bog-standard A/V scanner recommendations

[vark]

Prior to Windows Defender (etc.) I hung my hat on Avast! for years. It was fast, cheap, useful, and stood a decent uninstall until the next time you wanted to go on a bug hunt. Lately, (Defender notwithstanding), I'd seen something about it not living up to it's glory and some other outfit eating Avast!'s lunch, but who knows? Nothing lasts forever. In any case, any recommendations for a decent scanner for occasional use just to shake the bugs out? Och! Win10x86 PC ('s).

 

[Skunk-Works]

Herdprotect portable if you're looking for a scanner. They don't allow the download right now for some reason, but you can get it here. http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/Antivirus---Antispyware/Portable-herdProtect.shtml

If you are looking for an antivirus then perhaps Immunet or Bitdefender Free.

 

[vark]

Well, I say a "scanner" but in the main I do mean an antivirus app, which presupposes the former. I'll examine your suggestions, thank you.

 

[Elixer]

Frankly, I don't use any 3rd party program to be on 24/7, they expose your system more, are intrusive, and phone home everything on your system.
Just use Windows Defender, and the weekly scan from malwarebytes / spybot S&D / or something along those lines is good enough. (Assuming you aren't in the habit of running programs from untrusted sources)

 

[vark]

Frankly, I don't use any 3rd party program to be on 24/7, they expose your system more, are intrusive, and phone home everything on your system.
Just use Windows Defender, and the weekly scan from malwarebytes / spybot S&D / or something along those lines is good enough. (Assuming you aren't in the habit of running programs from untrusted sources)

Yes, that was the point; something to use when the spirit moves one. My routine going back decades, well prior to The Great and Powerful, etc. Defender... was to, once or twice a year, usually around the new year and maybe in the summer, install and run Avast! then uninstall it and scrape as many traces of it from the hdd as possible (which was okay as it had a reasonable footprint). It's been about a year, see, so it's getting on toward time, having just dragged WDefender through an advanced scan, to see if there's anything the Big Dog overlooked. Not likely but that's when the bugs crawl into your porridge, when you're feeling safe and content. I've never opted for full-time "protection" of any source, just the routine as described. Good firewall helps, and not being completely mad. Last infection I had was in the early days of my 486DX2 (helped by Dr. Solomon; the actual Dr. Solomon, who answered his own email in those days). Sorta nice, sorta creepy (very creepy) that Win10 covers all the bases save that last, double-check.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

I use Symantec End Point (provided by my university free of charge) and linux mint's built in fire wall. You can never be too secure these days, even on mac or linux.
https://ibb.co/juteAR

Also, dont download pirated torrents or visit scammy advertisement sites. Those hackers are gonna get you if you like to hand out administrative/root access to anything you found on the web.

I had once had my online bank account password hacked. Ever since then i had been extremely paranoid about my pc's cyber security.

 

[vark]

It's a valuable lesson in vulnerability. I can only hope that my bank would be fast to respond and straightforward if there were a breach of any kind, as they're supposed to track and report inconsistent activity, but there are cracks in the universe and we all stand an equal chance of falling through them. I used to lean toward hyper-paranoid, and I respond quickly when there's an irregular occurrence (which often if not usually results from a leak in Firefox), but one can't really enjoy living while hiding in a bunker. After being burned by among the first of the rootkits (thanks again, Dr. Solomon!), I was terribly gunshy for a long time. Mais, c'est la vie. I'm still compiling information on A/V's (and wishing it weren't the same base acronym as audio-video), so thanks again, everyone.