comp/net virus protection

[mbpark]

Microsoft Defender, honestly, is not that good.

AVG, in my experience, has had the best track record at removing the really nasty viruses. I have used it to clean up things Symantec and Trend Micro (usually the gold standard) would not and could not clean up (AntiVirus 2008 Spyware/Malware). Avast! is a step behind.

I use it integrated with the Ultimate Boot CD on a USB stick to boot into with the latest definitions to clean up malware-laden machines, and it works really well. It will pick up things that other programs will not.

AVG 8.0 also has anti-spyware built in (it's nothing but additional definitions for a virus scanner when you get down to it), and that works incredibly well. Doing things such as having really long HOSTS files and a lot of manual ActiveX blocks actually causes your machine to run slowly (think several minutes for a DHCP lease).

Windows Defender, in my experience, has been pretty weak. If you want a free anti-spyware program that works, I recommend AVG, SuperANTISpyware, or Spybot. The latter two don't run in real-time (like AVG, McAfee, or other products), but they work well.

I outright recommend you run away from Webroot SpySweeper. It was good at one time, but is now a POS.