What are some ways to get rid of viruses, malware, and spyware?

There are tonnes of anti-virus software available out there, it is important that you keep your software up to date. This ensures that any new form of virus can be detected before it is downloaded.

It is also important to run regular scans (this decreases the performance of your machine for quite some time) but it is vital to ensure your device is safe from any form of malware.

examples:

"Norton, Kaspersky

Free Anti Virus

1. AVG Free Edition

2. Avast! Home Edition

3. AntiVir Personal

Commerical Anti virus software

1. Kaspersky Anti-Virus

2. NOD32 AntiVirus"

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_...

-Daniel

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For macs you don't need to worry about viruses, just practice common sense and don't download strange stuff. No pr0n, etc.

For PCs, they're all the same, MacAfee, Norton, they're all the same and will all keep you safe, I really can't point you to one in particular (though MacAfee just had an embarrassing problem where they pushed an update that screwed up people's comps, so maybe not them). Again, practice common sense.

For linux, you do not need to worry at all. (Hence, linux is king)

The ones I recommend are Zone Alarm Free for the firewall and AVG Free for the anti-virus. I also usually recommend Firefox as the more secure browser. One thing to be careful of is don't have more than one anti-virus on the unit at one time. They will conflict with each other.For the other problems I would use Spyware Blaster and Adaware. To find current locations for these just google their names. One other caveat when downloading Zone Alarm or AVG antivirus be careful in your selection as both also have versions you pay for. You want the free ones. Ralph

I would say AVG free or Avast free for antivirus, but MSE is also good for older systems

I have had OK luck with Norton, but it slows down my computers too much for me to use it due to how old and slow my Windows machines are

I like AVG free, but I would not use it on one of my P4 Dell due to how much of the CPU it can hog in the background alone at times, and I have used it on them at times, it has brought my 2002 Dell to a complete halt in the past scanning or doing updates in the past at times

Avast Free seems to work the best with my older XP machine I use, due to the fact it isn't as bad with resources in the background

Another one to look at is NOD32 as odd as that sounds, and even PC Tools antivirus

I would say go with Avast or kaspersky for antivirus, MSE if you need a lighter A/V for your computer

The other answers here have great information on antivirus software to monitor your computer on a regular basis, I am a student worker at the on campus repair center at my school and we use multiple antivirus software to remove viruses. If you suspect you already have viruses I would suggest to use multiple different scanners to remove all viruses since some antivirus software will find viruses that others did not. After that you will want to remove all of the software that was installed and choose one antivirus software to use on a regular basis. I would also recommend running CCleaner before the virus scan since this can help clear a few viruses out that may be in the temporary files on the computer. Also Defraggler is a great utility for keeping your computer running quikely and smoothly.

Some of the software we use for virus scans:

- Emsisoft anti-malware also known as A squared

- Clamwin antivirus

- Malwarebytes anti-malware

- Super Antispyware

- spybot

as for live everyday antivirus engines I would suggest one of the bigger names like norton, mcafee, AVG, and NOD32. Just remember to remove the other scanning software after it has scanned the computer and removed the viruses, you don't want 5 antiviruses running all the time since this is a huge waste of computer resources.

Hope this helps. :)