first thing i did was uninstall the provided short-term sample subscription for macaffee or whatever that was bundled; then i headed over to microsoft and downloaded their FREE microsoft security essentials! Boy gosh jolly say what you will about that hulking unfeeling company but they sure are SWELL to provided protection free of charge! :-X

EDIT: Sorry windows defender as it's known in win8+

Reaper22 wrote:
Hey guy's, Can I ask what antivirus programs you all use for the Asus ROG gaming system's?

Reaper22, I have been running Norton Internet Security for quite a while, after abandoning it and trying most of what is out there, I came back to NIS back in 2008/9, after they rewrote everything and it became a light weight load on Windows, and it keeps getting better all the time. I have also run Norton 360, and it is a toss up as to which to go with - flip a coin 🙂

I am running the BETA for NIS 2015, and Symantec also has a BETA for 360 2015, and plain old Norton Anti-Virus 2015.

See the Norton Beta Twitter for updated locations for download:
https://twitter.com/norton_beta

Currently updated August 21st
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Security-Norton-Security/New-Beta-Build-22-0-0-91-is-Now-Avail...

The products have been released, but they are still running the BETA...

http://us.norton.com/ns-beta
http://us.norton.com/beta/

I haven't tried downloading the 30 day Trials to see if they update to the 2015 release versions, but here they are if you want to try them:
http://us.norton.com/downloads/?inid=us_hho_topnav_downloads

There have also been 90 - 120 day longer term trials for NIS/360/AV sponsored by various companies, you can google for them.

I also recommend Norton Utilities, currently on release 16. It does more than NIS/360 in other maintenance areas, with some overlap.

Norton Utilities - Download 30-day free trial
http://us.norton.com/downloads-trial-norton-utilities

These days an anti-virus and firewall are just the start - there are lots of other tools available to protect privacy, prevent advertising, and block other nasty stuff at the browser level.

Adblock Plus for IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, Android , here is the link for IE - click on the browser Icons for other downloads.

https://adblockplus.org/en/internet-explorer

Once you have it installed, pick blocking lists local to you, I use these lists:



Adblock Plus Facebook page 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/adblockplus

And, for right side ad's specifically in Gmail and others, Webmail Ad Blocker

Firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/webmail-ad-blocker/

Chrome
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webmail-ad-blocker/cbhfdchmklhpcngcgjmpdbjakdggkkjp



The Webmail Ad Blocker site has tons of ad's that show up if you turn off adblock plus and webmail ad blocker 🙂

I have been using these for years, and it is nice to have a clean non-cluttered page that isn't constantly scrolling and sliding and changing while I read my email or do research on web sites.

And, as long as we are at it, here are a couple more firefox extensions I use for blocking things:

Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon 0.9.2
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus-pop-up-addon/?src=search

BetterPrivacy 1.68 - don't forget to exclude / whitelist sites you *want* cookie info to remain active - like gaming sites.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/?src=ss

Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus 1.3
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/elemhidehelper/?src=ss

Flashblock 1.5.17 - turns annoying flash animations into little Play buttons - exclude sites you want flash from all the time.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashblock/?src=ss

Ghostery 5.3.2 - use the web page that comes up to select all sites and cookies to block - these are the tracking sites to avoid.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ghostery/?src=ss

HTTPS Everywhere - lock out network sniffers from seeing your transactions
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

NoScript Security Suite 2.6.8.39 - takes a little effort to exclude the sites you go to at first - to unblock their stuff - but worth it to keep out malware.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/?src=ss

Private Tab 0.1.7.3 - looks like Firefox > release 31 isn't working right now, but a fix is coming 🙂
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/private-tab/

QuickJava 2.0.4 - click icons to enable / disable blocking Java, Javascript, Cookies, Image Animations, Flash, Silverlight, Images, Stylesheets and Proxy by site/page.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/quickjava/?src=ss

Redirect Cleaner 2.4.0 - lets you catch redirect's mid jump
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirect-cleaner/?src=search

Self-Destructing Cookies 0.4.4- Fix the web. Gets rid of a site's cookies and LocalStorage as soon as you close its tabs. Protects against trackers and zombie-cookies. Trustworthy services can be whitelisted.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/self-destructing-cookies/?src=ss

To get an idea of what your unprotected Browser, and later your Protected Browser, is passing on about you and your browsing habits, try Lightbeam to show how your personal info is being passed around between sites you visit:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/lightbeam/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lightbeam/?src=search

Please come back and let us know what you end up using and how you like it 🙂

I been using Norton NIS for years now, has never let me down yet!

If anyone wants Kaspersky Internet Security suite for free click here>>>> newegg.com
****Only thing, you must order by 11:59 tonight (09-01-20014)****

For Window 8.1 built-in antivirus [ Windows Defender ] is OK

* For my WinXP laptop, I use AVG Free from Grisoft. (detects often false positives, for tiny/packed EXE files)

* For my Win7 desktop, I use MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). This one too claims sometimes that some DLL are "generic Win32 Troyans", when they aren't... in this case, you can "exclude" the specific folders.

* In Win8, MSE has been included in some ways : it's Windows Defender. That's what I use on my G750. Sadly, since I have turned Windows Update OFF, Defender needs to be updated manually. (on Win7 + MSE, it's smart enough to update itself automatically, it's not considered as a "windows update".

I had experiences with McAfee and Norton : huge "bloat-things", almost impossible to get rid off.

Many people like Avast! too.

When smething seems suspicious, I ALWAYS double or triple check with another utility, like Malwarebytes or Sophos Removal Tool (both free).

And anyway, many dangerous threats, at least when they are new, won't be detected (like bitcoin miners or Java exploits). So I keep an eye for weird EXEs in all crucial folders (MyProfile/LocalSettings..., Windows,System32, Temp....), and watch my registry ("run", "runonce"), Start menu/folder and MSConfig.



by the way, the Opera browser has a nice "Ad-Blocker" feature, works very good.

Guys, here is a pretty recent rating of what is out there.

http://antivirus-software.findthebest.com/

The site covers pretty much everything, pop up a couple of levels from the Software=>AntiVirus ratings, lots of useful comparisons in diverse categories.