Antivirus - do you use it?

LeeP

LeeP

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Just read about the slow PC problem and it got me thinking...

I have many computers here (1 Mac Pro, 1 Macbook Pro, 3 Windows Vista Machines and a Windows XP Home machine).

Not on a single one do I have ANY antivirus installed.

I have windows defender on the vista machines, but the Windows XP machine is running naked!

It's a P4 3.4GHz 3GB RAM and is now almost 2 years old. I've never once had to restore it, it's processed hundreds of thousands of pictures without a disk dying.

Sure it gets slower to boot now I have big RIP's and server software on it, but once loaded she's still quick.

I guess i'm either ultra-inbelievably lucky or ...

...the Cisco firewall I have here works

...sensible web browsing / cautious file handing

...not installing games from the web

have all paid off.

Whats your experiences with this?
 
How do you know that you don't have any viruses or malware or possibly even a worm of some sort that you could be sending out with every email?

I read somewhere recently ,can't remember where but they reckon a unprotected computer can pick up some sort of malware within 20 minutes of being switched on. Assuming cos your on a photographic forum you have lots of photos stashed on the computers, is it not quite a risk that one day your not going to be so lucky and lose lots of irreplaceable photos.

I lost 700 odd photos last year not through a virus but other problem but I can tell you I was sick to the stomach...it's not a nice feeling I can tell you.
I'm using Nod32 as a viruschecker, it's not bloatware and uses only approx 2.5mb memory compared to some of the big names. Firewall is in the router.

Now that I know you don't use protection I don't think you'll find me as a potential customer of the site in your signature line.
 
An unprotected *Windows* computer can pick up some sort of malware within 20 minutes of being switched on. Also viruses tend not to delete files any more - there's much more profit in hijacking a computer and using it for illicit purposes.

There's really no excuse for not running anti-virus on a Windows machine though - there's a few decent checkers that are free for personal use. Caution will get you a long way, but it only takes one slip up.
 
Hi Lee. I don't know a great deal about computers but have seen the damage that can happen to unprotected information on computers via work. Hope there is no details of customers on any of your unprotected systems!!! We had a major breach of people's personal information last year and that was with an allegedly protected system. Not good and very complex to sort out. It could ruin a business if customers do not have faith in the security of their suppliers.

Chris
 
I'd be amazed if you didn't have a virus or two on there. If you continue to run without virus software you WILL fall over one day and get something nasty that will be a right PIA to sort out. Not worth the risk imho when there is pently of choice of free or very cheap, AV software that will run in the BG without you noticing it. Do it now before you regret it!
 
I have the freebie Virgin PC Guard virus thingymabob. Although the PC has been running absolutely fine, it has detected and deleted a fair few viruses over the past year. I bet you'd be surprised if you ran a virus scan!
 
bravery and insanity are close relatives
 
LOL. I did wonder what the reaction would be. :)

Fortunatley, our servers are running Mcafee as I wouldn't trust my storage and databases to be none protected.

I've always found that antivirus causes problems on editing images, using grunty applications. Don't you?

I'm a sucker for wanting things nice and quick. And when the PC's came from the store with a well known brand on them, I let it run til its expiry.

I only use the Mac for browsing the web - every other machine (bar the servers) is in a controlled DMZ where there is no access other than port 20/21 to my/from my Mac and servers.

Does anyone else have any extreme ways of protection? In fact, i'll do a test.

I have an old Windows box kicked under the desk. How long do you reckon it'd take for it being put on the internet to get a glitch?
 
Norton slowed my pc to a crawl so I've installed AVGuard for free & not had a problem since...
 
And has anyone bought a brand new PC, turned it on, done a scan and got a virus?
 
bod said:
An unprotected *Windows* computer can pick up some sort of malware within 20 minutes of being switched on.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I recall there being a virus around once that would only affect JPG images. It would scramble them up! That would be a killer :)
 
How do you know that you don't have any viruses or malware or possibly even a worm of some sort that you could be sending out with every email?
Click to expand...

I would hope my exchange server picks it up. I know it certainly blocks email inbound that are suspect. All of the emails hit the Mac too // are web based :)

I lost 700 odd photos last year not through a virus but other problem but I can tell you I was sick to the stomach...it's not a nice feeling I can tell you.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. My first real computer years and years ago that I bought was a Win 95. I remember having EVERYTHING that I thought was needed in life on there and it got hit by something nasty. End result, rebuild :(. That made me ill.

I'm using Nod32 as a viruschecker, it's not bloatware and uses only approx 2.5mb memory compared to some of the big names. Firewall is in the router.
Click to expand...

What makes one companies anti-virus better than another? I've been designing networks for years for large financial clients and have seen how they work :eek: I can tell you that a good firewall is key :) The network at home uses an internal one on the router, but in the office where all the equipment is, a Cisco firewall with strict access lists stops the outside getting in[/QUOTE]
 
I use an all in one solution called BitDefender, it's anti virus/ firewall/ email spam collector and does a great job. I've been hit by viruses a couple of times in the past, both in emails from friends who had got themselves infected, it happens and it costs little or nothing to protect yourself so why not?

Avoid anything to do with Norton though, it's got to be the most invasive resource hogging software in the world, worse than the virii it's meant to protect you from!
 
LeeP said:
LOL. I did wonder what the reaction would be. :)

Fortunatley, our servers are running Mcafee as I wouldn't trust my storage and databases to be none protected.

I've always found that antivirus causes problems on editing images, using grunty applications. Don't you?

I'm a sucker for wanting things nice and quick. And when the PC's came from the store with a well known brand on them, I let it run til its expiry.

I only use the Mac for browsing the web - every other machine (bar the servers) is in a controlled DMZ where there is no access other than port 20/21 to my/from my Mac and servers.

Does anyone else have any extreme ways of protection? In fact, i'll do a test.

I have an old Windows box kicked under the desk. How long do you reckon it'd take for it being put on the internet to get a glitch?
Click to expand...

Nice one Lee. Thought you'd lost the plot for a minute. :)

Chris
 
I only lose the plot when an inkhead goes :lol:
At which point, my life aint worth living!
 
Steep said:
Avoid anything to do with Norton though, it's got to be the most invasive resource hogging software in the world, worse than the virii it's meant to protect you from!
Click to expand...

It still amazes me that, even though companies tell you how much NAV slows your machine down, consumes threads, processing power and RAM...but they still sell machines with it on!

I agree even moreso with the last statment! Speaking to a lad here in the office, he's saying on new releases you need to download an app from the web to remove all traces of NAV :bang:
 
GO GET SOME!!

Seriously, I run about 70 PC's and 8 Servers across two sites and recently was hit with a particularly nasty virus that nortons failed to detect, it was infected from an email, then infected every 'exe' file on the system, which in turn went off looking for more 'exe's' across the network.

The network ground to a halt !

I had a suspicion a virus was the problem and tried NOD32 AV, its a tiny program that takes very little system resources and doesn't slow the machine down, cured it instantly.

But left untreated... 1 business ground to a halt, 1 hung unemployed Group IT Manager :D
 
Unless you have port 80 blocked on your firewall (and therefore disallow web access completely, rendering the net connection pretty much useless) your firewall is no protection against viruses. At all......

Download and install one of the free AV apps, either AVG or Nod. If you find your machine runs a little slow, schedule the daily scan for a time of day where you can leave your pc running (some will auto turn off your machine after scanning if leaving it on overnight is a concern).

If your system is noticeably slower with AV installed when its not scanning, buy some more RAM, its cheap as chips at the moment.

Norton is a system hungry, terribly written piece of software, the fact it comes preinstalled on most new bought systems annoys me no end.
 
Not true at all :)

Firewalls dont have just an in and an out. And a DMZ isn't an area of the firewall thats not protected at all.

The firewall has an outside interface (ie redside), an inside (greenside) and then various DMZ's.

Ports for web (80,443) are allowed, as are a couple of other ports.

Between the DMZ's, there are restrictions. ie only allow 20/21 between DMZ1 and DMZ2. DMZ1 has 80,443 to the outside, DMZ2 has nothing to the outside.

Most viruses once on a network, look for exploits on port numbers (Samba, for example). They then spread using that open port number between machines. If you have a physical entity between nodes on the network that blocks that port number - then the virus cant spread.

I'm download NOD as we speak to trial on this test machine. Any other really good ones? I heard AVG was ok - but slow?
 
AVG can be slow if you're low on RAM and have it set to scan every day whilst you're in the middle of doing something system intensive.

In regards to your firewall and your DMZs my statement was in regards to viruses that come from the web from infected files and webpages that are downloaded by the user either intentionally (and hidden as part of a legitimate download) or unintentionally and copied into temporary internet files whilst browsing by the web browser.

If you have a network situation with various VLANS, DMZ's and its all locked down then yes you can stop the spread to other machines. I thought we were just talking about yours though.

I've got a custom managed bespoke linux firewall protecting my network, which also takes care of spam and incoming mail viruses, Sophos is protecting my servers and the clients.

I wouldn't even dream running the risk of having any box plugged into the internet - be it linux, windows or a mac without having AV protection in place. Its the first thing that goes on after my drivers.
 
I think RAM is key to get any application down and done as quickly as possible.

NOD is running on the test machine here, and doing a scan.

Nothing found yet...

I wonder if/when Mac's will be a target. There can only be so long that the unix binaries hold out for ....
 
Matt Charlton said:
If you have a network situation with various VLANS, DMZ's and its all locked down then yes you can stop the spread to other machines. I thought we were just talking about yours though.
Click to expand...

I do ;)
 
LeeP,

You're obviously a technical user and to be honest given what you said about your usage patterns then I'd say that, yes it's entirely possible that you're virus free. I wouldn't worry about a virus coming inbound through your router as NAT alone will stop the vast majority. The fact that you're only allowing http and https through locks you down even more.

Now for the rub, our experience at Prevx basically points to "drive by" and silent installs being the new threat. Malware writers have moved on (rapidly) so it's no longer about kudos and who can infect the most machines fastest. It's now an enormous global business. Put simply you would not believe the extent these people are going to in an attempt to make money (and they're making LOTS of it). To that end it's not actually in the interest of the malware writers to shout about infecting your machine. Basically a LOT of users are infected and simply don't know about it. A recent test we did illustrated that rootkits alone are now on something like 1 in 70 machines, that's against the 1 in 1000 currently accepted by the rest of the industry.

Modern rootkits are SO advanced that they can be installed and running on your machine while your traditional AV is blissfully unaware. You need to scan your machine with something that CAN identify them though.

Ok, so now I'm gonna sound like an advert.... Give our scanner a try: http://www.prevx.com/freescan.asp

If it finds anything, drop me a PM if you wat more help.

Oh and just look at the percentage of infected users on that page!!! :shake:
 
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