How do you protect your PC from getting viruses?

[Norr]

Right now I'm dual-booting windows 7 and windows 10, windows 10 is my main OS. On windows 7 I'm using Microsoft security essentials and malaware bytes and on windows 10 I use Windows defender and malaware bytes. Last night I scanned my windows 10 drive with malaware bytes and seem to have found a virus that windows defender for some reason didn't detect? I'm wondering if the antivirus programs I'm using are enough or do you recommend me to install another one? How do you protect your PC from getting viruses?

[Sapph]

You protect it with general common sense: do not download stuff from shady pages.
Malwarebytes and Defender detect different kinds of viruses.

Malware doesn't detect just viruses but as name implies, also just malware in general. Defender mostly handles known widespread viruses.

[Omega]

Common sense. You don't even need an AV if you use common sense.

A good Adblocker and noscript also helps just in case. I recommend Ublock Origins, it's capable of doing much more then act as a simple adblock.
https://youtu.be/2lisQQmWQkY
And it's not a piece of malware like it's competitors (cough) Adblock Plus (cough).

[Norr]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Sapph:

You protect it with general common sense: do not download stuff from shady pages.
Malwarebytes and Defender detect different kinds of viruses.

Malware doesn't detect just viruses but as name implies, also just malware in general. Defender mostly handles known widespread viruses.

Yes of course!

Okay.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Omega:

Common sense. You don't even need an AV if you use common sense.

A good Adblocker and noscript also helps just in case. I recommend Ublock Origins, it's capable of doing much more then act as a simple adblock.
https://youtu.be/2lisQQmWQkY
And it's not a piece of malware like it's competitors (cough) Adblock Plus (cough).

Thank you I'm already using Ublock but I might learn more about it so I'll check it :)

[tacoshy]

Yup common sense, if you only download stuff you exactly know, you wont get any viruses.

[r.linder]

As others have said: Common sense is the best anti-virus.

Also, pretty much every anti-virus developing company hires hackers to create viruses for them to patch to make them look like their software actually works. Generally, what you need to worry about is the stuff that hasn't been discovered and patched yet which you can avoid if you aren't downloading from risky sites; the way it works is things that actual "black hat" hackers (the bad ones) make to steal info or cause damage will infect several systems with an anti-virus before those software developers can patch it. So hypothetically speaking, if your PC got infected because you torrented an episode of TWD and got a virus that hadn't been patched, your system would be part of the collateral damage that always happens before your anti-virus developer discovers and patches it.

tl;dr AV is pointless. Don't be an idiot and download things from sources that haven't been confirmed as safe, even if the site itself says it is because anyone can slap a decal.

[StarDusT_184]

Outpost firewall is very configurable firewall ;)

[Viper]

A good Firewall is a good thing to have and pretty necessary in this day and age in my view.Common sense is not going to protect you in every instance. For example NewEgg a very large and trusted retailer was hacked last month. Hackers installed code consisting of only 8 lines that grabbed all your Credit card data and sent it to there domain. It was completlly undetectable as you never left the NewEgg Website. Nothing would probably help you in this instance. It skimmed your CC info as you entered it without every leaving NewEggs site. But just an example that common sense is not much of a deterrent in this day and age. So its best to be prepared as best as you can. Get the best security software you can find. Hackers don't just set up shady sites. They attack all sites without exception.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/363870/newegg-hacked-to-steal-customers-credit-card-data

This is the place where a lot of you buy your hardware from probably. I made some purchases during this period. NewEgg sent me a letter thankfully. I immidiatelly had my Credit Card cancelled and a new one reissued. Common sense is a good idea. But it will not always protect you. Guaranteed. Security software is not pointless. Far from it. If your not going to protect yourself the only way to not get hit is to not buy anything at all online. Not to play any online games. And to not surf the internet. Becuae all of these areas have been hit reguraly and frequently.

At least with a security suite most attacks on you can be detected. A good firewall will stealth close all your ports and will not allow incoming traffic without your permission. Nothing protects you completlly but being 95% protected is far far better than not being protected at all.

Take it from someone who is as carefull as they come and still got hit.

[tacoshy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

A good Firewall is a good thing to have and pretty necessary in this day and age in my view.Common sense is not going to protect you in every instance. For example NewEgg a very large and trusted retailer was hacked last month. Hackers installed code consisting of only 8 lines that grabbed all your Credit card data and sent it to there domain. It was completlly undetectable as you never left the NewEgg Website. Nothing would probably help you in this instance. But just an example that common sense is not much of a deterrent in this day and age. So its best to be prepared as best as you can. Get the best security software you can find. Hackers don't just set up shady sites. They attack all sites without exception.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/363870/newegg-hacked-to-steal-customers-credit-card-data

This is the place where a lot of you buy your hardware from probably. I made some purchases during this period. NewEgg sent me a letter thankfully. I immidiatelly had my Credit Card cancelled and a new one reissued. Common sense is a good idea. But it will not always protect you. Guaranteed. Security software is not pointless. Far from it. If your not going to protect yourself the only way to not get hit is to not buy anything at all online. Not to play any online games. And to not surf the internet. Becuae all of these areas have been hit reguraly and frequently.

At least with a security suite most attacks on you can be detected. A good firewall will stealth close all your ports and will not allow incoming traffic without your permission. Nothing protects you completlly but being 95% protected is far far better than not being protected at all.

Take it from someone who is as carefull as they come and still got hit.

Well nothing protects you on other sites. Even no AV.
If they have your CC info no AV will help you out future either.

And we don't talk about basic firewall here but how to protect yourself against virus. You can only get a virus by downloading it through infected drives. No firewall will protect you there either.
If you download from shady sites an AV could help to detain it but common sense would have stopped you from downloading in the first place.

[RocketMan]

Początkowo opublikowane przez tacoshy:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

A good Firewall is a good thing to have and pretty necessary in this day and age in my view.Common sense is not going to protect you in every instance. For example NewEgg a very large and trusted retailer was hacked last month. Hackers installed code consisting of only 8 lines that grabbed all your Credit card data and sent it to there domain. It was completlly undetectable as you never left the NewEgg Website. Nothing would probably help you in this instance. But just an example that common sense is not much of a deterrent in this day and age. So its best to be prepared as best as you can. Get the best security software you can find. Hackers don't just set up shady sites. They attack all sites without exception.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/363870/newegg-hacked-to-steal-customers-credit-card-data

This is the place where a lot of you buy your hardware from probably. I made some purchases during this period. NewEgg sent me a letter thankfully. I immidiatelly had my Credit Card cancelled and a new one reissued. Common sense is a good idea. But it will not always protect you. Guaranteed. Security software is not pointless. Far from it. If your not going to protect yourself the only way to not get hit is to not buy anything at all online. Not to play any online games. And to not surf the internet. Becuae all of these areas have been hit reguraly and frequently.

At least with a security suite most attacks on you can be detected. A good firewall will stealth close all your ports and will not allow incoming traffic without your permission. Nothing protects you completlly but being 95% protected is far far better than not being protected at all.

Take it from someone who is as carefull as they come and still got hit.

Well nothing protects you on other sites. Even no AV.
If they have your CC info no AV will help you out future either.

And we don't talk about basic firewall here but how to protect yourself against virus. You can only get a virus by downloading it through infected drives. No firewall will protect you there either.
If you download from shady sites an AV could help to detain it but common sense would have stopped you from downloading in the first place.

That is a bit naive. It's not just downloading, but visiting shady sites. You can also get viruses from connecting to a network or installing a second hand hard drive.

Though in most cases, windows 10 + staying away from shady sites will take care of almost everything. You can even disable defender with no problems.

[Viper]

Not true..A website can auto download a vius or malware to your PC just by visitng it. An email can do the same just by opening the email. Any link you click on no matter how innocent it looks has the capability to do that. And these sites are in there best interest to not look the least bit shady. They are there to fool people. My firewall and Malware detection is quite often blocking downloads. If I did not have them I would be cleaning up malware every other day. Anybody who does not have this kind of protection. I guarantee if they ran MalwareBytes they would find dozens of pieces of Malware on there PC.

I myself have the Kapersky Security Suite and it seems to do a good job. I run MalwareBytes about twice a week. It has not found anything on my PC for several months. I belive the subscription runs $40-$50 a year.

Początkowo opublikowane przez tacoshy:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

A good Firewall is a good thing to have and pretty necessary in this day and age in my view.Common sense is not going to protect you in every instance. For example NewEgg a very large and trusted retailer was hacked last month. Hackers installed code consisting of only 8 lines that grabbed all your Credit card data and sent it to there domain. It was completlly undetectable as you never left the NewEgg Website. Nothing would probably help you in this instance. But just an example that common sense is not much of a deterrent in this day and age. So its best to be prepared as best as you can. Get the best security software you can find. Hackers don't just set up shady sites. They attack all sites without exception.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/363870/newegg-hacked-to-steal-customers-credit-card-data

This is the place where a lot of you buy your hardware from probably. I made some purchases during this period. NewEgg sent me a letter thankfully. I immidiatelly had my Credit Card cancelled and a new one reissued. Common sense is a good idea. But it will not always protect you. Guaranteed. Security software is not pointless. Far from it. If your not going to protect yourself the only way to not get hit is to not buy anything at all online. Not to play any online games. And to not surf the internet. Becuae all of these areas have been hit reguraly and frequently.

At least with a security suite most attacks on you can be detected. A good firewall will stealth close all your ports and will not allow incoming traffic without your permission. Nothing protects you completlly but being 95% protected is far far better than not being protected at all.

Take it from someone who is as carefull as they come and still got hit.

Well nothing protects you on other sites. Even no AV.
If they have your CC info no AV will help you out future either.

And we don't talk about basic firewall here but how to protect yourself against virus. You can only get a virus by downloading it through infected drives. No firewall will protect you there either.
If you download from shady sites an AV could help to detain it but common sense would have stopped you from downloading in the first place.

I don't think you understood the point. Common sense is no protection from something that does not equate to shady or not dangerous ( or at least low risk ). Have you ever purchased a single thing online. Alright then there goes your common sense right out the window. No where on the internet without exception is completelly safe.

[RocketMan]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

Początkowo opublikowane przez tacoshy:

Well nothing protects you on other sites. Even no AV.
If they have your CC info no AV will help you out future either.

And we don't talk about basic firewall here but how to protect yourself against virus. You can only get a virus by downloading it through infected drives. No firewall will protect you there either.
If you download from shady sites an AV could help to detain it but common sense would have stopped you from downloading in the first place.

I don't think you understood the point. Common sense is no protection from something that does not equate to shady or not dangerous ( or at least low risk ). Have you ever purchased a single thing online. Alright thjen there goes your common sense right out the window. No where on the internet without exception is completelly safe.

No where is completely safe, but you need to take risk management into account. Look into exactly what mbam has blocked when browsing google and I doubt you'll find much of anything noteworthy. And I have to ask how many of those are things that windows defender could of taken care of easily?

Common sense mitigates your risk immensely. But sure, there is always the chance that some big website gets hit with a day1 leak. But ♥♥♥♥ happens. If you really want to be safe back things up with the 321 rule.

3 different backups.

2 different mediums.

With 1 Off-site.

Anything else for the most part can be compensated for. There ain't much you're liable for these days unless you're storing your crypto-currency on your home pc. Which, of course, would be a terrible idea.

[Magik]

People dog it, but windows defender does a really good job for what it is, and it's free.

[C2Dan88]

Yea, WIndows Defender and Malwarebytes is what I use. Not had a Virus/Malware infection for years.

[tacoshy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

Not true..A website can auto download a vius or malware to your PC just by visitng it. An email can do the same just by opening the email. Any link you click on no matter how innocent it looks has the capability to do that. And these sites are in there best interest to not look the least bit shady. They are there to fool people. My firewall and Malware detection is quite often blocking downloads. If I did not have them I would be cleaning up malware every other day. Anybody who does not have this kind of protection. I guarantee if they ran MalwareBytes they would find dozens of pieces of Malware on there PC.

I myself have the Kapersky Security Suite and it seems to do a good job. I run MalwareBytes about twice a week. It has not found anything on my PC for several months. I belive the subscription runs $40-$50 a year.


I don't think you understood the point. Common sense is no protection from something that does not equate to shady or not dangerous ( or at least low risk ). Have you ever purchased a single thing online. Alright then there goes your common sense right out the window. No where on the internet without exception is completelly safe.

I run my PC now for 5 years without AV. I check regualrily by installing MalwareBytes befor stomping the system anyway every 5-6 month. Haven got a single virus the last 5 years.

If you get your account data stole by enterign on another website, no programm will help you against it. So why install them then if they cant help you anyway.
E-Mails do not downlaod virus simpyl by opening it. Opening attachments.

I dont connect drives or open atatchments I dont know. If I really have too, I have a VM. If you pay 40-50$ per year and havent foudn a sinle virus the last couple month, it is not a quality sign that the AV is good, it is a sign that it was kinda useless as you wouldnt had needed it anway. If the AV doesnt find something - then no virus was ever there.

[Lord Flashheart]

As many have stated, common sense is a good option.
In your browser I suggest firefox, install https everywhere ublock origin and noscript.

Stay away from dodgy websites - like offering game cracks & cheats.

Viruses & malware can still get on your computer even if you think you are installing something legit as some companies are bundling software with suspect motives.
Do a regular antivirus check and update it often - they usually do this automatically.

Another good practice is regular backups in case of serious problems.
I use macrium reflect, which is set to make backups daily to a backup drive. Mainly differential to save space. I regulary back that up to an external drive. I also have a bootable USB recovery stick in case.
So if damage is severe, like having boot issues or randsomware you can recover most or maybe all of the data. I use my windows machine for pretty much gaming only so are not too concerned about losing files. Oh and I am soon are going to get an older cheap PC to run fpsense - a free & powerful router. My gaming windows machine will have no access to the main LAN (with a couple linux machines). Sadly it pays to be paranoid about such things.