What antivirus software you use for vaio z?

or some of us know how to use the web and be safe. i guess if you use some program you would be the ignorant one. study up on threat assesments and how av companies use fear to get you into their products

 

That's not what I said. I said that the vulnerabilities were patched before any AV software could detect them. So what's the use of the AV software?

Most vulnerabilities are patched before any exploit arrives. That's what lists like Bugtraq are for.
And with OSS, you don't have to wait for a vendor, a process that usually takes weeks.

Not to mention? But I did mention it.

Blaming a mail server for not blocking viruses is like blaming the postal service if you get sick from something sent in the mail to you.

It's the sender who is responsible for sending malware, and the recipient who is responsible for activating it. The transport should not be held responsible, although mail relays often do scan e-mails -- partially as a courtesy, and partially for self-preservation purposes (spambots can easily strangle the lines). But that doesn't mean they run AV software, as such -- just an on-demand scanner that handles e-mail.
AV software that patches into the OS, and scans on every read, write and execute operation is a Windows phenomenon, necessitated by the Windows security model that allows users to have superuser privileges. With Vista's UAC, Windows became better[*], but it still defaults to creating the first user account with Administrative privileges, and UAC cries wolf so often that a large percentage of users have disabled it, thereby negating the security it gives.

[*]: And with Ubuntu, Linux became worse.

 

Arith, tell me more about that. What is it about Ubuntu that brings Linux down?

 

To a point I agree with what you are saying.

As for email,
I'm not blaming the mail host, I'm saying there should be some sense of responsibility on their part though for trying to filter some of that stuff.

There is too many people in the world saying "it's not my problem".

 

Really?
Flash ads are now the biggest threat on the internet.
Java just had a huge problem.

Email has long been an issue even though only 2% of malware now comes from email.
Yahoo, Google (the largest ad server), Myspace and Facebook all have been found handing out trojans.

So other than running a variant of *nix, how exactly are you being safe? You can't surf the internet with Windows without some form of protection, sorry, you just can't anymore.


Fear of threats?
I repair networks and systems for a living. I fight this crap day in, day out, it's not overblown.

Threat assessments are like M.T.B.F. of hard drives, a completely B.S. number.

 

I was contracted by a local company to rid seven machines of viruses. Three of the machines had Norton or AVG the rest were unprotected. MSE found infections on all seven machines, including the ones running Norton and AVG. Enough said. It's MSE for me and all my clients.

Gary

 

Just keep telling yourself that ace. If you think the only way to get a virus is through email, you are sadly mistaken.

Gary

 

Only a smaller target. No more safe. The bad guys curently are only intrested in larger market share whish is the ONLY reason Mac folks smuggly think they are safe.

Gary

 

Someoe should, because there are many other ways to get infected. Simple surfing or clicking on what look to be perfectly legitimate search hits from Google can get you nailed.

Gary

 

I was under the impression (for the longest time) that the only way to get virii were through email attachments / downloading and executing unsafe programs. I haven't really had any problems without using any antivirus programs for so many years. I did eventually start using AVG just to be safe. But..last week I got screwed over with the truly annoying "Windows 7 Anti-Malware" malware program and it took forever to manually remove it...and I do consider myself proficient with computers. I don't think it's always PEBKAC anymore.

 

I got hit by the XP AntiMalware 2010 malware two weeks ago. It was a pain to remove manually, and I couldn't get rid of the browser redirect problem so I just decided to reinstall Windows on a separate partition

For those who are looking for a good AV, you might want to check the latest independent test results done by AV-Comparatives: http://www.av-comparatives.org

 

I installed the Norton 360. The software improves a lot. It has system tuning up feature. I like it.

 

I'm currently using Norton Internet Security 2010 on my Sony Z570. It's working great for me.

 

Because I have Windows 7 64bit most of the crap won't install already, however I've always got the AVG running in the background, I do turn off all scheduling, except for defintions update. And once every 4months I would do a full computer scan, although in 3 years time since I started using vista 64bit I haven't found anything dodgy on my computer after any type of scan.

Also, from time to time I'll use a very efficient small app designed to block malicious IPs, namely Peerblock (a better version of Peerguardian). This app literally blocks billions of advertisements, spyware, trojans, banners, ad-trackers, etc. before it reaches into your computer You can also block bogons, government sites, microsoft IPs, banks, etc.

 

It's made to be user-friendly, and appeal to people used to Windows.
As part of that design, it attempts to mimic the "administrators" model of Windows, and relies on "sudo" to do admin tasks as users.

The problem with that is twofold:
1: Commands run with sudo run in the context of the caller, which can be compromised, not in the context of root's secure environment.
2: The default is to be permissive, not restrictive. (By default, users are added to the Windows-mimicing "admin" group and allowed to run any command on the system through sudo.)

In the more conservative Linux world, sudo is restricted to a minimum, and never used with wildcards (or "ALL") or without passwords. Stricter places also disallow using the user's own password for sudo, if not outright excising sudo from the systems with prejudice.

There are far better alternatives, but they require that an admin actually knows what he's doing, i.e. knows system administration. Fancy that.
Yet the "user friendliness" is exactly why Ubuntu has become so popular. And popular as a target too.

 

Off topic sorry but what version of Linux would you recommend for max usability / security? thanks

 

Fedora isn't too bad. It comes with SElinux and IPtables enabled out of the box, and is usually ahead of Ubuntu in using newer versions and technologies.

For stability, you can't go much wrong with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. But then you won't get the newest technologies. You pay to get stability and support, and only certain packages will get updated to new versions.

If you want to really learn from the ground up, build a system with only the components you need, Gentoo is one of the better choices.

 

No anti-virus system or protection for that matter is perfect. Especially when a user forces it past the protection system (something I see all too often.

However, I wonder how much more would have been there had they not had Norton or AVG. I also woudl like to have seen what those threats were. Were they serious, or just cookies. Where they harmless or really bad. Just because it detects something, doesn't mean it was worth bothering with. MyWayWeb is detected by some and not others, why? Because it's not a big deal.


As for MSE, I still say it dilutes the gene pool by creating a single larger target to hit, which is what these people aim for and why Mac and Linux are relatively untouched compared to Windows. Give it a bit longer and we will start seeing targeted attacks on MSE, just as we see them on AVG and Norton today.




Funny, 10 years ago had you asked anyone if they wanted a Microsoft firewall or anti-virus you would have been laughed out of the office.

Many who use it, will also sit and complain about how poor MS is at blocking threats and stopping blue screens. Yet they will turn around and place their trust right back in Microsoft's hands.

 

It's easily removed in safe mode, or with a boot disk.

 

Is that just because the benefit-to-cost ratio is always low? Cost would include the monetary as well as operational (CPU cycles) costs. For the benefit part, I think the majority of end-users do not experience significant degradation in performance when, say, a bot is operating on their machine. When a machine gets so clogged up with malware, the user simply reinstalls Windows. Hence, they do not think it is worth the cost of installing any non-free anti-bot/virus program. If the benefit of choosing the 'right' anti-virus program can be made very high, say the ISP can detect a user has a bot and denies network connectivity until the bot is flushed, then the user has the incentive to take the necessary precautions.

And I think Microsoft burns tons of cash on its research department, MSR. So much so that some even say it doesn't matter that the researchers aren't doing anything constructive, that fact that they aren't working for MS' competitors is reason enough for their continued employment.

Because of the huge amount of resources MS can afford to throw at any problem, and because Win 7 actually works pretty well, I think it's not completely ridiculous that MS begins to regain some of its status

 

Never expected this, people are really enthusiastic about their AV

 

my scanners weren't picking up most copies the malware made of itself and I had to manually traverse directories for each instance of the malware, which was in more places than just those listed in msconfig. That can take a lot of time and test a lot of patience. It may be easy in theory, but it can be a pain in the real world. i tried multiple scanners and the AVG "boot-usb" and they all failed to find every copy...imagine that.

 

Same here. I ran out of patience and time. And it was the only PC I had, except for the F11, which was going back to SonyStyle, that I had to delay coz of the malware issue with my desktop.

Anyway, my PC's back to normal, and it's running Avast.

 

Simple way to deal with multiple entries and these types of programs....

Go into regedit, do edit, search.
Now type in runonce and uncheck keys and values.
Above each runonce is a run directory. This makes it easy to find them since searching for run is a lost cause. Just be sure to remove keys and values from the search.

Also, these programs are almost always located in the temp directory. Doesn't matter what the name is, the directory is almost always temp. Clear out the temp directory you will get rid of the infection.

Another trick is a program called Winpatrol ( www.winpatrol.com) It can show you all of those hidden registry starting points as well.


Seriously, you can knock these things out in about 3 minutes.


While many will blame the anti-virus companies and such for allowing this, what I found is that it's not entirely their fault. The programs are designed to bypass the anti-virus by faking an authorization. The program asks to install itself, the user authorizes it. The anti-virus can't over-ride the user if they are determined (it can but that leads to other issues).



I don't claim any protection to be great. The best things out there barely protect more than about 60% of the threats. Adding a second system like Spybot, Super-Antispyware can bring you up to about 80%. There is simply no way to get much beyond that. New stuff comes out too fast. The problem is, you can't expect the average person to even come close to paying attention to new and emerging threats. Even if you work in the industry, keeping up with Windows threats is difficult.

 

One more for MS Security Essentials

 

seems MSE has great respect among windows users...

Would it also take care of trojans coming through website/flash/popups/browsing etc?

 

You don't need to keep up with it, really. What is needed is a healthy dose of skeptic thinking.

I.e. not just recognizing warning signs, but also constructing them when needed.

No-one needs to tell you that when a web site you visit suddenly starts a counter that claims to find virus after virus on it, it's a hoax. You should have thought "wait a minute... Now WHY did this scan appear?" And then, when hitting the close button, and getting a pop-up instead, ask another "Wait a minute...". If a web page doesn't respect your wish to close; and hacks the functionality of your browser, should you really trust it? And finally, since you already know that you can't trust the close button, why do you trust that the "Cancel" button will do what it's supposed to?
At this point, a skeptic person will do "CTRL-ALT-DELETE" and kill the browser, or seek aid. Not because they have kept up with security news, but because they used the faculty of reason.

Similar when someone sends you an e-mail out of the clear blue, offering you money or an awesome deal. TANSTAAFL, and if something sounds too good to be true, it's because it isn't.

If anything, I feel that computer users are overprotected these days. Natural selection doesn't get a chance to weed out the gullible ones.
Perhaps Darwin needs a little help. Something like a hoax from Big Medical Provider that offers a huge sum of settlement money to anyone who get sterilized. And due to legal inertia, it's still possible to get sterilized, but we trust that you won't take advantage of that...

 

Avast , because it is free , has no problems with updates ,doesn't slow your laptop down.
It has multiple shields to protect your computer:
Behavior Shield
File System Shield
Mail Shield
Web Shield
P2P Shield
IM Shield
Network Shield

http://www.avast.com/en-eu/free-antivirus-download

 

(no comment).

 

That was just about perfect timing

 

Tell that to an 80 year old woman.
Or the kid down the street.

Or to the latest generation of Flash infections, or to the people who insist or are required to use Outlook.

Are you going to sterilize much of the population because they simply want a computer to do what they ask? Many people I do work for, aren't even aware of ctrl-alt-del.



You have a very rosey view of the world of non-geeks.
Maybe we should remove the air bags, anti-lock brakes and other safety mechanisms on cars. Those too are over-protective. After all, people still ride motorcycles.

 

I usually recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (Free) or Avira AntiVir Free as both are great programs.

Running two Antivirus programs is not really recommended as they usually do just about the same thing and can slow down your system.

I also recommend MalwareBytes AntiMalware Free as a great on demand companion for removing additional nastiness.

 

I guess as long as it's not McAfee!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/21/mcafee-update--shutting-down-xp-machines/

 

McAfee is all talk, but no walk. You see them occasionally from their virus labs claiming this and that, but too bad that their products can't perform on a high-enough level to back their talk up.

And to think that Sony used to load McAfee trial bloatware on their machines less than a year ago (and still do on some machines, depending on where you live).

 

Timing is everything

But as you go through the test at http://www.av-comparatives.org/ you see that Avast has high malware detection rates, is fast and has few false positives.
Speed of scanning and automatic updates every 2 hours is why Avast gets my vote over MSE.

 

Reminds me that two beautiful sunny month which I spent closed in a small classroom with 60 school computers with hundreds of viruses and running Avast trying to backup some data and build again database they were running on them.

 

Guys, Just a question. DO I need to run multi security software if I have Kaspersky Internet Security.

Means if I have Kaspersky Internet Security, DO i need to run Spyware software, Malicious Software, Firewall Software? Or Just Kaspersky Internet Security will do?

 

KIS will do.
It has a firewall etc.
It is not advisable to run 2 firewalls at the same time, the same goes for av programs.

 

I am going to buy a new Z117 in 2 weeks time and I believe they come with the ............McAfee PC SecurityCenter 30-day Free Trial*10, Webroot® Spy Sweeper® 90-day Free Trial*11
How is this program

 

I would recommend to uninstall it.
See this thread and http://www.av-comparatives.org/ for alternatives.
You can also use the Security Advice Wizard on http://www.techsupportalert.com/secwiz to see which freeware is best for you.

 

Why, its free................... also the link you sent me only gives the webpages not a comparrison

 

It is not allowed to link directly to the comparison.
If you click on the right Latest Reports "On-demand Comparative February 2010" you can get to the latest comparison in pdf.
You can of course keep your free programs, but they will expire and as you will see in the reports there are better free alternatives like Avira or Avast and better paid alternatives like Kaspersky or Symantec.

 

Uninstall Webroot.
10 days isn't a trial, that's just plain useless. Either register it or dump it right away. Don't be one of these people with a bunch of useless crap on there causing potential conflicts.


Uninstall Mcafeee, you are just as safe with or without it in my opinion.
Put something worthwhile on it. Either register Webroot or get something else, but get rid of this pile of worthless garbage.

 

Hello,
I agree that mcafee home user version is pretty much crap.
The Mcafee enterprise + mcafee antispyware though is much better. I know its what they use in most major companies here in france. You can find it on the web...

Its just an antivirus though, not a complete windows repair unit as norton is!

 

Are you serious???? Mcafee Enterprise screwed up many corporate PC's last week by deleting a system file in Windows XP SP3. Don't even think about Mcafee.

 

OK got it, unistall the Mcafeee and ...............................then what? what anti virus are you running, can you back up what you have said?
If sony is such a great computer why would they risk putting a usless anti virus program on it

 

It is one of my biggest pet peeves that companies release trial versions of protection software with their PCs. I have worked on many peoples machines that thought they had proper security software installed and updating. This is the equivalent to selling someone a house in a bad neighborhood with locks that work for only 30 days.

There are many free variants of security software that work great. If you choose not to have any security software running in the background it is wise to at least do a scan periodically.

 

You can always look at the best free security software thread on this forum
http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/190538-best-free-security-software.html

 

Beside, of anti-virus that protecting our PC, we ourselves also need to be aware.

Read this article. It helps.

 

Then those folks are not paying attention. I have NEVER seen a free trial that didn't bombard the user with warnings that they needed to fork over some $$ to continue to be protected. That is the modus operandi of these trialware apps.

Gary