Anti Virus

[TFL]bclaytz · Anti Virus

i know there is a thread somewhere about free anti virus programs, but im wanting to get a good firewall aswell as a good scanner, and im willing to subscribe for it. At the moment im on Norton Anti-Virus, which has a nice firewall. I would like to change though, as it seems to slow my pc down randomly for some reason.

So does anyone know of a very good anti-virus program that isnt too expensive for a yearly subscription?

[TFL]LordofCheese

Well i tried Mc Afee..... and burnt my copy, wasting aroung 300 days of subscription. Then switched to Norton which works fine for me.

LoC

Hideki

have u tried avast?
it's free, and although i dont have a single anti virus app for myself, my dad's and a family windows server machine has it and seems to be going on just fine.

and theres also avg which is also free.
i used to use adaware to scan spywares etc, which is free for private use iirc.

windows does already have a decent firewall, but its only protecting incoming connection and wont stop outbound connection, which is basically enough. but if ur comp already does random outbound, then ur comp is already freaked up, firewall is only there to stop unnecessary connection, not cure the cause. so i wouldnt say investing much on firewall would solve ur problem much.

the best app ever i found is to paste a sticky on ur display saying, 'stop downloading random porn/warez/p2p material

'

for porns, go subscribe to pay sites or go to local vid store or find a real porn on the street lol, warez, u actually dont need them as there are plenty free apps to suit ur needs, if u need something professionally, then u have to squeeze ur money out for ur own endeavor or someone else might help u with that, music/movies... just go rent them with $1 each... no need to wait for download, the quaility is much better, rip and store them. that also gets u some fresh air with all the coke 'n chips life of ya geeks, and might even have a chance to catch a real porn on the way too :D

Xerxes|TFL

I totally agree with hideki - in each point.

But since adaware doesn't find every spyware, I additionally use Spybot - Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/). It finds a lot more tracking cookies and stuff.

This way I haven't had any viruses or spyware (except tracking cookies) since years! (And maybe because I use Windows mainly to play and do my "work" with Mac and Linux ...

)

Hideki

seems like we can do some technical talk one day :D

[TFL]Tank0

avast is good but i only used them in companies for essential servers , however in networks i now recommend norton because it has a nice roll out feature you can trust .
for personal use it seems overkill but hey its your cash , i have no experiences with it on my private comp so i wont say anything pro or against it

avg sux bigtime , sure its free but lags like a mofo and isnt 100% . i had it and when i got me a new norton i discovered several trojans and virii that avg hadn't picked up on .

all in all norton is still the best although it also slows your comp , but hey thats the price you pay for security

as firewall i use the build in from xp but if you want more ( again overkill for the common user ) go for the norton security package . you are sure you have quality and is compatible with your anti virus proggie .

best way is still to have a one way trust relationsship with a linux internetserver but i am assuming that not all of us have several pc's .

spybot aint bad but again i have proof it isnt 100% cover , i still use adaware

video's forget torrent or p2p setups , just stream them from the new sites that popup everywhere .but remember to buy the dvd if you really like the movie so the producers have fresh cash to make new movies . no cash no movies and they are forced to recycle the same old crap over and over

pron : 89.com but make sure you got a firewall active but no virii or annoying pop ups

mp3 : well a few years ago you where forced to go illegal but now you can dl everything for reasonable prices so why risk the defect mp3's ( you know with glitches in them half way through or other crap ) or getting infected with virii , just pay the 0.80cents for a song and remember the artists have to eat too

that and a little common sense to not click everything you see and certainly no .EXE files unless you know the webmaster. try not to use to many different p2p /torrent proggies because not all of them share only what you want to share .u dont want those spicy picks of your girl popping up on pron sites , do you ????
also make sure you never leave your comp online unattended , hackers will hijack your comp and connection and dump files in hidden directories because they need space to store all the shit they offer on boards . personal comps arent a real target , usually its lone servers that get attacked that way but if you have broadband and several gigs free space you will qualify too and a standard setup is ideal for newb crackers/hackers to train on . best defense is still to not draw attention , blend in with the masses online and you will become a unlikely target for deliberate attacks. trust me they scan for special secured comps with free space , if only for the challenge

[TFL]bclaytz

yeah i was going to stay with Norton but i had problems renewing my subscription, but il try again! And iv tried AVG before, very long scan times and annoying frequent updates made me get rid of it

For spyware i use ccleaner and adaware, seem to work fine with me :-D

So Norton it is then, cheers fer the feedback!

[TFL]bclaytz

found a new bit o software called BitDefender which i decided to replace Norton. First impressions its very good! Easy interface and faster scanning times than with Norton, and for a 2 year subscription it was cheaper than a 18 month for Norton

Xerxes|TFL

@tank0:

a) no anti-vir-prog and no anti-spyware-prog covers 100%. so i use adaware AND spybot s&d. furthermore avast and avg recognize (related to tests of c't) the same amount of in-the-wild-viruses (near to 100%) (but avg tends to be better, if I remember correctly).
b) imho, norton is for anti-virus and firewal progs, what aol is for internet progs – so it REALY, REALY sucks and has quite a bad detection rate.

norton also sells a "defrag. tool", but after you let it run, your hard disk is even more fragmented then before! It was the worst prog. in that test - by far. *lol*

[TFL]Tank0

a) I dont believe the magazines , i speak from years of experience as end user support and network admin not some test with unknown conditions but you are correct no single proggie will give you 100% coverage but combining AV proggies is a bad idea . in my experiences AVG sux and i still stand by it .i still had best results with avast for the servers and norton rollout tool for the 4700 clients i had to support . the combo picked up 99.9% what didnt get picked up by the servers the clients picked up on .

b) sorry but norton is way better then aol is as ISP , not that norton is that good but aol is really REALLY bad ( for coorperations who need 24/7 support i always recommend norton since they have a good fallback option and offer customized solutions if you network goes down due to virri / trojans) clients WANT a known name for such important issues and its way easier to get them to ok the investment if they have heard from the proggie you are recommending , besides the norton tool on the roll out server is ideal to safe time and you have a central proggie to see who doesnt let the scan complete or whatever things they do that endangers the network

b2) would you buy a car in the aldi ? NO !!! because its not their core business so defrag from norton is the same , they are much better proggies ( diskkeeper ) that do the job .

yall have to realise clay is a newb so offer him a standard solution . will google bitdefender as i didnt know it yet . just want to say cheapest isnt always the main criteria you should follow when dealing with security problems .

edit : well it looks like you made a good choice might even try it myself when my subscription runs out

http://anti-virus-software-review...;gclid=CN7u75KEi40CFR5EEAodfHmqjw

http://anti-virus-software-review...views.com/bitdefender-review.html

Hideki

> thats the price you pay for security

something i must add to this is this aint true :) it is just that norton has no skill to make a light weight application and its not the price you have to pay to gain security. if you have the motivation to learn computer security, you dont need that to protect yourself, like i do, i have nothing installed, my comp has been very light weight, with 512mb ram, most of the time i have over half of my memory free. and nothing seems slow with my xp installation that's been lasting a couple of years.

> pron

dunno about that 89.com, but im sure if u're that desperate u can find a pay site of $30 a month to get u rolling enough...

> mp3
> forced to go illegal

oh plz...

its not like every music stores were closed few years ago... you could still buy/rent or buy online...

> hackers will hijack your comp

this is not really that true... unless u wanna run a comp unpatched for months. i can leave my comp on online while i go outside, everything looks normal and ive done that million times. i'd say its safer to close ur network enabled softwares while u're off, but that doesnt mean getting off the seat will make it any more vulnerable than what it already is.

the thing is, its easy... just keep a few rules in ur mind

- update ur damn pc apps and os when necessary
- stop downloading dirty stuff coz there are better alternatives in a cleaner manner, while its not the right thing to do

not too hard and the money u pay for security app can go for a porn site too

i'll tell u a truth, comp is complicated, i understand, it is for me too, but thats what those security app makers use to give u guys a good fud to buy everything they offer and give u yearly subscription and all that, when in fact, once u learn some amount of computer security, all look moot. its not like windows is always vulnerable by default and u need every defense u can ever get.

its basically tough to find an easily expoitable security hole in an app u use day to day if thats a famous app, so its usually tough to get urself auto-cracked by doing nothing but just connecting to the net, especially if u have a router and/or firewall. then the next chance to get cracked is that u run something and u can choose what to run urself...

the only concern i would ever have is some clueless colleague sends a virus along with their office docs and im forced to open. if thats the circumstance, i'd certainly keep an anti virus app. also always doubt about what ur friend might give u, he might've got that off from some bloke on irc who is trying to tip him off...

im starting to sound like ur dad or mom, but at the end of the day,

- u dont have the right to steal people's work (mp3, game, movie, or even porn) freely off the net, so getting caught by virus with p2p and downloads is basically all ur fault, just thank the media producers havent come and get u.

- u really have to protect urself when going to internet if u wish to be safe against every resource available there, thats the price u have to pay, no clue, no easy life.

[TFL]Tank0

512 RAM omg thats why you never left homeworld 2

, vista uses that just to run ( crappy windows - apple comps are so much better on that area )

all anti virus proggies slow your comp , that is a fact , and i still stand by it thats the price you have to pay for minimal security . wich AV is best is a discussion without end because thruth is in the eye of the beholder

Hideki

heh, well, i have so far left homeworld 2 for more than 3 months imo, not a single game, giving some sf some air to breathe

besides, im just too busy to wipe my xp to get a vista right now thats why im still using xp, but i dont have much complaint to keep using xp so far, although im quite attracted to moving to mac anyways.

[TFL]Tank0

yeah i left hw2 several times before but its like a drug , i always end up returning

i hear ya seriously thinking about switching to linux or mac because vista is really sucky .

gonna leave ya with a quote i read somewhere .

"If Microsoft is ever going to make something that doesn't suck, it must be a vacuumcleaner."

Hideki

as much as i hear alot of ms bashing, in reality ms products are fine, but that is because of the quality of the surrounding software. Windows itself is nothing tremendous with how power hungry and not as sexy looking as mac and not as free (free as in either way) as in linux, though security and stability issues are of a debate that if any of it is best and on top of that, it makes no improvements at all in the last 6 years. but all the apps around it that were built in the last 15 years or something since pc reached to end users, those resources of apps are just great on windows and that makes it windows the best os for end users.

but really, if u dont know what a mac is about, take a look at the keynote the apple ceo made recently about their new os release.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc07/ (you need a quicktime)

it's about an hour long, but you can skip parts through and see what mac is about, and how its at least more thrilling looking than 'yeah, hold on , ok here it is win vista with 6 goddamn versions that took us 5 years. improvements? hmm, aero glass!'

but recently mac's apps are just gaining popularity and quality very fast, for day to day use for average users i see none of them lacking in quality, even my mother uses a mac for her main comp now.

lol, im turning every thread into mac/linux geek talk, but as for linux, it isnt ready when you need multilingual requirement. input dictionary isnt all that sufficient, though usable, jap fonts arent all that ready (cant just use mac/win fonts, because fonts do also have licenses), they look pretty bad compared to mac/win. and basically not all apps work with their choice of language. parts of the interface arent all translated giving a mix of english/japanese interface, which is weird enough to run casual users away. etc

and basically things break 10 times more often than mac/win. period. along with the lack of quality software. theres just not enough quality apps, i rarely see any payware for linux, since the market is too small. besides, all u can do is watch preview movies of a game and drool when a new game comes out on windows if u're using linux

so, linux is lovely for a server, but for a desktop, i wouldnt take it seriously yet.

[TFL]Temmu

i am running avast pro right now... its the corporate verision that i got from a friend =)... it runs really nicely in the background doesnt slow my comp down 1 bit... it is also my firewall and scans everything coming in... it picks all the crap specially like advertisements that also want to download crap to your comp without you knowing it... but yea all and all it gets almost all of it (occassionally one will sneak by but gets picked up in the scan) if you wanna add to that then get spyware doctor and run on guard... that also tracks everything going in and out of your comp...
i dont like norton for several reasons... one being that it costs money... two that it takes over your computer and slows it down significantly... and three YOU HAVE TO PAY EVERY YEAR TO KEEP THE UPGRADE!!!!! that just blows in my opinion...

cheers!

o and bclay if you want to learn how to set up avast pm me and i am sure i can help you out

~~~EDIT~~~
alrite i dunno if i should be saying some of this but i am sure an admin will clean it up if need be... so here it goes
well i read more of the replies... vista is only the hold over verision of windows until the newer verision comes out... sort of like how ME was to hold people over until xp was finished... so now since people are sick of xp like they were with 2000 MS had to do something in order to satisfy the public... so they came out with vista which is almost a mass produced beta of there soon to be operating system... also another tid bit xp will stop being produced by january next year is the expected date... after that you will no longer be able to buy genuine xp licenses... so off to do some dumpster diving to scrap off all those xp keys

as for pron.... one site that has no spyware... no adds and nothing is sologals.com.... the ocasional link you may click to bring you to the pictures may send you to a diff website at first but if you just x it off and then click again it will bring you to the pics you originally wanted....

but back to the geek talk... macs are alrite the the graphics designer... there slowly making there way back into the general use market but to many people already have a pc and dont want to run a mac... but eventually it wont matter because in the next release of windows they will also be putting it onto macs... so now wont that be fun... a last ditched effort by jobs to save apple... cause the iphone was a flop and ipods are still going but other cheap alternatives are coming into play....

but still the newer verision of windows is supposed to be much better at using resources and what not... but then again.. since people are making stuff bigger and better as in more ram and more hd and faster processors... why not take advantage of it by using it!!!!!
what i am truly waiting for is the solid state hard drives to come out along with the prototypes of the crystal mobo's

Hideki

[TFL]Temmu

hid i am not saying this vista is better... no this is just a glorified version of xp that has pretty icons and the dx10 support... nothing that was supposed to make it was able to before production was launched... instead they saved it for the next OS release which is schedualed for sometime in 2010.... and no i will agree that the programs are becoming much worse at using resources... but you also have to take a look at said programs... when you had the flight sim on 2 floppys way back when how did the graphics look compared to todays.... todays is much better and the result is that it needs more to produce that result....

the problem with your dads company is being seen around the country... people who are to cheap along with companies and school systems (mine being a big one) cannot shell out the money neccessary to make the upgrades to the computers to run the software properly... thats just it... because the software has more and needs more to run people try running it less than the minimum... its just because they dont want to shell out the cash for a new comp or upgrade... you should see the people that come in my job who have comps 10+ years old and the see an xp comp and there like wow.... i dont want to pay for that though... i will just take it...

in the end its about money and where do you want to spend it and how... mostly people dont think computers are worth 1500$ including my parents.... i got a 2000$ laptop and it will be outdated within a year... but it will last for almost 5 in which i will have gotten my moneys worth and its time for a new one.... thats just the thing about technology... it is moving so fast... if i remember statistics properly during the 1950's the world made an advancement in some sort of technology every 10 years.... by the 70's that was down to 5 years... by the 90's that was down to 1 year.... now we are making advances ever 2-4 WEEKS!!!!!!!!! so of course things are gonna be better and taking up resources... the point your trying to make is like sayin... o well pong was a great game... why cant they have supcom take up as much room as pong did....

see what i am getting at?

Hideki

the office thing my father is having problem with is not coz the apps are old... the company is one of the hugest in japan and they shell out omfg wow money on computer properties, i thought i heard they have xp and they all own a dedicated laptop.

the thing everyone thinks is, just coz ms releases an upgrade doesnt mean it was necessary... have u seen ms office 97? it's as good as is for, lets say over 50% of the office users imo. because they simply bring out cheesy power point sheets or they just type plain documents in a word document which was possible back then. now ms just say 'ok, we made upgrades, hmm, sry couldnt keep file type compatibility' and we all go 'oh yeah, new version! woohoo!' ... and somehow love shelling out money to ms, or even feel good to shell out money for sake of their business.

and office is such a super bloat, i havent used that app for like over 5 years now. glad i dont have to make office docs that includes complicated graphs which might have slight compatibility problems by making it with openoffice.

at the end of the day, think where money should go, to either someone making innovations, or someone sitting on ur back like a ghost asking for money for not much reason.

[TFL]Temmu

dude office is still backwards compatable... to begin with... with your fathers case then yea hes good but for the rest of the people they have the problem that i previously stated....
and no this was not necessary... they should have waited until it was done... not gonna lie there... it was a big mistake.... but since they didnt well here we are... and now they are just gonna add onto it and re release it in 2 years with a diff name....

[TFL]bclaytz

yeah i heard XP was better than Vista anyways. But i find Office to be a life saver for coursework at school, so i dont agree with Hid on that bit :-D Microsoft Publisher is a godsend

[TFL]Tank0

sorry i have to agree with hideki ( gasp )

i switched to openoffice two years ago without any problems , just installed doc,xls and pps viewer so i can still see what they send me but i make my docs in open office free and just as good , little adjustment fter years of microsoft office but it does it job well . if i had to advise companies i would point them to open office at 500 employees X license fee is alot of savings you do switching to open office .

in the end the worker doesnt need all bells and whistles : all sort of fonts graphs integration , spellchecker , numbering and so on is basic but paying for the exact same program with a new name is milking it

at a certain a program does what it needs to do and all the rest is luxury you can do without .but i agree current programmers are resource hogs . i always learn to evauate every variable for memoryspace but i think they threw that principle out of the window
long ago ( maybe thats why its called windows

)

as long as i dont need 10x i wont switch to vista , xp is well enough and stable (ish)
linux for my schoolwork

and when i ever can afford it a mac for my gfx

Xerxes|TFL

mac or pc - a rap battle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrn6ecxthM

i think this is inspired by these spots: http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/ (<-- very funny)

[TFL]Temmu

those are outrages.... they have some points but most of them are stupid... like the one about viruses... they have a video where it says that macs dont get viruses because nobody wants to create a virus for mac.... which is true.....

Xerxes|TFL

i like the vista-security-man most *g*