Author Topic: How To Get Rid Of Spyware???? (Read 913 times)

Vulcan · « **Reply #45 on:** June 24, 2007, 05:35:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by AKIron
Nothing will prevent an infection and I'm not suggesting that it will. I have found Defender to be very capable in detecting an infection. I spend a lot of time dealing with spyware and as I mentioned previously it is often quicker to clean by wiping and reinstalling. I'm all ears when it comes to news about a better product. What do you recommend for prevention and cleaning?

BTW, I offer a full money back satisfaction guarantee on this forum for my advice.

All I'm saying is you may think Windows Defender does a good job (and maybe it has for you in some cases), actual testing shows otherwise - significantly otherwise.

What do I recommend? A Layer 7 firewall with edge AV/AS capabilities matched up with either McAfee 8.5i or Nod32. McAfee 8.5i is the corporate product so most people would need to go Nod32. Nod32 has consistantly good performance, I don't use it myself as I do have access to the McAfee corporate product.

Why do I like McAfee 8.5i, because its very good at targetting the vectors most spyware/virii use to make an entrance. Pretty simple really. The retail McAfee product does suck though, I will say that.

AKIron · « **Reply #46 on:** June 24, 2007, 05:44:24 PM »

My customers have firewalls with AV and usually either McAfee or Symantec Corp AV. These do not always prevent spyware/malware infections though they have gotten better. Those customers who grant to their users only the default domain user rights are far less susceptible. However, I think this thread is primarily about home use.

If you have no better free product to suggest than Window Defender I guess I'll have to keep on using my current methods and giving "not very good" advice.

Vulcan · « **Reply #47 on:** June 24, 2007, 05:55:25 PM »

What sort of firewalls with AV? Cisco? Juniper? Fortinet? Or Sonicwall? What models?

Why does it have to be free? Giving good advice doesn't mean you have to point to free solutions that aren't up to scratch. But if you want free Avast or AVG both do better than Windows Defender. And it is no secret either that Windows Defender is not the great.

AKIron · « **Reply #48 on:** June 24, 2007, 06:47:55 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Vulcan
What sort of firewalls with AV? Cisco? Juniper? Fortinet? Or Sonicwall? What models?

Why does it have to be free? Giving good advice doesn't mean you have to point to free solutions that aren't up to scratch. But if you want free Avast or AVG both do better than Windows Defender. And it is no secret either that Windows Defender is not the great.

I was self-employed until about 6 months ago. After 7 years of going it alone I finally threw in the towel. The company I now work for is a reseller of Watchguard boxes and we sell only those. Prior to that I typically worked with the Cisco PIX boxes and a variety of other lower end stuff.

Defender is not AV and I expect everyone to have an AV product. I wasn't aware that AVG made an antispyware product but I've used their free AV product and I'm not impressed. I always recommend Symantec for AV as I've been pissed at McAfee since 6-7 years ago when they released an update that left computers unable to boot. I have customers (when I say that I mean businesses) that use McAfee and I am very familiar with the product. I find the Symantec Control Center more useful than McAfee's Protection Pilot.

The reason I use a free antispyware product is because very few of my customers have any antispyware defense other than what may be built-in to their AV. It is quick and easy to download Defender and I don't have to get purchase approval. Like I said, I'm always interested in others experiences. If you have some to share in this area I'm all ears. If you have only what you've read on the net I'll stick to what works for me.

Vulcan · « **Reply #49 on:** June 24, 2007, 08:15:42 PM »

McAfee Pilot Protection is still the 'retail' level product. Corporate is EPO with 8.5i. But, like I said for retail products you can't go past Nod32 for consistantly good performance.

For the firewalls I prefer Sonicwall, Cisco's ASA is just another awful mishmash, Juniper was OK when they brought Netscreen but have done little to keep up the line at the mid to low end, Fortinet has so many issues its hard to know where to start. We rarely see watchguard here, it has been behind in UTM for so long and the box performance is pretty meak (according to utm benchmarks kicking around). They've all but disappeared off the market, but I have replaced a few watchguards with sonicwalls (tbh old models).

Quick and easy is nice with freeware, but given windows defender's poor performance the question you have to ask is are you really acheiving anything or helping your clients?

AKIron · « **Reply #50 on:** June 24, 2007, 09:14:01 PM »

I worked with the netscreen product, seemed effective but perhaps overpriced. We are looking at the Sonicwall but it does not do as indepth a packet inspection as does Watchguard. At least that's Watchguard's claim.

If it were up to me none of my customer's would have local admin or power user access to their machines. That makes clean up much simpler. Since it isn't up to me I work with the tools at hand.

I'm still unclear Vulcan as to what antispyware (apart from AV) product you recommend at the destop level or to home users.

Vulcan · « **Reply #51 on:** June 24, 2007, 10:14:39 PM »

I always recommend Nod32 these days. There ya go

Sonicwall reckon watchguards packet inspection isn't that hot suprise suprise

. Now I will admit I'm biased, but Sonicwall have done the DI/IPS stuff longer than Watchguard, so my expectation would be the Sonicwall is a more mature product.

Sonicwall are also about to release OS4, with 'Application firewall' functionality. It's the next step on from the L7 IPS stuff. For example I can build a dictionary and look into packets for matches on all or selected protocols and then perform actions based on that (even if it is just a log count). I've set it up to monitor our apple users IM traffic for 'naughty' words as a test (oh yes... they do hate me).

Have a good look at Sonicwall, make sure you look at EnhancedOS, not the StandardOS found on the baby boxes (its basically Firewalls for Dummies). I think you'll like it.

AKIron · « **Reply #52 on:** June 24, 2007, 10:23:05 PM »

I'm not entirely satisfied with the level of control given over the watchguard proxies. I've had to bypass them with filters a few too many times. While I'm not a decision maker in this company I'm with I like to believe I do have some influence. I will take a close look at the Sonicwall. I'll also check out Nod32. Thanks Vulcan.

Vulcan · « **Reply #53 on:** June 24, 2007, 11:56:42 PM »

PM'd you with some extra info. BTW I Nod32 is 'the competition' for me so thats gotta be a good recomendation.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #54 on:** June 25, 2007, 01:32:39 AM »

I've been using Nod32 for years and it has worked fine and is low on resource usage. My laptop runs only 22 processes and I have desktop enhancements and stuff on it. Some antiviruses run 22 processes just by themselves full with HD activity and processor activity. Installing one is worse than most viruses.