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Do people use them? I have always been of the "don't download attachments" persuasion, although I used to be careful back in the ... 90's? I was afflicted by the dreaded Monkey2 virus at one point.

But I think I am going to put a priority on them in the future. I do not know if it is because I am older or simply because I am going to have a decent computer. That, and I will have my own servers etc so it is something to worry about.

I ask because I had a mysterious DLL ... let me check what it was, actually.

ah ic.

http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t55441.html

It was bugged somehow. Stinkin' iTunes!

But still, I ask.

I always use a virus scanner. It's a minimal cost, compared to the damage that can be done without one.

sold. Speaking of which I cannot wait to get my backup server running. Speaking of which I am lucky I have not had recent problems with my hard drives.

All you need is Norton antivirus. They tell you when a website is attempting to attack your computer and download new definitions regularly.

I use CA antivirus pro- gives realtime protection and will auto delete viruses.

Have had 3 viruses in 3 years and all deleted automatically.

Norton was a nightmare when I used it several years ago and I'm never going back.

I use a locked down Linux on the desktop which gets rid of pretty much every risk. My gaming machine is windows but I do not use a virus scanner as it has too big of an impact on performance. I have a linux firewall which runs moblock (peerguardian is the windows equivalent) which locks out any access to or from IPs that have been linked to abuse, hacking or p2p tracking companies and this reduces the risk considerably. I never use Internet Explorer due to the huge number of problems it has had over the years. I use the flashblock plugin on firefox so dodgy flash exploits wont affect me. If there is ever a file I am not sure about, I first use file magic to test it is what it claims to be ('file' command under *nix or cgywin) I then use a vmware sandbox to run it if I am still not sure. I also periodically run wireshark on the windows box to make sure there is no network traffic that I am not sure about, and to keep an eye on any other programs that might be doing things without my permission.

Probably easier to use a virus scanner but I cant stand the slowdown . I average 1 virus per decade of computer use and so far nothing has got through my current setup. I'd recommend moblock/peerguardian to everyone as a second layer of protection if you dont already have it.

....

My computer has pretty lights on it.

warpcrafter wrote:All you need is Norton antivirus. They tell you when a website is attempting to attack your computer and download new definitions regularly.

Everyone I've dealt with in the I.T/PC Repair industry have told me to avoid Norton and Mcafee like the plauge, both have several incompatabily issues with certain systems and depending on your luck of the draw can cause you nothing but problems. They have buggered up two of my own PC's in the past and I was very lucky to see on another forum a discussion about how terrible both the big brands where and found my way to AVG as it was recommened by lots of the users.

four yrs later with no issues and no infections I would happily recommend them to anyone.

legoburner wrote:
Probably easier to use a virus scanner but I cant stand the slowdown . I average 1 virus per decade of computer use and so far nothing has got through my current setup.

I run a linux server that has to be web-accessible, so I can't really lock it down that much. It used to be that viruses didn't hit Linux, until one day I got one. I've been running a weekly clamscan as a cron job ever since.

But I think that the things that were once considered viruses are a thing of the past. I haven't seen a real virus in years. Now, it is all email spoofing and 'trick the user' scams. Once upon a time, writing a virus was a bit of an art.

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:

warpcrafter wrote:All you need is Norton antivirus. They tell you when a website is attempting to attack your computer and download new definitions regularly.

Everyone I've dealt with in the I.T/PC Repair industry have told me to avoid Norton and Mcafee like the plauge, both have several incompatabily issues with certain systems and depending on your luck of the draw can cause you nothing but problems. They have buggered up two of my own PC's in the past and I was very lucky to see on another forum a discussion about how terrible both the big brands where and found my way to AVG as it was recommened by lots of the users.

four yrs later with no issues and no infections I would happily recommend them to anyone.

My luck with machines must be good for once.

AVG is what I use, free, never gives me issues, and has detected threats. Norton nearly killed my parents computer, the Universtiy made me install Sophos which is a piece of crap and slowed my computer down enormously.
I also use Zonealarm as my firewall. With that setup (AVG, Zonealarm) I've hit no problems.

Another vote for AVG.

I used to SCREAM Norton's praises.

Norton does NOT F*** up computers. People who don't know what they're doing with Norton's F*** up computers.

That being said, UNINSTALLING Norton's from your computer is one of the biggest PITA's you'll ever encounter.

Eric

When I say buggered up I mean, programs having major slowdowns, system crashes etc, and I was told by guys a lot better than dealing computers than me that Norton was causing the problems, nothing I was doing, but Norton itself.

But I hadn't clicked on anything odd, and with AVG I've never had an issue yet I'm treating no diff than I did with Norton. Although I really do believe it when I see dozens of folks on a PC repair site saying Norton screws things up. The number of times I've seen folks asking for help with system slow down, crashes etc and the first tech style fella who turns up asks if they have Norton or Macafee and the answer is nearly always yes.

I do think there is more to this than folks are realising, I mean not all of these people can be using Norton wrong. I never felt I was.

Vandez wrote:....

My computer has pretty lights on it.

I'm jealous.