[RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Fri Aug 8 16:51:15 PDT 2008

There is an excellent thread at Anantech Forums here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=76
<http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=76&threadid=2108933&ente
rthread=y> &threadid=2108933&enterthread=y 

It also discusses other kinds of malware and detection comparisons.

Stilson Snow
Director, SBDC Program and Del Norte Services
North Coast Small Business Development Center
520 E Street
Eureka, CA  95501
707.445.7913
707.445.9652 FAX
707.464.2168 Del Norte
800.697.SBDC (7232)
http://www.northcoastsbdc.org <http://www.northcoastsbdc.org/>  

  _____  

From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org] On
Behalf Of G.M.Sturgis
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 4:46 PM
To: John Hauser
Cc: RTC
Subject: Re: [RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Hi All

I thought I had better add my two cents to this excellent thread.

I subscribe to the paid version of the WindowsSecrets.com newsletter and in
May they posted an article about the best AntiVirus products available.  Out
of 37 tested, only 5 AV programs aced the test(s) and one of them was a
freebie: Avira AntiVir.  Here are a couple of relevant links...
http://www.windowssecrets.com/2008/06/26/05-Get-top-flight-antivirus-without
-spending-a-dime
http://www.windowssecrets.com/2008/05/01/07-Five-antivirus-programs-ace-the-
PC-defense-test

I had been using avast! AV and found it to be a bit of a resource hog.
After switching to Avira's product I can say that I am please with the
results and my PC is snappier.  It's compatible with x64 versions of Windows
too (like mine).  I've also used Avira AntiVir to successfully clean up a
few family member's PCs whose commercial AV programs were not doing the job.

There is a caveat - the free product has a popup during updates advertising
their commercial version.  The popup can be disabled by simply renaming the
avnotify.exe file installed along with the program.

Another program I read about and installed for a family member is
ThreatFire.  It works by "detecting malicious behavior" and reporting its
findings rather than having a database of know viruses.  It is intended to
be run concurrently with your normal AV as an extra layer of security.

Guy

John Hauser wrote: 

john, thanks for the mention of trackmenot.

i routinely install adblock plus and noscript addons to any new

installation of firefox.

it looks like i'll be adding trackmenot to that list.

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 3:50 PM, John McBrearty

 <mailto:john.mcbrearty at humboldt.edu> <john.mcbrearty at humboldt.edu> wrote:

Pat, I agree.  That's why I said that my message was "slightly tangential"

to what Chris actually asked about.

But I wonder how many people, in the article's words "Don't settle on just

one."

I myself purchased and use both Symantec and eEye Blink on my personal

machine.  Each has its strengths.  I also use some web privacy tools, such

as the TrackMeNot search obfuscator add-on in Firefox.

John

From: Pat Bitton [mailto:pat_bitton at eurestopartners.com]

Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 2:16 PM

To: 'John McBrearty'; list at redwoodtech.org

Subject: RE: [RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Interesting approach - however, most of the virus and other malware problems

occur because users *don't know* when software is questionable - or because

the infection/hack happens without any user interaction - so it's debatable

how useful such a service would be in the real world.

Pat Bitton

Partner, Euresto Partners Inc

Sales & Marketing Strategies for Technology Startups

+1 707 268 8968/+1 408 464 0829 cell

www.eurestopartners.com

________________________________

From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org] On

Behalf Of John McBrearty

Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 1:56 PM

To: list at redwoodtech.org

Subject: Re: [RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Chris,

A somewhat belated (and slightly tangential) response to your query, but I

happened to see this today in a newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher

Education:

Hey, Virus, Get Off of My Cloud

Having a hard time choosing which antivirus program to use? Researchers at

the University of Michigan have a suggestion: Don't settle on just one.

Computer scientists at the institution have developed a new service, called

CloudAV, that lets computer users send questionable software off to a

separate server--where a dozen antivirus programs and behavioral-detection

tools decide whether the material is safe or corrupted. CloudAV takes its

name from "cloud computing," a term used loosely to describe technology

services conducted through an online network, not through software native to

a particular user's machine. Why rely on the cloud if you've already got an

antivirus tool sitting on your own computer? Well, as Ars Technica points

out, virus-blockers use different methods to pick up on new malware, so "the

best software on one day may not hold the title on the next." A typical

antivirus program, acting by itself, might let plenty of malicious software

slip through the cracks, but CloudAV spotted 98 percent of the viruses

submitted to it, the researchers say.--Brock Read

John

From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org] On

Behalf Of CrawfordCA at aol.com

Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 11:58 AM

To: list at redwoodtech.org

Subject: [RTC List] Choice of antivirus protection

Greetings all  ...

I'd like to start a thread about different choices for antivirus protection

on your Windows-based desktop or laptop computers. Long ago, I used Norton

(from Symantec), then I switched to McAfee for a number of years, and now

I'm looking for a better replacement.

To get things rolling, I wrote a blog posting on this topic in May when I

dumped McAfee and went shopping for substitute protection:

http://www.tsblogs.com/techblog/2008/05/shopping_for_antivirus_softwar.html

I am currently using a trial version of Microsoft's Live OneCare, that has

too many flaws to keep as a long term solution.

Any tips or recommendations are welcome, except for gratuitous gloating over

having chosen Mac or Linux over the evil empire (Microsoft). Thanks for your

consideration.

Chris Crawford

www.justiceserved.com

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