Simplify your laptop buying
Spyware, viruses, & security : The "rules" they are a changing (aka Bob Dylan)
The "rules" they are a changing (aka Bob Dylan)
by Old Dog New Tricks - 1/18/09 6:49 AMIt used to be easy.
1 - Only run 1 antivirus program at any one time to avoid program conflict. By all means, install a 2nd as back-up, but just make sure the 1st is disabled before running n° 2.
(I use Norton 2009 with Avira as back-up)
2 - Install several antispyware programs (there is no conflict between them). The justification being that no one program will pick up all the spyware out there.
(I use A-squared, Malwarebytes Antimalware, SUPERAntiSpyware plus Spybot for the teatimer "realtime" protection.
So my 1st simple question is what do I do now with the current trend to combine antivirus AND antispyware protection in one package (for example Avira AntiVir Personal Free).
More importantly, can anyone suggest a really good source to help identify False Positives for spyware. When I seek advice from the program suppliers themselves, they all throw the ball back to me and simply tell me how to whitelist (or whatever) the suspect False Positive. As an example, A-squared said to whitelist "Heuristic.Dialer.RAS!A2" if I thought it wasn't spyware. I DONT KNOW IF IT IS SPYWARE. THE A-SQUARED PROGRAM FOUND IT - NOT ME. The dialer was inside c:\Program Files\PC-Doctor 5 for Windows\pcdrmodem.p5x which came bundled with the PC so do I assume it's innocent?
I guess what I'm really looking for is a single source where I can tap in the "spyware name" as reported by "ABC" program, and which will simply say Yes it is or No it isn't.
Incidently, I installed my new HP Pavilion Elite running Vista Home Premium on 9th Jan 2009 (No operating problems, nothing, nil, nada - just really pleased with performance!)
Thank you in advance for any help you can supply.
Peter
Your first question
by roddy32
- 1/18/09 7:23 AM
In reply to: The "rules" they are a changing (aka Bob Dylan) by Old Dog New Tricks
"So my 1st simple question is what do I do now with the current trend to combine antivirus AND antispyware protection in one package (for example Avira AntiVir Personal Free)." is a personal choice question. Some people prefer suites and others prefer seperate programs. Either will work.
Your other question about a single source for false positives. To the best of my knowledge that does not exist. Each supplier/author creates their own definitons and MOST fix their false posisitves quickly when reported so it would not really be feasible for someone to try to monitor the hundreds of programs out there for false positives because by the time they find them, they are usually fixed.
My personal preference is to quarantine anything my programs find and not to delete them until I know for sure they are not false positives.
Another suggestion
by roddy32 - 1/18/09 7:27 AM
In reply to: The "rules" they are a changing (aka Bob Dylan) by Old Dog New Tricks
on your second question is to submit the suspect file to Virus Total which will scan it with a multitude of programs. If only YOURS flags it, more than likely it is a false positive.
http://www.virustotal.com/
Thank you
by Old Dog New Tricks - 1/18/09 9:03 AM In reply to: Another suggestion by roddy32
for your response.
I should, perhaps, rephrase my 1st question to "Can I run several combined antivirus/antispyware programs at the same time or will they create problems.
I took your advise about www.virustotal.com/ and was very impressed by both the speed of the whole operation and the very simple operations involved. In the case of PC-Doctor 5 and the heuristic dialer - it appears that only 1 out of 37 programs (A-squared of course) reported it as spyware. Nonetheless, I will take your other advice and quarantine the file, wait & see if any ill-effects and take it from there. Thank you, again, for your help.
MOST AntiSpyware programs
by roddy32 - 1/18/09 9:15 AM
In reply to: Thank you by Old Dog New Tricks
get along with each other but there are so many possible combinations that there may be possible conflicts occasionally with some of them. I would that that you will know of that happens with the ones you use.
You are welcome.
Also the rule still applies
by roddy32 - 1/18/09 9:17 AM
In reply to: Thank you by Old Dog New Tricks
as far as Antivirus though that only ONE should be resident and active at a time.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
%20-%20CNET%20Spyware,%20viruses,%20%26%20security%20Forums&srcUrl=http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7813_102-0.html;?messageID%3D2955817){kind=small}