? I will not capitalize the name of a freaking program.! She isn’t a person she isn’t even a she, she is an it and henceforth that is what I will call it. cortana the it, rhymes with zit.

          So how did you get rid of “it”.

        2. me
          When find out how to get rid of the computer hussy…let me know. I did go in an turn it off but who knows they could reactive the IT again.

      2. Can’t see a hole for the jack and don’t see a hole for a speaker either. Might be a good thing. I know people have been convicted for crimes because the device heard them talking. It does rub me the wrong way though. Since I have nothing to hide I have nothing to fear, right?

  4. I have McAfee complete. A little expensive, but worth it. Also have a firewall setup. Had the Geek Squad from Best Buy set up my new computer, as I’m not real good at such things. I’ve had no problems in two years.

  5. Norton (paid version) gave me a lot of trouble including not being able to clean all of it off my computer. I tried Kaspersky and it kept locking up my computer. In all fairness it was an old computer so that may have had something to do with it. McAfee never impressed me.

    Bitdefender free worked well but the paid version kept trying to delete my wifi connection. When I tried to go back to the free version it didn’t want to load so gave up.

    Sometime back I ran Malwarebytes and then Hitmanpro and Hitmanpro found a bunch of things that Malwarebytes missed

    Currently trying Avast free and rotate through Malwarebytes, Ccleaner, and Hitmanpro.

    Also just started using the private window in Firefox. Not sure how effective that is.

    Also use DDG and Ghostery.

    I have a couple of streaming radio programs that just don’t work well on Firefox and for that Ijust use Edge

    1. I use to have the paid version of Norton too, and it gave me a lot of trouble also. Got rid of it.

    1. We use a suite of thing*s from ESET our tech guru adult daughter set up. So far, so good.

      1. Your daughter has it right, ESET is one of the best. I’ve used it for years and being a programmer in the healthcare area (which is big on security) it was one that once the companies I worked at found I had on my laptop didn’t try to force the one they were using on me. I even had one company’s techs said it was better than what they were using.

    2. Me too. Tried both Norton and Kaspersky and had nothing but trouble (including trying to remove them). NOD32 has never given me a single problem and has caught a variety of potential issues.
      Ran the freebie Malwarebytes for several years but just recently had it go haywire. After removing it everything is back to normal. Suspect they did some sort of upgrade that was not compatible with my Win7 system, but not willing to fuss with it anymore.

      1. Yes getting rid of those are not easy, I’ve had to reset to factory in many cases to get them off mine or my relatives computers, Usually they are running in the background using up my memory and CPU and you can’t easily see them or remove all the parts. Once I get them off and put NOD32 on no more problems. I have NOD32 on 6 computers with Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 8 on them without any problems. I don’t know why more people are not using it, it’s cost are within the range of the others, I guess people just go with what is packaged with the computer when the buy it.

  6. Windows Defender/Avast//SuperAnitspyware

    SuperAnitspyware has a malware included in the professional version. Every so often they have a special for 2 or more units, that is when I purchase the coverage for our equipment.

    Avast recently offered a IPN blocker, but before purchasing the coverage I decided to read the very fine print in the agreement disclosure. YES, the dreaded bobble with a large g was as associated in that version so the offer was rejected.

    Search engines we use Mozilla Fire Fox an DuckDuckGo, recently set up email account based in Switzerland if both parties have the this email it is encrypted going & returning. NO prying eyes, Just Sayin found it and informed us of this company, you can have their basic which is free, or upgrade for about 3 dollars month for the other version.

  7. I use 2 of the ones listed, one running full time, the other a daily scan at work, weekly at home.

    Unfortunately you can not stop a lot of those if they want in. Also the NSA/.gov can/will get in, even if you turn your computer off, it’s still running, and yes they can manipulate your computer.

    Smart Phones are the worse, ever wonder why you can not remove the batteries now? with the proper ‘hack’ they can use the cameras, microphone, SD-card and the non-removable SIMS cards on your phone even with the phone turned off….. Nice huh?

    1. @NRP,
      There are a couple phones out there you can remove the battery and sim cards from. I currently use a Samsung Galaxy S5. Yes, it’s old but it still works for me and I do sometimes remove the battery, memory, and simple cards. Sometimes I just don’t want to be found but I still have the ability to reappear in an emergency.

      1. Texasprepper;
        I stand corrected, yes the older Smart Phones you can still remove the items. I believe the S6 is when they started to change the composure of the phone.

        For security tho I would suggest that if using one of the newer phones, and you don’t want to be located, place it in a small Faraday Cage (small metal box). Do a test by using a separate phone and call your phone.

        Speaking of locating a phone, yes 911 services (and a lot of others) can triangulate your phone 99% of where you are, AND within 2-3 feet even if moving.

    2. And people think that I am strange for not having a smart phone. I use one of those cheap flip phones- I really just don’t need a smart phone.

      1. aka;
        Please note the “Dumb Phones” can also be triangulated via those that know how to.
        Sorry Ken, did not mean to get this far off-subject. Maybe an Article is in the brewing?

        1. Yeah, I think that the newer ones might be worse than the old ones but I am right in that they are harder to mess with? They can probably find ya but since it isn’t really a mini computer there shouldn’t be anything much to spy on???

  8. And don’t forget your smart vehicle…handsfree talking while driving, your cell is synced up with your vehicle, yep, they can go into that too. Firewall, Linux and Kaspersky are it for me ( plus the custom protection my geeky kid did :) NRP, miss your TP stories…yes, ABQ is much nicer then EP :)

    1. Newer cars have everything computer controlled from brakes to accelerator to door locks and headlights. They even have cars that parallel park themselves. What happens when they get hacked and decide to slam on the brakes while you are doing 80 on the interstate with bumper to bumper traffic? Or accelerate in a school zone? I don’t trust computers and trust the people that operate them (or people in general) even less than that.

  9. I’m sure I’m the exception to the pack, but I run no antivirus programs, I do have Spybot and Malwarebyte on my computer but that’s it. I run them every 3-months or so. I have never had a comp virus or other problem. I have the spy ware programs only because my computer guy (my Son) put them on it.

    I have my main computer that’s a desktop that I do a lot of things on. It has no WiFy modem or any way to transfer info to another computer other then through a DVD or USB stick.

    The laptop is my net computer for blogs, U-Tube, Amazon (with a pre-paid card only enough $$$ in it to make a purchase) and any info I want to look up. What I do the most with it is to use it as a learning tool.

    I do no on-line banking, in fact I have no credit card, haven’t had one for 28-years. I give out little to no personal info. I sure as heck would not give Norton, Microsoft or any company my banking info so they can take money out of my account on a monthly bases.

    I keep nothing on the laptop long–term that I couldn’t live without as I transfer things to the other computer at lest once a week with a USB drive.

    I have a Samsung Galaxy Tablet ($15.00 at a garage sale) but I only use it to check the weather.

    But like I said in all the years I have been using on-line computers (since the mid 1980’s) I have never had a virus or other problem. But then I don’t download things in the way many people do. Being careful in what I do and the fact there is unlikely any monetary gain to be had from my on-line actives makes me a low risk. People (hackers) that do bad things go where the juiciest targets are, I’m just not a worth while target.

    As far as phones I have a flip-phone so it doesn’t get to play on-line. But it does have a camera and I ALWAYS make sure I set it down with the camera pointing down.

    I have not been tempted by the Smart Phone bug so far.

    I did have a ham radio friend show me a program that he has in his smart phone that allows him to use it all over the world like a hand held radio. He logged onto the North Pole Repeater the other day and it was kinda cool to see it used this way. But other then that (and I already have an HF radio to talk around the globe) I don’t see a smart phone as having much I want.

    1. Actually, the more stuff one installs on computer, the more entry vectors for the snoops to get in.. Though you can be certain that the likes of NSA have backdoors to every OS and antivirus out there, even Kaspersky had its source code stolen a few years ago.. An off grid computer is a good idea, but creepies can get to you via usb sticks as well.

      My brother and i sometimes transfer usb sticks between us and for this reason i keep Nod just in case.. Keeping your wits about you and dont click on/install all that stuff out there is your best protection by far.

      Though that being said i’d run away from Norton and McAfee like plague… but to each its poison..

  10. As far as smart phones and all the free apps people download.

    If you are not buying the product you are the product!

    Free app’s are free only in that you don’t have to pay dollars for them.

    But the payment comes in using them and their snooping into what you are doing.

    Most people are really dumb in not understanding that someone has spent lot of time and money getting that free app to the market and they did it to make money. Not to give the phone user a few hours a day of free play time.

    People today are sooooooo dumbed down….

    1. Chuck, thanks for the insight. I kept getting messages from micor u no who to log my other “devices” into my system so they could share stuff. Other than a flip phone I have no other devices and have no apps. Frankly I wasn’t aware that my phone even had a camera as all I use it for is talking, Tape is in it’s immediate future now that I realize that little dot is a lens.

  11. Computer – cell phone and security, now that is an oxymoron if I have ever heard of one! I have gone from a gray man to a black man( no pun intended) with respect to both the computer and the cell phone. Ok, how then am I on MSBLOG? I would love to tell but I know the NSA is listening/recording us on MSBLOG.

  12. You can find a lot of free programs for security at Komando dot com

    Kim Komando is a tech person that has a weekly national radio show and offers lots of programs.

    look in the Read tab for downloads and then then “Web & Internet.

    My son uses this a lot for the computers he fixes up and sells.

  13. If you want good internet security buy a used laptop, Craig’s list has a lot of them for low prices. $110.00 is what I paid for my second laptop. Then go to Mickey-D’s, your local library, or any business that has free net access. Most of these places have the net on 24/7 even when they are closed, net access is easy to find for free if you are willing to do a bit of work.

    Log on and do your thing. As long as you NEVER enter your name on that computer you are as invisible as can be as far as net use goes.

    1. Chuck that sounds good like “Burner Phones” but when you use your credit card once on that laptop your known. Did you pay cash for that laptop? What computer did you use to communicate with that Craigslist person? When you frequent and post under the same screen name as before you used that laptop your known. When your known patterns of web searches and favorite sites and style of commenting occurs your known. Supercomputers of the NSA are pretty good.

      Same sort of thing about burner phones. Same numbers used, same area of operation, same patterns of phone use. After all the Austin Bomber was slammed because the same cell phone was at all those places ANS the FedEx station when he was under CCTV. Thus they trianglelated his phone and the chase was on.

      Spy craft is hard folks. Happily so far the Gov.com is not known for hiring the best brains.

      1. Actually they do hire the best brains. My nephew went into the Air Force and they taught him to be a hacker. Grumman head hunted him while he was still on active duty. He got out and went to work for Grumman and sorted out a glitch in a week or so that their engineering geeks had been trying to solve for a year. The geeks were p’d off when they asked where he went to school and he said Air Force, no they said where did you get your engineering degree? He said I no don’t have a degree. He didn’t last long with Grumman. He left them and now he has his own consulting business, makes gobs of money contracting for Gov.com and can’t tell any of his family what his business does. So yeah, they’re still hiring the best brains out there, he’s one of them.

        1. I use to work for the government paying those who cannot tell anyone what they do. I am not impressed.

  14. I use Sophos here for my potection. Waiting on some computer genius to write a program that returns a worse hack back on the sender and gives them what for. Poetic justice.

  15. Internet security software involves more than just using an anti-virus program. It’s not just viruses you have to worry about since a computer virus is only one of several kinds of Malware that a good “anti-virus” program will detect, quarantine and delete like Worms, Trojans, Spyware and Rootkits. When your computer is infected, many times you will never know it. Although, the anti-virus software in conjunction with correctly configuring your computer are your first line of defense, it also involves, first and foremost, configuring your computer and all other software running on it, correctly… and keeping it up to date, for your computer’s security… not for Microsoft’s and other software company benefits. It involves using a good encryption software program like PGP. It involves using a secure browser like Mozilla and also using good reliable cleanup software like CCleaner and BCwipe. It also involves configuring your file structures and work habits in such a way as to minimize exploitation. There are several other things involved as well as a myriad of different software packages you might use. In the end, I suppose surfing the internet is virtually… a lot like walking down the street in a strange part of town physically. You need more than adequate situational awareness and a good anti-virus program is simply the start of good situational awareness.

    I have used both Symantec Corporate Edition as well as Kaspersky. Both of them are very good at what they do and are not overly resource intensive. Nothing is absolute. Just saying.

  16. There’s not much that the average Joe citizen has that cannot be accessed.
    Ever since I saw a pic of the F.B.I. director’s office computer with tape over the camera lens I’ve kept mine covered as well. Thought that if his unit in not secure, then whose is?
    Keep in mind that the encryption type features may actually tend to draw more attention your way. Whereas the average Joe with ” normal “, not trying to hide behavior, is like the masses, and therefore not worth any extra effort to surveillance. Just sayin’.
    God save the Republic.

    1. – Ever since I saw a pic of the F.B.I. director’s office computer with tape over the camera lens I’ve kept mine covered as well. Thought that if his unit in not secure, then whose is?
      Ditto; mine has been taped since then.
      DW was hacked, and lost almost $400 in the next fifteen minutes. Since we caught it quickly, we were able to recover the money, but annoyance in changing two debit/credit cards is the primary issue. She has paid AVG on her computer, because for her job she must cruise the internet. I have free Avast on mine, and have had less problems.
      – Papa S.

      1. – Meant to put copied material in quotes. My apologies, CR “Ever since I saw a pic of the F.B.I. director’s office computer with tape over the camera lens I’ve kept mine covered as well. Thought that if his unit in not secure, then whose is?”
        – Papa

  17. Talking to me about how computers run, is like speaking in Chinese to me. I don’t have a freaking clue, and don’t care. My Son in Project Manger world wide for one of Microsoft important systems. 3 college degrees in computer science, going for his PHD this summer. I haven’t a clue what’s on my computer.!!

    I just holler HELP, and He fixes it. He’s thinks I’m a Neanderthal . He’s not to far of base with that assumption. My Daughter told me, I have a PHD in “putness”, (political incorrect) and my only domestic quality’s, that I line in a house instead of a cave.

  18. Probably off subject, but I absolutely hate this technology.
    Our place of employment has gone ‘paperless’ with our paychecks.
    So we have to go online to see if you actually earned a paycheck that week or got paid for overtime, vacation time spent.
    “This app needs access to your location, pictures”, etc.
    Really??
    BS
    No you don’t.
    Intrusion everywhere. Back in the day we thought gossiping was bad. Now it’s plain ol intrusion from those we don’t even know.
    GF and bro are the computer whizes, not I.
    I hear ya SMG

    1. Joe, I agree. A while back (20 years) I was at the bank depositing my paycheck. The teller asked me if I knew I could have it direct deposited. I asked her how many windows for tellers there were in the bank. She replied twelve. I asked her how many were working and she said two. I looked at her and said I don’t have direct deposit for me, I don’t have direct deposit for you. She understood and told me thanks. Alas, the next job did not have a paper check option.

  19. Homesteader
    Imagine that, a pen and paper, at my GFs school she teaches at they actually teach,,,,
    CURSIVE WRITING!!!
    How primitive!

  20. oldhomsteader
    “,,,,,,a captive computer is handy as long as there’s no outside link but that’s it ,,”——-have been hearing in the news for few yrs now that folks (?) can steal data off your computer by parking outside your house/business and “scanning it” with some tech…..

  21. I have have tried many of the ones you have listed. Some for work some for home. The current choice is Bitdefender. The family plan works well and I like that its not a resource hog. I had issues with Avast, Norton, and Kaspersky putting enough extra load on the systems. I also like that Bitdefender works on my Mac and Android phone too.

    For my browser I switched recently back to using the latest Firefox for 90% of my needs. Chrome fills the other 8% and the 2% is Safari (Mac) for a stupid old Java based website work can’t seem to move away from. To help reduce bad behavior of some Ads I use uBlock Origin which has a nice selection of filters and on the fly block of elements. If you want to isolate your web surfing more than just opening up a Private window you can use Firefox profiles. Just type “about:profiles” into the Firefox browser.

    For those looking to for a VPN I’ve been happy with PIA, “PrivateInternetAccess” . com. They appear to do a good job preventing identifiable information leaking out. They have a best practices page where you can find some URL’s to test what information you may be leaking. Another I recommend checking out is IVPN, “IVPN” . com. They are a “registered private company in Gibraltar and is prepared to relocate should laws ever change that may affect the privacy of our customers”.

    If your worried about someone spying on you there are apps that monitor your mic and camera for activity. Prompting you be for letting you access them. On the Mac I would recommend checking out tools from “objective-see” . com. He is actively working on tools to protect Mac users.

    For e-mail there are services like ProtonMail and LavaBit. Plus others just a few web searches later you can find ones that will let you signup with out providing a current email address or some other personal info. It’s a little harder today then it was years ago. You still should think about encryption but the truth is its hard to get others to use it properly. I’m able to use GnuPG between operating system by storing my private key on a Yubikey USB “yubico” .com . Doing that removes an attackers ability to copy your private key. Yubikey 4 devices can do a lot of different things. GnuPG, SmartCard, U2F Auth, Google Authenticator, and many others. If they find a security flaw with the hardware they will replace it by sending you a new version. I had some old units replaced and you keep the old ones to use for other things. Like sharing a really complicated WiFi password with a guest at your house. That alone has made re-keying WiFi easier.

    For the really paranoid creating a Tails, “tails.boum” . org, boot USB is the way to go. Its a great choice if your traveling or just a home user. Boot up the USB drive and save only what you need to the USB drive. Reboot and everything not saved is gone.

  22. Went to my MIL,s apartment yesterday for her 92nd birthday. While there our daughter took a picture of us and said she was going to post it on FB, Her daughter said Mom you shouldn’t be doing that. The government can see what you’re putting on there. Not to bad for a 10 year old. We then talked about how the hackers can turn your phone on and watch you. Daughter already puts her phone down in the face down position, Grand daughter now does too.

  23. Avira….seems to work well, and small footprint. Using for 6 months now….

  24. This was the week of going through the gun safe and cleaning and function test all weapons. Checked all ammo cans and made sure they were marked and inventoried correctly. Pulled down all mags that are not in original factory bags and cleaned and oiled check for function. Ordered some handgun mags so that I have six mags for each handgun. Ordered some of the Lancer LS AR-15 Advanced Warfighter mags also. The folks at Gun Mag Warehouse are outstanding to work with. Had one mag I had to call them to make sure I was getting the right mag. They understood what I was talking about and were shipping out the right two mags with my order. I will be doing a lot more business with these folks in the future. Everyone needs to make sure they have minimum of four mags for each handgun and ten for each MBR. One day mags could be worth their weight in gold.

  25. In addition to antivirus, please consider using OpenDNS.
    It is free for personal use (businesses like mine that pay for the commercial version help keep it free for you).
    OpenDNS blocks malware by server DNS address, not by virus signature, so it can be a good additional layer of protection.
    https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

  26. I run Linux on my laptop and PC. It requires no anti virus software, nor do I have to pay Bill Gates for his worthless operating systems. Linux is also virtually unhackable.
    Remember a few years ago when comrade obamski took Microsoft to court for anti trust violations? Ten bucks says the Gates and crew engineered an operating system that monitors the user’s internet patterns, and sends that info to a server farm somewhere.
    Microsoft is not your friend.

  27. This is what I do:

    1. Backup my files on an external storage device. Only connect the device during a backup or restore. This helps protect me from ransomware.

    2. Backup my operating system drive’s partition table, the operating system partitions, and the EFI system partition, on an external storage device. Only connect the device during a backup or restore. It’s much safer to restore an operating system from a backup image than it is to try and clean an infected one!

    3. Run disk protection software so that changes made to the operating system partition are erased when I reboot my computer. I use a program called ShadowDefender. This protects the operating system from most (not all) malware. I use this to eliminate the infections that I don’t notice. If I’m aware my system has been compromised I restore my system from backups instead.

    4. Run a strong firewall. I use Symantec Endpoint Protection, because it allows me to block/allow connections on a per application basis. I can even block Windows components from sending data to Microsoft. My motto is, if it doesn’t need internet access, it’s not getting internet access.

    5. Run an anti-malware. I use Symantec Endpoint Protection, but I have it set up so that it’s for manual scanning only. I’ve disabled real-time scanning, because I don’t feel I need it.

Comments are closed.