What Security do you use?

gothic_hobbit

Whatever you do, stay away from Norton antivirus.

It has a awful detection rate and slows your computer down to a crawl !

debitcardmayhem

gothic_hobbit wrote: »

Whatever you do, stay away from Norton antivirus.

It has a awful detection rate and slows your computer down to a crawl !

Oudated urban myth, there are lots of good free AV's (Avast is my favourite) out there but if you wish to pay NIS is up there with the best. Before 2009 I would have agreed but now ignore the myth , look at AV Comparatives http://www.av-comparatives.org/

gothic_hobbit

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Oudated urban myth, there are lots of good free AV's (Avast is my favourite) out there but if you wish to pay NIS is up there with the best.

Well I last used it in 2003 and it was awful then.

Kaspersky and NOD are better paid for anti virus solutions overall.

ChiefGrasscutter

gothic_hobbit wrote: »

Well I last used it in 2003 and it was awful then.

Kaspersky and NOD are better paid for anti virus solutions overall.

So if you last used it 8 years ago what do you know about what it is like now?
Answer - nothing.

Yes it was a memory hog in the mid 2000's
in 2009 it was totally re-written
now it is totally invisible to the user when in use.
You can get NIS 2011 for I suppose around £25 from amazon for a year's sub'.
I use it - 'cos I'm self employed and showing that I have a paid for multi-daily updated anit-virus and firewll package is part and parcel of being in business
Perhaps you might like to give it a try.

I've no idea how good/bad NIS is compared to other packages - 'cos I've better things to do with my life.

adouglasmhor

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

So if you last used it 8 years ago what do you know about what it is like now?
Answer - nothing.

Yes it was a memory hog in the mid 2000's
in 2009 it was totally re-written
now it is totally invisible to the user when in use.
You can get NIS 2011 for I suppose around £25 from amazon for a year's sub'.
I use it - 'cos I'm self employed and showing that I have a paid for multi-daily updated anit-virus and firewll package is part and parcel of being in business
Perhaps you might like to give it a try.

I've no idea how good/bad NIS is compared to other packages - 'cos I've better things to do with my life.

Like posting on here?

R-o-b-b-i-e

Would you put a sign in your front window with an inventory of what you have in your home?


Worth a read: www bcs org /content/conWebDoc/39736

"
Social engineers can obtain information from people without directly asking. For example, finding out about a company’s IT security measures in preparation for a hacking attack. Several people at the company could be contacted and asked to complete a telephone survey, which is mostly about general IT, but has a small section at the end asking what firewall, anti-virus products and other security tools the company uses. Add a sweetener to tempt them - maybe a prize draw for an iPad if they complete the survey.

If the information is forthcoming, it might indicate that staff at the company aren’t security-aware. If the staff say that security details are confidential and won’t participate, then they probably work within a tight security framework. But the main information gained is a valuable insight on what level of sophistication is needed to attack the company’s IT and how strong the defences may be. Any answers to the questions are the icing on the cake.
"

VoR

rtho782 wrote: »

I work in the IT industry, and built my first PC at 11 (I'm 29 now!!).

In all my time, I have only ever had one computer "hacked", it was a fileserver in my airing cupboard about 10 years ago, and "hacked" just meant someone had dumped loads of films on it, which I then kept.

These days, I run no AV software on my PC, I run no firewall (Windows firewall is off), and all my PCs have routed public IP addresses (no NAT) so router firewalls are irrelevant to the setup.

Every so often I will run a Malwarebytes scan, but these come back clean. I do run Firefox with Adblock and Noscript as my browser.

I don't get viruses. If I DO get one, the worst case scenario is that I will have to reformat, and all the data I care about is stored on my FreeBSD based NAS server. (not many viruses around for FreeBSD!!)

Personally my opinion on AV software is that it is mostly snake oil, and that good common sense (no, random program from the internet, you cannot have admin rights) alleviates much or all of the need for it.

I also don't wander around all day wearing a condom just in case of STI's, as I find as long as I am careful as to where I place my genitals, I don't catch STI's either

I'm also in the I.T. industry and I have to agree that the usefulness of virus scanners is highly overrated. I got Windows 7 when it came out and I've never had a virus scanner installed on it. Guess what? No viruses have taken over.

I would say that it is always worth having a firewall in place. Since pretty much every broadband router comes with one, that's not difficult.

The most important security measure is to make sure you have all the latest patches for Windows and the latest web browser version available. Then it's just up to you to not run random programs that websites popup (even if they claim you need a new version of flash) and avoid running dodgy e-mail attachments (curiosity infected the cat with a virus).

There are also free on-line virus scanners (I've used TrendMicro HouseCall in the past) if you want to check that you are free of viruses.

Toxteth_OGrady

VoR wrote: »

There are also free on-line virus scanners (I've used TrendMicro HouseCall in the past) if you want to check that you are free of viruses.

Indeed there are.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=755017&postcount=1

jim22

Know nothing about computers. Use Avast, windows firewall, malwarebytes as a secondary scanner.

dixiebb

jim22 wrote: »

Know nothing about computers. Use Avast, windows firewall, malwarebytes as a secondary scanner.

good choice with Avast; and I use Mbam too but as a primary scanner -- i use both the paid and free version on multiple machines :cool: