Thread: Very Intrusive Virus: Caution

Figures this thread turns into a "Windows vs. Linux" argument.

*nix has a 95% market share in sensitive data.

Originally Posted by Mario92

scour the system for security flaws and develop a spreading virus.

flaws in software, possible
Viruses, impossible (or so next to impossible it's not even worth mentioning)

see my post, linked above, on the ubuntu forums

Lots of Windows fans keep saying the same thing: If you protect your windows machine, it works fine.

Shouldn't security come with the machine and take care of itself? Isn't that like buying a car, but having to pay extra for the locks and having to upgrade the locks every month or so?

Originally Posted by Fableflame

Figures this thread turns into a "Windows vs. Linux" argument.

Well, we've not had one for a while.

Originally Posted by Ynot

Well, we've not had one for a while.

I was almost beginning to miss them.




Almost.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Lots of Windows fans keep saying the same thing: If you protect your windows machine, it works fine.

Shouldn't security come with the machine and take care of itself? Isn't that like buying a car, but having to pay extra for the locks and having to upgrade the locks every month or so?

Granted, but the Mac car should at least resemble other cars in some way. As a student, I would run into plenty of compatibility issues if I started using a Mac. It'd be like climbing into a completely different car where the steering wheel is on the ceiling. It may be built like a tank, but it would be unrecognizable to the standard car. Again, perhaps in the future when Mac and Linux become more wide-spread and compatibility issues are minimized, but right now, I don't have the time to sit down and figure out a completely different OS and try to work out kinks when crossing over to the Windows OS. It's far easier to simply run a virus scan or two (most of which, by the way, are self-upgrading and self-scanning). Set it to run when you're not actively using the computer, and you don't hardly even notice it.

What the hell are you doing that's not compatible with OSX / Linux? Don't professors require documents get emailed to then using PDF? Office doesn't even read PDFs let alone write them correctly. Don't they put classes on Podcasts? Those only work with iTunes.

Originally Posted by Ynot

Yeah, great, wonderful

The point is, if you're on Windows, statistically you will get hosed - badly
heuristic algorithms for detecting new malware are approx. 30% accurate

It's like walking across a field of landmines

I, for one, am not prepared to dedicate my time & effort needed to disinfecting my machines 'cause they have a defective OS installed on them

I know that. As I said, I've not had a problem for a while. My biggest discomfort with Windows is how it gets slower over time, and there's nothing that can be done about it except reinstallation. Windows 7 seems to do better than any previous version of Windows, but in the end it will still get sluggish.

Switching to Linux, however, will only cause me pain right now, since I'll have to run Windows either as a dual boot or a virtual machine, in order to use certain software that I need for school and freetime activity.
I've run a dual boot before, and I ended up sitting in Windows most of the time.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

What the hell are you doing that's not compatible with OSX / Linux? Don't professors require documents get emailed to then using PDF? Office doesn't even read PDFs let alone write them correctly. Don't they put classes on Podcasts? Those only work with iTunes.

I use MathCad for math work, and the assignments we're given are designed to be solved with MathCad.

I've read several reports about Mac OS having as many security risks as windows, so I'm not really buying all of that security talk. (I haven't read Ynot's post on the ubuntu forums yet, though).

One of the main reasons I use windows, instead of Linux, for my day-to-day needs, is that the Linux GUI feels a lot slower.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Shouldn't security come with the machine and take care of itself? Isn't that like buying a car, but having to pay extra for the locks and having to upgrade the locks every month or so?

If you've got a genuine Windows copy, you can download their anti-virus which through testing have been proven to be as good as the solutions you pay for.

khh, Ynot is talking about Linux in his post on the ubuntu forums, not Mac OSX. Where have you read that Mac OSX has as many security flaws as Windows? That can't be right.

Wow you guys bring a lot of good points.

Firstly, I agree that protection should come with your system. Like the scenario about buying a car and why should we have to buy the extras. But I also agree with Mario that I have used windows all my life and when I got on a Mac. for the first time in school, it slowed down my progress because I was just so use to using Windows.

And khh also explained something before I could, that you can download free anti-virus software. Unfortunatly, MSE just isn't effective enough which is why I recommended SpyBoot.

Let's try not get out of hand here people. I'm just getting that feeling that some of us here are a little tense.

Oh and for the record, I got the virus by looking for a bigger version of my avatar for DreamViews. I went to this place that had pages and pages of avatars but that's where I got the flu. I thought I was protected with McAfee but apparantly not.

And I wrote the step-step novel so that noobs like me won't have to go through what I did. Especially the ones that really don't know anything about computers, it can save them the trouble of inconvinience and the costs of having someone at like BestBuy reinstall windows for them and waiting to get it back.

Mcafee? Really? I use AVG...Mcafee sucks, and you get to pay for it. Yay!
http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48444

You guys and your noob AV's.. malware bytes and avira = GG virus..

How does one go about getting this virus anyway.. don't go on sketchy sites

Originally Posted by Mario92

Mcafee? Really? I use AVG...Mcafee sucks, and you get to pay for it. Yay!
http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48444

Well my computer did come with McAfee installed on it... it hasn't expired yet ha! Even if it does, I still got the free Windows antivirus programs and spybot as my back up anti-antivirus killers.

Originally Posted by hellohihello

You guys and your noob AV's.. malware bytes and avira = GG virus..

How does one go about getting this virus anyway.. don't go on sketchy sites

Read the end of my post 38. 2nd to last paragraph.

Originally Posted by hellohihello

You guys and your noob AV's.. malware bytes and avira = GG virus..

How does one go about getting this virus anyway.. don't go on sketchy sites

Derp. And I think it can camp out on any site at all, which is the scary thing.

Originally Posted by louie54

Well my computer did come with McAfee installed on it... it hasn't expired yet ha! Even if it does, I still got the free Windows antivirus programs and spybot as my back up anti-antivirus killers.



Read the end of my post 38

You have two antivirus programs installed? That's very, very bad. They will compete with each other and yeah...bad idea.

Originally Posted by Mario92

You have two antivirus programs installed? That's very, very bad. They will compete with each other and yeah...bad idea.

You sure about that? I'm thinking about deleting McAfee now since I got my new antivirus crew and my computer is starting to get slower but apparantly according to Marvo, it's just part of aging.

I haven't had any problems so far. When I was deleting the virus though, McAfee was disabled.

Originally Posted by louie54

You sure about that? I'm thinking about deleting McAfee now since I got my new antivirus crew and my computer is starting to get slower but apparantly according to Ninja, it's just part of aging.

I haven't had any problems so far. When I was deleting the virus though, McAfee was disabled.

Yup, having two ANTIVIRUS programs is very, very bad. Spybot, Ad-Aware, etc are ANTI-MALWARE programs, and it's actually recommended that you have at least three of these installed.

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...8s07/38s07.asp

When two antivirus programs start prowling around, all sorts of problems happen, ranging from program crashes to system lockups. Because these programs typically remain on all the time, they generally load as soon as Windows boots, which means if you install more than one antivirus application on your PC, both programs load automatically and lock up the system before there's a chance to troubleshoot.

We updated VirusScan 7.0 to its latest version using McAfee's online service. When prompted to reboot, we did, and Windows seemed to load normally, but it locked up a few seconds after the Desktop appeared. We couldn't shut down properly, and we had to use the reset button to perform a hard reboot. Each time Windows booted, the two antivirus products conflicted with one another enough to lock up the machine, putting us in a seemingly endless loop.

I'd say they're definitely competing with each other and slowing down your system...just be thankful yours hasn't entered one of the "crash loops" above.

Can you link the post? I can't find it. Also some AV's don't let you have another AV running, so it makes you uninstall before you install theirs.

Originally Posted by louie54

Wow you guys bring a lot of good points.

Firstly, I agree that protection should come with your system. Like the scenario about buying a car and why should we have to buy the extras. But I also agree with Mario that I have used windows all my life and when I got on a Mac. for the first time in school, it slowed down my progress because I was just so use to using Windows.

And khh also explained something before I could, that you can download free anti-virus software. Unfortunatly, MSE just isn't effective enough which is why I recommended SpyBoot.

Let's try not get out of hand here people. I'm just getting that feeling that some of us here are a little tense.

Oh and for the record, I got the virus by looking for a bigger version of my avatar for DreamViews. I went to this place that had pages and pages of avatars but that's where I got the flu. I thought I was protected with McAfee but apparantly not.

And I wrote the step-step novel so that noobs like me won't have to go through what I did. Especially the ones that really don't know anything about computers, it can save them the trouble of inconvinience and the costs of having someone at like BestBuy reinstall windows for them and waiting to get it back.

Here I just quoted the post.

Thank you kind sir. I do reccomend malware bytes/avira or even super antispyware.. all the others failed me when I cleaned out fathers computer. 92 viruses

Originally Posted by Mario92

Yup, having two ANTIVIRUS programs is very, very bad. Spybot, Ad-Aware, etc are ANTI-MALWARE programs, and it's actually recommended that you have at least three of these installed.

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...8s07/38s07.asp

Three? Seems excessive...

Originally Posted by Marvo

khh, Ynot is talking about Linux in his post on the ubuntu forums, not Mac OSX. Where have you read that Mac OSX has as many security flaws as Windows? That can't be right.

Thougt he spoke of security in a more general way.
At any rate...
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/securit...9234678,00.htm
http://news.techworld.com/security/1...-myth-exposed/

Originally Posted by khh

Three? Seems excessive...


Thougt he spoke of security in a more general way.
At any rate...
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/securit...9234678,00.htm
http://news.techworld.com/security/1...-myth-exposed/

Those articles are old and thus invalid. The world of security is constantly changing and adapting.

UNIX's major security feature is it's file permissions, that hasn't changed in 30 years.