Freeware :]

[HSBulker]

Wasn't sure where to put this, so I guess I'll just stick it here.

I ran across this site a few days ago, and it has a ton of freeware programs, some that are better than the commercially available clients.

Just thought I'd post it up, in case anyone needs an antivirus etc and doesn't want to spend the money.

Note: I've scanned most of the files with McAfee and Norton and a few other virus scanners, and they were clean, but download at your own risk.

I suggest to download an antivirus first, and scan it yourself.

Enjoy.

 

[xcelbeyond]

What/Where is it?!?!

 

[HSBulker]

oops, must have erased it when i edited the post.

nah, thats not embarrassing at all.

here it is.

**broken link removed**

 

[Dave_19]

Good free online Anti-Virus scans:
www.bitdefender.com
Trend micro
http://housecall60.trendmicro.com/housecall/en/step1_3.htm

Good free online spyware scanner:
Ewido
www.ewido.com

good free downloadable spyware scanner:
Adaware:
**broken link removed**


If you want to actually own a program to "protect" your computer from threats I would say Trendmicro's AV is the best, and for spyware its Webroots Spysweeper hands down. norton AV and internet security have way too many conflicts and weird issues with windows lately so avoid that. I can get Anti-virus/anti-spyware software for about 70%-80% off if any one ever needs a full/tech version of the software PM me.

 

[Kaiser]

Careful fellas, I haven't tested or broke down any of these for processes, but what you have to realize is for the most part, people and companies aren't writing software for free for you. 99.9% of the time, it comes with baggage. Now I'm talking about freeware fellas, not trials. You might not realize it now, and a virus, malware or spyware scanner may not find it when you go to install, but you just might find that when your scanner updates it's heuristics dat, it will find it next time. Is it worth it? No. I run into this all of the time. Just remember, if these companies were out there writing software for you, for free, they wouldn't be a company, they'd be out of business. In the end, if you have a specific problem, I can help or stick to a known good software vender.

BTW, if you do want to scan your PC completely for visuses, malware, and spyware because you have a problem, I would suggest downloading the trial of F-Secure from www.fsecure.com. It will give you 30 days trial. Just make sure you uninstall any previous antivirus prior to installing F-Secure (Actually the setup should sense it and make you do it anyway).

But really fellas, don't think that most of the time these guys sit in a cube and code stuff for free. Would you use free gear off the net if you never heard of the source?

 

[Dave_19]

Careful fellas, I haven't tested or broke down any of these for processes, but what you have to realize is for the most part, people and companies aren't writing software for free for you. 99.9% of the time, it comes with baggage. Now I'm talking about freeware fellas, not trials. You might not realize it now, and a virus, malware or spyware scanner may not find it when you go to install, but you just might find that when your scanner updates it's heuristics dat, it will find it next time. Is it worth it? No. I run into this all of the time. Just remember, if these companies were out there writing software for you, for free, they wouldn't be a company, they'd be out of business. In the end, if you have a specific problem, I can help or stick to a known good software vender.

BTW, if you do want to scan your PC completely for visuses, malware, and spyware because you have a problem, I would suggest downloading the trial of F-Secure from www.fsecure.com. It will give you 30 days trial. Just make sure you uninstall any previous antivirus prior to installing F-Secure (Actually the setup should sense it and make you do it anyway).

But really fellas, don't think that most of the time these guys sit in a cube and code stuff for free. Would you use free gear off the net if you never heard of the source?

Most of the free online scanners are to get their name one. also they are only scanners, and they don't run in the background for protection. The ones I mentioned ewido, house call, bitdefender are all competition to each other, they also all have a full version of the software that has many more features. I use the software I listed on a daily basis so I know it works. But you are right their is a lot of spyware scanners that actually is spyware, programs like "spysherrif", also a lot of freeware that has legal spyware attached.

 

[Kaiser]

Most of the free online scanners are to get their name one. also they are only scanners, and they don't run in the background for protection. The ones I mentioned ewido, house call, bitdefender are all competition to each other, they also all have a full version of the software that has many more features. I use the software I listed on a daily basis so I know it works. But you are right their is a lot of spyware scanners that actually is spyware, programs like "spysherrif", also a lot of freeware that has legal spyware attached.

I think you thought I was responding to your post, but I wasn't. I have experience with TrendMicro, eWido, and Ad-Aware, and would consider one of the trusted venders that I was talking about. Good products that are there to advertise their full suite. As a matter of fact, you come accross a virus like magistr and it will more than likely prompt you saying it cannot remove this particular virus, but if you upgrade to the full antivirus suite, you will be able to. They are all a bit behind F-Secure's protection ability however. Plain and simple. Every one. F-Secure uses 4 heuristic scanning engines at one time from places all around the globe. AVP from Kaspersky's Labs in Russia, and F-Prot from Finland to name two of them. People are under the impression in the US that McAfee and Symantec's suite are the best around when in essence they aren't. Only about 12% of viruses are written in the US, so US scanners see the viruses at the end of propagation. Most are written in places like Lithuania, Russia, China, and some of the UK. These are where most are found in the wild. The head of development for F-Secure is Miko Hypponen, is a world renouned, and probably the best virus/antivirus coders on the planet. To top it off, F-Secure is THE first and still one of the only anti-virus solutions to be able to detect and successfully remove rootkits. Miko & F-Secure were the first to discover and unfold that Symantec implanted a rootkit on your computer in their Norton System Works or certain versions of Norton AntiVirus.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Norton's Internet Security Suite is a nightmare. mcaffee came free with my ISP so I let it run down there... I don't think it does jack shit but there it is. I liked Kaspersky except the interface. I use Spybot (which is totally freeware but asks for donations) and ad-aware (but I purchased the SE edition with ad-watch). For antivirus, I use Avast! Home Edition.

I'm getting ready to try f-secure on a pilot machine that I've scraped together.

Also, I don't believe there is a such thing as a GOOD software firewall for winblows. I use an old 100mhz machine and run smoothwall on it. Works like a champ. I have a disk that is preconfigured linux with smoothwall. Just take an old machine and run the disk.

I recommend Firefox as a browser and Thunderbird for a simple email client. Once you have used tabbed browsing, you can't go back. It's like a scroll mouse. Ya just gotta have it.

What's crazy is that in all their attempts to make things simple, they've just made things worse. Spyware and adware blockers, antivirus, firewalls... what non-geek has time for all of this??? Installing, keeping up to date with latest defs...

 

[Kaiser]

I liked Kaspersky except the interface.

Yeah man, I agree with the interface when you buy AVP, but they have the most efficient single engine believe it or not. The good thing is that with F-Secure you get the AVP engine, three others and a really good interface. Sophos is another engine that is good, but lacks in interface.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Yeah man, I agree with the interface when you buy AVP, but they have the most efficient single engine believe it or not. The good thing is that with F-Secure you get the AVP engine, three others and a really good interface. Sophos is another engine that is good, but lacks in interface.

I definitely think the real-time engine was the most efficient that I've used (not a resource hog). I also read, at least as of last year, that Kaspersky was one of the best at detecting viruses 'in the wild'

 

[Ashop]

Thanks for the free software.

 

[Kaiser]

I definitely think the real-time engine was the most efficient that I've used (not a resource hog). I also read, at least as of last year, that Kaspersky was one of the best at detecting viruses 'in the wild'

Yes it is, and it is the best scan engine for alot of reasons, mainly that the core engine itself is written much like a virus itself in assembly language.

 

[StoryOfTheYear]

Zonealarm.com is a good free trial. Its good for 30 days, and after that just go back a re-download it! -StOrY

 

[Kaiser]

Zonealarm.com is a good free trial. Its good for 30 days, and after that just go back a re-download it! -StOrY

ZoneAlarm is probably the best personal firewall for Windows workstation (not talking about server products or it would be ISA Server as the best) ever made. Lightweight and works well. Easily configurable and believe me, nothing is getting by it, well unless you allow it and click OK...