September 15, 2008
Still looking for the perfect antivirus software
I’m still reeling from the shock and frustration of losing my hard drive to a virus. The good news is that I’ve found a computer geek right up the road who thinks he can clean the thing up enough for me to retieive a few years worth of files, photos, contacts and personal writing. He may even be able to make my old computer usable again. The bad news is that it he doesn’t work cheap, but I have a business to run so I’ll pay whatever it takes. The new laptop is fun, but I haven’t adapted well to all the changes. I want my PC back!
I’ve got the laptop connected to my cable modem right now, but I’m very concerned about the increased security risks once I go wireless and start carrying it around with me. No one but me has physical access to my computer today, but that would change if someone stole it from my car or if I got stupid and left it unattended in a coffee shop. It’s too easy for scumbags to steal identities through cybercpace. Imagine the havoc that would ensue if they had unfettered access to my actual computer. I thought the Vista feature that allows easy password sign-ins was pretty nice until I thought about it for a while. Someone with physical access to my computer would only need to decipher one password to have instant access to all of my personal info and passwords for all of my accounts. Sheesh! What were they thinking even offering such a feature? Needless to say, I’m not using it, but I’m also concerned about the increased risk of sharing wireless access with others in public places. I’ve still got a lot of homework to do, but wouldn’t that make me even more vulnerable to intrusion? Ack! So much to learn! The one thing I know without doing any homework at all is that I need to decide soon which Antivirus Software to install. The lappy came with Norton, so I have some protection, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Symantec. I reviewed my problems with them and some other AV softwares when I was telling you how I lost the old PC, so I won’t rehash that now. I’m through with them and am shopping for something that will offer me real protection. Today I’ve been looking at CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0 and I’m liking what I see. You’ll recall that my recent problems started when I opened an application from a “trusted” site? What frustrated me most about the whole fiasco was that I had a supposedly premium service installed. It not only allowed me to open the appliction, it couldn’t remove the virus once it had installed itself. What I need is an antivirus software that is stupid-proof. Let’s face it - I’m pretty naive when it comes to anything involving technology. I need a babysitter to keep me out of trouble. CyberDefender would have scanned, identified, quarantined, and removed the virus with just a few clicks. That’s what I’m talking about! You’ll want to visit the site yourself and do your own homework, but here are some of the features you’ll find with CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0:
Spyware Removal - detects and removes dangerous spyware and adware from your computer. My old protection removed hundreds at a time - but why did it wait until there were hundreds to deal with?
Virus Protection - detects and removes viruses from your computer. That’s where my previous provider failed me!
Spam Killer - blocks email with spyware and viruses. I manually removed a few dozen spam emails this morning, as I do every day - with Norton running! What’s wrong with that picture?
Intrusion Controls - get the latest Microsoft updates and remove personal information stored on your computer. I love this! From the website: “You can help prevent identity theft by using CyberDefenderFREE’s earlyMONITOR to remind you of Windows updates days before they are available from Microsoft.” Updates are good - early updates - early protection? Much better!
Scam Shield - identifies and warns you about phishing sites and other potentially dangerous websites. Would have been nice to know that the “trusted” site where I got the virus was actually a very clever replica of the real thing, don’t you think?
That’s just some of what you’ll get with CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0, which, by the way, will cost you less than half of what you’ll pay for Norton. Go check them out and tell me what you think. What I think is that I’ve found a very good thing!
Technorati Tags: antivirus software, computer viruses, computer protection, CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0
Posted by skeet @ 12:43 pm • Shopping, Computers & Technology
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September 16th, 2008 at 11:37 am, Jim Says:
Hi Skeet,
I had been using PC Tools on my system for a long time, then I got a really bad virus that crashed my system and damaged my drive or something.
Anyways, a friend of mine re did my setup on computer and put the free version of Cyberdefender on it.
I am glad he did cuz later it block a website from changing my homepage and stopped a virus attack and it seemd to work well. about once a week at pop-up would remind me of some benefit of the paid version and after that attack I decided to look at it.
I liked that it had 2 GB of back-up but really liked that they had a phone #,email 24/7 help line for any computer program. $100 for all that, I said deal!!
Very happy with it. JMHO - Jim Irwood
September 16th, 2008 at 2:10 pm, John Hunter Says:
The best solution I have found is Ubuntu. A free operating system to use instead of windows.