alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Worm writers are threatening to attack antivirus companies F-Secure, Symantec, Trend Micro and McAfee. In the latest version of MyDoom--MyDoom.AE--the authors embedded a message ridiculing rival worm Netsky and promising to attack the antivirus companies. for more info go to: http://asia.cnet.com/news/security/0,39037064,39197911,00.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 alexander, sorry for stealing your thread but do you happen to know what's up with Norton Internet Security 2005? I just upgraded from the 2004 version and my computer is so slow it almost stalls...I am considering deleting the whole darn thing and getting something else. It seems Symantec's idea of virus protection is to make sure you can't use your computer so that you can't get infected. But that's kind of not what I need right now. What are good alternatives for anti-virus software (on a budget)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freethinker Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Frankly, I don't know what the pricing differences are, but we have found the only anti-virus software to use is Trend Micro. And of course to stop using M/soft products that are most directly attacked by viruses, like IE and Outlook/Express. If you use Netscape/ Mozilla/ Opera/ ... you elimate perhaps 75% of the attacks and bring it down to almost having to intentionally do something to get your system infected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 It seems Symantec's idea of virus protection is to make sure you can't use your computer so that you can't get infected. But that's kind of not what I need right now.lol What are good alternatives for anti-virus software (on a budget)? Use Linux! Unless your budget is negative, this alternative is probably the cheapest, its FREE! I just upgraded from the 2004 version and my computer is so slow it almost stalls...I am considering deleting the whole darn thing and getting something else.have you gone to symantecs website? it could be an incompatibility issue, what do you run on your PC, do you run XP with SP2, another firewall???alternatives:McAffeeAVG - Free unless you need PRO - http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Yes, I use Firefox but both Yvonne and I still use Outlook Express (phasing it out, though). There is also a built-in firewall in our DSL router but I still get an occasional warning that someone is pinging our computer (probably IP swipes or something). I'll look at Trend Micro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 And of course to stop using M/soft products that are most directly attacked by viruses, like IE and Outlook/ExpressNoone should use IE anywaysHere is a way to describe Internet browser securityPicture your system as being like a building, your internet browser being like the door, because the Browser is like the access to the outside world. Now, a pair of metal doors with strong guards outside with weapons guarding it, is like Mozilla Firefox browser. Finally picture a rusty screen door hanging by one hinge with a fat guard leaning back, sleeping outside in a chair; thats IE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Sadly, Linux is not an option as I own a lot of PC-only software for music production and web design... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 ..and by "PC only" I mean Microsoft Windows... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 as i said your alternatives are:McAffeeAVG - Free unless you need PRO - http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ Now there are others like DrWeb, Panda, AntiVir, AVP, Trend Micro, VCatch, Surfin Guard and many others...Or be your own virus protection... there are many holes that windows has that you can close, luckily there are other users out there that already did it and are willing to share their results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geko Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Partition your HD. Use only linux for the web and XP for the other stuff. That way your HD stays clean, apart from when you connect to the web through XP to upload some (say) media Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Partition your HD. Use only linux for the web and XP for the other stuff. That way your HD stays clean, apart from when you connect to the web through XP to upload some (say) mediaThere is nothing that you do in windows that you cant do in linux, but there are things in linux that you cant do in windows...My suggestion is if Linux is not an option, backup your data, reformat your hard drive, install a fresh version of Windows XP, Install SP2 and all updates that windows will need, then install AVG on your system and update that, some kind of adware protection, then the rest of the software, and only after that retrieve your backup data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Oh if you were wondering about some linux tools check outAudacity - for editing musicgimp - linux rival of photoshopi dont know what kind of programming you do, but I'm sure Linux has the tool for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormod Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Thanks Alexander - I am not in a position to replace windows for the simple reason that I use software which is a lot more advanced than audacity (which I DO use on Windows - great program). Things like Ableton Live 4, FL Studio, VST plugins like Absynth 2, Kompakt, BFD, etc etc. These are Windows ONLY and at the moment there is no good replacement apps for Linux. (I know, I have checked! - the only notable exception being Mus-E http://lmuse.sourceforge.net/ See, I don't work with only audio editing but also recording, sequencing, synthesizing etc. This software has cost me tons of money and I can't just throw it out. Same with Macromedia Dreamweaver - I could find alternatives in Linux but I have bought several plugins which won't run in other apps. And most of Hypography is built using those plugins... There are a lot of things you can't do in Linux which you can do on windows, and vice versa. I also use Mac OSX which is great because most of the apps I buy ALSO work on Mac (and I always make sure the license covers both or I won't buy it!). In fact, if I were to trade I'd replace the entire PC with a Mac...but I have an Apple Powerbook which I bring home from work and it's incredible. No virus problems there. In fact, in the 2 years I've had it I haven't been attacked one single time, by spyware, viruses, hijacking, hackers - nada. But of course...with Apple we're talking Big Bucks and that is not quite where I am. I think my best solution would be to have a music partition with no web connection, a web partition with development tools...and a surfer partition. But man that's a lot of partitions to take care of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Hey, I admire Mac OSX, I used to be oposed to macs, be horrified of them, but OSX is actually really great. I got a friend who has a powerbook, those are some pretty cool machines. The reason i like OSX is because it is based on Unix, and even though it is not open-scource that is the cosest to linux than any other OS out there...There are a lot of things you can't do in Linux which you can do on windowsNamely?Things like Ableton Live 4, FL Studio, VST plugins like Absynth 2, Kompakt, BFD, etc etc. These are Windows ONLY and at the moment there is no good replacement apps for Linux. (I know, I have checked! - the only notable exception being Mus-E http://lmuse.sourceforge.net/ See, I don't work with only audio editing but also recording, sequencing, synthesizing etc. This software has cost me tons of money and I can't just throw it out. Same with Macromedia Dreamweaver - I could find alternatives in Linux but I have bought several plugins which won't run in other apps. And most of Hypography is built using those plugins...And thats why i initially asked you what software you were running on your PC, or one of the reasons anyways... oh, before you uninstall everything, I would go and research the problem on Symantecs website, I'm sure that other people had a similar issue and it might or might not have been resolved.but I have an Apple Powerbook which I bring home from work and it's incredible. No virus problems there. In fact, in the 2 years I've had it I haven't been attacked one single time, by spyware, viruses, hijacking, hackers - nada.I would have said Unix, but i think i said it before. Adware doesnt attack you because of the internet browser, no spyware because it is almost impossible to upload it to any non Microsoft system, hijacking is also close to impossible due to no holes. Viruses, good question, there has only been maybe 50 viruses ever created for Unix/Linux based systems and all of them exploited the utilities rather than the system itself. The kernel itself does not have holes, well at least not unless someone really misconfigured it, so it is impossible to exploit the system, some applications that come with standard installations of most Linux/Unix based systems (such as RedHat or Sun) are a different story because they were not written by the creators of the kernel and thus dont comply with all of the system standards and can be exploited (well technically if you update your system at least once a month you wont have any problems with viruses ever, because modifications 99.9999999% of the time fix any problem before it is found by others, and yet again they dont deal with the kernel itself...).....I think my best solution would be to have a music partition with no web connection, a web partition with development tools...and a surfer partition. But man that's a lot of partitions to take care of.you could use 2 partitions, one for the data and second for the system (yes, yes, just like in linux) your best bet would be to have 2 separate drives, anyways your software would be in the system part and all your files on the other one. I would also upgrade to SP2 if you havent done so yet, its "more secure", but some people have problems with some software after upgrading, and all the solutions are on microsofts website, you just have to search hard. I would run AVG and disable Norton, and also find a good firewall like Outpost which will notify you of anything going on with your ports, thus blocking some adware and viruses from entering. I would only use norton to scan the system maybe once a month, just to make sure AVG is doing its job, but its a really good antivirus software, and its cheap, cheaper, its free unless you want pro, i'd give it a try and if you dont like it, you can always dele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geko Posted October 28, 2004 Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 Hey tormod, i stumbled across http://www.skyos.org - it's meant to be a multi-media OS. Of course there's also http://www.freebsd.org Dont know if this is helping you but hey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted October 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2004 OpenBSD is many times better than FreeBSD, more secure in many ways...Set up an OpenBSD firewall, run an antivirus on your computer, and never have a problem with internet insecurities ever again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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