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Windows 7 and Anti-Virus : Yay or Nay?
fragglefart
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Right, got Windows 7 running in 64 bits on my laptop, after playing with the 32 bit version for a while. Having some problems with sounds but eh, I'm not the only one...
So, anti-virus software.
Windows wants to me install some. I've turned off the notification in the action centre.
However, I did go to the recommended page to browse potential softwares and got swamped under the 20+ that were offered to me.
I've had really, really negative experiences with AV software in the past, total resource hogs that get in the way, are generally unhelpful, conflict with other software, and in the odd case even seemingly break my 'puters.
So I generally don't use any, and try to practice "safe computer use" as much as possible. Yeah, I know that isn't a great idea generally, something will probably come along and mess with your shit eventually.
And now I'm going to have to start using my laptop in public places, University, schools etc.
What I'd like to know, generally speaking, is what software people are using, and especially if it is on Windows 7 32- or 64- bit, and how that is working out for them. Are they heavy duty programs, paid for, serious software which yeah takes up some resource but does a great job, or lightweight, free easy to use do the job ok-ish types. Or is there something within Windows 7 itself which should keep me safe. I guess there are dedicated websites for this sort of thing, but I like/respect the voice and opinions of the PA crowd more than most hardcore PC hardware/software sites.
So what are you guys running?
So, anti-virus software.
Windows wants to me install some. I've turned off the notification in the action centre.
However, I did go to the recommended page to browse potential softwares and got swamped under the 20+ that were offered to me.
I've had really, really negative experiences with AV software in the past, total resource hogs that get in the way, are generally unhelpful, conflict with other software, and in the odd case even seemingly break my 'puters.So I generally don't use any, and try to practice "safe computer use" as much as possible. Yeah, I know that isn't a great idea generally, something will probably come along and mess with your shit eventually.
And now I'm going to have to start using my laptop in public places, University, schools etc.
What I'd like to know, generally speaking, is what software people are using, and especially if it is on Windows 7 32- or 64- bit, and how that is working out for them. Are they heavy duty programs, paid for, serious software which yeah takes up some resource but does a great job, or lightweight, free easy to use do the job ok-ish types. Or is there something within Windows 7 itself which should keep me safe. I guess there are dedicated websites for this sort of thing, but I like/respect the voice and opinions of the PA crowd more than most hardcore PC hardware/software sites.
So what are you guys running?
fragglefart on
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Except for commercial use, duh.
And a wedge of lime for taste.
While it might not be as hardcore as something like NOD32, it seems to be doing the trick. I've been using this as the go-to free AV for any systems that I've touched that don't have one.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I'm using this. I turn off the real-time protection and just have it scan once a week while I'm sleeping.
Just a note: Couple whatever A/V solution you decide on with a strong Anti-Malware package. MSE is supposed to do both, but in this day in age having MalwareBytes AntiMalware on your system is an absolute must. It's free, lightweight, and easy to use.
And just because I'm that nut: "Safe Browsing" and "Security by Obscurity" are outdated myths these days that will not protect your system. Malware and security intrusions are becoming more sophisticated and insidious these days. Don't doubt the fact that one day "MyFavoriteTrustedWebsiteIVisitAllTheTime.com" will redirect you to "LotsOfMalwareUpYourButt.Shady.ru" without your realizing it. Staying ahead of the curve takes an unfortunate amount of effort, but having an A/V solution as a line of defense is good.
The amount of computing resources that A/V software takes up these days compared to the CPU and memory of most modern machines is trivial, anyhow.
I can't agree more. I've been running MSE on all of my Windows computers for a few weeks and I have zero complaints with how this software works.
I've been really impressed with it too. I started with realtime disabled, but then noticed that I kept forgetting to turn it off while gaming, and didn't notice any of the usual antivirus-related frame drop in MMOs.
It's extremely unobtrusive too, moreso than any other AV I've dabbled with. That was enough to sell me right there.
I KISS YOU!
Oh, and is MSE as good at spyware related things as Spybot is?
In this regard MSE blows everything else out of the water
The only thing that drives me nuts with Avast is the full volume "VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED!!!!" sound effect it sometimes blares at inopportune times. Guess I'll be giving MSE a try this weekend.
I've been installing MSE on every PC I come across because most people have I see do not actually have an AV or they have AVG that someone they know installed because that person know PCs.
I will say that MSE is the best AV out on the market now with NOD32 as a solid second.
That or I run Sophos (get it free from work).
It really, really, depends on your setup. I work in IT and always berate people for not using AV programs and lax security. Truth be told I don't use it on all PC's at home.
I use NOD32 on my main gaming box, my side one is just bare. I do all work that I don't want to jepordize and banking over a solaris workstation. I sit behind a hardware firewall, and all my media is hosted on a NAS that I don't let go online. I don't use any on the junker laptop I let friends use.
If there is nothing on there you care about, and you aren't using it for anything important, fuck it and bareback the internets. For anything else yeah, that's a dumb idea.
Coupled with firefox with noscript Ive had no issues in recent times.
It does its job and stays the fuck out of the way.
Microsoft has really had its shit together lately in a way that it hasn't in a long time.
although any anti-virus program would probably be fine, except for Norton, which is worse than most actual viruses.
I could tell your HORROR stories about what norton did to packet traffic over subnets at work, Novell network.
It's maybe one notch less shady than Pro Antivirus 2009 [Totally A Legit Program And Not A Virus Edition].
I've got one better. When we moved to Sophos they had to cook us up an unistaller that takes about 2 hours to nuke the bitch.
And it SHITS all over IPX/SPX traffic.:x
I sense a fellow IT worker... er bitch here.
EDIT- I also have gripes with ghost over Novell.
Heh, used to be. I got out of the "high-tech janitor" work after an internship and decided to be a code monkey instead.
Sysadmin Novell/windows here, helpdesk is also part of my job, filling in for our solaris admin. But code monkey is not much better
Having been there, I'd rather be writing code. At least I don't have to have fifty damn calls of "hey, I can't remember my password, yes, again" each and every day.
edit: Although the IT department always has the best hardware. Back when I was an IT intern, they bought a bunch of gigantic monitors ostensibly for "accessibility" for people with "impaired vision". I found this out after installing one for some 158-year-old lady up in accounting, so I queried the inventory database and sure enough, only two of the like thirty monitors deployed were outside of the IT department. Got a lot of "eye problems" in there I guess.
Our tier 1 call support fixes that, and we've got others that do "my mouse has broken" and "I can't log into the network".
Hate the alerts over BBM when doors are opened or power fails to any of the data centers at 2am though.
I do like working with Sophos rather then Symantec though... I HATE symantec.
As for hardware, I'm on a dual quadcore box, 5 series xeons, with 24gb ram and quadro.
I also bought with over head funds a rather nice projector, massive screen and 7.2 surround system, bluray, ps3, 360, and all of it. Fun luch "hour" more like 3.
EDIT- The real cheating falls into "validation" I have to validate any new PC we roll out, before we buy like a thousand of them. In the case of high end workstations, that means me taking over a quadsocket, quadro, with a ton of RAM and trying to break it for a month. Then it becomes mydesktop till the next thing. It's not as abusive as it comes out.
Back to antivirus, NOD32 for home use, Sophos for network, I've yet to see a solution that matches it. And Symantec is a virus.
There are a bunch of PS3s at my work, and they're all running Linux and used for Cell development, which was disappointing when I found out. Of course, we're starting to move to overpriced IBM blades for that, so I wonder what will happen to the consoles.
anyway, we're getting off topic. To the OP (or anyone): yes, use an antivirus, because "responsible internet habits" only takes you so far in today's world, and even if it was good enough for anything (and it really isn't), other people might use your computer, and those people are idiots.
From when I was at a three letter organization that shall not named, cell works for weather modules and in nodes. Though we used it via the cell PCIE cards and it was used only for specifix reasons... and yes it sucks.
Though I don't work with HF/SHF/UHF and those issues anymore... and glad to be done with it (I hate freqs)
EDIT again- back to topic, use malwarebytes as late cleanup, though some infections are disabling it now. I'll grab info from the letter I sent out at work about some stuff going on lately and then post the links here.
Honestly though, the "I'm safe" works for the most part if you aren't dumb. That stupid virus going in through java is still a pain in the ass, even when you lock it in a lab.
The SPEs are decent floating point crunchers, but not nearly as capable as a GPGPU, and more expensive now that you can't use a loss-leader Playstation for it. And they're bolted on to the worst piece of shit PPC core in existence. The "PPU" might as well be a ten year old Mac it's so slow.
It works until your girlfriend's little brother comes to visit and then you need to spend the next day reformatting and starting from scratch because it's the only way to be sure.
You can disable the audio part of the announcements. Well, I'm not sure if you can turn off just that, but you can disable all of Avast!'s sounds, which definitely does the trick.
Oh god. Noone touches my main pc but me. This I make sure of. Passwords upon passwords upon physical lock and key. Fuck up your own computers, I'll fix it later. You're never touching mine, though.