Malware removal/prevention and Antivirus Recs

[Pargon]

Didn't see a section for this in Dear Leader's official recommendations. Fixing a work mate's normie parents' laptop and looking for lightweight and free programs, ideally. They've already fallen afoul of the sort of pitfalls you'd expect in the past and I view this shit like the CDC: prevention is a public service.

Any ideas?

 

[Vecr]

Windows Defender + a good ad blocker.

Linux

 

[He Who Points And Laughs]

Windows Defender + a good ad blocker.

Linux

This.

If they are dead set on using windows, just be sure that Windows Defender is on and install uBlock Origin on their browsers.

 

[kūhaku]

Malwarebytes has worked for me for over a year, it caught things windows defender didn't.

 

[Pargon]

Linux

I said, "normies", nigger. Though maybe I should have qualified actual boomer normies.

I do agree with you, otherwise.

 

[crocodilian]

I recommend avoiding Windows 10. Not only do you bypass Microsoft's built-in spyware, you (inadvertently) bypass a lot of malware simply because nobody fishes in an empty lake. All the malware boogeymen flock to the most commonly used operating systems, not older ones that few people use. Is it secure? Not really. But if you're truly paranoid, security essentials will cover older systems from generic badware without much exception. My personal recommendation for a normalfag OS is the earliest version of Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate. (I won't provide a link to that, Null has enough headaches.)

From there it's figuring out what your friend's parents want to use. I assume they browse the internet, so I recommend setting their browser to some decent Chromium derivative and plug in Adblock, uBlock, Adguard, Scriptsafe (old people may get annoyed at having to manually 'okay' scripts, but it's worth it for security) and Minerblock. I've clicked on web pages I knew were infected with these add-ons active and nothing made it through.

After that it's the usual promenade of installing drivers for whatever they use. Run this and get USB support if you decided to go with what I recommended.

 

[He Who Points And Laughs]

Malwarebytes has worked for me for over a year, it caught things windows defender didn't.

Each antivirus programs will act slightly differently, which is why when making malware you test it against as many as possible., e.g. virustotal.com

 

[Coke Pope]

No antivirus is really needed once you delete system32, as that is the biggest malware of them all.

 

[No Exit]

I have the free Malwarebytes installed as well as Webroot.

 

[A Cardboard Box]

It isn't 1999, Windows Defender is perfectly capable. Get Malwarebytes as a good manual scan. Tell them to not click on random shit like a fucking retard. If you absolutely NEED to download a third party antivirus get like Avira. It's free and not completely useless, although you really, really don't need it.

 

[Foxxo]

Don't download porn.

 

[DragoonSierra]

I recommend avoiding Windows 10. Not only do you bypass Microsoft's built-in spyware, you (inadvertently) bypass a lot of malware simply because nobody fishes in an empty lake. All the malware boogeymen flock to the most commonly used operating systems, not older ones that few people use. Is it secure? Not really. But if you're truly paranoid, security essentials will cover older systems from generic badware without much exception. My personal recommendation for a normalfag OS is the earliest version of Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate. (I won't provide a link to that, Null has enough headaches.)

From there it's figuring out what your friend's parents want to use. I assume they browse the internet, so I recommend setting their browser to some decent Chromium derivative and plug in Adblock, uBlock, Adguard, Scriptsafe (old people may get annoyed at having to manually 'okay' scripts, but it's worth it for security) and Minerblock. I've clicked on web pages I knew were infected with these add-ons active and nothing made it through.

After that it's the usual promenade of installing drivers for whatever they use. Run this and get USB support if you decided to go with what I recommended.

How do you get SSDs to work in Windows 7? Mine registers as an A drive.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Crocodilian nailed it. Common sense really is the best and most useful tool. I haven't had an antivirus in years. Don't download porn.exe, don't let people plug in random USB drives into your computer, stop downloading cracked versions of Adobe Pagemaker that have been stuffed to the brim with Russian botnet trojans. Install Noscript and don't browse the internet equivalent of crack dens and sewer pipes full of Morlocks waiting to rape and kill you


That's honestly all you really need.

 

[Thank Fuck For Evil Otto]

You can add Simplewall to get even more fine-grained, to prevent programs from talking shit on the internet unless you explicitly say boo. Adguard for Desktop is also alright, as it blocks shit in any program you let it fondle.

 

[Splendid]

Brave Browser will prevent a fair bit of stupidity too just by blocking shit.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

Crocodilian nailed it. Common sense really is the best and most useful tool. I haven't had an antivirus in years. Don't download porn.exe, don't let people plug in random USB drives into your computer, stop downloading cracked versions of Adobe Pagemaker that have been stuffed to the brim with Russian botnet trojans. Install Noscript and don't browse the internet equivalent of crack dens and sewer pipes full of Morlocks waiting to rape and kill you

That's honestly all you really need.

You can't teach people common sense though.

I used to install Spybot S&D universally but it takes a day just to run a scan now even with an SSD. As @Splendid says, Brave is a good minimum level of browsing protection.