Antivirus that runs when I want it to. Ondamand no background service.

[New FS]

Firstly I would like to say hello and good day to all. I am not sure if I am posting on the right forum because there are like 5 different windows 7 forums but i choose this on because the websites looks nice , It seems alot more active then others, and i think i have used it before.

Anyway to the question. Are there any antivirus programs are ondemand only(Or can be used as an on demand scanner preferable it doesn't run any services in the background unless the program itself it launched). I don't really need the real time protection (My choose) But an ondemand scanner would be nice. I wanted to use MSE because it seems simple to use and microsoft made it ( I would assume this is would be an ok antivirus to use considering it was made by microsoft...) But it is very stubborn when it comes to changing it service to manual(It just flat out will not let you)

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Actually, you do need real time protection. Otherwise, you will catch viruses only after you have been infected and the nasty little buggers have had time to wreak havoc with your system and data. Also, it's much easier to keep viruses out than it is to get rid of them once you have them.

Having real time virus protection is analogous to being vaccinated against a disease. The vaccination keeps you from getting the disease whereas, once you have the disease, it can be difficult to get rid of and, before you do get rid of it, assuming you even can, it can do some really serious damage or even kill you.

 

[Britton30]

I know of none which can be installed and have no service running. Of course you can go to Services and disable them if desired, but why?
If you're having an issue with RAM being used, get rid of something else. There are boatloads of websites that can infect you, and not just porn or hack sites. A crafty ratbag can inject malicious Java Script (Not the same as Java from Oracle) into a good site and you're done for.
I have Norton Internet Security and I can turn off realtime protection, but services still run.

MSE is a very low end, low protection thing MS brought out to make it seem it was concerned.

 

[LMiller7]

If they had wished to Microsoft could have provided with Windows an AV product that was as good as any on the market. But the producers of competing AV products would see that Microsoft had an unfair advantage and leave them without a market. And the courts would agree. Microsoft has had a great deal of trouble with this in the past. Thus MSE only provides basic protection.

On demand scanning only is NOT good enough. I was once in your situation but eventually recognized it was no longer a viable solution.

There was a time when it was but that time is no more. In recent years malware has become very sophisticated and one of it's primary goals is to avoid detection. There are many ways malware can evade detection by on demand scanning and do this with considerable success. They do this with the very best AV products with the latest definitions.

Good security always offers multiple layers of protection as a single layer can often be defeated. Real time AV protection has many advantages over on demand scanning. A service running under a system account has greater capabilities than standard software and is generally required by AV products. Real time protection isn't 100% effective either but it is generally more effective than on demand scanning.

You need it.

 

[Britton30]

On demand may, may have been effective in 1993 when the MS home page looked like this.
Note the statement about browsers supporting images.

 

[andrew129260]

Firstly I would like to say hello and good day to all. I am not sure if I am posting on the right forum because there are like 5 different windows 7 forums but i choose this on because the websites looks nice , It seems alot more active then others, and i think i have used it before.

Anyway to the question. Are there any antivirus programs are ondemand only(Or can be used as an on demand scanner preferable it doesn't run any services in the background unless the program itself it launched). I don't really need the real time protection (My choose) But an ondemand scanner would be nice. I wanted to use MSE because it seems simple to use and microsoft made it ( I would assume this is would be an ok antivirus to use considering it was made by microsoft...) But it is very stubborn when it comes to changing it service to manual(It just flat out will not let you)

I will answer your question in the way it was asked. Do note however that the above advice is solid.

Yes, there are programs you can use that do not offer real time protection, but can scan your system for threats.

-Hitman pro
-malwarebytes free
-herdprotect
-superantispyware free


etc. You can also install panda antivirus or avast and disable their on access shields permanently.

Keep in mind with all the above options, you will need to manually update and scan, as well as losing the most important feature of protection----> Prevention in the first place.

These are, and have been my security recommendations: (they will change from time to time)

I advise you to install and use the following security programs:

-Panda antivirus -You can only have 1 antivirus installed at a time, I recommend using this one and uninstalling what you are using now.

-Malwarebytes
-Superantispyware
-Should I remove it

Run them around once every 2 weeks.

Should I remove it is not a malware scanner. What it does is it looks at all of the installed programs on your PC and gives you a percentage % of how many people uninstall the software. If the percentage % is high, I would remove it as it is most likely not a good program. It also gives a ton of information about what the program does and how it behaves.

I also suggest using a standard user account in windows, and only using an admin account when you need to install software:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/181024-user-account-create.html

When using a standard account and you make a change or install a program that affects the whole system, UAC will prompt you to continue. Make sure the setting or program you are tying to install is listed, then click yes to continue. If you are just browsing the web and the prompt appears with a program you have not heard of, or do not know what it is, it is much safer to click no then yes. No will block the action, and if you were trying to do something, you can always start it again and choose yes.

UAC makes this easy, see here:

What is user account control (UAC)?

I also suggest choosing always notify for UAC:

What are User Account Control settings?

I also recommend that you use bleeping computers suggestions which can be found here:

So how Did I get Infected?


Those are my recommendations to you, and I Highly suggest you follow them.

 

[Layback Bear]

New FS, you are correct; it is your choice not to run active security programs. In my opinion a very poor choice.

Their are many active security programs to choose from but in most case it will be down to just a few on this forum. These few are because the members have tried many and slowly got the choices down to a few that work well and get along with Windows 7 and each other. Some are free and some are not free.

Thinking one can avoid infections because they only go to the "Good Sites" is also foolish. The bad guys are not dumb; they will also leave their little goodies on "Good Sites" and many times "Good Sites" don't know they are on their own site.

Now what does one do?
In my case I run two active security programs that get along with Windows 7 and each other. I don't stop there.
I also run several on demand security programs updated and often. I run these security programs whether I think I'm infected or not. The creators of these infections are very clever and knowledgeable. They will hide their creations very well.
You can have a infection for a very long time and not even know it.
You can not hide from the bad guys but you can improve your odds of not getting their junk if you use a layered method.
1. Active anti virus program.
2. Active anti malware program.
3. Active firewall
4. A router with proper security settings.
5. Several on demand programs.

One person with a computer can not out smart the thousands of infection created per day. Active security programs will improve your odd of happy computing by astronomical amounts.
Again New FS it's your choice. Please let us know what you choose.
If you need help on which programs to choose just ask. Well will gladly give our suggestion. The suggestions will very but give you a good idea of what works.

PS: Please don't choose anything from IOBit.

 

[New FS]

Thanks for the fast response and suggestions I really appreciate it. Firstly I don't really run windows naked. I do have SAS(Many people say MBM is better but in my experience SAS has been alot more reliable) I also have sandboxie which I usually run my webbrower in. I keep the Os patched of course the windows firewall should be on (I haven't messed with it so hopefully thats default behaviour) I try to be careful online as well. If the website is patchy I ook at ratings that AVG.com and other antivirus websites gave it. If I am about to download a program I make sure to download it from the website and I also look at reviews and user ratings to make sure they are positive for the most part. As for antivirus with turning the service off there are a few reason I can think of right now. False positive are annoying and will continue to delete the file. I have had a case were I was using an antivirus that for some reason was interfering with system restore. ( I don't know if I said I wanted to disable the service but if a did and didn't mean to. I just want to put it at manual so I can stop it and start it as a please) CPU spikes from the service when there is no background scan the main thing that will slow this system to a crawl is the heavy cpu usage. Spikes heat the laptop were it evenally gets to a heat were the CPU is throttled and becomes completely unusable.I believe cpu spikes happened at random rarely from the antivirus . stopping the service and restarting it fixed the problem.I try to deal with the java script issue with no script for firefox. I was always wishing for a time when Microsoft would fix this malware problems and to be honest there are some ways(Some I can think of atleast)but I guessing that antivirus make good money in the market so this is not going to happen.... which sucks because I don't think anybody should get an introduction into windows the way I did. Mac Os9 to vista not a happy switch after a while...

I have used Kapersky in the past which was actually very good but I don't really have to money for it. Returnil is also an interesting program/antivirus Returnil: Returnil offers Quietzone - Ultimate Privacy Solution in the Internet
Don't know if returnil method is the best though. Basically Returnil works by causing all you settings, program, whatever to disappear at reboot and it lets you make a partition to put all your stuff on that you want to keep during the sesion if the program gives problem go to safe mode and delete it.I use to run Comodo firewall, Returnil, Sandboxie,and Kapersky Pure also SAS,too,Winpatrol and maybe more)But what I use windows for ( Which is primarly gaming, I let someone use it for this art program and maybe some windows exclusive tools also surfing if am to lazy to reboot to my other Os and do download things so an antivirus of some kind is probable wanted but real time protection still thinking) I just don't fell I need to be armoured up like that anymore. Don't get me wrong its not like windows is rarely used (Its probable booted up every day) its just every since i got this laptop its used alot less frequently....
But I am interested in AVG or avast or Panda there is also comodo i will admit that made a great firewall! (Seem to really be my only viable options antivirus wise) Don't know which one is better though. McAfee( I take a look at there website scans sometimes) ZoneAlarm(I thought they were firewall only) and who know what elese kind of overwhelming.

I meant to give everybody my answer by quoting you or answering you in order but I though of doing that halfway though the post so if the way I wrote it is confusing I apologise if needed I will rewrite it.

 

[Britton30]

If you're getting the CPU so hot it throttles and shuts down or becomes unresponsive, I suspect you have some serious hardware issues - or a serious infection. MBAM and SAS are both top notch program, I have and use both alongside of Norton. MBAM is the Pro and SAS is free, neither is a AV program.

MS is constantly working against maleware, it's in their best interest to do so. Mac and Linux aren't bullet-proof either, Windows is a much bigger target and so appears more vulnerable. The malware authors are always working harder to exploit or negate any fixes or blocks that are made. Oracle is a good example with their Java, releasing security fixes several time a year, or month at times. I don't even have it installed, as I've said several times, if a site needs Java to run, I don't need that site.

If you have Windows installed it is used on each and every startup whether or not you open a browser. I understand many games use an active internet connection as well. Gaming sites and internet aware games are easy targets for those who work the dark and slimy side of the net. Bots, worms, and Trojans can infect a machine with no trouble and the user doesn't know it until the machine starts running very slow or there are odd changes in behavior.

I suggest you open Resource Monitor (Start/Search, type resmon, hit enter. Open the CPU tab and watch what is hogging your CPU cycles. Maybe this will give you a clue to the overheating.

 

[LMiller7]

Bots, worms, and Trojans can infect a machine with no trouble and the user doesn't know it until the machine starts running very slow or there are odd changes in behavior.

Or the user my not be aware of the infection at all. Much malware likes to keep a low profile doing it's work and never doing anything that might make the user aware of it's presence. In some cases it can be present in a computer for years with no signs of it's presence.

 

[Callender]

AV on demand

Other than the good advice already given by other members here are my thoughts:

It's obviously best to install an AV with real time protection then beef up security using other methods.

Other than that if you make regular system image backups so that you've got a clean backup to fall back on in the event of problems you could try Crystal Security

It doesn't require installation and runs on demand.

I only use it on rare occasions as an on demand scanner but it does offer real time protection that can be enabled/ disabled with a couple of clicks.

 

[Britton30]

Here's a good online scanner I use at times as another layer of protection. It will install itself and download updates on the first use, do not check uninstall when doesn't. It has nothing at all active until you call it up again from the same site.

Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scanner from ESET

Another is this one which can be run from as a portable application.

Downloading Emsisoft Emergency Kit

 

[Layback Bear]

I like Britton30 use this often. It's part of my layered protection plan.
Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scanner from ESET

 

[New FS]

Thanks again for all the suggestion. If i was to use a real time protection would avast be good or AVG because i can't seem to find which is better. Some say Avg others say avast.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I use Avast but take your pick.

 

[New FS]

Thanks it seems good and recommended over panda. I don't even think panda works without internet.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...I don't even think panda works with internet.

Hunh? Panda is an internet based AV.

 

[New FS]

...I don't even think panda works with internet.

Hunh? Panda is an internet based AV.

typo meant to say without my bad.

Just looking around avast with my current set up should be fine. Some recommend 3rd party firewall but I think that overkill and windows firewall is fine.

 

[andrew129260]

Panda is primarily a cloud AV, it depends on the internet to upload new files it has not come across before, but it does use an offline cache repository of bad files. (kinda like signatures.) Avast is primarily a signature based AV. It depends on definitions. Avast also uses cloud analyzing as well for heuristic purposes.

For what you are looking for, I would go with avast. You can disable all active shields and use it as purely an on demand av. Having said that, when avast is running it uses more resources than panda.


More information you may or may not be interested in:

Here is a decent writeup of cloud antivirus programs and how they work:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-antivirus.htm

Panda defense blog against the use of cloud avs and the common myths:
http://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/malware/arguments-against-cloud-based-antivirus/

How avast works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0opPjjX7UZE

https://blog.avast.com/2012/11/16/what-is-the-avast-autosandbox-and-how-does-it-work/

As for firewalls, if you are behind a router with the router firewall on, windows firewall should be enough.

2 way firewalls are always a debate. Some ironically do not protect as well as windows firewall. For firewalls that detect programs connecting to the net that should not be (threats for example) the argument is to not have the malware on the pc in the first place, thus a 2 way firewall is unnecessary as it is better to have more second opinion scanners then firewalls. If the malware is on your system, it already is to late. A firewall will not save you. Also, for average users they end up allowing everything anyway thus making it useless. Which is why windows firewall has a silent approach.

The other argument is a 2 way firewall helps protect your privacy, and can keep certain programs that you do not want to connect to the internet ever to be locked down while still keeping the program. You can also lock down certain processes and other items.

 

[New FS]

Panda is primarily a cloud AV, it depends on the internet to upload new files it has not come across before, but it does use an offline cache repository of bad files. (kinda like signatures.) Avast is primarily a signature based AV. It depends on definitions. Avast also uses cloud analyzing as well for heuristic purposes.

For what you are looking for, I would go with avast. You can disable all active shields and use it as purely an on demand av. Having said that, when avast is running it uses more resources than panda.


More information you may or may not be interested in:

Here is a decent writeup of cloud antivirus programs and how they work:

HowStuffWorks "How a Cloud Antivirus Works"

Panda defense blog against the use of cloud avs and the common myths:
Arguments against cloud-based antivirus | MediaCenter Panda Security

How avast works:

avast! CommunityIQ - How we find new computer viruses - YouTube

https://blog.avast.com/2012/11/16/what-is-the-avast-autosandbox-and-how-does-it-work/

Thanks I will definitely take a look at those links alittle later. For now i just decied to install Avast and just to see how everything would react to the real time protection if left it on. Everything seems pretty much fine just as speedy as before. First reboot did take alittle longer but rebooting after that it seems fine and only seems to be using 36Mb in totally for Ram and Cpu seems tame. So I just decided to keep the real time protection on for now. Thankful quickscan found nothing but I will do a full scan later. So for now advast free is installed on the windows partition but i will take another look at panda since you guys are recommending so much.