Very slow start times for all programs

[WiiUBricker]

This link is merely an example. It may well be a false alert from my AV (after looking more closer to the report it seems the problem is the favicon).
I still think that people with enough knowledge can come up with malicious stuff with the intention to harm other people by stealing their data or whatever. Look at you, you accomplished amazing things with the Wii. I bet you could easily code something very bad for the PC that can bypass all existent AVs due to a missing entry in the AV's database. But once it's in the database people need this AV to secure themselves from it. And if you don't have an AV you are always gonna be vulnerable to it.

I can't deny that AV companies may be doing a bit scam. There has been rumors for years that some AV companies deliberately spread viruses to the internet to increase their own detection rate. Even if this happens to be true, that grain of scam doesn't make AVs completly useless imo. It's a bit like medicine. It tastes bad, but you need it.

 

[Rydian]

I've never seen any "the AV companies spread viruses" claims to come from anything remotely resembling a reliable source, and when pressed for any actual information or proof, I've of course been given excuses or just cut off.

 

[Foxi4]

People often misunderstand AV signatures for actual viruses, I suppose?

In any case, it's true that non-stop scanning takes a toll on overall performance, but for some it's a necessary evil. If you *don't* feel like having a AV monitor turned on at all times, at the very least perform regular, periodical scanning, like in the olden days. It'll prevent you from issues later on, and we're not talking just about data loss. Identity theft and fraud are the two main interests behind infecting someone's computer in the 21st century, y'know.

 

[Originality]

Rumours are like that. Someone doesn't like what someone is doing, tells a bad story (not saying true or not), and it spreads. When it gets challenged, there's usually no evidence to work with, just word of mouth.

 

[Rydian]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I pretty much ignore any "I HAD 5000 VIRUSES" talk. People see the number of infected file results and think that's the number of viruses, when in reality it may just be one virus that's infected many files, or (more common today) one malware strain that's made up of many parts (the executable, a DLL or two, some settings file, a folder or two dedicated to it, 5-10 registry entries and suddenly malwarebytes is showing 16 results for a single infection and the user freaks out).

 

[Originality]

Maybe not 5000, but I have seen a computer with over 600 unique infection types. Made me wonder how the thing runs at all (school PC).

 

[Foxi4]

Maybe not 5000, but I have seen a computer with over 600 unique infection types. Made me wonder how the thing runs at all (school PC).

Odd. Don't schools block all the usual sites where you'd get viruses from? You know which ones I'm on about...

 

[Originality]

I will also add that this is a school where I spent many IT lessons roaming the network, spotting WinX and Kazaa and many other variants. I systematically deleted them whenever I found them.

3 guesses what I found in the download folders for those programs.

Spoiler

Illegally downloaded games, music, movies, and porn. Lots of porn.

 

[Foxi4]

It's interesting how people with degrees in IT who teach it at schools have to call in their disciples to do basic maintenance for them.

 

[raulpica]

Avast is using

 

[Originality]

Better than AVG. roughly on the same level as Avira.

 

[raulpica]

Better than AVG. roughly on the same level as Avira.

It's way worse than both. Tested on REAL LIFE BENCHMARKStm, not random numbers.

I've confirmed that after 3 years of examinations. The PCs which had the most rootkits/viruses on them were the ones with AVAST.

Fact.

 

[Foxi4]

I think Originality was more concerned with the performance drop the scanner causes (hence the RAM comment) rather than the AV database it uses and its accuracy.

 

[Originality]

Actually I meant AVG is the most defenceless to specific viruses. Seriously, I've never seen an AV get crippled so easily. At least Avast has its redundancy process (backup incase the core gets infected). Don't know about Avira - it could get crippled too, but took a lot more than AVG took.

I personally lament anybody using the 3 A's as an AV suite.

The only truly effective AVs I've worked with are KAV, NOD32 and SOPHOS (SOPHOS was deployed in the school a couple months before I left. It actually did a great job protecting the school computers and taking away my reason to roam the network... Also made it harder for me to roam the network, since it blocked a number of exploits I used).
EDIT: and the less said about Norton, the better.

 

[Rydian]

Fact.

Bullshit.

Proof please.

 

[raulpica]

Fact.

Bullshit.

Proof please.

I don't go around taking pics while working just to show someone on the internet that I'm right.

You can either believe me or not, just be certain that I don't like going around telling bullshit on forums just because I'm bored.

 

[Rydian]

Fact.

Bullshit.

Proof please.

I don't go around taking pics while working just to show someone on the internet that I'm right.

You can either believe me or not, just be certain that I don't like going around telling bullshit on forums just because I'm bored.

The thing about the whole "this is this, fact" on forums is that it's generally expected that you back yourself up when you make a statement. People who go around saying "I have a 3DS emulator and I don't need to show it to you because I know I'm right" look crazy, right? Same thing in the computer field. I've been bothering to link to sources and articles for the stuff I've been saying because I know it's expected (and I've been posting some stuff a lot of people don't know).

 

[raulpica]

Fact.

Bullshit.

Proof please.

I don't go around taking pics while working just to show someone on the internet that I'm right.

You can either believe me or not, just be certain that I don't like going around telling bullshit on forums just because I'm bored.

The thing about the whole "this is this, fact" on forums is that it's generally expected that you back yourself up when you make a statement. People who go around saying "I have a 3DS emulator and I don't need to show it to you because I know I'm right" look crazy, right? Same thing in the computer field. I've been bothering to link to sources and articles for the stuff I've been saying because I know it's expected (and I've been posting some stuff a lot of people don't know).

I say "Fact" exactly to ironize on people saying things like that

Since it's a "self-study" which I've never actually cared to publish or something, I've got no proof to back it up.

Call me a liar, I won't get mad.

 

[Rydian]

Oh, didn't know it was satire.

Yeah, it's fine, you work with different people and the kinds of threats you run into most often are likely quite different than mine.

 

[Originality]

The argument is over? (looks at remaining popcorn)...

Someone say something about macs not getting viruses!