You thought having an antivirus system is enough? Wrong!
Most antivirus systems these days barely stop all of the malicious (bad&nasty) software which is floating in the big river called Internet, such as, but not limited to, trojans, rats, worms, tracking cookies, malware, spam and so on.
Yes, there are plenty of anti virus and anti-malware and anti-whatever, and I’ve tried most of the well known ones. I usually test a dozen of different security enhancing apps each year and these are the ones that you MUST have. And the best part? They are all free (ofc. they have a payed version)! And they are:
Advanced SystemCare ver. 4
Download: link
License: Free & payed (better support)
Publisher: IObit
Pros: has a lot of features (read below), free, stable (never crashed for me), fast, light, runs on any Windows (7, vista, XP, 98SE?, ME?), intelligent, good DB.
Cons: none actual Database updates (they do have a notification if a new version is out doh)
ASC (Advanced System Care) works flawlessly both on Windows XP and on Windows 7, heck even on Windows Vista it manages to help a lot.
What it does: deletes unneeded temporary files, defrags&checks&fixes your registries, checks for malware and removes it, checks for security holes and fixes them, checks for the latest security updates from Microsoft and installs them, defragments your hard disk, allows you to do a system backup and also to restore the system to a previous date, has a ‘windows startup configuration’ menu (similar to the msconfig), has a TurboBoost option (makes your PC run faster, ideal for gaming). Another key feature is that its extremely light and stress-free, both for you and your computer. Do note that it requires Administrative privileges on Win7 to run properly.
I highly recommend using this software once a week or two.
Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
Download: link1, link2
License: Free & payed (better support)
Publisher: Malwarebytes
Pros: Easy to use, light, intelligent, powerful, free, a lot of features and options (read below)
Cons: On win7 it may show you that your DB hasn’t been updated since 29days, but overall it has no other problems what so ever.
Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware does what the name implies – it fights malware. And it does it pretty well if I may say. It has won a vast amount of prizes over the years and it got it’s name as one of the best of the best. It has a really deep scan for tracking cookies and all sorts of malware and malicious software. It has a protection mode, allowing the program to scan constantly your PC (does it very lightly, unlike most AVs, like ESET NOD32), has almost daily DB updates, detailed list of quarantined objects and a list of ignored items, fairly light and easy to use. Work both on Windows 7 and Windows XP, heck it will run also on Windows Vista, 98SE, ME and so on.
It’s even included in the Hiren’s Boot CD!
I highly recommend using this software once a week or two.
a-squared Emsisoft Anti-Malware
Download: link
License: Free & payed (better support)
Publisher: Emsisoft
Pros: a lot of options (read below), very big database for fighting malicious software, free, many different languages, fast.
Cons: during the scan it may ‘freeze’ forcing you to close it and start it again, in Windows 7 the value which indicates when have you last updated your database never changes (minor problem), a bit resource hungry
One of the true legends in our time. It runs flawlessly on Windows XP, good in vista and fairly good in Windows 7, doh it has some minor glitches which at the end of the day don’t really matter. It has maybe the best and biggest database when it comes to fighting malicious software. It has several levels of scans (normal scan, deep scan, etc.), has an option to start a protective service (like malwarebite has), has a thing called ‘HijackFree’ which basically gives you a detailed information regarding the current state of all programs which are running at the moment. This way you an check if some of your service or application is hijacked by a hacker, trojan, rat, and so on. As of 17. October 2010 its being used by 6,140,344 users!
I highly recommend using this software once a month.
PS: all of the above software is for Windows. Linux is superior and does not require an anti-malware/virys/malicious. MacOS users shouldn’t worry about such stuff as well.
You can read a Bulgarian version of this text here.