I hate viruses

Had a virus on the computer last night. Wound up shutting it off until i could figure what to do with it by going on the internet w/ the other one. It got into the system32 folder in the c drive and was not letting me run programs including system restore. It even wound up turning McAfee off on me.:surprised: So after reading about system restore on microsoft.com i was able to use safe mode with command prompt to run system restore and it all seems to be normal now. This is the 3rd virus i think i had to fix. Plus i had to replace the ram because that failed, kinda like that though went from 1 gb to 2 gb

Switch to Linux
I'm very happy with Ubuntu on my laptop
I help support 4000 Windows users at my job and it's so nice to come home to a stable environment that does everything and more than I can do on my windows machines.

That's why I gave up on McAfee a long time ago - it is, apparently, easy to disable by virus as both my computer and my parents' computer had that happen - it looks like McAfee is still running but the virus guts the program.

I switched to AVG a couple years ago and I've been very happy with it.

gpoehlein said:

That's why I gave up on McAfee a long time ago - it is, apparently, easy to disable by virus as both my computer and my parents' computer had that happen - it looks like McAfee is still running but the virus guts the program.

I switched to AVG a couple years ago and I've been very happy with it.

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No one seems to believe me when I tell them that AVG or Avast often seem to be a better choice for the home computer. I guess it's a tough pill to swallow when you realize that the product you've been paying for doesn't work. Some people just need to throw money at an issue to feel better.

I have a friend of a friend that I resolve computer issues for every now and again. He's got ZoneAlarm's security suite and it never fails that he'll get some sort of virus or malware. I've pretty much given up and told him that unless he goes with a "FREE" product I won't work on their computer anymore. They are still stuck in that Windows98 SE and Windows XP SP1 era when computers were being taken over by popups and everything else.

lessgravity said:

Switch to Linux

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Is that your answer to everything?

WiK said:

Is that your answer to everything?

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Hehe
After dealing with thousands of Windows users since Windows 3.1 and supporting a large Windows enterprise for the last 12 years...
Yes Linux is the answer.
Linux has taken a long time to be a friendly and usable as it is now.I wouldn't have said switch to the average user until recently.
Others will soon see the light.
NASA even has seen the light and all Ares development is Linux and contractors must agree to an Open Source agreement
At least we won't see this error on future missions

You do realize there are viruses that affect Linux too . Rarer, harder to write... but since more and more businesses use Linux, that people that write them to try to interfere with our business have an incentive for the challenge .

Rarer. Easier to write. Not worth the trouble since they don't garner the attention for the grandstanders or get the numbers for the DNS folks. Just like Firefox had more security flaws exposed in 2007 than IE did, once Linux reaches critical mass, you'll see the potential security risks of an open-source OS manifest.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see M$ fade, but the alternative is only secure so long as it's not a target and the users are perceived as being knowledgeable enough to not act in obviously risky behavior.

In 30 years of home computing, I've gotten exactly one virus and that one I got on inception day.

eugenefl said:

No one seems to believe me when I tell them that AVG or Avast often seem to be a better choice for the home computer. I guess it's a tough pill to swallow when you realize that the product you've been paying for doesn't work. Some people just need to throw money at an issue to feel better.

I have a friend of a friend that I resolve computer issues for every now and again. He's got ZoneAlarm's security suite and it never fails that he'll get some sort of virus or malware. I've pretty much given up and told him that unless he goes with a "FREE" product I won't work on their computer anymore. They are still stuck in that Windows98 SE and Windows XP SP1 era when computers were being taken over by popups and everything else.

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I'm going to respectfully disagree on the virus side in particular. Antivirus is kiddie stuff now and it's just a matter of how quickly the companies respond to zero day attacks. AVG and AVAST are both usually among the slowest to correct for new viruses, falling well behind McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky (sp?) and Avira. ZA uses Kaspersky for it's antivirus. Kaspersky is actually the fastest of all of the major players at updating their definitions. ZA ranks highest of all of the suites on malware detection and removal as well, although I prefer the free version of Spyware Doctor, of course since it's free and it still ranks tops on spyware and malware detection. Before it gets going yet again, contrary to popular opinion, Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware now rank at the bottom of the free solutions and don't even make the list for solutions that include free and paid solutions in print. Right now, I run Spyware Doctor (free through Google Apps) and Tenebril's Spycatcher Express (also free through Tenebril's site). I use those because they're free, not because they're better.

The biggest key is regular updates and scans. Both my antivirus and antispyware scan daily when I'm at work. It's very rare that you'll get a virus that will disable a commercial product less than a week after it's inception (and yes, I know there will be a bunch of "well I got...." and "My buddy got...").

To the original topic, if you've gotten 3 viruses, you're either not managing your software correctly or you're probably downloading executables from places you shouldn't be downloading from.

Switch to Linux
I'm very happy with Ubuntu on my laptop

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I run Ubuntu on my Dell desktop, its truly fantastic and easy to use, comes with firefox and everything you need.



courtesy xkcd

steller_light said:

I run Ubuntu on my Dell desktop, its truly fantastic and easy to use, comes with firefox and everything you need.

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Except for programs that don't run on Linux.

100% of our enterprise applications require Microsquish components (COM, ActiveX, .Net, etc.) It sucks, but I'm stuck with it.

USE LINUX!!!!!
If you don't want to, make sure your windows user account you are always working with (browsing, rocksim, typing with word, etc) is NOT ADMINISTRATIVE e.g it is LIMITED so the viruses can't get into the system folders (because limited accounts can't write there). Then make an administrative account to install stuff.

Tip: If you need to install something and you are using the Limited account, you don't need to log on to it. Just right-click the setup application and select Run As. In the dialog, select THE FOLLOWING USER, in the combo box select your administrative user, write his password and you are ready.

I run AVG on my computer. I very rarely have anything weird happen.

I think the problem with McAfee and Norton is that they still leave 1 or 2 percent of the processor and RAM available to the end user. Once they figure out how to make your computer do absolutely nothing but scan the universe for malicious code, you'll be viruse free.:rotflol:

Bigander said:

Had a virus on the computer last night....

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Any idea how you got it?