I do not think so. Windows is popular because of piracy. Microsoft allowed piracy for its first version of Windows. Then, when popular, started anti-piracy laws & virus attacks. Virus programs survive as there are virus. So, it is a loop, each one helps other to survive. That is why virus attacks Windows more than other OS.
Wow, that was something. :-o Well, it reminded me of a case against Microsoft for monopolistic practices. Wonder what others have to say to this?
This just seems like one giant site of one person's recommendations. He does not offer hard proof of why. There are other sites that do, by actually testing them with malware, etc.
The single best way to not get a virus/spyware/adware: Linux (I understand many programs don't natively run on Linux *) But I also run XP machines, I've never had a virus and run no real time protection (oh no!). Here's how: 1. FIREFOX, FIREFOX, FIREFOX! + Adblock Plus... + NoScript if you visit a lot of crazy sites / don't know what you're doing 2. Keep your PC clean damnit: --A. don't install a bunch of BS software, USE OPEN SOURCE whenever possible --B. if you want to test something out, run a virus scan (especially if it's from file sharing or other less scrupulous source): ----1. http://www.virustotal.com/ or http://virusscan.jotti.org/ upload your file and it will run 30+ of the best virus databases on the executable ----2. Sandbox your installs. See what they do and if they are worth it before you touch your registry. Sandboxie and Altiris SVS (my fav), both free, both great. ----3. Fixed hundreds of PCs, #1 problem: indiscriminate installation of software. Before you know it your OS is eating up a GB of RAM, 65 processes at startup, multiple spyware and adware broadcasting who knows what to who knows where. 3. If you just feel better running anti-virus protection I recommend Avast over AVG. Smaller resource footprint, more accurate scans IMHO. *With virtualization (VMware, Qemu) you can run a virtual windows trading PC inside Linux. There's also Wine for Linux. With a little work, I've been able to get metastock, amibroker running on Linux with Wine. About Wine: Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. Wine provides both a development toolkit for porting Windows source code to Unix as well as a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows programs to run on x86-based Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Solaris.
Thanks, l337_7r4d3r for the wonderful post. It had a lot of practical information. Shall try them out.
i strongly recommend that you not just use 1 but use multiple anti-spyware programs since not one anti-spyware app can solve all your problems....recall that spyware tries to adapt to the most popular anti-spyware apps and so what you taketh away from your computer comes back .... solution: use different anti-spyware tools