Community weekly poll: Do antivirus software developers create viruses?
- 7/27/05 3:33 PM
I agree
by mittens - 11/25/05 9:29 AM In reply to: Not So - Weekend & Holiday Updates Do Happen by Bill ThompsonThere have been times when NAV has run updates daily for a week when something large was floating around...and if four years they have never, as long as my definitions are up to date, let a virus slip past the front door. McAfee misses maybe one in fifty, and honey, that's all you need. If I was running McAfee alone I'd be in serious trouble.
Not all but I think some do.
by SpamHater - 7/29/05 5:30 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
Especially some of the shareware/demo types and the ones that offer free virus scan but then you have to buy the software to remove the viruses "found". I don't think the bigger, well established ones do - and McAfee does post new "dat" files over weekends & holidays - whenever virus activity is rampant.
I have noticed whenever I run one of those free web-based scans, they always find something notorious on my computer that my paid & freshly updated antivirus program does not find - and it frequently deletes virus files on contact that arrive in email & downloads. I can use the virus-removal tools and re-scan & the web-based scan will report the same infection again & again - then try it a few weeks later and it reports a different malady, but still persistent as before. I guess they report whatever is "fashionable" at the time. I got glowing reports from the "Shields Up" webscan, though, and it reported that my computer was unusually well protected for a home computer.
Just like people & everything else: some good, some bad and we need to continue helping each other sort out the wheat from the chaf.
Not all but I think some do
by renrah - 7/29/05 6:48 AM In reply to: Not all but I think some do. by SpamHaterI believe that Good and reputable Anti- virus software makers will not create viruses.
With attrition rates being what they are in the software Industry it wont be long before a disgruntled employee or an upright employee's sense of integrity forces him/her to go public with the knowledge that his/her erstwhile employers are the creators of both the virus and the anti virus!!!!
This sort of dishonest practices can be boldly practised in small outfits were the stakeholder is also the sole ''worker''
Renrah
What a stupid poll...
by High Sierra - 7/29/05 5:33 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
Obviously the only reason for this poll is to create traffic on your site. It appears to be working. 
So from that point of view, I guess it's a real clever poll.
stupid poll? Is the answer that obvious?
by 201340238938028439570886842267 - 7/29/05 7:09 AM In reply to: What a stupid poll... by High SierraI'm not saying CNET is going to give the folks at Gallup sleepless nights, but this isn't a bad poll at all. You have to admit that you don't have to be a hardcore conspiracy theorist to wonder whether folks who make their money off viruses aren't quietly applauding *at the very least* everytime a new bagel virus appears.
Along with insurance companies, security system manufacturers and providers, etc, AVS companies make their money when things go bad. I'm not necessarily saying that their highly paid boys in suits are gathering behind closed doors to plan the next virus release. But it only takes one of their vested engineers with the know how and need of a kitchen remodeling or accelerated retirement to write a bit o' code...
100% Right and you don't need to be a conspiracy theorist
by PLOVER1994 - 8/1/05 5:46 PM In reply to: stupid poll? Is the answer that obvious? by 201340238938028439570886842267Just logical.
Probably
by michalscheck - 7/29/05 5:47 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
It was already proven not too long ago that many "viruses" and "spyware" was actually getting too nice to be just basement funded projects. There were records of spamming companies paying to have viruses adn spyware spread so they could build their spamming database. This is unfortunate, but true.
I agree with some people that the liability here is loosing the entire business if you are ever found out supporting virus makers, but it's easy to keep it off the books if you are careful, and I'm sure they are careful, after all, if they are smart enough to create these viruses, I think they are smart enough to fool the general public and a few investigators.
I do have a belief though that if it is happening they will get found out by this method....disgruntled hackers. If they ever mistreet a hacker they might find themselves a target for a suicide type mission where the hacker would sacrifice his own identity just to see the corporation go down.
Only a matter of time....or maybe not!
virus on the web
by Jaymul60 - 7/29/05 5:55 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
Thats about as silly as " they have a cure for cancer and won"t tell us"
Buying and squishing progress for profit
by unigamer69 - 8/7/05 8:49 AM In reply to: virus on the web by Jaymul60Would it really surprise you if they had a cure for cancer, and the drug companies used their huge might and money to buy it up and sit on it? The oil companies love to do that with progress on cleaner technologies... In the end, many, many people don't care about the future, well-being, or lives of fellow men and women, they just see the almighty dollar.
In the risk of going off on a tangent and making this be completely off-topic - whether the "cure for cancer" thing is true or not, the drug companies go way too far for their fees... I was faced with taking pills one time that cost $10 a pill! People with major diseases can end up paying $20,000 a year for medicine alone! IMO, there ought to be a law. I don't care if we're a capitalisitc nation and that's a move towards socialism... there still ought to be a law.
Sorry for the rant, needed to vent.
Probably yes...
by kdashtekar - 7/29/05 6:09 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
It is as simple as that.. Nobody will create the bugs by wasting his/her time and brain without having any financial outcome...Also people who can destroy the things must know how to create it..
Antivirus
by davkel - 7/29/05 6:44 AM In reply to: Probably yes... by kdashtekarI have some suspicions that AV firms may invent viruses, because I did an online scan which found two alleged viruses that Norton 2005 did not find. Also F-Secure finds fault with the autorun from my network installation, while Norton and AVG do not. Norton, on the other hand, keeps finding Trojans of similar type but slightly different spec, but the other progs don't. They have also just recently found a sasser exploit, said it couldn't be removed, told me to go to their website, and download the removal tool, which I did, but it said I didn't have the sasser anyway. So I don't know what to believe. I have used Norton for years, with no special problems, and it almost never finds anything until the recent sasser. I don't like to impugn a good company, but if an unscrupulous company wanted to increase its business, or persuade customers to update to a newer version, one way to do it would be to invent invasions which may not even exist, and/or find viruses on an online scan. Who would know? I am on broadband, and have the XP firewall plus the ISP's firewall, but if you lock all that down, you can't do anything on the net, and various windows don't open, or pictures show, all of which is a bigger aggravation than the slight possibility of a virus or Trojan or worm. Plus I am on a USB 2 network of two computers, and some firewalls do not make it easy to share or even set up a network, so I have ditched Zone Alarm. Currently, I have Norton on my host, and AVG on the client, just in case anything gets through the network.
I have my suspisions!
by smoker54 - 7/29/05 6:46 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
Why do I feel this to be true? Well, figure it out, it is all about the "Money"!
Smoker54
trend micro
by roblock - 7/29/05 6:59 AM In reply to: Do antivirus software developers create viruses? by Marc Bennett
I have AVG and Trend pc-cillan and at the same time every day I get the "emergency shut down" message because of a virus attack. this happens 3 times a day and each time it is the same virus (three different ones) Each time the virus removed. I have turned of pc-cillan and turned on AVG and dont get any attacks. I have disabled the quarantine and allowed the virus onto my system( on a secondary one that is obsolete) and the effect is zero. The so called viruses have been on the secondary system for over 6 months and the system still runs with no problems. The effect on 60 programs on that system has been nil.
I'm no expert but my suspicions are that trend do use "viruses" to "prove" there system is best at detecting them.
Proof?
by saxpoet - 7/30/05 4:47 AM In reply to: trend micro by roblockI think that you proved that one of the two programs interfered with the other.
I have pc-cillin...
by 2003Denise - 11/25/05 3:16 AM In reply to: trend micro by roblockI have one of the mentioned products, and I have never had a bit of trouble. I have had 2 virus attacks in 6 years, and I was able to take care of both of them within a short amount of time by following the instructions given by the company.
Do not run more than one anti-virus application at the same time. They will fight one another, since they work in real time. This is standard wisdom. I'm surprised you've never been told this.
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