Antivirus Cost

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# 935136 17-Nov-2013 10:47

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Out of box protection = MSE for Windows 7 or Windows Defender on Windows 8

freitasm

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# 935143 17-Nov-2013 11:07

MSE is a separate download for Windows 7, it is not installed by default.

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MadEngineer

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# 935203 17-Nov-2013 13:32

timmmay: I wonder if the "out of box security provided by windows 7" includes Microsoft Antivirus. I guess it does, since it does block some viruses.

I use the Microsoft one, I haven't had a virus yet. I used nod32 for years, I think one slipped through. For a year I didn't use any antivirus, didn't get anything. I think I got one of a floppy years ago.

What I find on my parents computers is they somehow get tricked into installing toolbars that confuse things and slow them down. I wish there was a way to block those. Or maybe I need some kind of a corporate policy server to stop them doing stupid things...

eset does a Very Good Job of protecting against this. You'll find for example you can no longer download from cnet as almost all their software (or is included by default in their downloader tool) includes installers for third party ad- or offer-ware.

freitasm

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# 935206 17-Nov-2013 13:42

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CNET is source of evil software. Never download from there.

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Dairyxox

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# 935242 17-Nov-2013 15:43

I see tucows is now doing the same/something similar. Another download site i'll never be downloading from again.

Yabanize

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# 935314 17-Nov-2013 19:42

Ive gone back to MSE in the last couple of months from Avast,

PC performance seems much better then when I had avast

MadEngineer

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# 936348 17-Nov-2013 23:35

The ms offering never seems to update itself automatically ... Instead you get an alert that sits there waiting for your action. Unless this has changed recently?

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# 936369 18-Nov-2013 06:41

Mine updates itself fine.

freitasm

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# 936380 18-Nov-2013 07:53

MSE definitions will show as "optional update" which is annoying but it is set to update before scanning. Windows Defender on Windows 8 updates automatically.

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nzkiwiman

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# 936456 18-Nov-2013 09:50

Been using the free Avast for years and never had any issues.
Turn silent mode on and it removes the horrible sounds which is the only downside of the product

Common sense also helps

MadEngineer

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# 936651 18-Nov-2013 14:32

You can't rely on common sense any more. There are many sites around that have been injected with malware and unless you have a decent av solution you'll be pwned. Saw a nasty one a few weeks back that would monitor your pc for FTP connections, grab the login details and infect any webserver you logged into with its latest payload. A lot of them are getting around the download prompts of your favourite browser.

1101

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# 936715 18-Nov-2013 15:37

MadEngineer: You can't rely on common sense any more.

true, but common sense is one of the best ways to minimize risk.
Thats why certain people NEVER get active infections, others have ongoing issues.
go on, click that popup, open those joke emails, click that link, download that keygen, let the neighbours use it as well.
:-)

I'm also still waiting for the OFFICIAL link from MS about MSE not being recommended. No one can provide this link, just rumour .
However, MS does have history of abandoning its AV products.

Any AV recommendation also needs to separate : straight AV from all dancing Security Suites (yuk) . You just cant compare a AV with a suite(Yuk) from another company

On topic: Ive seen viruses get through EVERY common AV product at some stage. Even NOD had a bad run a few years back (we have it installed
on quite a few clients PC's)
MSSE can sometime cause issues on slow old PC's
Norton : cant say anything good about there AV/suites.
McAffe: Mr McAfee even hates this product now.
Should you trust a AV from company that cant be trusted with your credit card, & was fined for their practises in the US. Keep an eye out for those annual auto renewals guys :-)
Freeware AV sometimes trys to trick users into buying the full product.

Avast seems OK for freeware, it least it also scans email
NOD32 AV for payware. Its reliable, lightweight & also seems to block some known bad websites/urls in the browser. Not perfect though (what is)

hashbrown

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# 936740 18-Nov-2013 15:54

MadEngineer: You can't rely on common sense any more. There are many sites around that have been injected with malware and unless you have a decent av solution you'll be pwned. Saw a nasty one a few weeks back that would monitor your pc for FTP connections, grab the login details and infect any webserver you logged into with its latest payload. A lot of them are getting around the download prompts of your favourite browser.

It always amuses me when people say they are okay because they don't browse dodgy porn sites. In reality the security of a porn site is likely to be slightly above average as they have assets (media, user databases) which are in their interest to protect.

Conversely the geek who thought they'd set up a server running wordpress for their techincal blog one Sunday, ticked all the plugins (because they might need them one day) and will get around to patching it when they get some time, is pretty likely to end up hosting malware at some point.

But of course none of us have ever been researching some obscure technical problem, and just clicked on random blog sites looking for the answer.

freitasm

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# 936801 18-Nov-2013 17:44

Studies have shown religious sites are worst than porn sites because they usually have low protection due to poor administration skills.

Search for this. I am in the bus so can't go looking for it now, but it is out there.

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hashbrown

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# 937153 19-Nov-2013 09:11

freitasm: Studies have shown religious sites are worst than porn sites because they usually have low protection due to poor administration skills.

Getting a wee bit OT, but I heard the theory that it was stuff like this that lead to the prevalence of malware infected religious sites. Hosting providers and ISPs in the US being too scared of violating constitutional freedom of religion to takedown obviously infected sites. I can't find a direct reference though, so don't take it as Gospel (ba-dum-tish).

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