Can we actually protect our pc from virus malware adware etc., using freewares ?

[hari2202]

i surf a lot almost 10 hours a day .

two scenarios that occur most to me

1. i get lot of ads in my browsers all the time it is so annoying. i had used adblock extension .. its not that much helpful still i see some ads offered by offers wizard..

2. sometime my default search engine in chrome browser changes to something else like trovi.com or search protect something like that ...

even if delete extensions and change default search engines manually , it doesn't go away always

so to get rid of these i am again and again re installing my chrome browser (approximately six months once) ..

i have super anti spyware free edition. since i have to do everything manually as its free version, i am not efficiently using it ..

Well apart from this can we actually protect our pc from these things by free wares alone ?

if so what are the best ways and what are the best available set of free wares ???

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Typically, it comes down more to being sensible than specific antimalware software.

Don't click ads. Don't download stuff (including torrents) from untrusted or semi-trusted sites. Untick checkboxes in installers. Keep your OS up to date and browse from behind a hardware-based firewall (e.g. a NAT router).

From there, you should be fine.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Many people will say yes you absolutely do im not one of them. I have no antivirus or antimalware on my gaming pc only windows defender and i have never gotten a virus but i only use it for the forums here and gaming and downloading mods every once and a while. So i would say if you have any very important or personal files on your computer or you use it to run a business pay for some good antivirus software if your just gaming and using it for general purposes a free program will be fine if your careful about what you download and what you click on.

 

[millwright]

Agreed, only you can prevent viruses.

I know it is a pain, but for a little added protection, don't run as an administrator.

If you run as a regular user, Windows will at least ask, before installing a virus, or malware.

 

[4745454b]

First, make sure windows is up to date. I recently avoided becoming a victim to the Cyberlock "virus" because my windows was fully patched. (thank god, wasn't paying $3.5k to get the key.) I don't know chrome, but I use FF with noscript. Keeps nearly all ads at bay, and I haven't had a real virus in quite some time. I also have Avira on here, though the program annoys me. AVG, Windows defender, etc should all be fine as well. I wouldn't use "super anti spyware free edition" because I don't know them, and tend to avoid all programs with "super", "Xtreme", etc in the title.

 

[millwright]

The only problem with Super Anti Spyware, I have seen it is a resource hog.

It misses stuff just like every other spyware, anti virus program.

It is my experience, that if you get to the point you need scanners, then you might as well format and do a clean install.

Unless you know the registry like the back of your hand, and are a real expert, you are wasting your time.

 

[hari2202]

Typically, it comes down more to being sensible than specific antimalware software.

Don't click ads. Don't download stuff (including torrents) from untrusted or semi-trusted sites. Untick checkboxes in installers. Keep your OS up to date and browse from behind a hardware-based firewall (e.g. a NAT router).

From there, you should be fine.

i never click ads intentionally . usually the ads show up blocking the view and u accidentally click on it .

i download movie torrents only that too from removed by 4745454b and mostly from trusted sources like REDACTED - SS ....

Untick checkboxes in installers... i will pay attention to this for sure .

and os up to date .

 

[rounakr94]

Upto a certain extent they can but beyond that no. You need an Internet Security.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

i download movie torrents

We don't condone piracy. For various reasons (not least of which being that it's illegal).

Many 'trusted sources' burn you. Seen it before.