Thread: Anti-Virus for PC’s - mind field

So, despite the Russki - sounding name, Kaspersky is Yankee ???

Guy I know who runs one of these 'alternative-health' and "Conspiracy Theory" - type Bulletin- boards/ server, reckons he used to be regularly attacked and too many got through. - Blamed the US spy agencies (as you do...) But since he switched to Kaspersky, he's been unharmed. Dunno what he was using before, Norton or ???
His rationale is that he trusts the FSB more than the CIA or FBI etc.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Did you do the usual and open an attachment?
I get dozens of dodgy emails a day. sharpens the reflexes.
Regards Philip A

Not this little bunny. If not 101% kosher-looking, I'll flag it and try to 'SWEEP' it, in which case the dialog box shows the 'real' return addy. Gives me the option of continuing the disposal, oir retreat and open it.

Or, Right-click and view the Source. - Scroll through and if it's legit, you'll quickly find the message body in plain language along with return addy etc. But if there's zillions of lines of gibberish, chances are you're looking as something nasty... At which point I trash it, unopened.
Or report it as a Phishing Scam.

currently running AVAST anti-virus, and a couple of small sweepers/maintainance freebies.

When I last had an IBM PC - 10 years ago, I had Norton anti-virus. Over a period of two years it told me it it was working and 'finding' viruses, but as it turns out it allowed a Trojan Horse virus in, which Replicated the Norton Anti-Virus!! making it appear that it was working.... when actually it was allowing every virus in to attack. Eventually my computer became so slow, it was unuseable.

...That's when I changed to Apple Mac. Not a virus ever since and no need for anti-virus. My amateur understanding of this is that Mac has a one way gateway, while PC gateway is open. No doubt someone with knowledge can elaborate.

Do LINUX - run computers 'need' anti-virus software as badly as Windows PCs ?

The basic answer is - no. While Linux viruses do exist, nobody I know of has ever seen one 'in the wild'. In fact, the only virus checkers for Linux look for Windows viruses. There are several reasons for this.

One is that there are a lot fewer Linux computers on desktops (but most of the world's supercomputers and a large part of the internet run on Linux), so less reason to create them.

A second reason is that Linux is , and always has been, inherently much more secure than Windows, being a multiuser system from the start, where Windows was originally conceived as a single user system. Windows has improved a lot, but still seems to have weaknesses resulting from its legacy of the past.

A third reason is that Linux is much more diverse - there are a lot of different variants, and crafting a virus that works on more than a small proportion is hard.

A fourth reason is that vulnerabilities tend to get patched more rapidly (or at least patches are available more rapidly - not everyone does it, but probably a larger proportion than Windows).

This does not mean that you have no worries using Linux. A growing issue is the presence of malware that, for example, runs on Flash or Word macro languages or directly impact your browser, independent of the operating system. The majority of these can be avoided by common sense, especially with email - simply do not open email attachments from people you don't know, and set up your mail client to not open HTML or external links automatically.

I have been running various flavours of Linux as my only OS without any security issues over the last ten years or more.

There's no silver bullet. Read enough reviews and comparisons, and you will get conflicting results. IMHO virus protection has much more to do with user activity and precautions (or lack thereof). I haven't had any negative impact from a virus (loss of files, functionality, scamming) since Windows 3.11, and am yet to pay for virus software.

Originally Posted by weeds

Anti-Virus for PC’s - mind field

Thank God it's not a mine field!

Originally Posted by Ranga

... IMHO virus protection has much more to do with user activity and precautions (or lack thereof). I haven't had any negative impact from a virus (loss of files, functionality, scamming) since Windows 3.11, and am yet to pay for virus software.

Similar experience here. Don't know what people do to have so much trouble. Never paid for anti virus software and gave away using active third party anti virus software years ago, even the free ones. Have only ever used what is built into windows since win7 came out.

Will occasionally scan downloaded content (or even entire drives) with the free version malware bytes but that is a passive scanner. It only works if you specifically start it and point it a something. After scanning it does not remain in an active state. On occasion have had cause to upload things to virus total for a second opinion.