Defending Against Malware

[Bolt_Gundam510]

By Oblivion_4

As most people know, there are alot of fake torrents out there, and that leaves your computer at great risk. So what you do? You defend yourself of course!

This thread is meant to give you noobs out there information about completely free software you can use to defend your computer.

First off, lets start with the free anti-virus software. There are three anti-virus programs out there you should know of and ironically they each start with the letter A.

1. Avira Antivirus

http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php

2. AVG Antivirus

http://free.grisoft.com/

3. Avast Antivirus

http://www.avast.com/

I have heard great things about each of these anti-virus programs but have only had the chance to experience Avira Antivir myself. If you haven't had an antivirus program until now, I would have to call you a noob, because it is my personal belief that every computer should have an antivirus program installed no matter what the circumstance

Next, we have free anti-spyware. Anti-spyware programs protect you against programs such as key loggers that record information about what you do on your computer that could lead to loss of personal information or even loss of personal property! To defend yourself against spy-ware you should install either

1. spybot search and destroy

http://www.safer-networking.org/

2. Ad-aware 2007 free edition

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

I have used both of these programs and they both work pretty well, but I assume Spybot S&D will be better for you, because they are not out to make a profit and provide all services free.

Although these programs work most of the time, they are not full proof. So next we have an almost full proof strategy when one of these programs fail

This is netmeter

http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/

netmeter is a program that you use to track all information that comes in and goes out of your computer from the internet. Here is how the strategy works. Unless you are doing an activity that requires that information flow across the internet, Netmeter will show you that nothing is coming in or going out of your network connections.

However, if you are not doing anything and netmeter shows you that you are either uploading or downloading information, or both than you have a problem.

If you suspect that your computer is infected with a virus or spyware and have a pretty good idea of which file infected you. You should submit that suspicious file to the company of the antivrus software you are using. These companies are willing to take these suspicious files because it helps them defend there user base.

If you have any other ideas on how to defend against Malware. Please submit them to this thread.

{comment from tsukunase}

As a note, READ THE COMMENTS ON THE TORRENT! THIS IS IMPORTANT! It will give you a lot of information regarding the torrent, possibly its speeds, and any passwords it may be locked with.

[dock98]

how about avg anti spyware.same website as avg a/v,also free. i use it in addition to avg a/v and spybot.