Keeping a PC Safe?

[AMD Lover]

So I'm working on a PC right now that belongs to my uncle. It always has viruses when I get it and I always clean it up however I was wondering if there was a way to keep it clean where they don't have to do anything on their end. Just something on the back end...

[79wjd]

So I'm working on a PC right now that belongs to my uncle. It always has viruses when I get it and I always clean it up however I was wondering if there was a way to keep it clean where they don't have to do anything on their end. Just something on the back end...

Don't give him access to the internet or teach him not to download everything he sees. 

 

The issue is that all anti viruses/anti malwares have holes, and aren't completely fool proof. But, you could set them up to run weekly on a schedule just to minimize the number of active viruses/malware. 

[SovietOnion]

Malwarebytes

 

Done

[Guest]

Get Avast! and enable hardened mode. It's great for people who aren't tech savvy.

[TheSLSAMG]

Malwarebytes

 

Done

People seem to act as if MalwareBytes is some magic antivirus program, when all it targets is malware. It isn't meant to be the end-all be-all, it's meant to supplement standard anti-virus.

[DigitalHermit]

Change OS...

 

It might not fix the toolbars, but it'll at least keep some of the nastier stuff away...

[Patyo]

There used to be a program called Hosts anti-PUP/adware that did just this. It worked by blocking popular advertisement sites as well as a ton of adware and PUPs by creating a record in the hosts file that basically cause windows to not be able to resolve a DNS of those sites. I still use it for my parents, although it has been discontinued it's by far the best "behind the scenes" Virus blocking software I've ever used and the only one i've seen that actually is just letting the OS do all the blocking. It doesn't run any services or anything like that.

[DarrenP]

People seem to act as if MalwareBytes is some magic antivirus program, when all it targets is malware. It isn't meant to be the end-all be-all, it's meant to supplement standard anti-virus.

SLS, it's not even an anti-virus it's a virus removal tool.

[SovietOnion]

People seem to act as if MalwareBytes is some magic antivirus program, when all it targets is malware. It isn't meant to be the end-all be-all, it's meant to supplement standard anti-virus.

It's Voodoo magic

 

google it bro. 

[W-L]

So I'm working on a PC right now that belongs to my uncle. It always has viruses when I get it and I always clean it up however I was wondering if there was a way to keep it clean where they don't have to do anything on their end. Just something on the back end...

 

With the inclusion of antivirus and running programs like CCleaner every so often if they only use it to access the internet and or never saves anything on it, you could deep freeze the computer, no matter what's on it, it'll basically revert back to the initial saved state and remove anything that was on it or got into the computer.

 

For deep freeze you can also set apart a small partition to allow for some files to be saved if it is needed. 

[TheSLSAMG]

SLS, it's not even an anti-virus it's a virus removal tool.

I know this, that's why I said it supplements anti-virus.

[AMD Lover]

With the inclusion of antivirus and running programs like CCleaner every so often if they only use it to access the internet and or never saves anything on it, you could deep freeze the computer, no matter what's on it, it'll basically revert back to the initial saved state and remove anything that was on it or got into the computer.

 

For deep freeze you can also set apart a small partition to allow for some files to be saved if it is needed. 

 

This made no sense to me

[W-L]

This made no sense to me

 

Ok Deepfreeze basically locks a saved configuration of windows and no matter what you add or change in the computer once you restart it, it will go back to that saved configuration, probably should have said it that way, tired today.

 

Here's some quick info on it:

http://www.faronics.com/products/deep-freeze/enterprise/

[AMD Lover]

Ok Deepfreeze basically locks a saved configuration of windows and no matter what you add or change in the computer once you restart it, it will go back to that saved configuration, probably should have said it that way, tired today.

 

Here's some quick info on it:

http://www.faronics.com/products/deep-freeze/enterprise/

Ah, Okay

[Opcode]

Put Linux on it. Also a free alternative to deep freeze.

[sam_horizondatasys]

AMD,

 

You've been given some good suggestions so far. Allow me to throw my ring into that hat. You might be into our company's software called RollBack Rx. It allows you to set scheduled snapshots to be taken, then in times of emergency, you could rollback to those snapshots when the PC was clean. It could save you quite a bit of time with your uncle. Just something to think about. 

 

Have a good one!

[Huynh Nhuan Thang]

Well I think that the best solution is that you install a licensed anti-virus on his computer and run a full scan (I am currently using Kaspersky and I think it's pretty good), tell him to stop logging on to sites that make him download things automatically, and using a better browser if he is using IE

 

Hope this helps!

[ttam]

Realistically - It's nothing near a virus. We don't really get virus infections in 2014. 99.9% of all "virus infections" are just malware ranging from browser bugs, fake software (which is what most people experience) or a normal rootkit infection. There is no way to actively keep Malware off of a system since it is either a forced download or opened up as a program that promises to fix/speed up your computer. A lot of older people actually get these from emails, sadly.