What Malware prevention tools do you use?

[Mad Dog Vee]

I know a few of us are waiting patiently for the volunteers to get to our logs which I am sure they will in due course, so for those members and any others that wish to contribute to the discussion

What Malware prevention tools do you use?

I only use freeware

MalwareBytes' AntiMalware of course. This little beauty only popped up on my radar recently but its everywhere I turn lately. I got infected, I think by visiting a site that carries game patches, ran MBAM and all delete on reboot but that didn't work, so I am here. A question you may ask is how did I get infected then? I got lax and didn't keep things up to date cos Vista would protect me, that and I forgot to turn UAC back on one time.

On my laptop I have Avast! On my current Desktop I have AVG 8

I'm also running

CCleaner

SpybotSD without TeaTimer (it's a pita)

SuperAntiSpyware

I also run a multifunction tool called Advanced System Optimizer but that's the only thing besides Windows that is not freeware or shareware use.

I currently have on my laptop SmitFraudFix, HiJackThis, rogueRemoverFree, as well as all the above (The AVs being different of course)

What tools do you use? Free or paid?

[exile360]

You can see what I use from my signature (can't use MBAM in realtime because I'm on x64) and other than that I don't install Java, don't use Peer to Peer download programs, I don't visit pr0n sites, I don't use myspace or facebook, the only instant messanger I use is xfire, I don't open emails from people I don't know, I don't open forwarded emails from people I do know, I don't download cracks, keygens, or warez and I keep Windows, all my security software and anything that uses browser plugins like Flash, Reader etc updated religeously. I also have sharing disabled and certain Windows services that can be exploited are disabled as well. I don't have my connection on unless I'm actually using the internet and I turn all my security software on before I enable it (I have a special batch script that starts all my security software, then enables my network connection) so I don't even have my security software running when my PC boots up. Makes for faster offline gaming which I do frequently. The only software I pay a subscription fee for is Kaspersky Antivirus, everything else is either free or had a one time fee.

[IT Expert]

When you find an infection that signature based scans cant clean then I take a manual removal to it. Using the cacls.exe which is a command line drive tool built into every Windows OS. This is away for you to deny the infections, then you grant your self permission to remove it.

If and when that fails, then you need to run sfc /scannnow to fix any system files that may have been compromised from the infections.

I use the combination of this tool, hijackthis, mbam, combofix, ccleaner. With these you should be able to remove just about any known issues, including rootkits. Just be aware, cacls.exe is not for the the beginners or intermediate users I highly recommend if you have never used it before, and or never heard of it then you should turn to an expert, if not you can and will damage your system.