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Security Software

johnlgalt said:
I go with M$ Security Essentials and Malwarebytes' AntiMalware. Never do me wrong.
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I prefer superantispyware myself but when i fixing someones computer i will run both. In my mind nothing beats MSE, i want my virus program to sit in the background and LEAVE me alone! lol
DaedalusxX said:
Sec Essentials on the other hand, I find really bad. It has never found a virus on any of the computers that I've cleaned. I've been having to install it on student, faculty, and staff computers for the past 5 months (I work for IT at the college I attend)....I find that it also does a bad job of preventing them as well....
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It has blocked a few things on my rigs plus i put it on EVERY computer i fix and haven't heard of any problems. I know i don't get any virus's on my rigs. But its like you said, the user is the most important anti-virus:D

And i never even run anti-virus on infected computers i'm cleaning. A combo of superantispyware and malwarebytes nukes everything, everytime!
[General] Mayhem;2128893 said:
I'd like to add CA's suite to that statement. They give it away to RoadRunner subscribers and, IMO, it's garbage.
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They give it to Insight customers also(nky's cable provider) and almost every time a get a call about an infected pc their running that damn CA crap!
 
I think I asked a couple post back about wiping. I haven't been on here in a few day's I'm new to the linux os and have been playing with that. So my question now is cleaning out the computer. In the past I used a program (drive scrubber) to clean my hhd. Is there a program that you guys use to do that without having to reload everything. Also it's said that deleteing something isn't really deleteing it. So that being said the hhd really isn't clean after wiping is it. So it seems the hhd keeps overwriting it self.
 
"deleting" a file removes its record from the file system
the file is still there, but will be overwritten with no qualms by the OS as it no longer knows its there
 
I use Trend Micro, have used it since it was PC Cilin...about the only thing that Best Buy did right...then they moved to Norton like most idiots.
 
PC Tools, pls? I've used it for 2 years, no complains. But there is a lot of good freeware anti-virus and what-not, I'd look into that before buying software like I did. :p
 
As far as linux goes if there's very little chance of viruses, what about security for like when going online with bank accounts and such. I logged into my hotmail account and got a popup saying some infromation could be seen by others so I logged back out and haven't logged back in since (with linux). Is this a stupid question?
 
bobcat331 said:
As far as linux goes if there's very little chance of viruses, what about security for like when going online with bank accounts and such. I logged into my hotmail account and got a popup saying some infromation could be seen by others so I logged back out and haven't logged back in since (with linux). Is this a stupid question?
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No, it's not a stupid question. :)

I've never used Hotmail so I can't speak to the specific popup you saw, but I doubt it was anything to worry about. I *only* use Linux, and I do everything imaginable with it, including banking and shopping. Linux is inherently safer and more secure than windows will ever be, since its roots [no pun intended] are in UNIX, and UNIX was built from the ground up to be secure and stable.

Regarding the issue of viruses in Linux, let me say this: In 25+ years of using *nix, I have yet to EVER have ANYTHING penetrate one of my computers or networks. A properly administered *nix system makes it almost impossible for anything to get through. Note that I said ALMOST. That's because I'm old and wise enough to know NEVER to say never. :D
 
moodyblues said:
Regarding the issue of viruses in Linux, let me say this: In 25+ years of using *nix, I have yet to EVER have ANYTHING penetrate one of my computers or networks. A properly administered *nix system makes it almost impossible for anything to get through. Note that I said ALMOST. That's because I'm old and wise enough to know NEVER to say never. :D
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Of course an improperly secured Linux system can be quite easy to infect.
Virus attacks Android phones in China: researchers | Reuters

As must of use know, Android is Linux based. My own Android phone is from the UK, and never touches any Chinese apps or games, apart from QQ.
 
mikedt said:
Of course an improperly secured Linux system can be quite easy to infect.
Virus attacks Android phones in China: researchers | Reuters

As must of use know, Android is Linux based. My own Android phone is from the UK, and never touches any Chinese apps or games, apart from QQ.
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That goes back to my question about security for linux. I'm not an IT guy or any person that knows his way around a computer to the degree of knowing what to do. I know you techies know how to lock down your computers so stuff like that don't happen. So how does one properly secure his system?
 
bobcat331 said:
That goes back to my question about security for linux. I'm not an IT guy or any person that knows his way around a computer to the degree of knowing what to do. I know you techies know how to lock down your computers so stuff like that don't happen. So how does one properly secure his system?
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Quite easily actually. Most Linux distros intended for end-users and probably novice users, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Mandriva and Fedora. Insists on an administrator or root password. So if the user wishes to make any significant changes to the system, such as installing software or something wants to change system files. The user has to enter the administrator or root password.

Windows on the other hand, up until Vista and 7, has never done this. The default is that everyone is running with administrator privileges. Which means that any malware can do what it likes to the system.

Vista and 7 have the User Access Control(UAC) which gives a big obvious warning if any software wants to make changes to the system. UAC is ON by default.

Your "hotmail account and got a popup saying some infromation could be seen by others so I logged back" incident, was probably the browser(Firefox?) warning you that you where entering your password on an insecure HTTP connection, and not a secure HTTPS connection. Rather than been anything to do with Linux itself.
 
I've been using avast free in the background and malwarebytes manually for awhile. I recently started using webroot antivirus with spy sweeper which came on a new laptop, I'm happy so far, it runs quietly in the bg, no bogging down or slow startup, and it has actually found 30 some odd tracking cookies that the others missed. So far so good, of course when it wants me to pay I'll switch back.

I've had luck with spyware doctor in the past but it really slowed my XP machine down.
 
bobcat331 said:
That goes back to my question about security for linux. I'm not an IT guy or any person that knows his way around a computer to the degree of knowing what to do. I know you techies know how to lock down your computers so stuff like that don't happen. So how does one properly secure his system?
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The thing with Linux--and keep in mind that its roots are in the 40+ year old UNIX, which was built from scratch to be secure--is that its permission system keeps things safe. (Yes, I know, ANYTHING can happen, blah blah blah...but in MY 25+ years of using *nix *I* have yet to see it.) Every system file has permissions that are set a particular way. The superuser, root, can [usually] change those permissions if she wants to, but they're the way they are by default for a reason and should normally be left alone. By default they're set to allow the system and regular users to do their work without hindrance, while simultaneously disallowing attack.

On the other hand, regular users can control their own files' permissions, so if they want to give any combination of read/write/execute permission to any/all users on a certain file or directory, they can. But viruses and malware--the crap that windows users take for granted as part of their daily computing experience--can't attack the SYSTEM via a regular user's files.
 
andruoid said:
How long is 'a very long time'? On MS systems I wipe the drive clean and do a fresh install every 6 months. Linux; install once and forget about it ;).
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Why? WTH are you doing to bork up a win box that often?
VM your install of win and basically set it and forget it. :D
 
Flahusky said:
Why? WTH are you doing to bork up a win box that often?
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In my experience, the *user* doesn't have to do ANYTHING to **** up a windoze machine except use it. Once its moronic file system fragments all over the place, plus gets bogged down by viruses, malware, adware, spyware and bloatware, it slows down to a crawl and/or flakes out altogether and can't be used. When I had the distinct displeasure of administering some M$ boxes, reinstalling the OS a couple times a year was just a given.

Linux? Never. Install and forget it. I got lazy with one of my Kubuntu boxes a few years ago and left its original version of Kubuntu on it for several years instead of upgrading with each new release. Its uptime would have ended up being several years had I not had to power it down to move back to California! :D
 
moodyblues said:
In my experience, the *user* doesn't have to do ANYTHING to **** up a windoze machine except use it. Once its moronic file system fragments all over the place, plus gets bogged down by viruses, malware, adware, spyware and bloatware, it slows down to a crawl and/or flakes out altogether and can't be used. When I had the distinct displeasure of administering some M$ boxes, reinstalling the OS a couple times a year was just a given.

Linux? Never. Install and forget it. I got lazy with one of my Kubuntu boxes a few years ago and left its original version of Kubuntu on it for several years instead of upgrading with each new release. Its uptime would have ended up being several years had I not had to power it down to move back to California! :D
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I agree. Everyone has their opinion on how vulnerable and stable windows is, but what I can say from personal experience is that I used to HAVE to reinstall windows every 6 months minimum. With Linux I don't have a single problem. It's just as fresh and quick as the first day of install, and that's without being careful of what sites I go to, and NOT using any antivirus software.

Take it from someone who has used windows his whole life, compared to Linux the difference is night and day.
 
Every pc I've ever cleaned has left me with avast and malware bytes on it. NEVER have I had the same pc back.
So I recommend them (yes I use them both on all 4 of my home machines)
 
AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials and Spybot.

I do not seem to have a problem.
If AVG doesn't find it then Microsoft will. And vice versa.

Spybot will find all of the other malware etc.
 
mikedt said:
You don't need any AV with Linux, as it doesn't run Windows executables.
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There's more to it than that.

True, Linux doesn't run windows executables, therefore it's immune to the dangers of that type of attack. (It can run them, for example using wine, but the file system that bad executables would be looking for to attack isn't there, so it's basically a moot point.)

But Linux itself, i.e., the way the file system is designed and with its permissions system, doesn't lend itself to being attacked. So forgetting about any risk from windows-targeted malware/viruses, if people start trying to make the same type of malware/viruses for Linux, they're not going to get very far. That assumes, of course, that the Linux system it's trying to attack is correctly administered and that its permissions are the way they're supposed to be.
 
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