help internet security

thanks in advance. Iam in the market for internet security which do you guys use? did you download it or buy from a store? price range?

Avast and it's free

If you want the most secure possible system, run from a Linux "Live" (bootable) CD. That's not a bad idea if you want to do online banking from a PC you suspect is compromised (in other words, any Windows PC). You can boot the system with reasonable confidence it will be free of malware, and of course it's not possible to infect a read-only device such as a CD. When you're done with your banking, you can reboot the machine to Windows and go back to playing Leisure Suit Larry or whatever it is you do with it most of the time.

Second most secure solution is a Linux installation. Most popular Linux distributions are quite secure, and even the less-secure distributions are orders of magnitude more secure than Windows.

If you run any release of Windows, regardless of your chosen band-aid security software, you should just assume it to be compromised and act accordingly.

I run AVG free and use Firefox for web stuff. No problems over several years. I think a lot of peoples problems comes from not maintaining the computer with simple stuff like CCleaner and going to websites known for issues, ie- porn sites.

I used to have Norton, Avast, and a few other "aftermarket" programs for viruses and spyware. After still getting an occasional "infection" I switched to the free Microsoft "Security Essentials." If you've got a MS Windows based machine - it's one of the best, free, and constantly updated. It catches things none of the others did.

We had Norton but had too many viruses coming through. Now use Avast as it's free. No more viruses. You also need to remove the Norton program if you had it installed, even if you haven't resubscribed to it.. It will still run in the background and slow your computer down.

Mark,
I have been considering Linux. Do you have a prefered? I see Red Hat and Ubutu (spelling).
Anything you would recomend?
Thanks

i have mcafee total protection i like it

Mark,
You are spot on. My buddy made me the Linux boot disk so we can shop on-line and such. Cant tell you much more than that, I am not a genius when it comes to computers. Which you know, remember your son showing me how to use my smart phone at MMOGTA in 2012?

Rick

I'm using a computer that is about 8-9 years old and I've had Ubuntu on it for at least 6 or 7 years. It's an old Compaq that was a $298 WalMart special. I maxed out the memory on it and installed Ubuntu on it to write over the existing Windows. I also have a Windoze 7 machine that is about two years old. This machine boots much faster than my Windows machine, updates are free and has a lot of nice features. The one and only time that my email was hacked was when I was using my Windows machine that has virus protection on it. If I have to do any internet purchasing, I will use Ubuntu instead of Windows.
My daughter is a sophomore in college majoring in computer engineering. While in grade school and high school, she was a big Windows fan and thumbed her nose at my Ubuntu machine. About a week ago, she dumped Windows on her college laptop and installed Ubuntu, if that tells you anything. I could tell that it was hard for her to admit that her old man knew something that she didn't.

I use System Suite Professional by Avanquest. I've tried so many different ones (including the freebies lol) and this is the best by far for me. In addition to all the regular features it has a ton of tools and diagnostics and finds and fixes problems other program (free or paid) could not even find let alone fix.

Of course this is what worked for me it may NOT for others and other programs (free or paid) may work better for them, so to each their own, use what works best for YOU not me or others. For my use, System Suite 14 by Avanquest has proven itself to be the best.

John T

Hi Tom,

Well the choices are myriad, but Ubuntu and Mint are quite popular and are intended for the typical desktop user. Mint is essentially the same as Ubuntu, but with some additional packages that Ubuntu won't include. I generally recommend Mint to new users.

I started out with Red Hat over 15 years ago. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now intended for commercial use, mainly for servers. To ensure stability, it doesn't incorporate the latest changes and updates. If you want to use Red Hat without paying for support, you would use Centos which is exactly the same as RHEL, but free. What I use is Fedora, which is the test bed for RHEL. Fedora is probably not as stable as Ubuntu/Mint, but has better support for new software. I use Fedora primarily because I'm familiar with the Red Hat way of doing things, but it's also a reasonably good choice for new users.

The German SuSE Linux is another well-regarded distribution and would be my next recommendation. Debian is also highly regarded; Ubuntu is a Debian derivative.

With Linux, you can also choose your desktop environment. For Ubuntu and Fedora, GNOME 3.0 is the default DE, but its design is similar to Windows 8.0 and widely disliked, even among users who like GNOME 2.0. For that reason, I suggest using a different desktop; KDE, MATE and Cinnamon offer a more Windows 95-like appearance and better usability than GNOME 3.0. KDE is available on pretty much all the major distros.

You can compare Linux distributions on Distrowatch.
Distrowatch

Rick, I think you have me confused with a different Mark. I've never been to MMOGTA.

I use MS Security Essentials. Years ago I had a laptop with McAfee on it, got infected, the outfit that 'fixed' it was not impressed with my internet security!

A year ago, I would have agreed with you. Now....well, that's your choice. Do a Google search for "Microsoft no longer recommends Microsoft Security Essentials".
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2013/10/06/ouch_microsoft_no_longer_recommends_their_own_security_essentials_anti-virus_package

I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials,it's free and easy to maintain. The school system I worked for used Mcaffe and avira and we had viruses and malware problems galore. We would have to add Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware to keep problems down. They changed over to an active directory system and went with Microsoft security and it was amazing. I am running W7 and been on MSE for about 10 months and have had no problems. I had good luck with Norton but got tired of paying $40 to $60 for it every year.

I read about Microsoft not recommending Security essentials about a month ago. It's still in my computer but I don't rely on it by itself. I have AVAST and no problems.

Hmmm. It must be Mark_MI then. See, forget the smartphone, I cant even figure out who I know on YT!!!

Its this Mark, on the right.

Rick

Norton Antivirus and paid version of Malwarebytes Antimalware. I haven't had any problems with this combo.

Yes, I sometimes see posts from the Other Mark and think "I don't remember saying that!". Ciao.

One more comment about security/anti-malware packages. Folks will say "I've used Brand X for N years and never had a problem." Well, that's not necessarily true. Actually, they never DISCOVERED a problem, which is entirely different. The nastiest and most dangerous malware will remain cleverly concealed. Keystroke loggers fall into that category, which is why the safest way to do financial transactions is to boot your PC from a live Linux CD.