I am not against all freebie stuff. I think there is a lot of wonderful programs out there that work wonders. I was strictly speaking about a primary protection suite. We use Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Beta (not too shabby), LavaSoft's Ad-aware Personal SE with Addons, (excellent, top notch), Spy-Bot (Safer Networking - also top notch) as part of our protection suites. I am always on the lookout for other programs that address these security concerns and if I find one that works well, I use it.
Speaking of which, I was going to link to Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Beta, when it redirected me to this new program Windows Defender Beta 2. Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta):
Windows Defender (Beta 2) is the final name for Microsoft’s antispyware solution. Current Windows AntiSpyware (Beta 1) customers will be notified automatically to upgrade.
I am going to download and try it.
One thing with Microsoft, you usually have to validate your OS.. so if there is any doubt... you will know quick enough.....
Oh, I also support these developers. It may be free, but it does cost someone something. So supporting them makes good sense. And it is voluntary, not mandatory.... especially stuff like Spy-Bot... well worth a few bucks via PayPal.
I guess my big bugaboo about freebie AV software arises from the fact that many of the computers I have to repair and victims of poor maintenance. The owners simple do not bother to do the maintenance, and in cases such as this, there is no way any software suite is going to perform up to snuff. If you do not do the updates for definitions, don't do the scans or any of the other stuff, well you end up with major problems.
And, the number of people who are in this rut is immense.
I have a buddy, I don't know how many times I have fixed his computer.. but he is soooo cheap it is incredible. He will not pay for a decent ISP, so he uses freebie hosts... he won't pay for any software at all except the OS and only because it is mandatory and usually comes with a system, he only uses freebie firewalls and AV suites, BUT.. the downside to all this is he hasn't got a clue how to manage them.
So, when one misses.. he installs another suite... usually without unloading the other. Now that causes all kinds of conflicts and corrupts just about everything.
Other thing that has to be kept in mind. A lot of these download sites, well they are some of the biggest dangers out there. Most of the data miners and keystroke bots come from places such as these. When you run AdAware.. check the results. The higher the TAC, the more dangerous it is... CNet, ZDNet and others like it, although those sites themselves may be somewhat safer, they link to mirrors which are not...
Chad:
As noted in a previous post, I used to insist that Norton be on every computer I built. However, because of the resource allocations with Symantec programs now and the fact that they have yet to included RAM Reallocators in the subsets, Norton tends to slow down computers to the point that the only fix is to double or triple onboard RAM. Or.... remove the software. I chose to remove it, as I found better software that allows me to more ably manage my network...
It all becomes a matter of choice and personal preference. I don't own stock in any company, so there is no conflict. And of course, all of this is just my personal opinion, whatever that is worth..
Billy:
If you computer is connecting with another computer that you have not allowed, McAfee and other Anti-Virus software will not prevent that. That is called Malware, Spy-ware, Bots, Data-Miners etc. They are little programs that usually piggyback onto another program or are buried in another program that you download. Once these become active, then they exploit the inherant backdoors in the code that always exist, and allow another user to manipulate or copy your data, or even just use your computer to make phone calls and stuff... This is where Spy-bot, AdAware, Microsoft all play a part. Anti-Hacker programs are even better suited for this. AV programs are not designed to battle this type of threat.
Oh, another thing... most AV suites do not support on-line webmail such as Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo etc..... at least not to my knowledge. They are designed to work well with a primary mail account in a client on your computer such as Outlook or Outlook Express, Netscape, Thunderbird or Eudora and similar software. I have never been able to get any of them to actually scan these emails prior to downloading to my computer. Spamfighter and other Anti-Spaming programs also are for your primary email accounts with your ISP as well...
Larry:
Kaspersky Anti-Hacker as well as Spy-Bot can address those issues. Some AV programs can as well, but it is not their primary function. White Lists, Black Lists can be helpful, the not all work as well as intended.
The Military and NASA use a philosophy called Multiple Redundancy. I like that philosophy. Yes, it may use a bit more resources, but if it adds to the integrity of a system, then it is well worth it. Broadband users are especially vulnerable to hacking etc., as their computers are usually connected 24/7 and in my case -- most of my computers run 24/7/365.. so I definitely am an advocate of Multiple Redundancy.
And no, I am not all that literate, I just learned by getting burned... and to answer your question, yes there are sites to go to learn about this stuff.
If you click on the links above, especially the Lava Soft one, there is a lot of info there. Check out the Windows Messenger utility and why it is imperative that this particular subroutine does not run...... I will try to get additional url's of a few good sites and post em...
