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Anti-Virus Guide This page offers important tips and links to
comparative product
reviews, recommended products,
more retail products and reviews,
free software and services, and
links to testing organizations.
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Do you need
anti-virus help right now?
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Malware Troubles? Start from Square One,
Roger Grimes, PC World, February 20, 2009
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Spotting a PC Infection, Erik Larkin, PC World, February 2, 2009
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Is It a Virus? Lincoln Spector, PC World, October 3 2008
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How to Recover From a Virus Attack,
by Entrepreneur.com on thestreet.com, April 13, 2007
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Six Steps For Curing Malware Infections,
Laurie Rowell & Dan
Bacon, TechBuilder, Feb. 20, 2006
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Gadzooks!
My PC has the pox, John Leyden, The Register, UK, November 11, 2004
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Important Tips
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Watch Out -- Do not buy or download any antivirus
software without checking this list first:
The 69 Worst Antivirus Scanners, Mary Landesman,
antivirus.about.com, September 15, 2008; and
How to Tell If That Pop-up Window Is Offering You a Rogue
Anti-Malware Product, Tom Kelchner, Sunbelt Software, June 2009.
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Just One, Not Two -- Never use two
anti-virus products at the same time. Completely uninstall one before
installing another. Use the vendor's uninstall utility or if not
available, use the Windows XP add/remove software tool in the
control panel.
- Patches & Updates -- Anti-virus software is only as effective as its most recent
update because it is inherently reactive treating "known" threats. So
when you install anti-virus software, go to the
vendor's web site and update the program and virus definitions immediately
and then turn on the auto update feature (if it has one). If you want to be
ready for the next big bad thing before your anti-virus signatures
can be updated, consider Zero-Day Protection.
- Get Online Protection Too -- Consider using an Internet service provider or email
service that includes server side anti-virus and spam email filtering as a
second layer of defense. If possible, use different anti-virus software
on your home computer than your ISP or service uses on their servers.
- Consider a Gateway
-- A Broadband Gateway product between
your modem and network can screen out viruses before they hit your
computer(s).
- Spyware & Trojan Horses --
Some anti-virus software products now include
anti-spyware and some anti-spyware products have added anti-virus.
In addition, some of these products include anti-trojan, anti-worm
and other anti-malware features. Before relying on a single security
product, carefully review the vendor's list of features and study
comparative test results if available. See
Editorial - Do you really need a spyware scanner? Gizmo
Richards' Support Alert Newsletter, April 17, 2008. Also see our
Security Suite,
Anti-Spyware, Anti-Trojan
and Zero-Day Protection pages.
- Prices -- See our custom Anti-Virus Price List
powered by Amazon.com
Comparative Reviews
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Antivirus Software Roundup -- Protect Your PC From Guys Like This!
Paul Lilly, Maximum PC, December 22, 2008. Note:
Actually reviews Internet security suites from Antivir, Avast! AVG
free & paid, ESET, F-Protect, Kaspersky, McAfee, PC Tools &
Symantec.
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Finding A Virus Scanner That Works, Andy Greenberg,
Forbes, December 11, 2008
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AV-Test release
latest results, Major test of suite products completed, Virus
Bulletin, September 2, 2008 -- Top products include AntiVir, AVK
2009, F-Secure 2009, Norton 2009 and Sophos.
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CNET
2008 antivirus performance test scores, Robert Vamosi, CNet,
April 28, 2008
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AV Still Weak on Rootkit Detection, Fixing Infections, Kelly
Higgins, Dark Reading, March 12, 2008 and
equivalent letter grades from Sunbelt Software. By our count,
none of the products got straight A's on all eight tests; only four out of thirty got all A's
& B's; ten got a mix of A's, B's & C's; and sixteen (!!!)
got at least one D or F.
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Antivirus Software Reviews,
Consumersearch.com, January 2008, comprehensive summary of 30 reviews of
28 products -- Kaspersky, ESET NOD32, AVG Free, Panda & Norton
Recommended Retail Anti-Virus Software
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus
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Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 Review, Charles Jefferies,
Notebook Review, April 6, 2009
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Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009, our new A-List pick, Darien
Graham-Smith, PC Authority, October 15, 2008
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CNET 2008 antivirus performance test scores, Robert Vamosi,
CNet, April 28, 2008 - Kaspersky editor's choice
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ESET NOD32 Antivirus, 30 day free trial
- Norton
Antivirus
with Antispyware
More Retail Anti-Virus Software
Choices
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AntiVir (Avira)
Preminum
- avast! 4 Professional Edition, Alwil
- AVG Anti-Virus
Professional Edition
- BitDefender,
Softwin
- CNet 2008
review, Robert Vamosi, September 11, 2007
- Dr. Web
- F-Secure Anti-Virus
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McAfee VirusScan
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Norman
Anti-Virus
- Panda
Anti-Virus
- Rising
Anti-Virus
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VIPRE
Anti-Virus + Anti-Spyware
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Hands On with VIPRE PC Rescue, Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine, March
12, 2009
- Sunbelt
Software's VIPRE - Redefining security software, Adrean
Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet, August 1, 2008
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Vipre Antivirus + Antispyware, Robert Vamosi, CNet, July 30,
2008
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VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware 3.1, Neil Rubenking, PC Magazine,
July 25, 2008
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Trend Micro
Anti-Virus,
as with many other vendors, their Internet Security
Suite with antivirus, anti-spam and firewall only costs $5 more than
buying just their anti-virus. See our Internet Security Suites page
for reviews.
Free Anti-Virus Software, Tools and Online Services
- Comparative Reviews of Free Anti-Virus Software
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Best Free Antivirus Software, Mary Landesman,
antivirus.about.com, April 21, 2009 -- Avira AntiVir Personal
for Windows, PC Tools iAntivirus for Mac, AVG Free Edition for
Windows, Avast Home Edition for Windows, and ClamXav for Mac.
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Online Anti-Virus Scans: A Free Second Opinion, Brian Krebs,
Security Fix, Washington Post, March 9, 2007
- Free Anti-Virus Software
- Free Anti-Virus Tools
- Free Online Anti-Virus
Scanners
Anti-Virus Testing
The importance of the information provided by these organizations is
explained in Independent Antivirus Lab Testing, Michael Muchmore,
PC Magazine, April 22, 2003. The need to update testing is discussed in
Security Vendors Challenge Antivirus Testsrg/">AV-Test.org
Checkmark
ICSA
Labs Certification
Virus
Bulletin
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