Bitcoin Forum

Is free AVG good enough to stop keylogger?

No antivirus by itself is able to stop a keylogger or other virus with certainty. An adversary can always write a new one that doesn't match signatures, or trigger heuristic detection in clever ways. The only ways to prevent keyloggers are proper OS design combined with a careful attitude toward unknown files.

It's a decent anti virus but will only prevent you from getting any sort of virus you still have to be careful.

Unknown files, does that mean as long as I don't download anything silly and keylogger I am safe?

it just flags up anything that looks suspicious it doesn't mean it is harmful so you still need to use your brain and decide whether its safe or not its just a type of warning system and not something which just stops everything.

Unfortunately no. For example if your browser or some of it's plugin has a security hole (and they always have!) you can get infectected just by opening a web page (without downloading anything).

Oh come on, now that scares me... does using chrome help to stop that problem?

All browsers including Chrome have security holes. Developers try to fix them as soon as the holes are found. Therefore it is important to install all the updates as soon as they are published. But there are always so called zero-day attacks which have no fix available.

i use mbam pro

I just use microsoft essentials for when I'm on a windows machine otherwise I don't need one because I'm using Linux most of the time.

AVG is pretty bad now.
I use a cocktail of Bitdefender free and Malwarebytes and have not had a infection in 3 years with them, really good software.
Malwarebytes detects almost anything and is the best scan time antimalware on the market in most tests.

If you have been targeted by a skilled hacker there's no antivirus which can stop him from entering in your system and installing whatever keylogger virus etc he wants.

Unless you are a skilled security expert then the hacker will have to be pretty smart theres some awesome ways you can protect yourself from majority of attacks.

I guess it's a very good way to start. But you can't always be sure even when using anti-virus software. The keylogger or malware could be very new and those scanners may not detect them. If you want to be really safe, sign your transactions on an offline machine!

Yeah exactly. Also it works best if it 'knows' the viruses or the malware. I uses several intelligent ways of recognizing new malware, but this isn't completely safe. Definitely use your own brain if you're doing something Bitcoin related! And use 2FA!

So for the summary basically install a trusted anti virus just for a warning type system and then you use your brain from there and you can't really go wrong.

No matter what anti virus you use it will not help to stop a keylogger. An anti virus will help you to keep your computer safe from anything that may cause it serious harm but from there on I would just ensure you have done plenty of research to prevent anything happening that can not be prevented from an anti virus alone.

I use ESET and Mbam pro

you may want to check out Kaspersky or Bitdefender
Also, use offline wallet if you can and avoid hot online wallet

AVG Free/Avast/Microsoft security essentials (weaker of the three) are all 'decent' products. I'd use one if I used an antivirus (and you should always use one). Just play smart and you'll be fine with one of those three antiviruses. I prefer avast free personally.

Nothing will keep your computer 100% safe from a keylogger and/or a screen logger. It would be possibly for an attacker to install a physical keylogger that is between your keyboard and your computer, the same is true with your monitor. This gets much more complicated if you have a laptop but is still, in theory possible.

You are saying like a USB plug in attack?

AVG is a very poor antivirus, as far as i have checked PC and laptops that have avg, most probably has some viruses inside, so no point to use that week antivirus.

It does reasonable job given that it is free.

don't listen to them..

it is the best of all free anti virus programs

and if u do regular job on your pc, u wont get virus that AVG can't handle

Avast free antivirus is better than AVG. To make your system more secure use Avast free + malwarebytes. It will detect most malware and viruses.

Yeah I prefer avast over AVG.

Would recommend using Keyscrambler http://www.qfxsoftware.com/download.htm if you're worried about keyloggers.

Of all the antivirus I've used, I like Bitdefender and Malwarebytes, BD has good customer support too.

Keyloggers are honestly kind of rare these days, though. Most people into that sort of thing just use remote administration tools. It doesn't hurt, but I don't think it's really worth it to install another program for just that purpose.

Yup Physical keyloggers are hardware devices that keeps track of every key , a threat on public systems not on your own Personal system , only your friends and family with bad intentions will do that ,

It is a good anti-virus software, but it won't be able to detect the latest or custom keyloggers, I fear... If you want to be safe, sign your transactions on an offline machine! And keep your long-term-storage Bitcoins in a paper-wallet! That's the safest way!

Is Panda antivirus still any good? I used to use it ages ago.

Yea Avast is a bit better than AVG - I tested both on 40 computers in a Training Lab. Installed AVG on 20 and scanned it and once it said it was cleaned, installed Avast and uninstalled AVG. {Ran Avast and it still detected virusses and cleaned it}

Then installed AVG on the other 20 computers, scanned it and cleaned some virusses and then installed McAfee {And got the same result, McAfee detected a lot of infected files, AVG did not pick up}

So yes Out of those 3 - Avast detected the most and also cleaned the most. 

Is avira worth updating for paid?

Might be dickish, but only way to avoid keyloggers is use a system that almost no one targets for hacking attacks when you are dealing with money, that is, Linux and other undegrounds OSs

Linux isn't exactly underground. Many enterprises use it.

I'd recommend Malwarebytes and or Comodo. Hope this helps you out man!

Why would linux be safe for keylogger?

Because hackers don't bother to make keyloggers for Linux, since very few desktop users use it.

Hm..., what about the wallet stealer does they make one for linux?