Anti-Virus

[Patalayus]

Alright, so as far as anti-virus was concerned, I've been pretty settled on Avira for a very long time, about 5 years roughly. This was until I started checking my CPU usage in task manager recently and found it at 100% constantly.  This was on the desktop baring in mind.

Whenever I started to play games, my PC would stutter and it was because of this issue. I know this because as soon as I started ending Avira processes in the task manager, the usage would reach normal levels.

Avira was running a constant demanding scan which was using 100% of my CPU.

I decided to put an end to it. I have uninstalled my anti-virus and I am in the process of finding a new one. For the mean time I am using Windows Defender. I am eager to know what anti-virus software you guys use and which ones you can recommend for me. I don't want anything fancy, just something to give me the peace of mind than my computer is sufficiently protected. A free trial should do fine, or if anyone has any other ideas, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Pat.

[Cryosec]

Bitdefender does the job, I don't even notice it running in the background

[Guest Kloaked]

Bitdefender, Malwarebytes, Eset or Kaspersky are what I would use.

[ddddanil]

1 minute ago, Patalayus said:

Alright, so as far as anti-virus was concerned, I've been pretty settled on Avira for a very long time, about 5 years roughly. This was until I started checking my CPU usage in task manager recently and found it at 100% constantly.  This was on the desktop baring in mind.

Whenever I started to play games, my PC would stutter and it was because of this issue. I know this because as soon as I started ending Avira processes in the task manager, the usage would reach normal levels.

Avira was running a constant demanding scan which was using 100% of my CPU.

I decided to put an end to it. I have uninstalled my anti-virus and I am in the process of finding a new one. For the mean time I am using Windows Defender. I am eager to know what anti-virus software you guys use and which ones you can recommend for me. I don't want anything fancy, just something to give me the peace of mind than my computer is sufficiently protected. A free trial should do fine, or if anyone has any other ideas, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Pat.

I can only suggest not using anti-virus. I personally don't use it. You can protect from any virus just with your common sense. I had a great performance boost after I abandoned using anti-virus.

[zMeul]

it was 100% because one of couple of things:

• installation got corrupted
• it was doing a scheduled scan - these can be manually set or completely disabled
• some other software is not agreeing with the AV

as an AV I have nothing but praise of AVIRA, but their prices and their past choices made me switch from them

 

---

 

even Windows Defender will do scheduled scans

[WkdPaul]

Thread moved to Programs, Apps and Websites 

[dalekphalm]

48 minutes ago, Patalayus said:

Alright, so as far as anti-virus was concerned, I've been pretty settled on Avira for a very long time, about 5 years roughly. This was until I started checking my CPU usage in task manager recently and found it at 100% constantly.  This was on the desktop baring in mind.

Whenever I started to play games, my PC would stutter and it was because of this issue. I know this because as soon as I started ending Avira processes in the task manager, the usage would reach normal levels.

Avira was running a constant demanding scan which was using 100% of my CPU.

I decided to put an end to it. I have uninstalled my anti-virus and I am in the process of finding a new one. For the mean time I am using Windows Defender. I am eager to know what anti-virus software you guys use and which ones you can recommend for me. I don't want anything fancy, just something to give me the peace of mind than my computer is sufficiently protected. A free trial should do fine, or if anyone has any other ideas, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Pat.

Did you check the Avira software dashboard to see if a scan was in-progress at the time? Check to see if Avira has a "gaming mode", or else simply schedule the scans to happen outside times you would be gaming.

 

Frankly, this will happen with just about any AV worth it's weight. If a full scan starts while you're gaming, expect to see stuttering.

[textreme]

I don't think I really need one all viruses I get have been terminated by windows defender

[dalekphalm]

11 minutes ago, textreme said:

I don't think I really need one all viruses I get have been terminated by windows defender

Your sentence is contradictory. Windows Defender (Assuming you're running Windows 8, 8.1, or 10), is Anti-Virus.

[textreme]

Quote

5 hours ago, textreme said:

Your sentence is contradictory. Windows Defender (Assuming you're running Windows 8, 8.1, or 10), is Anti-Virus.

I mean installable anti malware. Then again Windows Defender is completely incompetent.

[dalekphalm]

45 minutes ago, textreme said:

I mean installable anti malware. Then again Windows Defender is completely incompetent.

Your second post contradicts your first post. At first you say all viruses have been "terminated" by Windows Defender... then you say it's incompetent. Which is it? If it was incompetent, your system would be massively infected by viruses.

 

Furthermore, whether an Anti-Virus is "installable" or comes with the OS is irrelevant. It only matters how good that protection is.

1 hour ago, textreme said:

I don't think I really need one all viruses I get have been terminated by windows defender

 

[Alir]

When i started using a computer when I was a decade or more younger, I used to use Norton 360. It worked and I trusted it. Though I didn't know much about computers and looking back now I probably wouldn't be surprised if I had had malware all that time because I was reckless when it came to gaming.

 

When I became more proficient in and on a computer, I turned to ESET Smart Security. I made this switch mainly because I found a key on Amazon, sold directly by them, for 3 devices for £14. Dirt cheap and I thought they'd be the best in the industry as they provide solutions for businesses. Unfortunately, I got a virus 2 years ago. Or some other kind of malware. It was horrific. I had it for months, reinstalling never worked because it was saved on my HDD and would transfer to my SSD after every install (after I would disconnect the drive, install all anti viruses and re-connect the drive). I even eventually went to the extreme and tried completely disconnecting the drive and installing various different scanners on the SSD first. The scanners were on demand and did not have the opportunity to conflict with ESET. Still infected it.

 

NOTHING could detect the malware. NOTHING!

I tried practically every anti virus I could think of Malwarebytes, Norton Security, Norton Power Eraser, Avast, and practically every legit on demand scanner I could find. My attempts were futile and I gave up. Booted Linux, scanned my drive with "ClamAV" and "Avast!". 

They both detected malware and I removed them. Looking back now, those detections could have been false positives. I say that because I could not confirm whether the files they flagged were malware or not. After the scan, I purged the drive of old files I didn't need. It was possible it was hiding in one of those files as well and it was actually me who manually deleted them. I guess I'll never know.

It is also possible that the malware was aware of a vulnerability in Veracrypt (the infected drive was Whole Disk Encrypted) and was hiding in some part of the decrypted container and only became active when Windows was run and was not detectable therefore.

 

Anyways, I think the problem got solved. I copied the files onto a different drive, formatted the infected drive and re-encrypted the drive for files (essentially deleting all files on there). It is also possible it was a rootkit and was hiding on my HPA (Host Protected Area) or DCO (Drive Configuration Overlay). They're two hidden areas on the HDD. Though running commands in Linux shows that my HDD does Not  have a HPA. Maybe DCO. Though if that were the case, it would have re-infected my computer after me formatting the drive. It didn't.

Note that my OS would not get infected when the drive was connected to my machine but only when the HDD was decrypted and viewable by the OS. So it must have been encrypted on there and only got run when the drive would get decrypted or would covertly respond to me decrypting it and then executing, fooling me into thinking a format would work.

 

The malware would unclick the window I was working on once every 3 seconds. It drove me bloody nuts. If I was writing something, it would interrupt me for a few seconds, causing me to lose what I was typing.

 

I was using Malwarebytes Premium at the time as well. Both were completely unable to detect the malware. Before someone says they could have been conflicting, ESET and Malwarebytes work together. Though I'm pretty sure I had that tested as well ie. I scanned the drive without them both being installed just in case.

 

I now run Norton Security with Malwarebytes. Though I don't trust it either. Norton Power Eraser was supposed to be Symantec's most powerful tool and yet even it was no match for this malware. Same goes for Malwarebytes That malware made me lose trust and hope in Windows' security and frankly leaves me thinking that my firmware could also be infected without me knowing. My lesson of the story is never to trust that your Windows machine is secure. Windows is the most vulnerable OS out there! No thanks to it being so popular.

 

If you want security, use Linux Mint for general use and Windows for when you need to use special software like playing games or Word. Scan your Windows computer with ClamAV and Avast, both on Linux. The problem with Windows AV is that the malware can run on Windows and if so, is capable of manipulating the anti virus.

 

I'd also HIGHLY suggest buying a high capacity Desktop Hard Drive for around £100 and weekly backing up your drive by creating a complete image of it, while under Linux! Linux is important because asking Windows to create an image is like asking someone who always trips up to take a penalty kick. If Windows gets infected and you go to create an image of it, when you enter your large capacity drive, the malware will just infect all other images.

 

Point being, stay safe, use Linux for backing up.

[Alir]

I'd look into Kaspersky I've heard it's good. But the best defence is yourself.

 

The second is regular backups. If your drive gets infected, just restore it from a older image.

 

No point in paying so much for anti virus but not backing up your drive

[Alir]

Just find something that works, is easy to use and uses as minimal resources as possible. Do make sure it is effective though. Frankly, you should not be relying on your anti virus to be telling you accurate information imo. If the OS can be compromised, so can the anti virus! In that regards, AVs are kind of useless. Though firewalls are definitely important! They directly affect whether or not intruders from known malicious IP addresses can access your computer or not. 

 

A breach of your firewall in most cases cannot be detected by your anti virus because they'll be exploiting a bug in the software and would not have installed anything malicious on your PC. This is done so they can hide their tracks.