Antivirus
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
-
Teo Gaona wrote:
pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux.
Then they'll be targeted more, and you'll lose all your data at that time. You had no backups?
That's exactly what most people fail to see. Predators will always be where they find easy prey. If the Muggles all buy themselves iSomethings, the spammers and all other crooks will concentrate on them. I slowly begin to like this 'post PC era' :)
At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity
-
Very true. The only viruses I've ever gotten were when I was young(er) and stupid(er?), and trusted executables from shady sources (a good learning experience though, it was part of what got me started down this path). I've never gotten one from simply browsing the internet or anything like that (people claim it's possible, but I'm skeptical).
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
Teo Gaona wrote:
affected by virus mafia
Just put a rubber sheath over your cable and practice safe internetting.
Why is common sense not common? Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level where they are an expert. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to be lazy Please stand in front of my pistol, smile and wait for the flash - JSOP 2012
-
Teo Gaona wrote:
pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux.
Then they'll be targeted more, and you'll lose all your data at that time. You had no backups?
I had a backup, but not always is a continuos backup so always there is data and program losing and the more important the bunch of time to reinstall some programs. On other hand this kind of virus is so effective that affect also backups that is a located in a no accessible location inside the drive. My point is that, should be better use only free antivirus like Microsoft Essential security, because If you take a paid AV because looks better can take you to a trap, if the AV Co. is involved in this kind of activities.
-
I had a backup, but not always is a continuos backup so always there is data and program losing and the more important the bunch of time to reinstall some programs. On other hand this kind of virus is so effective that affect also backups that is a located in a no accessible location inside the drive. My point is that, should be better use only free antivirus like Microsoft Essential security, because If you take a paid AV because looks better can take you to a trap, if the AV Co. is involved in this kind of activities.
Teo Gaona wrote:
On other hand this kind of virus is so effective that affect also backups that is a located in a no accessible location inside the drive.
That's not a real backup. A real backup is either on a different machine, or on removable media.
Teo Gaona wrote:
My point is that, should be better use only free antivirus like Microsoft Essential security, because If you take a paid AV because looks better can take you to a trap, if the AV Co. is involved in this kind of activities.
Don't generalize like that. Some paid AV tools are good, some are crap. Some free ones are good, some are crap. Check reviews. Do your research. Make smart decisions. And if you see a popup saying "Your computer may be infected! Click here to get Super Duper Virus Killer Plus 2012!!!1!11!1one"... Do yourself a favor and don't click it[^]
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Teo Gaona wrote:
On other hand this kind of virus is so effective that affect also backups that is a located in a no accessible location inside the drive.
That's not a real backup. A real backup is either on a different machine, or on removable media.
Teo Gaona wrote:
My point is that, should be better use only free antivirus like Microsoft Essential security, because If you take a paid AV because looks better can take you to a trap, if the AV Co. is involved in this kind of activities.
Don't generalize like that. Some paid AV tools are good, some are crap. Some free ones are good, some are crap. Check reviews. Do your research. Make smart decisions. And if you see a popup saying "Your computer may be infected! Click here to get Super Duper Virus Killer Plus 2012!!!1!11!1one"... Do yourself a favor and don't click it[^]
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
That's not a real backup. A real backup is either on a different machine, or on removable media.
Amen, I've spoken to a couple of people fairly recently who have actually argued with me about this. :wtf:
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Don't generalize like that. Some paid AV tools are good, some are crap. Some free ones are good, some are crap. Check reviews. Do your research. Make smart decisions.
Agreed!:thumbsup:
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
I would say that you should stop seeing pr0n in your computer. Too much viruses are hitting you... :rolleyes:
[www.tamautomation.com] Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing.
-
I would say that you should stop seeing pr0n in your computer. Too much viruses are hitting you... :rolleyes:
[www.tamautomation.com] Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing.
-
Common sense with a bit of experience beats them all. It might also help to stay away from "free" software. Even if not "pirated-free". I'd personally call toolbars malware and those come with otherwise decent free products from reputable companies. :(
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
Teo Gaona wrote:
Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know.
I have occasionally wondered if it wouldn't be in the interest of commercial outfits like Symantec to keep us all paranoid about viruses. Regardless, there are plenty of bad guys out there who genuinely want to take over computers to do their deeds. I haven't used a commercial AV program in years (I use the free version of Avast). I've been hit with one virus, ever. Back in 1999 I unthinkingly opened an email attachment from a friend in spite of it having no extension. McAfee allowed it to run, and it took 2 days to get my machine cleaned up. She had no clue her computer had just emailed a virus to everyone in her Outlook address book.
XAlan Burkhart
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
Fully 99% of virus protection is refusing to open/download/visit every website/attachment/link that features omg, this is so cute you must see this! I actually changed my email address and only passed it out to people who didn't have a history of sending me attachments or links to every bit of garbage they find on the webnets. Nobody needs free e-cards or a link to musical farting bunny rabbits. If you spend your time with those things you will get a virus. Period.
-
Hi, This year I did not renewed my antivirus subscription with a well known antivirus company, 2 month later l lost all my data due to virus activity, even having a new paid antivirus. Last year, the same I did not renewed my subscription and change to a free antivirus and also after 2 moth I lost my hard drive, also a well known antivirus company. Call my attention these cases so I would like to know if some of you has experienced same lost in similar situation? I suspect that if you do not renew your subscription some hacker will take care of you. Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know. The result in my case it is that I'm changing to mac due to pc is very affected by virus mafia, so I think Microsoft and other pc companies should take this situation seriously, because pc environment will be reduced and mac will grow also linux. thanks, Teo
browser security. Eliminating really bad insecure web technologies. Strengthening the "sandbox" model and ensuring browser activity remains contained within a well-defined sandbox that can be wiped clean when a browser is removed from the platform. More emphasis should be placed on user anonymity to ensure freedom of expression and eliminate all the "nosey" actors who want to know everything about you. I often wondered if anti-virus software was just another scam to steal all the data off of your platform.:suss:
David
-
Umm, you know Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is free, right? EDIT: Oh, and the last virus that I've actually been hit by (As opposed to my AV snagging - I've been through Mcafee, Avast, Avira, Norton, and now MSE) was Monkey B... Now, the Monkey virus was a fun one... Back in the DOS days... It infected your boot sector, and basically set your computer up so any new drive it detected would become infected... And if that new drive was read-only, your computer wouldn't even be able to read it. The best part was, if you cleaned it with the wrong anti-virus software (such as Norton), it would wipe the boot sector and essentially brick your machine (Not entirely bricked, but really had to know your stuff to fix it)... Norton bricked the box, Mcafee went *poof* fixed. That was when I switched to Mcafee :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)On the other hand, McAfee, while being good, is itself one of the worst culprits for interfering with system operation, sometimes so bad that the system might as well be bricked cause it is unusably slow. It's too bad that antivirus software is sometimes almost as bad as the software it is protecting you against. mvarey
-
browser security. Eliminating really bad insecure web technologies. Strengthening the "sandbox" model and ensuring browser activity remains contained within a well-defined sandbox that can be wiped clean when a browser is removed from the platform. More emphasis should be placed on user anonymity to ensure freedom of expression and eliminate all the "nosey" actors who want to know everything about you. I often wondered if anti-virus software was just another scam to steal all the data off of your platform.:suss:
David
-
Sandboxing downloads is a good idea. I have Sandboxie, which is free to use, but I'm wondering if there's a better (ideally free) solution for protection like this.
-
Teo Gaona wrote:
Can the antivirus Co. be involved, dont know, only if there is data of same cases can we know.
I have occasionally wondered if it wouldn't be in the interest of commercial outfits like Symantec to keep us all paranoid about viruses. Regardless, there are plenty of bad guys out there who genuinely want to take over computers to do their deeds. I haven't used a commercial AV program in years (I use the free version of Avast). I've been hit with one virus, ever. Back in 1999 I unthinkingly opened an email attachment from a friend in spite of it having no extension. McAfee allowed it to run, and it took 2 days to get my machine cleaned up. She had no clue her computer had just emailed a virus to everyone in her Outlook address book.
XAlan Burkhart
Here is a different take about the AV companies profiting from the virus scare (which I believe is real). Recently, a large, mainstream AV company started blocking our customers from downloading our product from our web site. They reported that they had detected a threat in it that they called WS.Reputation.1. But they more than just warned the user; they automatically quarantined the file and told the user that they had deleted it to protect the user's computer. It turns out, you can Google it, that WS.Reputation.1 is not a virus or malware of any kind! It is just this company's way of saying that so few of their customers have downloaded this file that they do not have enough data to know whether or not it has adversely affected those who have downloaded it. It took me over a week to get our installer added to their "white list" for the current version. Now, every time we release an updated version we have to go through the process again of getting it approved and added to their white list. I am wondering if it would be incorrectly marked as infected if I bought a digital signing certificate and signed the code. Oh yeah, guess who is one of the biggest sellers of digital certificates?
-
Very true. The only viruses I've ever gotten were when I was young(er) and stupid(er?), and trusted executables from shady sources (a good learning experience though, it was part of what got me started down this path). I've never gotten one from simply browsing the internet or anything like that (people claim it's possible, but I'm skeptical).
I'm in the camp that believes its possible to get malware- it's the only explanation for how I and my family members got a virus. I'm really picky where I download from, and where on the interwebs I browse usually, but occassionally I've been to the shady sides of the net. I think a lot of it can be stopped by not logging in as admin as I stubbornly did for a long time. My daughter used to have a lower access account, within a few months of giving her admin access she got some sort of malware (I'm lumping them together). If you're not logged in as admin you may have benefited from this layer of protection.