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!
