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Author Topic: Is antivirus software that important?  (Read 34867 times)

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Geek-9pm


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #75 on: November 15, 2010, 09:15:36 AM »
Do not have two active AVs on one PC.  :)


Allan

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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #76 on: November 15, 2010, 09:32:13 AM »
Uninstall anything and everything "McAfee"

Tokkulmann



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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #77 on: November 16, 2010, 02:40:58 AM »
(I realize this is a little irrelevant to the OP, but it seems this thread is a general AV discussion anyway)

How can one be really sure an AV product is doing it's job effectively, and to expand on that, how can one know if it's doing it better than other software? For what reasons specifically are AVs still important for and what distinguishes them from each other?

Aside from memory footprints, shiny UIs, and competent tech support, I was under the impression that most AV products performed within a pretty close margin. During my highschool years, I was super gung-ho and would spout things along the lines of "Oh my goodness! This AV has a slightly detection rate! This one has a good review from X website! I need to be protected!!! My friends need to be protected. THE INTERNET MUST KNOW."

I've got Avira installed because back then (and for the most part now it seems), it seems to be the product that tops av-comparative's lists for detection most consistently (and it's also free). But now, I've come to realize that aside from the odd random suspicious file you want to scan after you've downloaded, that it really does take safe surfing and a little bit of intuition to avoid most viruses and active heuristics just seem to be a safety net. Since viruses, malware, and the like are developed/exposed and distributed so rapidly, zero day threats render those AV heuristics useless anyway. I also thought that most sneaky people on the internet enjoyed phishing more anyway.

So once a safer computing crusader who once championed Avira and anti-malware software, I've now become almost apathetic towards these products. My last full computer scan was 2 months ago and I found nothing. If I scanned my computer today, I would be confident I'd get a similar result. Viruses just seem so "old-fashioned" when it comes to malicious attacks on the Internet. It almost seems like I'm more likely to be DDoS'd than infected at this point (I'm not sure that even makes sense, but I'll go with it)

I'm not trying to be arrogant and I'm not trying to say "Oh ho ho, I'm so smart with computers, I'll never get infected!". I just don't feel the threat of viruses anymore.

But should I? I feel out of the loop. How close am I onto modern computer security threats?

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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #78 on: November 16, 2010, 06:31:19 PM »
Quote
'm not trying to be arrogant and I'm not trying to say "Oh ho ho, I'm so smart with computers, I'll never get infected!". I just don't feel the threat of viruses anymore.

But should I? I feel out of the loop. How close am I onto modern computer security threats?
   

The treat is greater than you can imagine. To archive their goals, the criminals only need to have a return rate of less than .01 % of all attempts. Right, even under one in 10,100 attempts to snatch you PC can bring them a profit that will pay them many times over the cost of the evil machination.

BC_Programmer


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #79 on: November 16, 2010, 06:34:14 PM »
The treat is greater than you can imagine. To archive their goals, the criminals only need to have a return rate of less than .01 % of all attempts. Right, even under one in 10,100 attempts to snatch you PC can bring them a profit that will pay them many times over the cost of the evil machination.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Adding numbers to nonsense doesn't change that.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

patio

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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #80 on: November 16, 2010, 06:35:44 PM »
WoW...that's all i can say.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

Geek-9pm


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #81 on: November 16, 2010, 06:58:57 PM »
Would you like these numbers?
Quote
"Da Vinci Code" Grifters Fleece Man in $20 Million Computer Virus International Conspiracy Scam
That was yesterday. I mean it was posted yeterday.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/da-vinci-code-grifters-fleece-man-in-20-million-computer-virus-international-conspiracy-scam/14622

BC_Programmer


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #82 on: November 16, 2010, 07:06:10 PM »
Would you like these numbers?That was yesterday. I mean it was posted yeterday.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/da-vinci-code-grifters-fleece-man-in-20-million-computer-virus-international-conspiracy-scam/14622

None of that has anything to do with viruses.

Basically the guy had a computer problem and was taken advantage of by an unscrupulous repair shop. I fail to see the relevance to AV programs. It's not about viruses, it's about scams. an Anti-virus isn't going to protect you from social engineering attacks, for that you need to not be stupid.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

JJ 3000



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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #83 on: November 16, 2010, 07:09:22 PM »
To archive their goals, the criminals only need to have a return rate of less than .01 % of all attempts.

A good criminal would never archive his goals.
You should never keep records of your criminal activities.
Think about it.
Save a Life!
Adopt a homeless pet.
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BC_Programmer


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #84 on: November 16, 2010, 07:13:02 PM »
A good criminal would never archive his goals.
You should never keep records of your criminal activities.
Think about it.

I'm pretty sure he meant "achieve" :P
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

Geek-9pm


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #85 on: November 16, 2010, 07:56:12 PM »
Code: [Select]
None of that has anything to do with viruses.
Quote
Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program ...

And next you wile tell me that guns have nothing to do with murder, therefore we should let everybody have as many guns as they might want.?

And people who have computers are never stupid?


And if  other people get a virus is will not hurt you? Really?

And you will never never get any kind of virus, Trojan or worm  on your PC? Really?
And your PC has never crashed? And you think that would never have anything to do with a Malware attack?

Hey, are you the same person that said there was no such thing as a DNS attack?

As I stated earlier, the problem is larger than what you can imagine. Somehow, there is a popular thought that anything computer related just can not readily become harmful to people. "After all, they are silicon, we are carbon. They can never hurt us."

And yes, if there were not computers, criminals would still exist.

Many kinds of Malware are spread by computers that function well. Any PC could infect a number of others over any kind of low security connection.

Malware is a tool of a criminal mind. Having tools to identity Malware helps everybody to avoid some scams. No, not all scams. So if we can not stop criminals, we should just give up? Not me. And nether should you. Or anybody. Do not cave in, keep up the fight!


BC_Programmer


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #86 on: November 16, 2010, 08:22:56 PM »
geek, nowhere in that article is there anything but a vague implication that malware or viruses are even remotely involved. All we know is the guy took his laptop to get it fixed because  he thought he had a virus- a self-proclaimed computer newbie. I know people who think that if their icons are in the wrong place they got a virus. The entire article has nothing to do with malware, viruses, or infections of any kind, and everything to do with social engineering. Your entire argument is a post-hoc fallacy.

Quote
And next you wile tell me that guns have nothing to do with murder,
Yes. that will be exactly what I tell you. guns have nothing to do with murder just as ropes have nothing to do with people being hanged. Are you trying to place responsibility on inanimate objects or something? Guns can't kill people unless somebody is holding it. Making guns inaccessible will certainly reduce the amount of people injured or killed by them, but it doesn't begin to address the social issues underlying why that happens in the first place. All of this is a straw man argument erected on your part, of course.

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therefore we should let everybody have as many guns as they might want.?
since you are in the  U.S, I will go by the fact that to my understanding your constitution pretty much says that. Other countries differ, including my own, but that's largely irrelevant since again this entire thing is a irrelevant argument you've created to try to divert my attention from the original issues.

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And people who have computers are never stupid?
Non-sequitor.

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And if  other people get a virus is will not hurt you? Really?
irrelevant.
Quote
And you will never never get any kind of virus, Trojan or worm  on your PC? Really?
Having an Anti-virus is not even close to a guarantee that you won't get infected. I haven't had a infection, or any unidentifiable process or service since I switched from Windows XP. the new UAC and security systems implemented by Vista and 7 that so many people like to complain about are to prevent the most common infection vector- the user. Of course if you go ahead and allow them anyway it's not very effective, but that's no different then with AV programs.

Quote
And your PC has never crashed? And you think that would never have anything to do with a Malware attack?
The only crashes I've had in the recallable past were caused by video card issues.

Quote
Hey, are you the same person that said there was no such thing as a DNS attack?
There isn't. It's called DNS poisoning. Perhaps you should use the proper terminology, then maybe your non-sequitor straw man arguments will have some relevance.

Quote
As I stated earlier, the problem is larger than what you can imagine. Somehow, there is a popular thought that anything computer related just can not readily become harmful to people. "After all, they are silicon, we are carbon. They can never hurt us."
None of this has even a remote relevance to the anything you said previously.

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And yes, if there were not computers, criminals would still exist.
Wow. I totally didn't know that. thanks for enlightening me. (That was sarcasm, by the way)

Quote
Many kinds of Malware are spread by computers that function well. Any PC could infect a number of others over any kind of low security connection.
That doesn't even make sense. Yes, the idea of many forms of malware(specifically, worms/ worm hybrids) is to spread through networks. I fail to see the relevance, however. You then facilitate your argument by adding in the concept of a low security connection, and then you imply that in order to combat these worms and viruses we need to have a strong defense of AV programs. Of course, the concept of preventative medicine and actually not having a low security connection didn't for some reason occur to you. Additionally, any form of malware, any kind of infection, will have a process appear, in either windows or linux systems. Sure, rootkits can be used to hide them, but in order for the rootkit to get there (as with the malware) another program needs to install it. Is it possible through exploits? yes, probably. but again, that's all pretty redundant on account of the fact that it's also possible to get past AV programs. your idea of basically living in a padded room and being wrapped in about 20 layers of straight jackets is anything but a workable methodology to use a computer.


Quote
Malware is a tool of a criminal mind. Having tools to identity Malware helps everybody to avoid some scams. No, not all scams. So if we can not stop criminals, we should just give up? Not me. And nether should you. Or anybody. Do not cave in, keep up the fight!
what the *censored* are you talking about? We are talking about Anti-VIRUS programs, not Anti-malware programs. they are not one and the same.

Additionally, as I noted about 3 times so far (and additionally with my references to how irrelevant your various arguments here are), wether the person in the article had a virus or not is entirely irrelevant to the rest of the story. For all we now it was a expository created by the author of the article. For all we know the entire article is a fabrication. Listening to your constant ranting about how everybody should be on their guard at all times because that abandoned kitten that you found on your doorstep 4 years ago could be infested with biological malware that rewrote it's base code and changed it's instintive behaviour to create a photographic memory of your facebook account details makes me realize that there is a large portion of the population that would consider themselves "tech savvy" who apparently could not tell a disk file from a pair of weasels.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

Tokkulmann



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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #87 on: November 18, 2010, 08:41:44 PM »
I haven't been on this forum for long, but that has to be one of the most thorough counter-arguments I've ever seen. That was a splendidly constructed rebuttal.

Geek-9pm


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #88 on: November 18, 2010, 09:31:27 PM »
I haven't been on this forum for long, but that has to be one of the most thorough counter-arguments I've ever seen. That was a splendidly constructed rebuttal.
Yes, BC has the gift of being very exact without being accurate. Amazing!

BC_Programmer


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Re: Is antivirus software that important?
« Reply #89 on: November 18, 2010, 10:06:15 PM »
Yes, BC has the gift of being very exact without being accurate. Amazing!

Funny, that's pretty much my entire point against you as an argument. The events described in the article:

1.Computer newbie thinks he has a virus
2.he takes it to a repair shop.
3.people at shop take advantage of his stature as well as his general proclivity to be paranoid and squeeze him for all he's worth.


That's pretty much it. Somehow, you take from the first event that the entire debacle was caused by a computer virus. For all we know he only <thought> he had a computer virus. Wether he actually had one is entirely irrelevant to the rest of the story, and it would have played out the same either way. Additionally, there is no explicit or implicit reference that the people at the repair shop gave him the/a virus, which you seem to imply by making it seem like the entire thing was a planned attack on him. It was not. Really it's no different then a story like this:

1. mechanics-ignorant car owner hears a suspicious rattle.
2. she takes it to the repair shop.
3. Mechanics find cause of rattle; small stone in the ashtray. But they take advantage of her high stature and general proclivity to be paranoid and tell her that her engine was tampered with by the FBI and she'll need to have the entire engine block rebuilt, and other nonsense.

The only difference here is that the first story mentions "computer viruses" which of course totally sets you off on a crusade against them, despite that being only part of the expository introduction paragraph. It's analogous to if the story was my second example and you went on a crusade to push people to install anti-stone screens on their ashtrays to prevent the rattle. All it takes is a little education, and the same is true of viruses; you only need to now a relatively small amount to prevent people from taking advantage of your ignorance; since ignorance cannot be taken advantage of where none is to be found. which is essentially what the story was about. Providing that story as "numbers" is rather nonsense since the fact that the man was scammed is entirely irrelevant to wether he had an AV. it would be like getting scammed by a doctor and blaming the reason you had to go to the doctor for the entire scam. "This dang flu fleeced me for 20 million!". In such a case it would seem that arguing using logic and proper attribution of cause and effect is entirely pointless because you've already reached an ad-hoc hypothesis based on the introductory paragraph.

I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.