Is my system safe? (Anti-virus/malware software/practices)

[YellowJersey]

So I had to visit some pretty sketchy sites when putting together my emulation library,  mostly to download the roms. As always, malware is a concern. So here's what I did:

Had Avast (free) running while I downloaded. It blocked a lot of stuff in the browser, mostly sketchy redirects.
When I finished downloading all the roms, I then:
Did a full system scan on maxed out leave-no-stone-unturned-mode.
Uninstalled Avast, installed Bitdefender (free) and did a full system scan on maxed out settings.

Uninstalled Bitdefender, installed Malwarebytes (free) and did a full system scan on maxed out settings.

Uninstalled Malwarebytes, installed Avast (free) and did a boot-time scan.

 No malware was detected during any these scans. Would it be safe to presume that my system is malware/virus free?

 Is there anything else I can/should do to check the system (other than just doing a clean reinstall and tossing out my emulation project) (Yes, I am a little unreasonably paranoid)

And, yes, I was downloading roms of games I already down and have paid for (in some cases, multiple times). I just want emulated versions so that if/when my old consoles give up the ghost that I can still play these games.

[Applefreak]

6 minutes ago, YellowJersey said:

So I had to visit some pretty sketchy sites when putting together my emulation library,  mostly to download the roms. As always, malware is a concern. So here's what I did:

Had Avast (free) running while I downloaded. It blocked a lot of stuff in the browser, mostly sketchy redirects.
When I finished downloading all the roms, I then:
Did a full system scan on maxed out leave-no-stone-unturned-mode.
Uninstalled Avast, installed Bitdefender (free) and did a full system scan on maxed out settings.

Uninstalled Bitdefender, installed Malwarebytes (free) and did a full system scan on maxed out settings.

Uninstalled Malwarebytes, installed Avast (free) and did a boot-time scan.

 No malware was detected during any these scans. Would it be safe to presume that my system is malware/virus free?

 Is there anything else I can/should do to check the system (other than just doing a clean reinstall and tossing out my emulation project) (Yes, I am a little unreasonably paranoid)

And, yes, I was downloading roms of games I already down and have paid for (in some cases, multiple times). I just want emulated versions so that if/when my old consoles give up the ghost that I can still play these games.

Best practice if you have a somewhat decent and capable computer: Do all your downloads in a virtual machine. Once done you can just delete it and don't have to worry. If that is not an option, use linux or mac os. As for what to check right now, well that depends on how sketchy we are talking about. Last resort if you are super paraonoid, backup your data, format the drive and reinstall windows, that acutally takes less time than running AV and malware scans.

[YellowJersey]

10 hours ago, Applefreak said:

Best practice if you have a somewhat decent and capable computer: Do all your downloads in a virtual machine. Once done you can just delete it and don't have to worry. If that is not an option, use linux or mac os. As for what to check right now, well that depends on how sketchy we are talking about. Last resort if you are super paraonoid, backup your data, format the drive and reinstall windows, that acutally takes less time than running AV and malware scans.

I've never done the VM thing. I should probably look into that. I'm not super paranoid, maybe more mild/medium paranoid. I just really don't want to have to go through the hassle of doing a clean reinstall.

[AyaanMAG]

I'll be honest with you, I've sailed the seven seas and beyond, i have no antivirus and honestly even windows one disabled, i Run a scan with malwarebyte every few months for hidden stuff, apart from that, nothing, you're more than secure just do that what the other guy said. Sketchy sites and downloads in a VM that's all

[YellowJersey]

13 hours ago, AyaanMAG said:

I'll be honest with you, I've sailed the seven seas and beyond, i have no antivirus and honestly even windows one disabled, i Run a scan with malwarebyte every few months for hidden stuff, apart from that, nothing, you're more than secure just do that what the other guy said. Sketchy sites and downloads in a VM that's all

I talked to my company's IT guy and he said the same thing. We ended up having an hour long conversation about tech. It was awesome.