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Rik · Oct 13, 2007, 12:43:58

I agree with you, Simon. If the web is not to collapse under the weight of infected machines, sooner or later it is going to have to be policed for user-competency, possibly by ISPs.

curly · Oct 13, 2007, 14:57:57

Wheee! I seem to have started something here. I notice that there is no mention of the paid versions of AVG.

AVG Internet Security covers Anti virus, spyware, spam, firewall and tech support
Upgrade from AVG free is $52.95 for two years one PC.

AVG Anti Virus upgrade from AVG free is $29.95 one PC, two years.

Seems a little pricey with a one for one exchange rate, but not when compared with the other big ones? If I went for Avg Int Sec. I could get rid of Avg free and AdAware. And there would be no compatibility problems?

Kaspersky also do a "catchall" version I believe.

What is the thought on these "do everything" progs?

Robert

Simon · Oct 13, 2007, 15:11:38

As I said, I use the F-Secure Internet Security Suite, and have done for a couple of years. I find it very good value, and it offers great all round protection. I have used Kaspersky Internet Security, but find the hundreds of pop ups annoying, and Norton is just hell on your system. I did trial the AVG Suite, but didn't find it all that special, and the same goes for the Zone Alarm suite. I also use the SeaMonkey suite, so as can be seen, I am a bit of a suite fan!

curly · Oct 13, 2007, 15:26:02

I agree with Simon and Rik that something must be done to prevent the net collapsing into a virus riddled heap. The attitude at present seems to be every one for themselves and if someone gets his Pc or data ruined or his identity stolen it's his own fault. And I think that Rik is really proposing that the user/victim should be punished for the acts of the criminals!

I think far more effort should put into identifiying, prosecuting and handing out severe punishments to the criminals. Don't forget that the net is used by thousands/millions of youngsters, some as young as 4 or 5, for learning purposes.

Robert

Rik · Oct 13, 2007, 15:34:22

I'm not saying the victim should be punished, Robert. Rather, I believe that there needs to be a system which stops most people from becoming victims by requiring them to learn a bit about the process before diving into the surf.

We expect people to learn how to drive before we let them loose on the road, both for their safety and ours. I'm proposing the same principle be applied to an internet connection.

In time, I think it may happen for commercial reasons. ISPs may decide to enforce 'cleanliness' in order to keep their networks running.

Lance · Oct 13, 2007, 15:50:37

Glad you are feeling better, Robert, and that connection is singing along nicely!

As for antivirus, I use NOD32 and use the Windows firewall.

Rik · Oct 13, 2007, 15:56:47

Congratulations on the 2500 posts, Lance - have a karma.

Lance · Oct 13, 2007, 16:08:25

Thanks very much

Simon · Oct 13, 2007, 16:10:56

Quote from: Lance on Oct 13, 2007, 15:50:37
Glad you are feeling better, Robert, and that connection is singing along nicely!

As for antivirus, I use NOD32 and use the Windows firewall.

Am I right in thinking that the Windows firewall only monitors incoming traffic, Lance? Or has it improved with Vista?

Lance · Oct 13, 2007, 16:14:35

In XP, I believe it is incoming only. Vista I think works both ways

Rik · Oct 13, 2007, 16:16:29

Give us your IP address and we'll check for you!!

Lance · Oct 13, 2007, 16:19:13

its 192.168.1.100

Rik · Oct 13, 2007, 16:23:18

Seems vaguely familiar from somewhere.

Gary · Oct 13, 2007, 18:14:17

Quote from: Si6776 on Oct 13, 2007, 15:11:38
As I said, I use the F-Secure Internet Security Suite, and have done for a couple of years. I find it very good value, and it offers great all round protection. I have used Kaspersky Internet Security, but find the hundreds of pop ups annoying, and Norton is just hell on your system. I did trial the AVG Suite, but didn't find it all that special, and the same goes for the Zone Alarm suite. I also use the SeaMonkey suite, so as can be seen, I am a bit of a suite fan!

All suites are very different and you have to find what is best for you, kaspersky version 7 is very different to its predecessors, only gives me pop ups when .exe's have been changed and changes have occurred in the registry like programs that try to alter security settings or programs adding themselves to startup or system 32 etc and watches the registry for other changes and like F-secure looks for rootkits as well, it also lets me control the outbound connections with its firewall, I like to know what on my pc is calling home you would be surprised sometimes. As with most modern suites it needs to be trained for your particular setup, Zonealarm has been a nightmare since checkpoint took it over very buggy indeed. Nod32 is a great AV but at the time I wanted less programs eg no separate antispyware and firewalls and hips systems using ram and cpu up and wanted a more unified approach. Norton is ....actually very good at finding nasties 2007 version beats Nod32 and kaspersky and F-secure in detection ratings both in spyware and all types of malware, but its Norton so we don't use it

to difficult to get rid of. F-secure uses two engines in its AV one of which is a kaspersky engine and is a good all round suite, and then you get the likes of Avira which finds everything under the sun and a million false positives along with it, best of all is this great AV called "powering the pc down" and another called "not letting kids touch it"

Simon · Oct 13, 2007, 19:36:30

I think I've tried them all, Gary, and as you say, they all have pros and cons. Some 'cons' of F-Secure is the relatively slow start-up, which adds a good 30 seconds to boot up time, the amount of running processes, but these are all very small, and have little or no impact on system resources, unlike Norton, and the comparatively slow full scan time, although, it does feel like it's doing things thoroughly. One 'pro' is the lack of impact on surfing and file navigation. I am convinced that my line speed increased when I switched from KIS to FSIS, and that's with the HTTP scanner active.

I used to like KIS 6.0, but then they introduced the PDM module, which was a real pain with all the pop ups. I know it could have been turned off, but I don't like having modules switched off, if they are there. F-Secure has a very similar function, but it seems to know what's good and what's bad, and only queries unknown applications. I also found KIS's firewall to be slightly over complicated, with the drop down menu of options. Again, I know I could have switched off training mode, but then it would have allowed everything, which I didn't want either. I have to say, I haven't tried KIS 7.0, so it may well have improved, but people over on Wilders were initially complaining about it hogging resources, so I gave it a miss. I also recently tried the NOD suite, and although it was OK, and scanned quite quickly, it didn't seem any better or worse then FSIS, so as I have FSIS licensed to Aug 2008, there didn't seem much point in switching.

lozcart · Oct 13, 2007, 22:11:24

Curly just buy a Apple Mac

Us Mac users don't have to bother with viruses, it gives us more time to enjoy our computers and use our idnet broadband connections

Den · Oct 13, 2007, 22:17:03

What's a Apple Mac? Is that a vegi burger made with apples?

Lance · Oct 13, 2007, 23:57:49

Wasn't the first ever recognised virus on a Mac...

Gary · Oct 14, 2007, 08:58:54

Quote from: Si6776 on Oct 13, 2007, 19:36:30
I think I've tried them all, Gary, and as you say, they all have pros and cons. Some 'cons' of F-Secure is the relatively slow start-up, which adds a good 30 seconds to boot up time, the amount of running processes, but these are all very small, and have little or no impact on system resources, unlike Norton, and the comparatively slow full scan time, although, it does feel like it's doing things thoroughly. One 'pro' is the lack of impact on surfing and file navigation. I am convinced that my line speed increased when I switched from KIS to FSIS, and that's with the HTTP scanner active.

I used to like KIS 6.0, but then they introduced the PDM module, which was a real pain with all the pop ups. I know it could have been turned off, but I don't like having modules switched off, if they are there. F-Secure has a very similar function, but it seems to know what's good and what's bad, and only queries unknown applications. I also found KIS's firewall to be slightly over complicated, with the drop down menu of options. Again, I know I could have switched off training mode, but then it would have allowed everything, which I didn't want either. I have to say, I haven't tried KIS 7.0, so it may well have improved, but people over on Wilders were initially complaining about it hogging resources, so I gave it a miss. I also recently tried the NOD suite, and although it was OK, and scanned quite quickly, it didn't seem any better or worse then FSIS, so as I have FSIS licensed to Aug 2008, there didn't seem much point in switching.

I understand Simon about browsing, but they changed the network driver in Kis 7 its much faster. For me Kaspersky uses with antivirus, pdm (not application integrity control that's for very advanced users) activated, antispam, Registry control, the new heuristics and firewall 44k on my system. To be honest its people with Norton uninstalled with remnants left behind that trip up most other security appications

Gary · Oct 14, 2007, 09:04:05

Quote from: Lance on Oct 13, 2007, 23:57:49
Wasn't the first ever recognised virus on a Mac...

Think you were right Lance, but even though I want and iMac when leopard comes out on them they are not virus free as people think.
http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39167424,00.htm

Rik · Oct 14, 2007, 10:11:41

IAC, if enough people move to Macs, so will the virus writers. It is incumbent on us to take care, whatever platform we run on.

Gary · Oct 14, 2007, 10:18:45

Quote from: Rik on Oct 14, 2007, 10:11:41
IAC, if enough people move to Macs, so will the virus writers. It is incumbent on us to take care, whatever platform we run on.

Agreed Rik, if there was a massive migration to the opera browser the same thing would happen, its market dynamics, where the big bucks are the hackers follow and that is still M$ at this time.

Rik · Oct 14, 2007, 10:23:18

We have to remember that viruses and malware are no longer simply about people showing how clever they are, it's also about organised criminals looking for our money. They will attack anything that might turn a profit.

Gary · Oct 14, 2007, 10:30:02

Quote from: Rik on Oct 14, 2007, 10:23:18
We have to remember that viruses and malware are no longer simply about people showing how clever they are, it's also about organised criminals looking for our money. They will attack anything that might turn a profit.

True the day of the script kids have faded, but with Microsoft still being the mass pc market they will hack that first, but as you said organised crime will go anywhere and if they think there is a nice happy lot of Apple users being complacent then they will go for that. Already this year Apple has had to post a lot of patches for OSX I believe due to critical holes. No platform is safe, look at the security patches for the iPhone and that is a closed os.

Rik · Oct 14, 2007, 10:41:14

Not to mention Symbian OS phones, Gary. We live in a dangerous world, we need to act accordingly.