Antivirus Software

[iansjack]

For example, try turning off any firewalls (esp. hardware ones) and leaving your computer connected to the Internet for a few minutes, without opening any programs. Chances are you will get a virus.

I'm sorry, but I do not believe that. Have you got any sources or proof for that claim? IMO the chance that a computer connected to the internet with no firewall, and not running any programs (i.e. no web browser visiting dangerous sites) would contract a virus within minutes would be extremely small. Is it even possible to contract a virus like that, with no vulnerable/malicious software running on the computer in question?

Hmm.

[BMW]

I'm sorry, but I do not believe that. Have you got any sources or proof for that claim? IMO the chance that a computer connected to the internet with no firewall, and not running any programs (i.e. no web browser visiting dangerous sites) would contract a virus within minutes would be extremely small. Is it even possible to contract a virus like that, with no vulnerable/malicious software running on the computer in question?

Hmm.

Where, in that quote of mine, did I say it was safe to run a computer without a firewall?

[bwat]

EDIT: deleted. Too much detail.

[BMW]

EDIT: deleted. Too much detail.

Damn, I was hoping you would comment on this.

[Thomas]

I recently got two new machines on which I installed Windows 8.1, which I haven't used before. For Windows, I've been using avast! for some years now but I thought this would be a good opportunity to give something else a shot. I tried installing BitDefender twice but the OS hanged the first time (no BSoD) and the whole installation bricked the second time. Then I tried avast! on the other machine and the OS hanged again when doing its first scan; however, it seems to have installed successfully.

I have no idea where the problem lies (perhaps these AV packages don't yet properly support Windows 8.1 or maybe it was Windows' fault). And, yes, I know Windows comes with AV software but it's supposed to be compatible with avast! and BitDefender, according to the developers.

What do you guys use?

Just curios , did ya try running proc mon just to see waht it is doing ?


--Thomas

[Thomas]

BTW I have avast on Win7 on my laptop, it is true that it is annoying

I have a desktop running slackware 14.0 ( amd a4 apu with 8 GB ram) which is not connected to the internet - ( I just use vim and music player on that comp). I prefer it that way to focus on my work , internet leads to lot of distraction.
--Thomas

[Love4Boobies]

Well, the issue was that BitDefender is apparently incompatible with ASUS AI Suite 3.

[Love4Boobies]

@BMW: Also, here is evidence that Microsoft doesn't do such a good job when it comes to AV (after all, they don't care much about that market). So your advice to not use other AV is not good.

[gravaera]

Yo:

In response to the debate here, I use Windows 7 without antivirus software; but to use a computer of any kind, running any kernel without a firewall while it is connected to a network is "universally stupid", as that guy from the Hackers movie used to say.

The nice thing about firewalls today is that they come with these really in-depth, aggressive OS monitoring schemes that notify you of almost every action that a program is about to take, and every program that is about to run. Basically if you are willing to read the prompts, and set up some rules for your trusted and regularly used programs, you'll be able to have a very safe experience without the need for any antivirus software layered on top of your firewall protection.

This applies to your personal computers; not to corporate installations.

--Peace,
gravaera

[AndrewAPrice]

The nice thing about firewalls today is that they come with these really in-depth, aggressive OS monitoring schemes that notify you of almost every action that a program is about to take, and every program that is about to run.

I use to use ZoneAlarm, and it was nice, having a popup everytime a program tried to open a port. But, it would get annoying when I was running a full screen program (such as a video game) that would have a multiplayer feature. Sometimes, it would attempt to scan the network upon launching the game, while the game was in exclusive full screen mode (before I had the chance to get into the game's settings to switch it to windowed mode) - so the game was frozen with an exclusive lock on the display and couldn't be killed, and the firewall popup was invisible behind the full screen game.