I don’t use antivirus software…bogs down the computer too much. I like osx, and am growing accustomed to it. If I need to use windows, I’ll run it as a virtual container..though until recently, vmware didn’t seem to work well with it…

Using a single, common, virus scanner is pretty much a waste of time anyway. If you’re writing a virus, you’re going to assume someones using Windows Defender and write around it by default. You’re also going to write around the most common scanners out there.

I always tell people that if you’re going to rely on a single scanner, then the best scanner out there is the one with the lightest footprint because it’s probably not going to work anyway, so you might as well not use too many cycles on it.

I hate to admit it, but I’m a total PC (Newer Macs are PCs too BTW, I mean Microsoft) guy. I’ve worked with them since I was a little kid. I work with them at work. I use them at home (they are a great platform for gaming)

That said, even I have a hard time trusting a PC. I use mine for secure online transactions, but I have to do the following before I trust it:

I disable Javascript in Acrobat – It’s insane that this is enabled by default. Edit – Preferences – uncheck “Enable Javascript” box.

I run each of the following scanners:
security.kolla.de – Spybot S&D
malwarebytes – This is too popular now, so it probably doesn’t work anymore
Trend OfficeScan – I get it free from work, so why not?
Periodic runs of ComboFix – This is a cleaner, not a scanner. Has the potential to blow up your system.

I boot the system clean and check all external calls across the network
I check all the processes running – I know what should be there. I also spot check the locations and dates of the running processes’s files to verify they’re in the right place and are not newer files
I look for any new files created in specific system directories and then trace each one down

I also try to avoid installing anything on my system that isn’t from a large trusted company (like Microsoft snicker snicker)

I know what you’re thinking, suuuuuure he does all this, but I really do. I know what I’m looking for and it only takes 5 minutes of my time each week (the rest of the time is just launching the scanners and letting them finish)

So what’s the gist of all this? I’m either really paranoid, or the PC platform isn’t all that trustworthy. I prefer to believe the latter. They’ve improved the security a lot, but I still don’t trust it all that much. I definitely would not trust a PC that just has Windows Defender and a single scanner running on it. Use your PC with caution!

Combofix is a rootkit detector/cleaner. You should only download it from http://www.bleepingcomputer.com The organization that makes it is somewhat guarded about how it actually works and what it looks for, but it works best if you run it soon (several weeks) after infection is suspected. It can cause your computer to not boot if you actually have an infection because it just removes the suspect driver if it is infected. A lot of times, a virus/rootkit will replace legitimate system files with one “augmented” with their code. Although it has a virus in this file, your system will not run without it. Combofix does create restore points, but you will need the knowledge to revert to one of these restore points should the system not boot.
I’ve had a lot of luck with ComboFix where someone has a rootkit that is causing a virus to keep returning.

I run ComboFix periodically as a precaution (you’re not really supposed to use it this way) and also to look at the log it generates which can point to infections it cannot detect. As an example, it will tell you that logsp.dll file was installed and set to run on boot on June 6th 2015. A lot of times it’s up to you to research what the data mean and search for the dll and find out that it’s related to that Logitech mouse you installed in June.