Anti virus....Free for a reason

gpuerrilla · 25 Jan 2015 at 19:53

Audigex said:
..but between Windows Defender, Avast and reformatting every 4 months, I've never noticed anything untoward.

Strange habits people have. I must say though I have never felt the need to just format these days on a cycle particularly as often as every 4 months!

Out of efficiency I would just got to the trouble and make an image (to copy over) if I was to do the four month plan.

Audigex · 25 Jan 2015 at 22:25

Th0nt said:
Strange habits people have. I must say though I have never felt the need to just format these days on a cycle particularly as often as every 4 months!

Out of efficiency I would just got to the trouble and make an image (to copy over) if I was to do the four month plan.

I do make images

I restore the image, run any updates on the OS + software, add anything I found indispensable since the last image, then create a new image and start using it. The entire process takes maybe two hours... less than many people's virus scan!

It's a habit I got into back in the Win 98/ME (*shudder*) days, but I've found it serves me well. First up, it guarantees you're virus free, just in case something slips through. It also keeps things speedy (particularly pre-SSD) and encourages good practice with backups and not hoarding

All my personal data, media etc live on server/NAS shares, as do most installers. All my steam games are on a second drive which can easily be re-added. All development work and databases are stored elsewhere - so my HDD is basically OS + programs (+ games on the second drive)... I don't lose much.

I don't find it to be any hassle (although I'm also not strict about when I do it... just when I remember at roughly that 4 month interval), and it certainly keeps things snappy.

gpuerrilla · 26 Jan 2015 at 00:21

As that is a human procedure Audigex, it is a workable tool against malware infections. I can see how it is effective for you.

Most users however are lazy or would see it as a chore to invest those initial 2 hours to setup and complete the image then you can see where some would be negligent.

If you wanted to go the whole hog you would just use a machine not connected to the internet and control the removable media thoroughly. I guess there is a balance somewhere between protection and convenience; whatever risks you want to take.

Downsides to the images or restore points are that you could be backing up an infected file or there is a conflicting driver say that could take a while to root out. Being proactive rather than reactive I would say is the better practice here.

KIA · 26 Jan 2015 at 13:12

Sod formatting every four months.

gpuerrilla · 26 Jan 2015 at 18:38

KIA said:
Sod formatting every four months.

I used to reformat when I had poor knowledge or lack of experience back in the 90's. I now only need to do this if I am using the drive for another purpose or it has been a considerable amount of time with issues causing an unstable OS.

Formatting often for the sake of it is not high on the agenda with me.

Nasher · 27 Jan 2015 at 09:40

I find the free ones better most of the time. We use McAfee enterprise at work and it's total garbage.

The other day I used it to scan a known infected PC, it found nothing. The free version of malwarebytes found 148 infected files :/

Raumarik · 27 Jan 2015 at 09:51

The only reason companies use Mcafee is it's easy to deploy and get reports from, it really needs to be used with a different solution at the web filtering stage for starters.

gpuerrilla · 27 Jan 2015 at 19:41

Nasher said:
I find the free ones better most of the time. We use McAfee enterprise at work and it's total garbage.

The other day I used it to scan a known infected PC, it found nothing. The free version of malwarebytes found 148 infected files :/

Yeah but 'infected' with what? I would be surprised if they were genuine viruses and proper nasties, more likely PUP's or BHO's. It would also depend on if the scan was set to aggressive and if any of the infections were 'allowed' by an account, user or whitelist.

Amraam · 24 Feb 2015 at 16:12

I've just removed MSE to give 360 Total Security a go. Seems to be quite intrusive and clunky, but if it protects better then it's worth it.

mrk · 24 Feb 2015 at 16:13

Why would you put up with something clunky and intrusive?

Install Avast and never look back at anything else.

Amraam · 24 Feb 2015 at 16:16

mrk said:
Why would you put up with something clunky and intrusive?

Install Avast and never look back at anything else.

It's not bad; like it's not flashing up every time I copy and paste like the old Norton days etc. Perhaps I'm not used to it. It seems to be a mash up of a good AV and a CCleaner type utility. Protection reviews are very good so I'll keep it on for a few days...

russell664 · 24 Feb 2015 at 16:39

I now use kaspersky (Needed a renew previously, so decided on something different got it really cheap too) And that isn't intrusive at all.

But it all comes down to common sense, to not get infected most of the time.

V F · 24 Feb 2015 at 16:49

russell664 said:
I now use kaspersky (Needed a renew previously, so decided on something different got it really cheap too) And that isn't intrusive at all.

But it all comes down to common sense, to not get infected most of the time.

Most people don't have common sense. If they did, the world would be a different place.

mattyg · 24 Feb 2015 at 17:49

V F said:
Most people don't have common sense. If they did, the world would be a different place.

Er??

Sliver · 24 Feb 2015 at 19:33

I use Kaspersky which although is normally a subscription product, I pay nothing as a Barclay's online customer. Paired with Malware Bytes it's been rock solid for over 3 years now and not cost me a penny.

As a side note to those advocating free AV like Avast or AVG etc, I volunteer for Age UK as an IT tutor. I see lots of people every week coming in with various issues relating to malware (not so much virus's) on their laptops. It's usually fixable easily, but that's beside the point. The point is that their free AV failed and they had to come to us to fix it.

KIA · 25 Feb 2015 at 14:17

Sliver said:
As a side note to those advocating free AV like Avast or AVG etc, I volunteer for Age UK as an IT tutor. I see lots of people every week coming in with various issues relating to malware (not so much virus's) on their laptops. It's usually fixable easily, but that's beside the point. The point is that their free AV failed and they had to come to us to fix it.

Paying for anti-virus won't make a difference. These people need to be educated.

I'd be recommending some sort of Chrome device instead of Windows.

russell664 · 25 Feb 2015 at 14:44

V F said:
Most people don't have common sense. If they did, the world would be a different place.

Iye, that is very true. Unfortunately.

alastair84 · 26 Feb 2015 at 04:19

Go to your dodgy websites/download stuff on a virtual machine you setup, then if your computer gets infected, just close that virtual machine down and no need to format

spoffle · 26 Feb 2015 at 04:39

mattyg said:
Er??

It's a misnomer, common sense in the way it's used isn't all that common.

Duke · 28 Feb 2015 at 19:48

alastair84 said:
Go to your dodgy websites/download stuff on a virtual machine you setup, then if your computer gets infected, just close that virtual machine down and no need to format

A bit naive if you think only 'dodgy' websites will have malware.