Deepfreeze alternative: Shadow Defender

I've been using Deep freeze both for personal(testing) and customer used. In the Internet cafe my friend and I manages, currently their using Deep freeze to protect their computers from all sorts of virus / malware / spyware and etc problems. There were few setbacks on Deep freeze but it proves it effectiveness in day to day used. Problems encountered at times were: it's not image cloning friendly. Crashes or prone to cmos resetting problem. [Read More..]

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Antivirus that is right for you.

Antivirus that is right for you.
Let's begin.

As a technician, we always experience different cases of virus attack or infection. Some fixable and others, pc revival/renewal. I've been using and testing different antivirus and other pc protection starting from Symantec Norton, Trend Micro Piccilin, McAffe, AVG, Kaspersky, Avast, Eset Nod32, F-secure, Bit Defender, Norman, Sophos, G-Data, Avira Antivir and etc. Usually shifting to different antivirus saves lives and businesses.

The truth is... there's no perfect protection.

At some point it fails. PC Pest gets smarter and at times dormant just waiting for it's grand performance.

So what should we consumer use to protect our pc?

Well by experience, when searching for a right antivirus or pc protection for your daily extreme pc use, here are few helpful guidelines.
1. Know your pc's performance and capacity
Verify processor, memory, videocard & harddisk speed.
- normally for new pc's today, most antivirus runs smoothly and protects your pc with ease. But I have encountered computer that runs in 128mb/256mb ddr memory. So what antivirus will both work properly without dragging the system resources and has very efficient scanning/removal capability? I choose AVAST.
2. Read reviews and verify antivirus system requirements
Verify antivirus performance by reading trusted review sites. Try http://www.av-comparatives.org, to know which antivirus outperforms in different Microsoft operating systems. Has more features and award-winning protection. This is an effectiveness-based benchmarking test site. Performance outweighs price. Another is http://www.virusbtn.com/index. You need to register an account to access their wide range of top antivirus competency tests. It is similar to AV-Comparative in a more simplified and generalised performance test ranking manner. It's your choice to be informed, so make a choice.
3. Who says proactive defense doesn't fail?
Proactive/on-access defense scanning is very important for an antivirus, and also for it to be able to protect itself from being corrupted. Few antivirus program I've used had this folder write-protect feature.(avast, Kaspersky, antivir and etc.) We know that Microsoft Windows Vista and 7 had the folder locking capability speacially on programfiles and windows folders. But how about windows xp, 98, me and etc? So it's best to verify and confirm if your antivirus had these features before putting it in your system.
4. You have selected the best antivirus for your system and what's next? Virus Database Upgrading and monitoring.
This is a common security hole for most users. Failing to update your antivirus regularly will cost you dearly. This is usually the case for most off-line users. Most antivirus company provides off-line updates. We need to be aware and be vigilant to keep our pc on top shape and virus free.
5. Always scan. By schedule or on-demand.
Sometimes I notice this to most pc users. They really were very dependent on their antivirus to do everything. Yes. Antivirus have pro-active defense and on-access scanning. But always do an on-demand scan on your free-time or after Internet Browsing or any pc activity that involves file transfers. Leaving yourself off-guard would be devastating. Yes it takes time for virus scanning to finish and if your in a hurry make a schedule and stick on it.
6. USB Monsters.
Autorun.inf and all its creatures. Make it a habit to scan the external storage devices first before opening it. This the reason why Pro-active defense and on-access scanning was created. This is your first line of defense from these type of threats. May it be online or offline attack. At times recently Autorun.inf could not be removed but just being block and Antivirus Pop-up information keeps blocking your screen for the hidden autorun.inf file can't be removed. What works? Linux Live Distro.. Removing it manually using a Ubuntu Live CD along with its nuisance folders will do the job. A small tip, buy a usb flash drive with a write protection features. Not the software type write protection for it sometimes gets corrupted.
7. If your on an extreme environment that an infection couldn't be avoided. Try Shadow Defender.
Here's my previous article and brief on this software I'm currently benchmarking and using on my windows 7. http://roxascitytechhelps.forummotion.com/third-party-software-problems-solutions-f10/deepfreeze-alternative-shadow-defender-t9.htm#9
This software is similar to Deep freeze. If your familiar with Deepfreeze use and features, so it has that and more. This is great for Internet Cafe's and free-for-all pc.
8. Share your ideas to the world on how you maintained a virus free pc life.


What I'm using right now on my Windows 7 are: Avira Antivir Free Edition, Como Firewall Free Edition, Shadow Defender(under test), Recuva, & CCleaner.

God Bless and have a great day to all!

1 comment:

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