since i get symantec antivirus corporate free from the university, is windows defender necessary or even worth installing? which one's better (in y'all's opinion, of course)?

8/6/2007 10:56:30 AM

Windows Defender specializes in spyware, SAV in viruses.
so, yes - run them both. Defender should keep your browsing safer, SAV keep your computer in general safer

8/6/2007 10:59:44 AM

from slashdot.

Quote :

" Archiveus is a 'ransomware' virus, which combines files from the My Documents folder on Windows machines and exchanges them for a single, password-protected file, which it will not unlock unless a password is given. The user would normally be required to pay the extortionist money in order to receive the password, but apparently the virus writer made one small, critical error in coding: placing the password in the code. BTW, the 30-digit password locking the files is mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw "

8/6/2007 12:11:56 PM

^ i don't really understand the point of your post

^^ okay, so is spybot/adaware still necessary? i've always used those two for spy- and ad-ware, and they've done just fine

8/7/2007 2:17:31 PM

meh, not so much. Defender does a good job and runs automatically in the background.
You can still run AdAware and Spybot occasionally to see if Defender misses anything.
but if you use FireFox and have Defender running in the background, and don't download warez and that shit, you should be ok anyway.

8/7/2007 2:22:15 PM

But... disabling defender can improve performance a little. If you feel comfortable running spybot/adaware yourself once or twice a week... then go ahead and disable defender.

8/7/2007 4:21:23 PM

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000923.html
http://www.thepcspy.com/articles/other/what_really_slows_windows_down/5
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000803.html
http://chuvakin.blogspot.com/2007/04/answer-to-my-antivirus-mystery-question.html

Quote :

"Indeed, and the vast majority of that boot slowdown is attributable to security and anti-virus software, as documented on PC Spy. That's why I urge people to pursue other methods of securing their PCs; if you rely on commercial anti-virus, you are literally crippling your PC's performance. Anti-virus software barely works these days anyway, so it's a raw deal no matter how you slice it."

8/7/2007 4:34:15 PM

Quote :

"Anti-virus software barely works these days anyway, so it's a raw deal no matter how you slice it."

i completely disagree with this...SAV, over the past year alone, has found several things in attachments, downloaded files (probably files i shouldn't have downloaded, but still) and others that make it well worth having (for me)

thanks for the advice, all

8/8/2007 12:52:59 PM

^^ Antivirus protection is an integral component of desktop computer security. It takes only one tiny mistake to get infected with a virus, and you'll probably want some sort of defense on hand to deal with it. Most computer users will never be able to cope with the new and varied forms of viral attacks, so it's foolhardy to tell people that they shouldn't use antivirus software.

^ For what it's worth, Symantec has been including some anti-spyware features in their more recent versions of SAV CE for a couple of years now, mainly in the 10.x versions. I've seen some people have fairly good success with using it to deal with sudden spyware infections. I also noticed recently that SAV may not always coexist well with Windows Defender on Windows Vista. I believe that I saw a prompt asking me to disable the spyware protection for either SAV or WD after SAV was installed.

8/10/2007 12:35:01 AM

Along these lines, I recently noticed that Comodo has completely free A/Vir, A/Spy, A/Mal, and Firewall products out now ... I've been trying to find some solid technical reviews of them, but haven't surfaced with much. Only one that seems to be getting any technical press is the firewall. I'm going to test them out, but would appreciate input if anyone has some. I'm always looking for better products to recommend.

[Edited on August 10, 2007 at 1:30 AM. Reason : .]

8/10/2007 1:29:32 AM

^Yeah good find, fwiw PC Magazine apparently gave Comodo good ratings....

Plus they're probably the only free firewall worth a damn I've seen that is soon to release both 32-bit and 64-bit support for XP and Vista.

[Edited on August 10, 2007 at 8:57 AM. Reason : ]

8/10/2007 8:56:45 AM

from what i've heard Norton pretty much blows chunks, and i would have to agree with it

8/10/2007 9:19:19 AM