Which Antivirus/Tune -up software would you recommened?

[GeorgeBrown]

About 10 years ago while I was at college I worked in a computer repair shop.

They had a system to service the computers, just a cd with many different programs to clean up your computer of Virus, spyware, missing files, reg cleaner etc.

Since it been so long and with so many changes I would like to make a list of programs I can use to clean up family and friends machines.

So I would start with ccleaner any ways.

I am really looking for free or trial versions I can install to clean up computers.

Like I would like to run 2 antivirus scan and about 4 - 5 spyware cleaners each time.

And maybe software to fix errors and wasted space on hard drives.

Also a good reg cleaner.

Your knowledge is greatly appreciated.

Edited April 26, 2015 by GeorgeBrown

[NeverSure]

#1 run defrag. Then do what you're going to do. The slowest computer I ever saw also had the most fragmented HDD. It was so slow it would have been almost a waste of time to try to run anything else.

Then run your other tuneup programs.

Cheers.

[GeorgeBrown]

#1 run defrag. Then do what you're going to do. The slowest computer I ever saw also had the most fragmented HDD. It was so slow it would have been almost a waste of time to try to run anything else.

Then run your other tuneup programs.

Cheers.

Thanks'

Yea I hear that, I do remember now some machine's can be so messed up its impossible to run many programs at once, so your right getting the hard drive cleaned up and defragged is a wise start.

[NeverSure]

#1 run defrag. Then do what you're going to do. The slowest computer I ever saw also had the most fragmented HDD. It was so slow it would have been almost a waste of time to try to run anything else.

Then run your other tuneup programs.

Cheers.

Thanks'

Yea I hear that, I do remember now some machine's can be so messed up its impossible to run many programs at once, so your right getting the hard drive cleaned up and defragged is a wise start.

Yeah, I was once asked to find out what was wrong with a friend's computer in his motorcycle speed shop. All it needed was a good defrag to solve 90% of its problems but it took several hours for defrag to run. It was like Catch 22. It was "almost" too slow to run defrag. It had to defrag before I could muster the patience to even try to open, install or download any other utility. After it defragged I did a cold boot and it was still somewhat fragmented. The first shot didn't clear it all but the next defrag went fairly quickly.

Cheers.

[IMA_FARANG]

Well it's not a freebie, although you can download it for a 30 day trial, but to keep it you will have to pay for it after the trial period

My personal choice is a program by a company called IOLO and the product is called System Mechanic Pro. They are a California based company that has won several awards from computer magazines for this program.

The cost will be about 40 or 50 dollars U.S. (maybe less if they are doing a sales promotion at that particular time) and you can download it on line and pay for it with MasterCard , Visa, etc.

The first time you use it , an analysis of your hard drive is run, and from that analysis a suite of optimization programs is run...... including file defragmentation and optimization along with a full hard drive virus and malware scan.

When you purchase the product you also get daily (you can choose how often) virus updates.... either automatic or on notification that you can then run.

If you purchase the program and install it you get one year's service.

I use it regularly, basically daily.

Best 60 dollars I ever spent to protect and optimize my hard drive.

I've used it for years.

Edited April 26, 2015 by IMA_FARANG

[CharlieH]

I am no expert, but I have always been under the impression that running multiple anti-virus programs is a bad idea and can result in software clashes and problems.

Find one good one for of each requirement.

I use ccleaner (free) malwarebytes (free) Avast (Free) although there are paid versions for more bells & whistles.

[kekalot]

I mostly use CCleaner and Spybot S&D, both free versions

you could also set up some USB stick using Portableapps.com, which includes whatever you choose from the list.

I personally copied my Portableapps folder into my Google Drive folder and that makes it effectively available anywhere in the world

[Thaddeus]

I am no expert, but I have always been under the impression that running multiple anti-virus programs is a bad idea and can result in software clashes and problems.

Find one good one for of each requirement.

I use ccleaner (free) malwarebytes (free) Avast (Free) although there are paid versions for more bells & whistles.

I use exactly the same stuff and I'm very happy with it.

[GeorgeBrown]

I am no expert, but I have always been under the impression that running multiple anti-virus programs is a bad idea and can result in software clashes and problems.

Find one good one for of each requirement.

I use ccleaner (free) malwarebytes (free) Avast (Free) although there are paid versions for more bells & whistles.

That's true, but Ill only leave one antivirus on the machine when the scans are finished, Avg is my favorite Anti virus

[steven100]

adwcleaner is a good tool to use, AVG has always had a good name, CCleaner of coarse, Spybot S&D works well.

I also use Advanced SystemCare .. it has all the bells & whistles adequate for complete PC monitoring and cleaning.

[lopburi3]

In today's age defrag should not be required in itself (although you may need to remove a lot of hungry programs installed automatically). At the current speed of both drives and chips do not believe it is really needed (for hard drive or registry). Much more important to protect from virus and malware/PUP. Newer operating systems keep disks in rather good order.

But that said would still use Ccleaner basic setting to get rid of excess crap.

Malwarebytes to check for operator errors.

Was using Bitdefender but now using Panda for virus.

All are free for home use and highly regarded.

[Banzai99]

Try this free program, Cezurity Antivirus Scanner

http://download.cnet.com/Cezurity-Antivirus-Scanner/3000-2239_4-76079867.html

As previously mentioned Adwcleaner is very good, there are many freeware programs that will do a good job, here are some alternatives,

http://alternativeto.net/software/adwcleaner/

Edited April 27, 2015 by Banzai99

[Thaddeus]

Stay well away from anything that starts with Baidu.

[crabdog]

#1 run defrag. Then do what you're going to do. The slowest computer I ever saw also had the most fragmented HDD. It was so slow it would have been almost a waste of time to try to run anything else.

Then run your other tuneup programs.

Cheers.

DO NOT run defrag on systems with a SSD as it's unecessary and does more harm than good.

[DogNo1]

AVG also makes a pc tuneup utility- check their webste. In the past, I bought Tuneup Utilities and installed it on as many machines as I wanted. The free versions of programs are bare-bones. If you want ease of use, you have to pay a little. Incidentally, PC Magazine and Maximum PC both review and rate the programs available every year. See the Maximum PC website for complete reviews and ratings.

[NanLaew]

For my own working and traveling solutions.

ESET for paid for antivirus (do not bother with any 'internet security suite' variants.

Malwarebytes for paid for malware, spyware, etc..

AMUST paid for registry cleaner.

CCleaner paid for total housekeeping.

For third-party machines and ad-hoc jobs.

AVG free (again, avoid the suites and 'tuners').

Malwarebytes free trial.

AMUST free trial.

CCleaner free trial.

[Somtamnication]

Good idea to use only ONE antivirus.

Good idea to use 2 or 3 malware detectors.

Good idea to defrag about once a week.

I also use Glary utilities pro.

[johnh869]

I use Trend Max Security.....Great for blocking your e-mail addresses and credit card numbers. Also I use the free Auslogics disk frag program. The disk frag works very fast....That's my two cents..

[Guest]

AVAST is really the best.

Used it for years

Never had a bug / virus / issue.

Good luck.

[gandalf12]

Antivirus definitely Kaspersky. As for malware antimalwarebytes for sure.

[OmarZaidMD]

I use VIPRE never had a problem since, great online service to

[rijit]

best advise is NEVER use explorer use firefox, opera, or safari. but baring that avg.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ezzra]

Well it's not a freebie, although you can download it for a 30 day trial, but to keep it you will have to pay for it after the trial period

My personal choice is a program by a company called IOLO and the product is called System Mechanic Pro. They are a California based company that has won several awards from computer magazines for this program.

The cost will be about 40 or 50 dollars U.S. (maybe less if they are doing a sales promotion at that particular time) and you can download it on line and pay for it with MasterCard , Visa, etc.

The first time you use it , an analysis of your hard drive is run, and from that analysis a suite of optimization programs is run...... including file defragmentation and optimization along with a full hard drive virus and malware scan.

When you purchase the product you also get daily (you can choose how often) virus updates.... either automatic or on notification that you can then run.

If you purchase the program and install it you get one year's service.

I use it regularly, basically daily.

Best 60 dollars I ever spent to protect and optimize my hard drive.

I've used it for years.

Don't know about your experience with that app, but I have bought the full version and I have nothing but troubles with it and I run fairly fast processors and plenty of RAM, at the end, I had to junk it, and good riddance...

[Muhendis]

Glary Utilities

[WitawatWatawit]

Stay well away from anything that starts with Baidu.

And softonic, which I saw once was connected to Baidu.

hao123 anyone?

[angiolo]

As far as ANTIVIRUS goes I thoroughly recomend the PANDA products. Ammazing amount of stuff it collects and blocks. You must give it a try.\\\\\\\\i have used Panda for some years ,from 2013..to..2014 now 2015 .. There is also a PANDA cloud cleaner which is free.

[ozyjon]

I've been working / programming computers since the 80's

i won't give you advice, learn for yourself, research first, if

a program is free (IT ISN'T) it will be full of bloatware and

other tag along malware, the third world war is up and

running and we are all in it without knowing about it.

Protect yourself first, learn how to use your Virus program

well, learn how to set your computer to a previous time by

using System Restore, stop wasting your time playing games

and learn how to protect yourself and if anyone ever says,,

" I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE"

[Andre0720]

I've been working / programming computers since the 80's

i won't give you advice, learn for yourself, research first, if

a program is free (IT ISN'T) it will be full of bloatware and

other tag along malware, the third world war is up and

running and we are all in it without knowing about it.

Protect yourself first, learn how to use your Virus program

well, learn how to set your computer to a previous time by

using System Restore, stop wasting your time playing games

and learn how to protect yourself and if anyone ever says,,

" I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE"

You would not make a very good doctor....

[connda]

CCleaner for general application cleanup and registry cleanup.

MyDefrag for defragging the disk. Old but still a sharp knife in the drawer.

Antivirus? No 'one' application is a perfect solution. For free, try Antivir Free, Avast, or Malwarebytes. Suggestion? Run Avast in real-time, Malwarebyte free can only be run in scan mode so use it to double-check your system, download and run Antivir Rescue Disk which loads from CD/DVD or USB and runs the Ubuntu OS to run Antivir offline. Depends how through you want to be (or paranoid LOL). Or run a version of Linux, then you don't need antivirus software.

Also, don't bother 'tuning-up' your system especially when it starts to run really flaky.

Instead, reinstall your operating system, install all security patches, install your software (look up Ninite), update all your software security patches, and image your 'system drive'. Never run a "pre-installed operating system". Yeah, your local computer vendor will load it up with unlicensed copies of software you might want, but trust me, your getting more than you think you are (think about it hard). The first thing I do with a new computer? Repartition the hard-drive and reload the operating system, and then clone the freshly installed system image.

I'm assuming your using Windows. So the day after every Microsoft Patch Tuesday, reimage your system from the 'clean system image' you created after rebuilding your computer, update the operating system security patches and application patches, and your system will run like a champ. If your looking for free imaging software, search for 'alternatives to Norton Ghost' on the internet. There are free ones like Clonezilla. By the way, when you reimage your system, it essentially defrags the system (its about how the cloning software reads, stores, and rewrites the data). I can restore a cloned image in less than 15 minutes. It takes my defrag software about 1 to 2 hours depending on the amount of data on the drive and how defragged it is (which mine generally is not).

If you're afraid you'll mess up your system, go buy a cheapo, used desktop system for 2 or 3k baht (or whatever you consider to be 'cheapo') and get use to using that system as a 'Sandbox'. (Make sure its not too old. It should be able to boot a USB drive, minimum of 2GB memory, and don't worry too much about hard drive space - this is a play system, you shouldn't be storing much of anything on it. Load OSs (Windows and free OS like the multifude of Open Source variations of Linux), learn how to dual boot Windows and Linux, load various software, clone your successes, overwrite your failures, and learn. The best way to know what works best for you is to play, play, play -- then use techical forums to ask questions. Most of all -- Have fun!

Edited April 28, 2015 by connda

[whiteman]

I must be the odd one out I used Nortons for years and never had any problems