anti-virus software

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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:01 am

My late 2p...

Windows Firewall works perfectly well, never had a problem with it, and since it came out I ditched my other firewalls.

IF you have a good firewall and are smart, you can get by without any kind of AV - viruses need a way to get onto your computer, and if you don't do risky things, you're not likely to get a virus. That said, I run AVG in heuristics mode, with a rare full scan - but I've never caught a virus on my current box as I run a firewall, have common sense about what I install, etc.

Anti-adware - you're even less likely to need it if you practice good hygiene - if you don't risk viruses, you can avoid adware.

The one time I got infected was years ago - it was late, I was stupid, I couldn't be bothered to fetch my proper dvd player install discs and needed an MPEG2 decoder...didn't make that mistake again I assure you!

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:23 am

@ Gordon Bennett !

Similar vocation to me. I couldn't have phrased Nortons more elegantly. It's so true. I currently favour AVG AV and Spyware.

EDIT! I did use Ad Aware SE, but do not like it's successor, 2007.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:50 am

I've got nothing to add except for my opinion... you know what they say about assholes...
Seems to be a lot of Norton haters... as for me ... I like norton ( internet security 08 now) on my laptop ... been using it for years... never had a virus... ... On my desktop I run pc tools... and it doesnt seem to be any faster... perhaps both slow down each machine and thats what i am used to... both are fast machines and for me they seem to be fast enough

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:24 pm

manbiteslion wrote:

IF you have a good firewall and are smart, you can get by without any kind of AV - viruses need a way to get onto your computer, and if you don't do risky things, you're not likely to get a virus.

I'm afraid I can't agree that that's sound advice. Yes, viruses need a way to get onto your computer, but the most common ways that viruses get on your computer (e-mails, malicious websites, downloaded files) aren't going to be prevented by a firewall set up for a normal home desktop. In short: If you've connected to the internet, use an anti-virus.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:59 pm

Mac user here, I am happy with Sophos Anti-Virus and File Defense, both work well in the background - but I am a typical MAC user I have had no problems yet!!!

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:23 pm

Thread getting a little off track here, but

manbiteslion wrote:

Windows Firewall works perfectly well, never had a problem with it, and since it came out I ditched my other firewalls.

In my opinion, Windows firewall is junk as it only works one way - inwards

I believe you need a firewall that also monitors and controls outgoing traffic, just in case you get a Trojan that tries to dial home. You can also stop all the other little apps contacting their supplier unless you allow it.

Back on track on my PC and laptop (both XP Pro SP2 plus all updates)

NOD32 - paid
ZA Pro - paid
Windows Defender (used to be Giant anti-spyware until Big Bill bought it) - free
Spyware Blaster - free
Spybot S&D - free
Ewido - free (deliberately regressed from AVG antispyware free as it was junk)
Asquared - free
Adaware 2007 - free

ZAP is set so that only Outlook can email.

First three are real-time. All the others I update and scan my PC every Friday with each one, one after the other (well not with Blaster as it's an immunization app, but I update it); some catch stuff others miss - mostly tracking cookies. I do occasionally get a few false alarms on some traces, but Google is your friend.

I only surf with Firefox and I have NoScript and Adblock Add-ons

NOD does a full system scan every week, with settings from Blackspear in the NOD32 forum at Wilders.org.

I regularly check that my machines are fully stealthed by using "Shields UP" at Gibson Research, just in case something has opened a port.

Oh, and I sit behind a NATS router as well, with hardware firewall.

Never had a virus and I have been known to go to some pretty dark places. Looking to move to Linux for browsing for even more security.

Yes, I'm that paranoid with my baiting, too Very Happy

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:11 pm

Since I was the original poster for this topic, I think I have the right to move off-topic with a totally different question. Very Happy

Thanks again for all the helpful advice, I'm up and running on my new system. BUT-- all of my IE favorites are gone. Is there any easy way to copy those from my old computer? I have to think about going back to each one individually and mailing the links to myself....

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:42 pm

Yep.

Go into the "File" pull-down menu in IE and you'll see "Import and export..." click on that and it'll start a wizard that'll create an export file of all your IE bits that you can save on your desktop.

Copy that file across to you new computer, do the same thing again but import that file and you'll have favourites, passwords and even cookies (if you want them) transferred across.

It's the only thing IE does better than FF Very Happy

[edit - congrats on the promotion. I hope this piece of advice gives good suck-up credits]

Master Baiter Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 156

Rodus wrote:

^^Dump Norton mate, waste of time and resources. Try http://www.clamxav.com/

And for the poor souls still stuck in M$-land there is also a windows version of clamav: http://w32.clamav.net/

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:54 pm

Late but another contented user here of AVG, Ad-aware and Spybot. They are easy to install update and use; they're even easy enough for my parents who are not exactly IT gurus. Smile

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:28 pm

Quote:

IE favorites

Find the Favorites folder on the old machine (in 98 it's in the Windows folder; in xp it's in the user name part of documents and settings. You may have to enable file viewing in XP). Copy to replace current Favorites.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:08 am

Another quick way to copy IE favorites is to locate them in the IE folder on the old computer, copy them to a jump drive and put them on the new computer in the IE folder. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:14 am

late by my two cents in, i use AVG, spybot for a long time and windows firewall.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:35 am

Once again, thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. I've got my Favorites back, I've managed to retrieve my archived emails, I've downloaded all my virus/spyware programs, and my new computer is fully operational. Which means I can finally dump the creaky antique I've been using. I can't believe it was state-of-the-art 4 years ago....

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:59 am

Juan Freizwidatt wrote:

I can finally dump the creaky

Whatever your method of "dumping" is... make sure to erase all personal data from the HD if you are getting rid of it.

Erase in NOT delete...

While the best approach is complete physical destruction of the HD, there are applications that will erase the data securely. One such application is Eraser. Set it up for the highest setting (Gutmann -- Link to a publication about this method) and erase away. Depends on the size of the HD, it may take a long time... I would do one pass at erasing the data on the drive, and when done, another pass on all unused space (should be the whole drive).

The application has a few nice features... worth IMO putting it on your new PC as well and using it.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:20 am

Thanks, yes I'm aware of that risk. I plan to keep the old hard drive and install it in a USB case to use as a backup. If ever I get rid of one I will destroy it so that no one can ever recover anything...

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:30 am

Juan, if you're trying to avoid viruses/spyware, ditch IE in favour of Firefox. It's a hell of a lot more secure, on account of it not being so closely integrated with the OS, and having far less security holes. See secunia.com for more on this.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:48 pm

i use AVG both at home and at work ..never had a prob and the best part... IT FREE... due to the fact that im a cheap bastard

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:58 am

My son, Radden has always told me that Norton's sucked, but I never believed him, till a few days ago. My lovely wife decided that she wanted to download a television program that she likes. She used utorrent and downloaded several episodes of the program. In the mean time, the Norton's ran out on my other 2 computers and I switched to AVG free edition. I then switched my main computer to AVG, and guess what? It found a trojan from one of her downloads. The bottom line for me is AVG anti-virus, Spybot S&D, AVG anti-spyware (paid version), and AVG anti-root kit. Not only did getting rid of Norton's make my comp run faster, but I feel better protected now.

** SUSPENDED ** Joined: 26 Mar 2005 Posts: 1267

I used Norton's once in my life back when I knew nothing about computers. After it didn't find several viruses (trojans) that I had on my computer, and having my computer taken in and reformatted, I learned to not trust Norton's. It was ~$60 to get your computer reformatted.

Long story short - I ended up with AVG and I've had it for several years now. I will never get rid of it since it saved me plenty of times from bad files.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I haven't trusted Norton since before they got into AV. Their disk repair tool has only ever made matters worse when I've resorted to it.

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:18 pm

first thing i do when a get a new computer is get rid of nortons