-Viruses-

[Luke]

Introduction:

A Lot Of People Have Had Issues Or Concerns With Viruses. So I Wanted A Topic On Our Forum For Others To View Easily.  I Dont Know Much On Them So I Took This Topic ?FOXES? Waffleboy Made.  All The Credit For This Goes To Him. ~Kudos

Definitions:

Here Are Just A Couple Useful Terms That I'll Use In The Rest Of The Guide.  You Don't Really Need To Read This Unless There's A Term You Don't Understand In The Guide.

Adware- Adware Is Malware That Advertises To The User.

False Positive- A False Positive Is When An Anti-Malware Program Detects A Safe File As Malicious Incorrectly.

Malware- A Generic Term For Unwanted Programs On A Computer.  When Most People Say Virus, They Actually Mean Malware.

On-Demand Scanner- An On-Demand Scanner Is A Program That Is Not Constantly Running On Your Computer.  You Must Manually Run The Program To Update And Scan.  It Will NOT Stop Malware From Being Installed On Your Computer.

Real-Time Scanner- A Real Time Scanner Is A Program That Is Constantly Monitoring Your Computer.  It Is Always Running And Will Stop Any Malware That Gets Installed On Your Computer.

Rogue Anti-Virus- A Rouge Anti-Virus Is Software That Is Designed To Look Like A Real Antivirus Program, But In Reality Just Wants To Steal Credit Card And Other Personal Information.

Rootkit- A Rootkit Is A Type Of Malware That Disguises Itself From Other Programs And The User.  They Are Very Nasty And Often Difficult To Get Rid Of, But Are Ineffective In A 64 Bit Operating System.

Spyware- Spyware Is Malware That Is Designed To Collect Data From The User.  For Example, A Keylogger.

Trojan Horse- A Trojan Horse Is A Type Of Malware That Disguises Itself As Legitimate Software (For Example, A Game Or Disk Defragmenter) But Is In Fact Malicious.

Virus- A Virus Is A Type Of Malware That Will Try To Send Itself To Other Computers.

Worm- A Worm Is A Type Of Malware That Installs Itself On A Computer Without Any User Interaction.


Keeping Your Computer Clean:

This Part Of The Guide Is Designed For People Who Have A Computer That Does Not Have Any Malware On It, But That They Want To Keep Clean.  The First Step Here Is To Have A Real Time Anti-Virus Program.  There Are Numerous Paid And Free Anti-Viruses, Many Of Which Are Excellent Products.  I Will List The Main Free Products Here And Give Recommendations About Them:

**NOTE: Only Run One Real-Time Anti-Virus At A Time**

Avast! - Avast Is An Excellent Free Anti-Virus Program.  It Is Feature Rich, Light On System Resources, And Has A Good Detection Rate.  It's A Good All Around Program For Most People, But Does Have A Weakness With Rogue Anti-Viruses. 
http://Http://Download.Cnet.Com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.Html

AVG - AVG Is The Most Popular Of All The Free Antivirus Programs.  For A While, It Lagged Behind Avira And Avast In Terms Of Detection Rate And Did Not Include Any Rootkit Protection, But The New Version Seems To Have Greatly Improved AVG.
http://Http://Download.Cnet.Com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition-2011/3000-2239_4-10320142.Html.   

Avira Antivir - Avira Antivir Is An Excellent Program.  It Is Light And Has The Highest Detection Rate Of ANY Single-Engine Anti-Virus Program, Including Paid Programs.  However, It Also Has A High False Positive Rate And Has An Advertisement That Pops Up Once A Day.  I Would Recommend This For More Advanced Users.
http://Http://Download.Cnet.Com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.Html?Tag=Mncol;Pop

Comodo AntiVirus - No Longer Recommended.

Microsoft Security Essentials - No Longer Recommended.

Another Important Part Of A Security Set Up Is A Firewall.  Most Of You Are Behind Routers, In Which Case You Have A Hardware Firewall Already Protecting You.  Additionally, Windows Comes With A Decent Firewall (In Vista And 7) That Should Be Sufficient.  If You Want Another Layer Of Protection Though, Some Common Free Firewalls Are Comodo Firewall, PC Tools Firewall, Online Armor, And Zone Alarm Personal Firewall.

The Last Software That You Should Have Is An On-Demand Scanner.  I Have My Two Favorites Listed Here.  I Would Advise People To Download These And Run Them A Couple Times A Month To Complement Their Primary Antivirus Program.

Malwarebytes Antimalware - http://Http://Download.Cnet.Com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.Html?Tag=Mncol
SuperAntiSpyware - http://Http://Download.Cnet.Com/SuperAntiSpyware-Free-Edition/3000-8022_4-10523889.Html?Tag=Mncol;Pop

There Are Two More Quick Things.  I Would Recommend That Everyone Install WOT (Web Of Trust).  This Is Essentially A Program That Runs Inside Your Web Browser And Will Give You Ratings Of Different Websites Submitted By Users.  It's A Great Tool And Will Stop You From Clicking A Malicious Link Accidentally.  It Works In Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, And Google Chrome. 
http://Http://Www.Mywot.Com/

Lastly, You Must Make Sure To Update Windows At Least Once A Week.  This Fixes Critical Vulnerabilities And Will Greatly Increase Security.


Just In Case Any One Is Curious, I Use The Website http://Http://Av-Comparatives.Org To Find The Detection Rates Of Different Anti-Virus Programs, And http://Http://Www.Matousec.Com/Projects/Proactive-Security-Challenge/Results.Php To Rate Firewalls.