Has anyone never had a virus on there computer if so what program are you using?

Answer 1

Dr. HOUSE - I've no idea how you became a Top Contributor in this category with such an awful answer.

Viruses don't just come from installations. Going on net without any Anti-Virus is stupid imo - at the very least risky. You can get viruses from webpages.. including corporate webpages if they've been hacked or sabotaged by a disgruntled employee.

Answer 2

Since you just got this used computer, I'd just perform a complete "System Recovery" using the set of Recovery Disks that came with the computer, or if there are no recovery disks, the complete computer recovery can be performed if the hard drive has the "D" Recovery partition installed. The manufacturers started using a partition about 4 years or so ago rather than providing the recovery disks since people seemed to lose them after a year or two anyway. I suggest this because you could be chasing viruses, malware, trojans, and spyware for a month! You're right that you don't need to spend money on good protection, but after the viruses are already there, it's very hard to know what virus is installed and the latest cure for it. It's just so much easier to start with a "clean" computer. Since you have no files installed on this computer, this would be an easy and safe cure for your virus problem. If your friend didn't have a set of Recovery Disks, then you should be able to go to "Computer" and open it. If it has the Recovery "D" partition, you'll see it at the top. You can then shut down your computer and start it and keep tapping the F11 Key to get to the System Recovery program. After you get the computer up and running I'd suggest the following free protections. Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware. You can have more than one antivirus installed, just don't run more than one at a time. Hope this helps! Good luck.

Answer 3

First of all I would like to say that no anti-virus system would be 100% successful in protecting your computer from virus/malware. Virus and Malware infections depend a lot on how responsible you are in using your computer. Even if you don't have an internet connection that doesn't mean you are safe, any media could easily infect your computer and crash down everything. Coming to the point I would say that after trying out almost all popular anti-virus packages the one I found best was Kaspersky Internet Security (have to spend some $ for good security :) And for all the people who don't want to spend a buck can go for AVG and Zonealarm firewall combo (Don't forget to install Ad-Aware and Spybot for removing the dreaded spyware)

Answer 4

i recieved a computer virus not that long ago, and it came from limewire, I urge all who read this post not to download limewire, no antivirus has helped the situation, I have AVG antivirus and yet still the viruses are here, no virus control works against all viruses, infact most antivirus programs help in making the problem worse, e.g before I had any antivirus control I had only one virus making the computer slightly slower, but after adding Antivirus programs it has been hell on my computer, start toolbar keeps disappearing large amounts of popups coming up, and by popups I do NOT mean the small you have won... I mean large windows with web adress bars, so my advice, DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY ANTIVIRUS CONTROL.

Answer 5

Hi yes I did last week and Norton didnt even detect it at all, and i got norton with my computer and it was one of the worst viruses it was a trojan.. It was only when I got my spy wear to check when I found out I had a virus.
I now use AVG I downloaded if free as so many on Yahoo Answers has recommended it to me. Its brilliant it update everyday and it got rid of another 2 trojans the other day that I picked up whilst I was on limewire and Norton Yet again didnt detect it. I have both running now and so far so good. Touch Wood.
I think if you had to go out and buy norton Full price its a waste of money and just hogs up the whole computer.

Use AVG. you will be glad once you get it. As it will scan your computer straight away and it will get rid off all your viruses and put them into quaranteen.

Answer 6

I won't say I have never had a virus, trojan or worm on my PC but since switching to AVG AntiVirus/Firewall I certainly have never had any trouble.

My work PC's uses McAfee and we've had problems with that not catching things, especially on USB keys. AVG catches these everytime.

The bestthing about AVG (apart from the fact you can get a free version) is it is simple to use and updates itself everyday automatically as soon as you log onto the net. Norton and McAfee have never done this in my experience. Norton now have just got to big for their boots and even control your Automatic Windows Updates. Not only that it tends to wiggle itself into places it shouldn't which makes it difficult to remove.

Go with AVG along with Ad Aware SE Personal (free) and Microsoft Windows Defender (free) and take the basic precautions of not opening attachments from unknown sources and you should be OK.

Answer 7

Hi just got a new computer for christmas and ofcourse i am extremely worried about viruses the programme i use is Mcafee it runs in real time so that if you run into any dangerous sites it stops them right in their tracks it does cost to have anti-virus but it helps you in the long term, their is free anti-virus on the net for instance AVG most people i know use that, but viruses arnt the only nasty thing you can get on your computer spy-ware is a pain in the butt for ever getting pop-ups with adware for that sort of thing i would reccomend windows defender Free ofcourse and there is another programme ive used Spybot Search & destroy, so i hope ive been of use bye

Answer 8

To begin with I first installed a virus scanner[spyware] that was first advised by Yahoo and was free. It found a few viruses and deleted them but I had trouble with popups. BT Yahoo updated the browser but I could not see a virus scanner but it did have a popup blocker and had no more trouble with them. I searched the net for a free BT Yahoo virus scanner and saw Norton which they advised. I installed it but a quick scan is not good enough and you really need a full scan to rid all viruses but is it really ridding all viruses.....I dont really know if Microsoft SP 2 works or not....are we being suckered. As soon as one virus is eliminated another one takes it's place. I searched the web for a spyware package and found one and installed it. It found over a hundred viruses and eliminated a few but to be rid of the lot they wanted me to buy it for $50[hijacker] and I believe the viruses were fed into my computer. They keep telling us that this and that package will eliminate the new ones.....but are they telling the truth and who can we trust to protect our PC's and laptops???? I am agreeing with Dr House.

Answer 9

I have been running McAffee for 4 years and have never had a virus. what does cause problems though and is similar to a virus infection is ad ware or spy ware. I use Spybot (which is free to download) and run it every other day. it only takes about 3 or 4 minutes and it nearly always finds something lurking on my computer. Once I have cleared the spy ware etc my computer always responds faster.

Answer 10

There are many Anti-Virus products around, but they are only ever as good as the last update. That said, there are real nasties around, such as root kits. Apart from the effects, getting rid can be tricky. I can say that I have never (since using my system) either lost anything, or had any virus which has taken longer than 30 mins to kill dead.
My "System" is roughly like this. I have 4 partitions on my hard drive. Functionally, "Lifeboat" , "Serious", "Playpen", Personal". First, I load up an operating system to C:\ "Lifeboat" partition. From C:\ then, I load another operating system to D:\ "Serious". This creates a Startup menu, allowing you to run in either partition. Similarly, I load another O/s to E:\ "Playpen". The "lifeboat" is left as a fairly unused system, the other 2 fully loaded as you wish. Then, defrag each partition while its not running (run in C:\, defrag D:\). Now, while you are in C:\ and have defragged D:\, delete "Pagefile.sys" (safe as houses to do, you will need to set up to see hidden files to do this) Then using Winzip, zip the whole of D:\ partition to "personal". Repeat for the other partitions, defragging, deleting, and zipping a non-operational drive using an operational drive.
When the proverbial "Bovine effluent hits the air stirrer" , start up in C:\ "lifeboat", pick of the files you want from the dodgy system, put into your personal drive.. Format the dodgy drive, then re-expand your previous zip file into that partition, End of virus, end of stress, brand new system. Use my e-mail on my profile if you have queries......glad to help.