Best all around protection.

[MarkJohnson]

I have been getting a lot of malware calls lately. I was wondering what programs will have full time scanning for all forms of malware. I don't mind paying if it does its job well. I already have tons of freeware stuff, but none seem to actively scan and noone want remembers to scans until it's too late and they have a virus and the scanning goes too slow to be of any use. I need a quicker method to detect the malware before it cripples the system.

Thanks

-=Mark=-

[noguru]

First thing is to find the cause of your problems. You're asking for seat belts that make blind people drive safe. Why do you get so much malware? Perhaps you are infected with some trojan downloader (malware with the sole purpose to download other malware) or you could be the "proud" member of a botnet. A multiple infected system is more difficult to clean than simply running some anti-malware tools.

And these tons of freeware that you have. Are those reliable freewares downloaded from reliable sites or did you see a warning popping up on your desktop that said that you are infected and all you need to do is click "yes"?

If you want to try software you can try below (direct download). It's maintained by the moderator of this forum so you can trust it. But if someone asks me to help cleaning a system infected like yours I refuse. I would format to have a new clean start. It's the only way to be sure that everything bad is really gone.

Anti Malware toolkit by Tarun

[CoffeeFiend]

First thing is to find the cause of your problems. You're asking for seat belts that make blind people drive safe. Why do you get so much malware?

^^Exactly what he said!

You shouldn't have problems like this in the first place. Removing viruses is a bit like fixing a flat tire. It's fine if it happens like once a year or something, but more than that there's a problem somewhere. We've haven't caught a single virus in YEARS, and we're not doing anything special to prevent them either. Right now, you're looking for what seems like the most super-duper bestest band-aid fix (which doesn't exist), instead of solving the problem.

It's really not that hard:

-Rule #1: don't run all those apps from shady sources (P2P downloads are often the main culprit -- lots of people are totally reckless and will download and run anything as admin), including strange email attachments like freepr0n.jpg.exe

-Rule #2: keep your software updated

And that's about it. Do that, and you'll quickly find out you have little use for any AV. Anyone who disregards that first rule will always be plagued with viruses forever. People are running malware on their own PCs as admin, and there's little that can be done against that (what they need protection against is themselves -- I'd yank their local admin rights instantly)

[herbalist]

I have been getting a lot of malware calls lately.

Unless I'm misreading this, I believe the OP is asking for something to recommend to others, probably clients.

All malware detection software miss things. If this malware gets on the system through user actions, which is usually the case, the only sure solution is a restricted account or user environment that won't allow an install. SandBoxie can help if the user will properly use it. If you're dealing with users who install on a whim and repeatedly infect themselves but won't accept a restricted environment, the only thing that might make a difference is making them pay for removal time.

[MarkJohnson]

I have been getting a lot of malware calls lately.

Unless I'm misreading this, I believe the OP is asking for something to recommend to others, probably clients.

All malware detection software miss things. If this malware gets on the system through user actions, which is usually the case, the only sure solution is a restricted account or user environment that won't allow an install. SandBoxie can help if the user will properly use it. If you're dealing with users who install on a whim and repeatedly infect themselves but won't accept a restricted environment, the only thing that might make a difference is making them pay for removal time.

Yeah, sorry, I should of been more clear that it is for my friends and family's computers. My self I don't use any malware prevention with good results. but my friends find it like mad. I first installed firefox with good results and recently adblock plus with even more success. I think my only issue is stuff they download that looks cool and adblock plus works great for that. video is another and installed k-lite/cccp codecs and told them if it asks for a download in order to view a video, then it is a virus as all codecs are installed (also I install VLC)

I also used Talrun's stuff with limited success, but most of that free stuff requires the users to manually run them and no one ever does. Now I just need to worry about MS messenger and the file sharing they do. at least my aunts and uncle aren't call me so much, but my cousins/friends still call too often.

Thanks for the help

-=Mark=-

ps, I'll look into sandboxie and see it that helps a little more.

Edited August 8, 2009 by Tarun

[herbalist]

You could set up the task scheduler to run the free tools on a nightly basis. For tools that don't accept command line parameters, Splinterware makes a free scheduler that can send keystrokes and mouse clicks to the application. With a little experimenting, it can be made to navigate any GUI.

SandBoxie is good provided the user launches vulnerable applications in the sandbox. I believe that the paid version has an option to force its usage. Applications run inside the sandbox are largely isolated from the OS. When the sandboxed app wants to create or modify any files, it's directed to duplicate files in the sandbox. It's not perfect, but it is able to contain the majority of malicious code.