Personal computing discussed

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Thin Man
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AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:28 am

In light of my recent experience with Gigabyte's site, I am looking into improving my A/V program. Decent reviews seem hard to find anymore and the ones I've seen seem to find Kaspersky and BitDefender as their latest darlings. I have used the paid version of BitDefender in the past but still had to put up with pop up ads even though it was paid for. Don't know if that's still true of it.
I don't mind paying up for good protection. I'm kinda hesitant about Kaspersky because of certain events in their history, but I recognize that nobody's perfect. So I have come to ask my fellow Gerbils for their opinions. Anyone who would be so kind as to take the time to tell me what brand they use and why, I would greatly appreciate it.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
tanker27
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:30 am

Windows Defender.

And set up VMs and browse in those. :P
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MileageMayVary
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:36 am

Trend Micro is my go-to.
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Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:36 am

tanker27 wrote:
Windows Defender.

And set up VMs and browse in those. :P


Thanks for the prompt reply. I have considered that type of setup, and for me personally it could work. However I have two other machines in the house that I support and they are used by people that would find that incomprehensible to deal with.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:38 am

MileageMayVary wrote:
Trend Micro is my go-to.


Ok, thank you, I'll add that to the list of possibles.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
LostCat
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:48 am

I find Defender good enough for most people but not all.

For the rest, there's always these.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/dynamic-tests/
https://www.av-comparatives.org/performance-tests/
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SuperSpy
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:49 am

Defender and a good script/ad blocker for your preferred browser.
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Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:01 pm

LostCat wrote:
I find Defender good enough for most people but not all.

For the rest, there's always these.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/dynamic-tests/
https://www.av-comparatives.org/performance-tests/


Thanks for pointing that site out. I had seen it, but didn't have time to go over it properly then and had forgotten it since. Will check it out.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:11 pm

SuperSpy wrote:
Defender and a good script/ad blocker for your preferred browser.


Thanks. I use NoScript myself and like it. However, I've found the average person, if I can get them to use it, consider it such a pain that they end up allowing everything and defeating the purpose. Gives me an appreciation for what sysadmin's deal with every day. I'm working on educating my family, but it's slow going, they're intelligent people but not adept at tech of this type.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
xgsound
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:35 pm

I have found that pop ups and other ads are often not stopped by any A/V.
An ad blocker in the browser is more effective for those types of Malware.
Since ads are a common vector for Malware, a ad blocker can be very important.
Lately I use ublock origin which can be toggled, but pick your own.

Jim
 
Anovoca
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:47 pm

As far as ad-block goes I am very fond of ghostery. For AV I, like many others, made the switch to windows defender. I used avg and avast in the past, but both of those have turned into malware in their own rite.
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Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:49 pm

Sorry All, I should have been clearer in my post. When I said I was still getting pop up ads with BitDefender what I meant was that the pop ups were coming from BitDefender it self. I can understand having that happen with a free program however, when you pay for the thing one normally expects to be free from advertisement hassle.
But this is America, where you pay for cable tv service and still have to watch as many or more ads as you did back when tv was free. :roll:
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
SoM
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:53 pm

Thin Man wrote:
Sorry All, I should have been clearer in my post. When I said I was still getting pop up ads with BitDefender what I meant was that the pop ups were coming from BitDefender it self. I can understand having that happen with a free program however, when you pay for the thing one normally expects to be free from advertisement hassle.
But this is America, where you pay for cable tv service and still have to watch as many or more ads as you did back when tv was free. :roll:


read https://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?/topic/43714-solved-how-to-disable-bd-pop-up-advertisements/

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Vhalidictes
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:22 pm

tanker27 wrote:
Windows Defender.

And set up VMs and browse in those. :P


This. Also, the paid version (runs as a service) of MalwareBytes just in case.
 
Vhalidictes
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:23 pm

Anovoca wrote:
As far as ad-block goes I am very fond of ghostery. For AV I, like many others, made the switch to windows defender. I used avg and avast in the past, but both of those have turned into malware in their own rite.


Ghostery is good, but it won't stop some scripts. You should run ScriptBlock (except for trusted sites) as well.
 
Dieter
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:47 pm

I personally run with ESET antivirus (not endpoint) and MalwareBytes Premium, plus the normal assortment of browser add-ons (uBlock Origin, Disconnect, etc). ESET and MB are both lightweight and seem to catch stuff, even just with sites like Google images.

I mostly setup others with Defender and MB. Defender has allowed a couple of things through, though, like some nasty ransomware that came in through email. It detected it but didn't stop it (user is non-admin).
 
gmskking
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:30 pm

I personally have not used an antivirus program in years. I don't like the idea of having a program always running a scanning and slowing my PC down. I find that using an ad blocker (ad block plus) is enough for me. This requires using Chrome or Firefox. Stay away from Internet Explorer unless you like ads and slow browsing.
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Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:01 pm

Dieter wrote:
I personally run with ESET antivirus (not endpoint) and MalwareBytes Premium, plus the normal assortment of browser add-ons (uBlock Origin, Disconnect, etc). ESET and MB are both lightweight and seem to catch stuff, even just with sites like Google images.

I mostly setup others with Defender and MB. Defender has allowed a couple of things through, though, like some nasty ransomware that came in through email. It detected it but didn't stop it (user is non-admin).


Yes, that's what makes me hesitate about windows defender, from what I've found it does not seem to be as good at stopping things overall. Perhaps when it matures some more.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:04 pm

gmskking wrote:
I personally have not used an antivirus program in years. I don't like the idea of having a program always running a scanning and slowing my PC down. I find that using an ad blocker (ad block plus) is enough for me. This requires using Chrome or Firefox. Stay away from Internet Explorer unless you like ads and slow browsing.


Thank you for providing some comic relief in the responses. Have you ever considered the fact that your philosophy is what helps the malware to spread so widely and quickly?
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:11 pm

SoM wrote:
Thin Man wrote:
Sorry All, I should have been clearer in my post. When I said I was still getting pop up ads with BitDefender what I meant was that the pop ups were coming from BitDefender it self. I can understand having that happen with a free program however, when you pay for the thing one normally expects to be free from advertisement hassle.
But this is America, where you pay for cable tv service and still have to watch as many or more ads as you did back when tv was free. :roll:


read https://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?/topic/43714-solved-how-to-disable-bd-pop-up-advertisements/


Alright, thanks for the heads up on that.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
CScottG
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:15 pm

Get rid of it altogether and use a browser from a linux virtual machine installation on hyper-v (..or virtual box if you don't have windows pro).

Seriously, AV programs are never going to be good enough and over time they really make a system "sluggish".
 
Bauxite
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:22 pm

None/don't pay for one.

Kaspersky could be good on a technical level but is a big fat hell no for other reasons.

Anything that doesn't come in via browser (or insane programs that auto-view things, like email clients) is 100% the users fault. Browser is maybe 50%, lots of drive-bys.
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Redocbew
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:32 pm

Thin Man wrote:
Have you ever considered the fact that your philosophy is what helps the malware to spread so widely and quickly?


Most AV scanners are still primarily signature based, and that's the drawback of signature based anti-virus in general. They're all helpless to stop a completely new threat even if it's just a minor variant of something that's been around for years. Some are adding behavior based routines as well, but legitimate software behaving "like a virus" is more common than you might think, so it's a difficult problem to separate one from the other accurately.
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Kougar
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:37 pm

I only use Windows Defender for a lot of reasons. Ars just recently ran a quick piece on some of the reasons https://arstechnica.co.uk/information-t ... us-is-bad/

For reactive measures I run MBAM and occasionally Spybot S&D. For preventative measures I use Spywareblaster which inoculates most browsers against known malicious sites, so one can prevent the problems from occurring in the first place rather than just reacting to them.
 
xgsound
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:39 pm

So the popups are for Bitdefender.
This doesn't help you at all, but I never got any popup from Bitdefender so I am at a loss.
I'm very surprised. I have been using free Bitdefender for several years and install it on all (~ 15) the relatives computers I repair. I register about 5 per email address on my 3 addresses and that is the last I heard from them.
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:21 pm

Kougar wrote:
I only use Windows Defender for a lot of reasons. Ars just recently ran a quick piece on some of the reasons https://arstechnica.co.uk/information-t ... us-is-bad/

For reactive measures I run MBAM and occasionally Spybot S&D. For preventative measures I use Spywareblaster which inoculates most browsers against known malicious sites, so one can prevent the problems from occurring in the first place rather than just reacting to them.


Interesting article, thank you for pointing it out.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:34 pm

CScottG wrote:
Get rid of it altogether and use a browser from a linux virtual machine installation on hyper-v (..or virtual box if you don't have windows pro).

Seriously, AV programs are never going to be good enough and over time they really make a system "sluggish".


Thank you for the suggestion. I understand what your saying and I don't disagree, however aside from the problem of getting the less technical minded to deal with a virtual machine, and realizing that I need to learn more about vm's let me ask this. Does this also solve the problem of malware designed to infect Linux? While not as big a problem as it is for windows, there is code written against Linux and more showing up as more people use it. Does the fact that it's running in a vm protect linux? And can something picked up in Linux pass to windows in spite of running in the vm?
I foresee a good deal of research in my future...
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Redocbew
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:46 pm

Using a VM doesn't really offer any protection to the guest(in this case, Linux), but it does help protect the host. Treat the VM as disposable, and if it gets hosed by something just restore from snapshot and start over. Using a windows VM running inside Windows would probably work just as well. Linux is just easier because you don't have to buy another license in order to avoid activation issues.

Escaping from the VM has been done a few times with the help of an exploit, but it's rare. Keep your software updated and it's not likely to be an issue.
Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and you won't hear them coming.
 
gmskking
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:53 pm

Thin Man wrote:
gmskking wrote:
I personally have not used an antivirus program in years. I don't like the idea of having a program always running a scanning and slowing my PC down. I find that using an ad blocker (ad block plus) is enough for me. This requires using Chrome or Firefox. Stay away from Internet Explorer unless you like ads and slow browsing.


Thank you for providing some comic relief in the responses. Have you ever considered the fact that your philosophy is what helps the malware to spread so widely and quickly?


Never had a virus (or any issue) and I havent used an antivirus program in probably 7 years.
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Thin Man
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Re: AntiVirus suggestions

Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:00 pm

Redocbew wrote:
Using a VM doesn't really offer any protection to the guest(in this case, Linux), but it does help protect the host. Treat the VM as disposable, and if it gets hosed by something just restore from snapshot and start over. Using a windows VM running inside Windows would probably work just as well. Linux is just easier because you don't have to buy another license in order to avoid activation issues.

Escaping from the VM has been done a few times with the help of an exploit, but it's rare. Keep your software updated and it's not likely to be an issue.


I see. Thanks for the clarification. I'll try it on my machine and see what would be involved in getting the others to buy the idea.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain

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