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REALLY ot, modern discussion (you've been warned)

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NathanAllan

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Joined
Jun 1, 2003
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Location
Bellevue, Colorado
A coworker at Domino's the other day asked me about whether or not he should get antivirus and antispyware the other day. I was amazed at how he could even run a machine online without it! I told him, too. He seemed offended a bit but he's the type that's easily offended. Anyway...

I just don't see how someone can own a machine and be totally unaware of all the stuff that can literally kill your machine. I mean, aren't virus warnings as prevalent as smoking warnings and warnings about drinking and driving? That's a neat question: What are the most warned about subjects? Computer viruses are definitely on the top 5. But this guy amazed me when he asked me about that. I mean, HOW can a person not be aware? I guess I need to consider the source, this is the same guy that told me how he hates laptops due to the "inconvenience." I still don't understand what he means.

I am simply amazed that with all this technology PERMEATING society, ALL societies, there can be people out there that are totally living computerless. My wife is telling me of a bunch of people that she knows who have never touched a computer. Really, it freaks me out. Maybe I'm just ranting.
 
Personally, I dislike antivirus and antispyware software. I find that it reduces my productivity (what of it I actually get on a Windows box), and that careful net use (such as not clicking on/downloading things on a whim) as well as the use of a firewall (or 2) covers most of the issues. I would actually rather wipe the partition and reinstall Windows once a year or once every 2 years for as much as I use it online.

Once upon a time, when everyone had different underlying architectures and there was so little cross-platform compatibility, this wasn't an issue. A virus would show up for one architecture and then be isolated to that platform (and only spread via BBSes and via "sneakernet"). Of course, the lack of cross-platform compatibility poses its own problems, but for sake of argument, I'll ignore that here. ;)
 
Hmm, I too loved (note past tense) the performance I could get with NO real-time antivirus running. Unfortunately, with all the bored, stupid hackers out there, "one" can not afford to run without it. Someone hacked my fave coco forum and I would have been had if I didn't have real-time stuff running. I have been doing computers 40 years and still have to have antivirus running. You just can't tell when one of your sites will get hacked.
 
I seldom use my antivirus/antispyware software anymore. XP has skinned out most of everything now. (especially w/ the Miscellaneous Software Removal Tool that runs itself on most people's computers via Windows Update each month)

Once I THOUGHT I had spyware about a month ago; turns out a program crashed & one of it's executables stayed in the memory running still, & I had overlooked it in Task Manager.

Anyways, that's just me; I've learned where NOT to go the hard way, & how to delete whatever it is manually. For someone who knows little about computers &/or the Windows environment, however, ALWAYS finds a way to get crap on their machine.

AVG Free, & maybe Ad-Aware or Spybot Search-&-Destroy is all you really need. Hell, Windows Defender is probably sufficient now that it's been out for a while! (usually takes a couple months before MS products start catching on)
 
i can't remember the last time i've used antivirus... as long as you know what you're doing and are using a good browser like firefox, you're safe. i never have problems with anything and the only time i ever reformat is when i feel like trying a different OS :)
 
I shouldhave been more specific. My bad. I haven't been hit by a virus for over two years now, save once when I was testing AVG and did it intentionally.

Also, this guy is not computer saavy at all. I mean, he has a killer laptop that he is gonna sell and he told me that he regrets buying it so badly, just because it has little details like... being a laptop. Charging, setting it up *as* a laptop, random wireless connections on the builtin wifi, things like that. Things we here know how to do and (at least me) tend to forget that most people don't know about. He has a desktop now, and I hat eto tell him that while the laptop syndrome will not be there, there are a whole host of other things that he has to worry about.

Okay, I think I'm done ranting. The guy has self-loathing issues anyway, and anger issues. He thinks that he gets singled out on Ft. Bliss cause he's Mexican, and they think he's drunk wen he goes through the gate, when in reality, they think everyone without a military ID is a drunk driver.

Okay, really done now.

Nathan
 
I only use Antivirius packages on my computer if it's mobile, and has the risks that come with being a wireless user. My main desktop is protected by 2 firewalls, and common sense.

One big problem with the internet right now and viruses/spyware are the websites themselves that place tracking cookies and spyware on your computer just by visiting or doing something on a particular site. I have a rule of thumb that if it's a site containing some sort of grey area or illegal, or adult activity (such as warez, porn, free mass downloads of intellectual property intended for profit and protected by copyright law), or if it's something that came off a pop-up ad, or something that is being sold under the guise that it can "Fix all your problems with one click" or similar, that it's probably no good. I avoid that stuff like the plague.

Another way I prevent the problem is on my modern machines at least, I use Mozilla Firefox as my main web browser unless I'm getting updates from Microsoft or am having an issue with a particular site that requires IE. Also I use Adblocker pro on Firefox 2.

I also have my firewalls configured to block certain types of incoming traffic from certain ports and so fourth. So if one won't get it, the other will.

But the biggest thing here is common sense. The more questionable on-line activities are kinda like a "black market" type affair from what I've learned out in the field fixing people's machines that have curious teenagers or people into illegal downloading. The addition of laws for certain internet activities creates this "black market atmosphere" where the rules of safety on your computer no longer apply, so it's best to avoid them. Of course, it would be nice to remove those rules thus destroying the atmosphere, but it might ruin the markets or corrupt the wrong people. So it's a catch 22, but that's not the point, the point is that, because of the atmosphere of said sites, as well as some mainstream websites run by big corporations that are held up by their bureaucracy to check each and every ad provider on their site for malicious ad practices, you have to be careful, and excercise some common sense.

- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
- If it's something taboo or of questionable legality, then LOOKOUT
- If it's illegal activity, you can be sure they have no cares of your computer

Hence why I only get a total of about 10-12 pieces of spyware a year, why I can get at least a year out of the same windows install even running Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000, and why my computer always runs as fast as, or sometimes even faster than the machines on the shelf at Best Buy despite low grade hardware.

These are just my experiences and opinions, and why and how I do things my way.

As far as people who've never used a computer, some people just don't want it, and I can respect that.
 
I suppose I'm in the minority then. I use McAfee, Black Ice Defender and AdAware. I use the antivirus and the firewall in real time and run the antispyware every morning.
I usually have someone's complete hard drive backed up somewhere on my network while I (expensively) rebuild one of their machine because they DIDN'T have that stuff on their machines.
I also usually have some important stuff of my own that I'd like to protect.
I'm willing to take the (slight) penalty in speed for knowing that if I inadvertently hit the wrong spot, I'm not going to end up having to rip out a bunch of nasty stuff.
I make a fair bit of money from people that don't think they need to protect their computers :)
 
I was told a long time ago to buy an antivirus and it was a waste of money because i did not need it and the free software I have is just as good. that is my experience anyway.
 
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