Is an antispyware really necessary?

Question

I've been always running frequent antivirus scans on my computers, more because I am a security freak than because I really need them (I'm not one of those users that, after a browsing session, manage to fill their PCs with unknown stuff from unknown websites).

However, I almost never run antispyware scans, especially because they tend to consider too many things as malicious even if they are not. Is it really necessary to have an antispyware program beside an antivirus program, or is an antivirus enough?

Answer 1

I believe that an Anti-Virus program is enough or actually anti-spyware is most of the time just built into any anti-virus program. I have never really used an anti-spyware program. If you normally don't get any type of virus or anything after browsing the internet and you know where you are going then I wouldn't worry about anything.

I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free and provided directly from Microsoft and have found it to pick up very well and not be too secure on false positives.

Answer 2

Well, your question isn't very objective, but I'll answer it anyway.

It really depends. If you are a person that downloads things quite frequently, even from a secure source, then you might still want anti-spyware. Anti-Spyware has different uses than Anti-Virus. Spyware is much harder to detect, as it doesn't really behave like a normal virus. Spyware is meant to hide behind an actual application usually, that is why programs tend to detect it even if it is legitimate.

Also, if you use your computer for storing important documents, then it might be worth the hassle.

However, I would say for average use, it is quite unnecessary. Most anti-virus has some anti-spyware anyway. I will recommend AVG Free, probably the best Security program I have found for that price.

Answer 3

To protect your PC from viruses, spyware, rootkits etc it is essential to have some form of antivirus protection installed, and to have a firewall enabled (for alot of people windows firewall will suffice.)

It is not essential to pay for this protection as there are many free alternatives available (which are v.good)

Examples include

Avast Free Antivirus

http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index

Avira Free Antivirus

http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

Choosing from one of these two above (or choosing AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials as recommended in other answers) should protect you against all forms of malware inc. spyware.

Additional protection should be sought from an on demand scanner. One of the best in this regard is Malwarebytes AntiMalware Free Edition

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

They have recently introduced an Antirootkit Tool to complement this scanner.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/other_tools/

Choosing either Avast or Avira (or AVG,MSE mentioned in other answers) together with both products from Malwarebytes along with turning your Windows Firewall on will protect you optimally for free.

If you wish to configure your Windows Firewall further, this article entitled "How to Create Advanced Firewall Rules in the Windows Firewall" in How-To Geek will give you further info. (although this is not essential)

http://www.howtogeek.com/112564/how-to-create-advanced-firewall-rules-in-the-windows-firewall/

Finally how you browse the internet and the sites you visit are up to you.

Answer 4

Antivirus is much more important then anti-spyware. That said, the two types of programs do not have all that much overlap in what they protect against, although it does seem to be converging somewhat. As mentioned by Simon, MalewareBytes is quite good at removing spyware that Anti-virus software has trouble with.

If you want something that doesn't have many false positives or high resource utilization, install Spybot and run "Immunize", this will block most common bugs from ever getting on your computer without needing a another scanner in the background.

Answer 5

If you're a self proclaimed 'security freak' AV solutions would be at the bottom of your security checklist. Given the number of zero day attacks and the complexity of modern malware, you really can't rely on AV apps to catch anything other than the harmless tracker cookie.

Yes, install something if not for peace of mind alone but for real security you need to dig deeper. Sandboxing your web browser, Controlling which scripts are allowed to execute and never running as a privileged user are things that will protect you like a turtle shell. AV is more akin to wrapping yourself in a piece of tin foil and praying whilst in the fetal position.

Answer 6

My PC was infected with ransomware and I lost many files.

My solution to this ransomware problem (and all malware) is to use Deep Freeze (www.faronics.com) to protect all files on drive C: (and any other drive). Deep Freeze redirects all new information written to the hard drive to an allocation table, leaving the original data intact. With a reboot, any unwelcome or unwanted changes are removed from the system, restoring it to its pristine frozen state.

The inconvenience of having to save active files on another drive is no problem. Deep Freeze allows you to temporarily deactivate (thaw) the program so you can periodically revise data on the protected drives.

I recommend updating any protected drives with new or changed data routinely so all new files are also protected. For example - if you own a business and have important client and financial data - you could add the new or changed files once a day to a protected drive so they can also be restored in case of a ransomware or malware attack

It is unfortunate that malware and ransomware make it necessary to protect your files, but this method works for me. I have many irreplaceable files that I do not want to lose, so I use this as my selected safety measure.