Wise for him to switch to something usable. I avoid that forum because the software running it is so painful to use.
AV tools For those looking to upgrade/change/get an AV solution: 2010 Anti Virus Poll - dslreports.com Ditto for software firewalls: Firewall Poll 2009 - dslreports.com Firewall Poll 2010 - dslreports.com Ditto for anti-spyware: Anti-Spyware Poll 2009 - dslreports.com I post these links for informational purposes and they do not represent an endorsement from me (although I really like malwarebytes).
Well, its good to know what's popular, but that doesn't always equal good in my experience. Avast seemed a bit bloated last time I used it a few years back. I tend to assume that the people writing viruses look at what the most common AV's are, and design their code to aviod detection of those... which suggests to me that the biggest player isn't always the best bet.. just look at how much effort has been put into finding exploits for the Windows OS's as an example... few bother to exploit holes in Mac OS, Linux, and others as they want the maximum exposure for their malicious programs. Its also worth mentioning that the computer I just cleaned up DID have Spybot (free version) installed and up-to-date.. for all the good it did.... and yes TJ.. I supposed I could be persuaded to help you if need be
When I post on these technical issues, I try to be neutral, informative and helpful. There is a trend here of gainsaying that has gotten under my skin, and rather than turning this into a pi**ing contest, I'm going to withdraw and not post anything further beyond that I run Symantec Endpoint Protection and Malwarebytes Paid Version, two of the biggest players in the business and I've never had a system compromised. The poll results I posted were for information only, and I endorsed none other than MBAM. In fact, I've always considered Spybot an antiquated POS, hogging resources like crazy and rewriting my hosts file at will. Not for me. If or when SEP or MBAM get compromised, I'll be the first to let you know. Until then, there are others here who will give you perfectly adequate advice.
Mixz1 - I think we all appreciate your technical input here, I know I do. I don't think anyone meant to get up in your face. I've been using Malwarebytes since you recommended it to me (2 years ago?), and I've recommended it to many others. I've never had a machine get compromised, but then I'm pretty cautious, nervous even, when it comes to anything that could lead to me infect my machine. I never click with abandon... I do also think that Life's point is valid, just because a program is popular doesn't make it good...look at iTunes, look at PowerPoint, look at HP's printer driver software...all of them putrid garbage and all of them popular. I've never installed Avast. I did use AVG until it got really bloated and started making my older machine crawl. A couple of my machines now use Avira, and other than the once-a-day pop up ad it's really lightweight. And so far Avira in combo with Malwarbytes seems to be working well for me. Another of my machines has M$ Security Essentials (along with Malwarebytes), main reason being that my kid pulled the machine out of the factory box and started installing things she thought I should have, and so far I've had no reason to override the wisdom of the teenager. I have my husband's machine set up to automatically do a scan at a regular interval. He is not cautious and just goes raging across the net clicking error messages without reading them (the difference between a nerd and a normal person is that the nerd reads error messages). So I have to protect him from his own stupidity. I only scan the machines I use when I get nervous for some reason, and I'm nervous by nature, so it's often enough. But given my caution my scans almost never turn up anything. Anyway Mix, please keep posting your techie posts.
Is it safe to pass by CA again? Did it a few weeks back when the issues first arose and the work computer lit up like a Christmas tree.
Scott's working on it. The other day he had a php board much like this one up however it looks like he's lost all of the posts from the old board.
