All in one protection ? [Anti Virus,Malware,etc..]

[PrivatePixel]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

Does anyone know how well this handles all those malware programs that present themselves as antivirus programs? You know the ones where someone is surfing the net and they get a pop up telling them that their PC is infected, do they want to take care of it. Then the novice user clicks yes and DL's that crap to their PC... which then proceeds to hijack the browser and put up fake BSOD's in an attempt to get the novice user to "buy" the full version of their program. I've had a huge problem with those things on my PC's at work. Some of them are so bad the only way to clean them is to format. I'd love a good AV, anti-spyware that would prevent those from being installed.

I think one's browser choice could be a factor in addressing the popups of those pseudo AV scans (based on personal experience, it's more pervasive when using Internet Explorer than with Mozilla Firefox). I think it stems from the fact that these are JavaScript-based popups, which can be disabled quite easily in Firefox by unmarking the 'Enable JavaScript' check box (under the Content tab). I'm not sure if the same can be accomplished in IE if I unchecked the JRE <applet> check box (under the Advanced tab).

On those occasions where IE is running and the popup does appear, I bring up Task Manager immediately, kill the IE process and clear my browser cache with CCleaner. To be on the safe side, I run a full scan with KIS to ensure that no malicious files are still embedded after that incident; in addition to this, I run Spyware Doctor and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware occasionally to be doubly sure.

As popcornninja stated, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is excellent at addressing malware infections (this was used with great success on a co-worker's PC after he incurred a Vundo Trojan while browsing).

The problem with Vundo and its variants is that most AV programs are unable to block them; often times, post-infection cleanup (with Malwarebytes or a similar program) is necessary. Even programs such as TeaTimer.exe (which is bundled with Spybot - Search & Destroy) can be exploited by newer variants of Vundo, therefore reliance on just one anti-malware program is not recommended (keeping multiple anti-malware programs on a USB thumb drive is helpful for such occasions).