Windows 7: Best possible Free security setup

Hey Guys!
As you all know I was recently infected with viruses and trojans. I have decided to do a factory reset of my computer to how it was when I first bought it So now that I'm on a fresh start I want to make sure that I never get infected again. I want to get the best possible security setup that is free. I don't know why I should pay for something I can get free. After all that's why they say the best things in life are free. So anyways what free security setup do you recommend? Antivirus? Firewall? etc.
I was thinking of getting of comodo firewall but I can't decide on what else to get.

Free doesn't always mean the best.
The better paid solutions will offer more features and overall better security. (Such as Firewalls, Anti-Malware, and more)

Whether that extra security is something you actually need or not, only you can decide. It really depends on how you use your PC, and how often you may put yourself in possible danger.

Some need it, others do not.

If you find yourself getting alot of trojans and viruses, you may want to consider one of the paid suites such as Norton or Kaspersky.
If its rare such things happen, a free solution may be more than enough.


As far as the best free solution though, many here will recommend MSE.
The Firewall built into Windows should be more than enough for most.


Also, a secondary On-Demand scanner is good to have. Malwarebytes is typically the most recommended.


And for the record, Im not saying theres anything wrong with a free solution such as MSE. It works perfectly fine for many.
Simply, some need more protection than it offers is all.

Hi,

My recommendation is to try:

Microsoft Security Essentials
Windows Firewall
Malwarebytes FREE

Regards,
Golden

Hey could one of guys possibly provide me with links to reviews of MSE?

Here's a couple of reviews. Bear in mind that reviews vary month by month, week by week, sometimes hour by hour depending on who is doing the review and if the reviewer has any vested interest in providing a particular kind of review (read financial compensation or other perks.) Whether you decide to use a paid product or a free product, keep in mind that no antimalware product is 100% effective 100% of the time. If there was such a product we'd all be using it.

Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Review & Rating | PCMag.com

Microsoft Security Essentials Review - Microsoft Security Essentials Download - Softpedia

Maximum PC | Microsoft Security Essentials

The nice thing about free products is you can try it out for a while, uninstall, then try a different product. Even the paid products usually offer a free trial period. Then make your decision based on how the products work with your system in the real world. Just make sure you completely uninstall one product before installing a different product to avoid conflicts and possible crash. I'd use the products' own uninstaller if one is available.

Security Software | Uninstallers

Some great free ones are:

MalwareBytes Free
IOBit Malware Fighter
AVG Free
COMODO (Has great firewall, AV, etc)

I heard comodo's antivirus is not so good? I also just saw a thread were a guy got infected using MSE and I think protection stronger than that...

You can put as many AV programs in as you will find - and still there is a possibility to get infected.

In my book, the best protection is frequent imaging. You can do that daily (e.g. schedule it for when you boot the system in the morning) or every 2 or 3 days. I recommend free Macrium or free Paragon (but not the native /7 function because that provides no control). The imaging takes little time and can run in the background. You should though plan a couple of GBs on an external disk.

On 2 systems where I was using MSE I was infected with trojans. It was a piece of cake to set back to yesterdays image (took 30 minutes). Compare that to a reinstallation.

Yea I was planning on doing that as I want to be as prepared as possible, thank you for the links btw.

Hi MaxPayne,

Nice to hear that you have successfully reset your system to it's default settings.

My recommendations:

Sandbox/Light virtualization app:
-Sandboxie Free
-BufferZonePro(now free)
-GesWall

or,

Returnil System Safe(free) --has option to not use the AV

Free AV:
-AvastFree
-Avira Personal
-AVG

Free firewall:
-Online Armor free
-Privatefirewall

Free antimalware/antispyware(second opinion):
-Malwarebytes free
-Superantispyware free
-HitmanPro(30 day removal)
-PrevxSOL(you need to buy for removal but you can use for scanning)

Free Suite:
-Comodo CIS
-Outpost Security Suite Free(AV will not install if you have installed a different AV first)

Free System Imaging apps:
-Macrium Reflect
-Acronis True Image Western Digital Edition
-Seagate DiscWizard
-Paragon Backup and Recovery
-Keriver 1-Click Restore

Backup:
-Microsoft SynchToy
-EASEUS ToDo Backup free
-Bart Backup

Useful:
- VirusTotal Uploader ver2
- HijackThis
- KeyScrambler free(FF extension)

Some good read:

What is a good free security software suite?

here1
here2
here3

Goodluck