Free security software 'as good as commercial brands'

(Different Mark)
I went for about 15 years (starting with a TRS-80 myself) before I managed
to trip onto a malicious website that provided me with a package deal. Lost
all my data. Took about 2 hours (back then) to reload everthing and put some
protection in place. Never got hit again until I opened an e-mail attachment
sent by dear old mom. So much for protection.

Lesson learned... make full backups. Takes twenty minutes to restore
everything.
... don't use default installation directories.
... get a second hard drive and place all "data" (not
executables) on that drive.

We'll see if that gets me another 15 years.

PS. Was the TBird topless in LA before or after the garage?

"R. C. White" <rc@grandecom.net> wrote in message
news:0A6C4DFE-E982-488C-BC85-22FF88458EF9@microsoft.com...

> Hi, Mark.
>
> Other? The ones I've listed pretty well cover it. Except for the sense

of

> freedom - but remember, freedom and security are the opposite ends of the
> seesaw: The more of one, the less of the other. I have to accept the

fact

> that, at any moment, I could learn that my system has been compromised by
> some malware that a good AV could have stopped. So far, so good, after 30
> years, but it could happen today.
>
> I've left my classic 1957 TBird with the top off parked in downtown LA,

too,

> but I sure don't recommend it to others. The only time I've suffered a
> theft loss was when someone opened my garage door at night (the only night

I

> forgot to lock it!) and took the hardtop and fender skirts off the car.

:>(

>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@grandecom.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> (Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
>
> "Mark M Morse" <mmm4444bot@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:#vypJk47HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

more

false

>

Hi, (Different) Mark.

Dear old Mom, eh? My standard advice to newbies is to don't open
attachments unless you trust the sender TWO ways. First, that she would not
harm you intentionally, and second, that she is computer-savvy and careful
enough to not do it unintentionally. Still, I recognize that something
could still slip by all my defenses - and my "safe hex" caution. :^{

Visiting my elderly aunt, who struggles with the Dell her late husband left,
I see all those true spam messages PLUS the AOL "spam" from her niece,
forwarding bundles of "send this to everybody you know", with everybody's
addresses - maybe 50 or maybe hundreds of her closest friends and their
closest friends and their... ad infinitum. There ain't no way an AV can
protect her from those, because she will disable the AV long enough to read
the inspirational message. Gotcha! :>(

> PS. Was the TBird topless in LA before or after the garage?

I don't recall. I bought the car in '72 and we moved away from California
in 1980, so it was in that time-frame. The top was stolen in about 1975.
The only insurance claim I've had, while paying premiums for 35 years.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Mark" <jmhonzell@nospam.insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:#9dC8887HHA.3400@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> (Different Mark)
> I went for about 15 years (starting with a TRS-80 myself) before I managed
> to trip onto a malicious website that provided me with a package deal.
> Lost
> all my data. Took about 2 hours (back then) to reload everthing and put
> some
> protection in place. Never got hit again until I opened an e-mail
> attachment
> sent by dear old mom. So much for protection.
>
> Lesson learned... make full backups. Takes twenty minutes to restore
> everything.
> ... don't use default installation directories.
> ... get a second hard drive and place all "data" (not
> executables) on that drive.
>
> We'll see if that gets me another 15 years.
>
> PS. Was the TBird topless in LA before or after the garage?
>
> "R. C. White" <rc@grandecom.net> wrote in message
> news:0A6C4DFE-E982-488C-BC85-22FF88458EF9@microsoft.com...

> of

> fact

> too,

> I

> :>(

> more

> false

On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 11:16:35 -0500, "R. C. White" <rc@grandecom.net>
wrote:

> Hi, (Different) Mark.
>
> Dear old Mom, eh? My standard advice to newbies is to don't open
> attachments unless you trust the sender TWO ways. First, that she would not
> harm you intentionally, and second, that she is computer-savvy and careful
> enough to not do it unintentionally.

I go much farther than you, RC. I recommend to everyone--newbies and
experts alike--that they don't open attachments at all (of course,
unless their job requires them to do so). Even someone who is both
computer and careful is capable of making a mistake now and then.

That's my personal practice, although I admit that I make an
occasional exception, but only for people who fall into both your
categories above.

You often see advice not to open attachments from people you don't
know. I think that that's one of the most dangerous pieces of advice
you see around, because it implies that it's safe to do the
opposite--open attachments from friends and relatives. But many
viruses spread by sending themselves to everyone in the infected
party's address book, so attachments received from friends are perhaps
the *most* risky to open.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Hi RC:

You referred to other benefits, but you did not list them. My
question regards your reference.

~ Mark


R. C. White wrote, in part:

>
> Other? The ones I've listed pretty well cover it.

> Mark M Morse wrote, in part:

Hi, Mark.

As I said in my later post, the benefits I've listed pretty well cover it.
Unless you count not having to pay for NIS or other malware protection. I
used the catchall word, "other", because none of the "others" were important
enough to list individually. I probably should have said "in addition to
any other benefits", just to scoop up any that I might have overlooked,
rather than imply that there were some significant others.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Mark M Morse" <mmm4444bot@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eTvqCjG8HHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> Hi RC:
>
> You referred to other benefits, but you did not list them. My question
> regards your reference.
>
> ~ Mark
>
>
> R. C. White wrote, in part:

>
>

>
>

"Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:u%231VkHX7HHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> Assuming that the numbers relate to how good the product is as used by the
> average person, and not just by the amount of features present as I
> suspect they are, then Zonealarm shouldn't score any higher than XP or
> Vista Firewall..
>
> Zonealarm may well be more capable, but if the user doesn't take advantage
> of ALL of the features, most capability is lost. I always set my local
> clients up with AVG or Avast, Windows Defender, and the resident Windows
> firewall. At least these four hardly require user intervention of any
> kind, and will chug along in the background protecting them far more than
> a bunch of hard to use, hard to set up, hard to understand utilities, none
> of which the average user will even look at during a year.
>
>
> "dennis@home" <dennis@killspam.kicks-ass.net> wrote in message
> news:833A42A4-2FA8-43F4-81DF-946C2CE0A936@microsoft.com...

>
> --
>
>
> Mike Hall
> MS MVP Windows Shell/User
> http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/
>
>
>

Why don't you like NOD32 as the AV product you include? Because it is a
commercial product?
I like to think this way about "free software": One usually gets what he
pays for. If he pays nothing, he will probably get "nothing".

Donald McDaniel

"John Whitworth" <sexyjw@G_EEEEEE_mail.com> wrote in message
news:1C621B3B-4D18-4341-B7AA-9935D4D14F24@microsoft.com...

> "MICHAEL" <u158627_emr2@dslr.net> wrote in message
> news:um6OEUW7HHA.2476@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>

>
> I'd beg to differ. It turned my father's PC to treacle. It (NOD32) was one
> of the more highly acclaimed ones last year...but a recent PC Pro review
> put it rather low down...OK...not as low as Norton! ;-)
>
> I personally use AVG, Windows Firewall, Windows Defender and my router's
> hardware firewall. I then periodically use Ad-aware and Spybot S&D.
>
> JW A

A few questions:
1) What is "PC Pro"? Some blog on the Internet?
2) Pages dedicated to Antivirus testing put NOD32 at the top, not the
bottom. Why does "PC Pro"?
3) Is this "PC Pro" dedicated to Security testing? Something tells me it is
nothing more than a mass-distribution rag, which usually are supported by
advertisers, not users.
4) Why would anyone in their right mind prefer to use AVG rather than a
superior product like NOD32?

Donald McDaniel

"Donald McDaniel" <orthocross@comcast.invalid> wrote in message
news:6025C9EF-823E-4DD3-AFA9-C8D987D17409@microsoft.com...

> "Mike Hall - MVP" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:u%231VkHX7HHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>
> Why don't you like NOD32 as the AV product you include? Because it is a
> commercial product?
> I like to think this way about "free software": One usually gets what he
> pays for. If he pays nothing, he will probably get "nothing".

How do you define probably?
There is lots of good free software for windows and other OSes.
To just say that you get what you pay for is vague and pointless.

"Donald McDaniel" <orthocross@comcast.invalid> wrote in message
news:1BD05BC6-442F-464D-B78B-4A6A0D49775D@microsoft.com...

> A few questions:
> 1) What is "PC Pro"? Some blog on the Internet?

A well known UK computer magazine with a technical slant and a high
readership. I can't help thinking that 30 seconds with google would have
told you that.

> 2) Pages dedicated to Antivirus testing put NOD32 at the top, not the
> bottom. Why does "PC Pro"?

It didn't put it at the bottom IIRC. As for the reasons, you'd have to read
the review.

> 3) Is this "PC Pro" dedicated to Security testing? Something tells me it
> is nothing more than a mass-distribution rag, which usually are supported
> by advertisers, not users.

I love finding fault in these magazines where review rankings are linked to
advertising revenue but I can't find much fault with PC Pro (I'm speaking in
general terms, I haven't analysed the particular tests being discussed
here).

It isn't a dedicated security magazine (though its writers for each area it
covers are experts in their own fields so the security writer is actually
pretty good on security). It isn't perfect - but then what is? It is,
however, considerably much better than every other mainstream magazine in
this regard.

> 4) Why would anyone in their right mind prefer to use AVG rather than a
> superior product like NOD32?

Well this may come as a shock but the world is a very big place with lots of
people in it, and not all of them see the world the way you do. I accept
that sometimes this makes them foolish and wrong, but you have to accept
there is more than drumbeat in the world than the one you march to.

They might find AVG to be cheaper, they might find NOD32's interface to be
too difficult to get on with, they might not know enough about the risks
they face to realise the value of spending money on pay-for AV when free
products are available. That's their choice.