My mom recently got a new computer, and asked me to recommend some free software to protect it. One of my brothers is a huge risk because he seems to have no concept of the risk that doing certain things (like downloading sketchy freeware games) poses to the computer. I think I'll be recommending Zone Alarm for the firewall, but I'm clueless when it comes to anti-virus and anti-malware and spyware programs. Can anyone recommend some to me? I just want to know what I can recommend her to that will protect the computer from most threats.

ZoneAlarm is a nice Firewall

ZoneAlarm Free is a crappy firewall, worse than Windows Firewall in my book

Comodo is the best free firewall. Beyond that either MSE or Avast! for your AV (depending on your preference. Avast! has a bigger footprint, but more proactive protection, MSE has the edge on having a small footprint and better after-infection removal) and Spyware Doctor for antispyware. Spybot is good for the hosts file modifications it makes, and if you want to put MBAM on there too, nothing wrong with that.

If at all possible, DON'T install Java on the computer. Block Java.com to keep your family members from installing it. If they need Java, however (for either a program or a website), see below:

After that, For simplicity I will explain with Firefox (mostly everything can be done with other browsers):

1. Install Firefox

2. Install Adblock Plus

3. Install NoScript -- Script blocking will probably annoy the heck out of your mom and brother, but our reason for getting it is to use it for plug-ins on demand:

Go NoScript -> Options and under general set scripts to "Scripts Globally Allowed". Next go to the Embeddings tab. Make sure Java is forbidden, and maybe Flash too. Check "Apply these restrictions to whitelisted sites too". Now both Flash and Java (two of the three most dangerous browser plugins) are on-demand rather than instantly loading.

The third most dangerous plug-in (actually THE most dangerous plug-in, but it sounds weird to say that when I already mentioned the other two most dangerous browser plugins) is Adobe Reader. Think about installing an alternative PDF reader.

I'll second the recommendations for Comodo and MSE. However, it should also be pointed out that there's no security software out there that can contend with a stupid user with admin privileges. So unless you're prepared to seriously lock down user accounts on this computer then the best thing you could do to keep it from getting filled with malware is either educate your brother about good security practices or keep him the hell away from the computer until he learns a bit of sense.

I figured I'd install some of the programs that aren't anti-virus on my own computer (I currently only have ESET NOD32), but when I downloaded Spyware Doctor I noticed that all I can do is scan, but not actually delete anything. Am I doing something wrong, or is that all the free version can do? What's the point of it then? I then tried out Spybot but it didn't detect anything, even though Spyware Doctor did.

What's going on? And is there a free anti-spyware software that both scans for and deletes threats?

Oh and I'll try to convince my mom to use NoScript but considering it can occasionally be a pain even for me it'd probably drive her insane.

If you have Comcast, they provide free Norton internet security. Otherwise, Avast is really good.

Wow, Comcast and Norton? Two awful things that taste awful together!

oopsie, I forget to clarify this so often, you must get Spyware Doctor from the http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html, otherwise, yeah, it won't remove infections. Just deselect everything else.



Yeah, that's why you allow scripts universally, but make it block Java and flash. You merely must click on the embedded java/flash to enable it. This is known as plug-ins on demand and is very safe without pretty much any annoyance (sometimes it's actually down-right helpful when you open a youtube link but don't want it to instantly play, it also stops screamer websites)

I suppose i'm the only one anymore who loves AVG Anti-Virus still. While it's getting a bit bloated, I Still find it to be the best. I NEVER have any infections or viruses. i live by AVG.

I still have AVG installed. I should probably change it to something else.

DEFRON, what is the current footprint of AVG? I'm concerned it might impact performance when I run a PC game. Does Avast have a smaller footprint than AVG? Or does footprint not really affect gaming performance at all? :unsure:

Microsoft Security Essentials is the one i've used for a while. Free (for legitimate Windows users), non-intrusive and i haven't caught a virus yet.

I've also always used Windows firewall (with Vista, XP and 7), and not had any trouble (or atleast not noticed).

I've never had a virus in fact, i think they're just an urban myth to sell anti-virus software. (No, i'm not being serious )

I agree with Comodo as the firewall, I've been using it for a while and it's nice.

I've been reading that AVG is not what it once was, in a bad way. (Nothing professional but user opinions.) I don't recommend it anymore.

I prefer Comodo, MSE, Malwarebytes for my security needs. (Though, I do not run real-time software, it's just for scanning.)

Same here for both - I have used MSE since it was released. Maybe we don't go to "those sites" where you are likely to catch something?

MBAM never works for me. I've tried it several times over the last two years, it just fails to install and/or update correctly. =/

Well thanks DEFRON, as well as everyone else for giving their opinions. I sent her an email with instructions for downloading Comodo, Avast, Spyware Doctor (the version that can remove threats), Spybot S&D, Revo Uninstaller Pro, Malwarebytes, Firefox, Adblock, and Noscript. Quite a lot to install, but I think the instructions are sufficient. I figured I'd include Revo because if my brother ever somehow manages to get around all that and download a sketchy program, Revo is great for getting rid of it (of course I also thought Zone Alarm was good so I might be totally wrong with this too ). My other brother spends a lot of his time when online googling things and going on any random website that comes up, so I think Noscript and Adblock will be good enough to protect the computer from him. Trying to get them to actually surf the internet with some sense is difficult because one has mental issues and the other is just a stubborn idiot, so while all this software may not be enough to prevent them from doing stupid stuff if they're determined, it's at least better than the level of protection that came with the computer, a barely-functioning Norton trial, which some might argue to be worse than no protection at all.

Ya I definitely recommend the AdBlocker Plus since it allows you to specifically target items on a website and to disallow them from loading. I heavily use this to prevent websites from loading pop-ups, but it's also best to consider no-scripts since ABP can't catch everything. One warning I will give about ABP is that it can cause a site to get royally screwed up if you block the wrong thing. Had to undo a couple of things for the deviantart.com site that I accidentally blocked.

Actually, i do

I actually would recommend COMODO over ZoneAlarm. The free version really does not offer much protection (based on past research and online reviews) and the whole application has the Norton syndrome of doing things it shouldn't even be allowed to do. COMODO does sometimes get a bit excessive with its prompts but it does offer options to determine their frequency and the amount of information contained in them. It is also quite customizable and as far as I can tell lightweight and depending on settings it stays pretty much out of the way.

It does have an antivirus addon (also free) but I have not heard much about it nor done any testing myself.

Yeah, from personal experience I have had several people come to me with AVG related problems. Some involved updates that failed, and I had to go boot into a Linux Live CD and rename the .sys files to .bak files for the PC to even boot.

Aye. I no longer recommend AVG to people either. It's a toss-up between Avast! and MSE for my AV recommendation. I usually go with Avast! since it is more proactive and instead of retroactive.


MBAM is hit-or-miss for me. It doesn't work on this PC I am on right now, but works on most of them I try it on.