[SOLVED] What is the ACTUAL best antivirus software?

[TheShaun]

Every search result from google brings up reviews claiming the same programs. Such as Avast, Norton, McAfee, etc. But any person I've personally asked who actually has or has had any of these tell me they are crap. Well, at least those three. So, I can't trust any of those reviews or any reviews from those sites because it looks like they were bought off by those software companies to give them good reviews even though actual users of those software claim they are crap. So, what is a user tested, easy to use, no run arounds, no tricks to squeeze more money, actually finds ALL viruses and spyware that any other software can find, fast (don't want to wait for hours long scans) type of antivirus program? Or am I hoping for a miracle program that doesn't exist yet?

Sorry if this was long and silly sounding, I'm antivirus --------. I've tried a bunch of the "best" free ones, but they only say they found things and won't do anything about them unless I pay. If I'm going to pay money, I want the best. Even if it's expensive. As long as it's the best, money is not an issue for me. Two top concerns are - finding ALL (or as much as any can) viruses and spyware, and speed. I just want to be able to catch them all as fast as I can when I do a scan. Like as if it's The Flash as a virus Pokemon trainer.

Edit: Just tried Bitdefender and it only found 2 things, but they were legit programs that I know what they are. Spyhunter found a bunch, but wouldn't do anything about them unless I pay. And I had to search their name and found they are indeed spyware. So I do have spyware on my PC, I just want to know the #1 best program to use to get rid of it. Doesn't matter how much it costs.

 

[Rogue Leader]

What you are asking for doesn't exist.

All AV software is designed in all cases to remove infections before they happen or before they spread. Looking through the list of infections you have I can tell you at least 3 of them there is NO commercial software that will automatically remove them. NONE. I have been using Bitdefender for years, its the best AV you can get and has tested tops everywhere, it would have caught these before they happened, but I have no expectations that if I had turned it off and turned it back on it could remove them. It just doesn't work like that.

Removing such infections can be done one of two ways. TBH the easiest method was mentioned, wipe and reinstall, this is the reason for good backups. As you could be back up and running in under an hour.

The second way involves identifying the infected files for each and using various sometimes complicated methods for removal.

I hesitate to recommend other places but Bleeping Computer has some very excellent guides for removal of specific viruses and malware:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/

Search out each one in there and follow the process for removal. Keep in mind this can be complicated and time consuming and it doesn't always work. Should you not be able to find a solution there, that forum has a full section of people who do nothing but virus removal and can help you. Again this is TIME CONSUMING and requires a lot of patience.

Follow this guide before posting:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/fo...ng-malware-removal-tools-and-requesting-help/

Here is the forum to post in:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/22/virus-trojan-spyware-and-malware-removal-help/

This is the only way you are getting this done, other than wiping and restarting, which IMO is a heck of a lot easier.

Now I'm going to put my moderator hat on here, people have been trying to help within their scope of knowledge. Not everyone knows everything in depth about every problem, we are staffed with volunteer users and moderators. Speaking to them like this:

You're so not helping. I wish you'd just stop trying. Sorry if rude, but I'm beyond saying it nice to spare your feelings right now. Please, just stop responding in my thread. I don't care if you're a moderator or not. Respect the job and leave me alone since I'm trying to asking you nicely. Thank you.

Then deal with their problem as it comes up. I'm asking you as nicely as I can to please leave me alone. I do not want to speak with you and I do not want you replying in my thread. I have my reasons and this is not the appropriate place to discuss them. If you have further questions, concerns, or comments, please send them to me in a private message.

Is unacceptable. I don't care how much you say you're asking nicely, telling folks to go away because they don't have the exact solution to your impossible problem is rude.

I've given you a roadmap here which requires time and patience. I hope you can follow it.

 

[Remeca]

I usually hear Windows Defender is good enough, unless you need a piece of specific software to get rid of a specific infection, as well as don't pirate stuff and click on sketchy email attachments. Run malwarebytes, or spybot or something similar once in a while.

 

[Nemesia]

Open Chrome. Go to settings. Go to search engines. Click on manage search engine. If you see BING at the top please change it to Google.

 

[Nemesia]

I know about the default search engine setting. Its been google for years and I never changed it. I also checked that in case the virus changed it. It still says google. It's a pop up virus. It ignores my settings and pops up bing anyway. I don;t need to know how I got the virus or ways around it. I need to know what is the best Antivirus program to get rid of it. That's all I'm asking.

I understand what you mean but what you have to understand on your side is that a few things can cause what you're explaining. I had to make sure it wasn't your settings since some virus will change that. Thanks for letting me know this isn't this.

Now. Unwanted programs. Go to your Windows add/remove programs. Do you see anything "tool bar" or "search engine" or anything suspicious. There is a good chance that you already removed the virus but the action that the virus done to your system is persistent. Which would mean that something somewhere is redirecting your google search to bing. An unwanted program could easily be the cause and removing it will fix your issue.

You already scanned your system for virus and malwares a few time. If they did not detect anything there is no way that you will try 150 more anti-virus to be sure. Consider your PC clean right now but still being affected by what the virus did.

 

[Nemesia]

Adware.Baidu(2 objects) - Adware.S5mark (3 objects) - PUP.Pro (1 object) - PUP.Proxy (5 objects). That's just within the first few moments.

Symtoms:
Adware.Baidu

• Advertising banners are injected with the web pages that you are visiting.
• Random web page text is turned into hyperlinks.
• Browser popups appear which recommend fake updates or other software.
• Other unwanted adware programs might get installed without the user’s knowledge.

Adware.S5mark

• S5Mark is an adware program that displays pop-up ads and unwanted advertisements on web pages that you visit. These S5Mark advertisements will be shown as boxes containing coupons, as underlined keywords (in-text ads), pop-up ads or advertising banners.

PUP.Pro

• Power Clean Pro 2019 PUP is a potentially unwanted program that states it scans Windows for Malware/Pup Threats, ways to Enhance System Performance, System/User Software Related issues, and Startup/Uninstall and User Items. When Power Clean Pro 2019 scans a computer it will list a variety of detected issues, but state that you need to first purchase a license before you can fix them.

PUP.Proxy

• PUP.Proxy Gate is a malicious program that makes you stop surfing the internet properly. There are many programs that may harm your internet speed and data stored in your computer if you try to download, install or open it through any free websites or through unreliable sources. Sometimes the effect of this types of programs is not seen easily while working on internet or during internet surfing. You will only notice it while the internet or computer performs very slowly to give the outcomes. This is a big threat and you cannot be safe until you go for a secure process to get rid of it. There are some manual processes that help you to clean PUP.Proxy Gate. But you can also delete or clean PUP.Proxy Gate by using PUP.Proxy Gate removal tool on your computer.

Conduit Search Toolbar

• Conduit is a browser hijacker, which is promoted via other free downloads, and once installed it will change your browser homepage to and default search engine to search.conduit.com, and install a Conduit toolbar.

Malware.Generic

• Generic.Malware/Suspicious is Malwarebytes’ detection name given to files which trigger our generic criteria for suspicious files. This means they show characteristics that lead to believe they are malware.

As you can see. You have some very nasty things on your computer and some of them are describing what you're experiencing. Especially the "You have to pay to remove the virus" one. Spyhunter might not even work properly because of that and it should remove them but can't because of that one virus.

As to how you're gonna remove all of that. I would still go for the total wipe and clean install of Windows. It looks like a lot of job to remove all of this. Since you're already infected all of these might not let you remove them at all. At this point formatting is a faster solution.

Sorry about the bad news but sometime it's just best to format when you have that many nasty things on your system or you can try to remove them by doing a research on each one with another system and do them one by one. I do not recommend this since it's not 100% sure it will even work and be left with a clean PC after all of this.

 

[Rogue Leader]

On a side note: I know I shouldn't have immediately responded the way I did to the moderator. Though I do have my reasons. I do not trust moderators. My experience with them has always been them having a "I have all the power and you don't" or "I'm automatically right because I'm a moderator" type of attitude. Which was present here as well. And they were wrong because the issue was solved without wiping my whole PC. But no worries, I will not bother any of you again if another problem arises. I'll seek help elsewhere. Thank you to everyone who tried to help and I appreciate your willingness to help despite my irritability (except you moderators).

We thank you for the insult despite not doing anything to warrant it here. As I said people answered to the best of their knowledge, and there was not one bit of "I'm right because I'm a moderator". I hope the program you paid for actually solved the issue. This thread is closed.

 

[Nemesia]

I have Defender, Malwarebytes and Emsisoft Anti-Malware installed which include a surf protection, a file guard, behavior blocker, anti-ransomware. Never had any problems but like Remeca said it's up to you to minimize the risk.

 

[Nemesia]

I just tried Bitdefender and it only found 2 things that were legit programs. Even though Spyhunter found a lot, but wouldn't handle them without buying the full version.

I've never heard of Emsisoft, but I will check them out. Btw, is it a free one or paid? I ask because I'm starting to think free ones aren't going to do as much as paid ones and I am willing to pay as much as needed as long as it does the job. Money isn't a problem. I just need a user tested guarantee. Oh and ty for the fast response.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware is a paid one. Cost me like 50 a year for it but I never had any problems with it. It doesn't take much RAM like 150MB to stay up and running with 0% cpu usage. It comes with real time protection which is kinda good too. Most free anti-virus won't let you use the real time protection unless you pay for the premium version.

I recommend you use Defender with at least another anti-virus and the free malwarebytes. I can vouch for Emsisoft anti-malware. It has a small impact on your system compared to big antivirus software and it has amazing reviews online and I have been using it for 4 years and 0 malwares or virus BUT i do not click on shady email attachment etc.

You should install Ublock Origin for your browser which block ads and pop-up.

 

[Nemesia]

Just tried the trial version of Emsisoft and it found nothing, but I know there is something on my PC.

How are you sure?

The problem here is that you're not sure. You find some of them with an anti-virus and if you find 0 with the next you can't be sure something is left.

The only real way to be sure there is no virus left is to format and do a clean install of Windows.

 

[Gam3r01]

Avast isnt all that bad, its certainly worth using.
Malwarebytes is a solid choice for virus removal, but not prevention (at least for the free version).
Just a note as well, you are going to expect long scans, "fast" and "thorough" are not possible together.

If you are so certain you have some sort of virus, wipe the drive, start over with a clean install of windows, and move your important files back over from a backup. It is going to be much faster and much more certain than chasing tails over the "best" AV.

 

[Gam3r01]

You still should be able to backup your data without issue to an external device and then wipe the drive.
A different discussion is why youd have so much important data without a backup in place.

 

[Nemesia]

If you don't want to format. backup backup backup and scan for virus and malwares and when you don't find anything anymore just suppose you removed everything. There is really nothing else you can do.

 

[Gam3r01]

No, text based is the only form of assistance we have here.
Its actually better overall too since it means users can hop on and off as their time allows, vs a call that would be dependent on availability.

Most of your virus scans are probably missing this because a default search engine is not really grounds for malware. The program already did what it wanted and is no longer running.

 

[Nemesia]

You sure this isn't like your browser that is telling to use bing as your main search engine? This is in the options. You can choose which search engine it goes first. If you're using the google search bar and it goes to bing. That is probably that option I'm talking about.

What browser do you use? Sorry I don't want to read all of that again ;P

 

[need4speeds]

There is a Portable Version of many browsers that can run from the folder and on a usb stick.
Waterfox Portable. Firefox 32bit and 64bit Portable, Opera Portable, ect.


It's better to do a antivirus scan from a separate OS\drive. Install a temp\trial version of windows on a spare drive, usb stick, ect. I would try avgast free, avg free, and others. You likely will have to install one then unistall it and install a 2nd one. Sometimes the virus can fool the antivirus or keep moving around, scanning the OS drive remotely can stop this from happening. Some of them also have a bootable usb version too that uses a version of dos or linux to run.

 

[need4speeds]

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bootableusb.net

 

[need4speeds]

It's a risk too because sometimes antivirus's can wrongly delete\block files that are not viruses. Ones that often show up as a virus are game drm files, things like that. Now it deletes the encrypted game patch and the game wont load for example.

 

[Flayed]

I always think Kaspersky is the best antivirus software

 

[Nemesia]

Yes, I went to control panel and into the uninstall area. Everything there is normal. I even checked the processes area of task manager, because that's where I located the last virus I had years ago. Spyhunter says the issue is the exact same name of the one I took care of years ago that kept popping up in processes back then. It's not showing up there now though.

I scanned with different programs. The ones all of you suggested found nothing. Spyhunter found a few but won't delete them unless I pay money. If I'm going to pay money, I want something better than free Spyhunter. Malwarebytes takes hours to scan what Spyhunter does within 5 minutes. So right now Spyhunter is the only one that actually finds the problem, but won't do anything without payment. I just want a list of alternative in case Spyhunter is bullshitting me.

No, PC isn't clean until the problem stops. I know a tiny bit about programming and I know if something is happening, then there's still a script there telling it to keep doing it.

What does spyhunter finds exactly? Can you name what it's finding? Please?

 

[Gam3r01]

Think or know? Have you tested it? I'm asking because I saw that name before when I googled this issue, but I don't trust those results because those companies pay reviewers to claim their <Mod Edit> is better than it is. I need user tested software. I'm looking for a proven guarantee.

You wont find that. There does not exist a single AV suit that will work unilaterally, youll never get a guarantee from an AV scan.

 

[Gam3r01]

Addressing potential issues with expectations is important for any thread, not just for the OP but for any user who comes across these threads from the forums or google searches as well.

 

[Colif]

So, what is a user tested, easy to use, no run arounds, no tricks to squeeze more money, actually finds ALL viruses and spyware that any other software can find, fast (don't want to wait for hours long scans) type of antivirus program? Or am I hoping for a miracle program that doesn't exist yet?

Closest I have come to answering all those is Bit Defender, its only down side is the initial full system scan can take a while (depending on how much is on system). It doesn't bug you for anything once its installed, only alerting you if it has to. I have used it for about 3 years now.

I have used Avast - they ask for money all the time even if you paid subscriber. I would never run Norton Again. I don't think I have used MacAfee although I have used pc's with it on. Bitdefender is the least annoying of all the ones I have tried.

 

[sc2lines]

You're so not helping. I wish you'd just stop trying. Sorry if rude, but I'm beyond saying it nice to spare your feelings right now. Please, just stop responding in my thread. I don't care if you're a moderator or not. Respect the job and leave me alone since I'm trying to asking you nicely. Thank you.

Or am I hoping for a miracle program that doesn't exist yet?

 

[Flayed]

Think or know? Have you tested it? I'm asking because I saw that name before when I googled this issue, but I don't trust those results because those companies pay reviewers to claim their <Mod Edit> is better than it is. I need user tested software. I'm looking for a proven guarantee.

I used it for a number of years. It seemed good to me. I don't see how anyone can definitively know which AV software is best.

 

[USAFRet]

There is no 100% guarantee.
There is no single best tool that will always find everything.
There is no single tool that will be the best for all time. What is #1 today might be second place next week.

Of course, the best antivirus/antimalware tool is one you already have, costs $0, and is completely cross-platform.