Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
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Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
14-08-2017 4:45 PM
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I will leave others to judge whether it is appropriate to call me DAFT and Crazy because you do not agree with me. Let us leave it there.
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Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
14-08-2017 4:45 PM
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I have used free AV's ever since the old 286 pc days, with 1 exception. I once bought Panda AV and ran that through the system, nothing found (so it said)...just to make sure I ran a free AV through the same system and it found 4 infections. Says a lot for the payed stuff.
Growing old is inevitable...But growing up is optional.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
14-08-2017 7:11 PM - edited 14-08-2017 7:12 PM
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@Baldrick1 wrote:
Why do people have this fixation about using free or inferior security software? Kaspersky Internet Security, rated one of the best, can be bought on Amazon for £13 for a single licence, dropping substantially in price if you have more than one computer, 3 licences for example cost £19, that's £6.33 per machine per year.
You've not been following the kaspersky scandal then have you. You can find it on many websites but here is a more credible one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40580896
And, on Tuesday, the US government's General Services Administration removed Kaspersky Lab from a list of approved vendors.
What you also forget is that the basic AV is free but the premium versions now offer enhanced features such as VPNs to win your money instead of a better AV scanner.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
14-08-2017 10:56 PM
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I am totally aware of the additional features bundled with paid for products. I also read magazine reports on real world comparative tests. However such discussions seem irrelevent to most responders to this thread.
Reading the Bloomberg report I understand that the Russian government has contracted Kaspersky to develop tools to deflect cyber attacks and identify the hacker. Also Kaspersky has offered to allow the US government access to its AV code.
Shouldn't every government be taking such action.
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Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
15-08-2017 1:02 AM
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@Baldrick1 wrote:
Also Kaspersky has offered to allow the US government access to its AV code.
Which is meaningless. You only need to omit / delete certain bits of source code or (better still) plugins for it to look legitimate.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
15-08-2017 9:23 AM
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OK... this is going " a bit " off topic.... so I think the mods should close it..
The general consus seems to be that the Windows Antivirus doesn`t do much now on Windows 7... so I need to use an "external" source of Antivirus.. particularly for the email scanning.... Which I have used over the years, before MSE and Defender came into being...
I am using AVAST now,... and , as mentioned have used AVG for years,
These two have proved themselves to me, over the years, in an international and world "real time" usage, not a laboratory type testing situation....
I use them because they are FREE... and they work... If others choose to pay for "the extras" then so be it.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
15-08-2017 9:39 AM
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The world has obviously moved on since my software days if it is not possible to tell with the most basic of development tools if and where code has been changed. Anyway I give up. The consenses appears to be that anyone who pays a small subscription for enhanced features and protection shown by independant testers to be the most effective is crazy.
I will shut up and remain in my current crazy world.
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Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
15-08-2017 10:29 AM - edited 15-08-2017 10:30 AM
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@shutter, I disagree with your interpretation of the"general consensus". If you want to use a free antivirus for Windows 7 then Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast or AVG will all do the job. I think there are reasons to prefer the first of these but that's a matter of opinion.
There are cons as well as pros to having a program that actively scans your emails rather than waiting for you to deal with file attachments. See for example: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Email_scanning_-_pros_and_cons
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
16-08-2017 10:18 AM - edited 16-08-2017 10:22 AM
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@Pete11 wrote:
I have used free AV's ever since the old 286 pc days, with 1 exception. I once bought Panda AV and ran that through the system, nothing found (so it said)...just to make sure I ran a free AV through the same system and it found 4 infections. Says a lot for the payed stuff.
Late yesterday, I was doing some change of settings/sched scan times , and when finished, AVAST gave me the option of running a "DEEP SCAN" on start up..... explaining that it may find stuff not normally found on a quick or "normal" scan... so I put a check mark in it..
This morning, as is my usual practice, on arriving at the computer desk,. switched on booted up ( 07:45 ) and let it do it`s "thing"... now... 2 hours later, its still running, and I occasionally glance at the screen to see what`s happening.. and was shocked... to see tha
t Winodws 7 32 bit download\windows service pack2 32 bit - CHIP Install.exel >[Embedded-R#VERS4] is infected by win32 : DloadSponsor - A [PUP]
see pic below
Would windows defender or MSE have reported it ?
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
16-08-2017 12:22 PM
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Avast deep scan does take it's time, but gets into places others don't and unless Defender or MSE does deep scans, then no, they wouldn't have detected it. A PUP is a Potentially Unwanted Program, which isn’t the best name. Instead, these programs should really be called “almost certainly unwanted programs.” In fact, if someone does want one of these “potentially unwanted programs” installed, there’s a good chance that person doesn’t fully understand what that program is doing on their computer.
They contain things like hidden browser(s) that will switch from your usual browser to something like Bing. They may also track your web browsing and clutter you with more ads than usual. In other words these programs do absolutely nothing good on your computer — they slow it down, track you, clutter the system, and show you additional advertisements.
Hope you get it cleared.
Growing old is inevitable...But growing up is optional.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
16-08-2017 8:30 PM
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It says it has been "Moved to chest"..... so, presumably its not active now.
Scan took about 3 hours from start to finish.. might be worth scheduling it once a month to see if anything else has been downloaded on what is "supposed to be" safe download sites.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
17-08-2017 8:04 AM
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@shutter wrote:
.....
Would windows defender or MSE have reported it ?
We'll never know. The concern is that you appear to have downloaded a file from an illegitimate source and placed it in a folder on your desktop called "Windows 7 32 bit downloads" (by-the-by, most people use the 64 bit version of Windows 7). The implication of it being a Potentially Unwanted Program called Dloadsponsor is that if the file had been used for an installation then it would have added some form of advertising. The fact that it was only found in a Deep Scan implies that you had not actually run the doctored installation file, in which case a full scan should have found it also.
- Be very careful where you download your files from.
- Consider using Malwarebytes (free) whcih is good at finding PUPs and runs quickly.
- There is an "offline" version of MSE https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17466/windows-defender-offline-help-protect-my-pc that works in the same manner as the Avast Deep Scan.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
17-08-2017 10:30 AM
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Thanks for clarifying that. I didn't know the offline version of MSE did deep scans.
Growing old is inevitable...But growing up is optional.
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
17-08-2017 11:18 AM
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I'm not sure that the term "deep scan" has a single meaning that is universally accepted. But for some well-hidden or deeply-embedded malware you need to scan without running Windows (or running as little of Windows as possible). MSE/Defender can do this. This is usually called an "offline" scan, I think.
I see no reason to think that @shutter actually needed to do a "deep scan" to find the malware he uncovered. Perhaps it was in a location not covered by a quick scan or perhaps he had not done a scan at all since installing Avast?
Re: Windows 7 Professional & Anti Virus Protection
17-08-2017 1:23 PM
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@ReedRichards I had no "personal" reason to run the deep scan... other than that it was recommended by AVAST as part of the scheduled scans presumably.
The scan started automatically, at boot up.... before windows had even started.. so , therefore, it was done ...
. to quote you...
"without running Windows (or running as little of Windows as possible)."
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