Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: TopAce on April 23, 2012, 02:28:27 am
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I've so far consistently used AVG, but I figured I would try something else.
Which one do you use and what are its pros/contras?
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Until recently I was using AVG, dad mentioned he was Avast and that it seemed to be picking up a few extra viruses that AVG missed and so far I think I would have to agree.
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I use Microsoft Security Essentials. Pros: Fast, free, lightweight, good detection, made by Microsoft, who makes your OS.
Cons: Made by Microsoft, who makes your OS.
If you want more security, I'd buy Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (one-time licensing fee of $30 for home users and then it's free updates forever). It can run alongside of whatever A/V soft you end up using.
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There has been numerous topics on this subject in the past six months.
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Cons: Made by Microsoft, who makes your OS.
Why is that a con?
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It's not, really, just some people don't like stuff made by MS, although, since they make the OS, if they really object that much, perhaps they should be using Linux or running a Mac. I think MS actually got MSE 100% correct (aside from the usual assortment of advanced tools being considered "dangerous", which most other AV soft also do).
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It's not, really, just some people don't like stuff made by MS, although, since they make the OS, if they really object that much, perhaps they should be using Linux or running a Mac. I think MS actually got MSE 100% correct (aside from the usual assortment of advanced tools being considered "dangerous", which most other AV soft also do).
My brother used to run MSE on W7. He had computer troubles. He downloaded Avast, it found a score of issues that MSE had missed. So yeah, I wouldn't trust MS on that one. It's probably fine if you're a cautionary user, but if you go to fishy websites and torrent stuff (like my brother) you'll need a more thorough AV.
Myself, I'd recommend Avast - make sure the autosandbox is off, and you shouldn't have any troubles with it.
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It's the fishy websites that are the problem. Torrenting stuff doesn't hurt you. Torrenting the wrong stuff (e.g., .wma music files with scripts built into them that contain trojan downloaders (yikes! why does a music file have this capability? <glares at M$>) are the problem. It's the same as downloading from a regular site. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll get bit. I've seen people using Avast! before, and it does seem to be a pretty competent piece of A/V soft. I like MSE the best because of how light weight it is on system performance. Like I said before, if I was worried about someone downloading a virus, I'd add MBAM to the mix.
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I'll give a shot to Avast.
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Shout out to MSSE here, for all the pros that jr2 mentioned.
And if you're an idiot when torrenting, its your own damn fault, and no amount of AV's will help you there.
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COMODO is a fairly good AV if you ask me, though a bit on the paranoid side. Just be careful when you dismiss it's popups not to accidentally lock down something important.
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COMODO is a fairly good AV if you ask me, though a bit on the paranoid side. Just be careful when you dismiss it's popups not to accidentally lock down something important.
i've used it before, but it was slow as ****.
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I have Avast on my main PC and MS SE on my laptop. So far I've been quite pleased with that setup.
So those two earn points from me.
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^Same, most of the time. My Uni has a habit of not supporting new major versions of Avast in the Clean Access Agent for at least a couple months after it comes out, but seems to have no issue with MSE, so that's why; and I've not had issues with either, really. Although the Auto-sandbox in Avast is somewhat annoying.
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i'm using MSE on my desktop and AVG on my laptop. i like MSE because it's so lightweight, but i may potentially have gotten something. i never got any of the typical symptoms of a virus/malware infection, but i noticed my sharing wasn't working, and progressive googling led me to discover other problems with a root cause of some of my security-related services have gone missing. not off, MISSING. (wtf?) so i ran a scan and it picked up a java exploit and consrv.dll, which google tells me is a nasty little ****er. except i didn't seem to actually have the infection. maybe MSE interdicted it before it did anything nastier than break some of my services, which i'm now trying to repair. it's proving difficult, since my situation is different than all the other ones on the internet who got full on blasted with it.
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@Klaustrophobia: System Restore?
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If you have a Windows 7 machine, just get Windows Defender from Microsoft.
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Errr, Eishtmo, Microsoft Security Essentials is a full-fledged Anti-Virus from MS... IIRC, Windows Defender has been built into Windows Vista and 7 as released from factory, however, it doesn't cut it for security.
You can get Windows Defender and MSE for XP, too, FWIW. However, I don't like Windows Defender on XP and I just stick with MSE. And MBAM.
EDIT: References for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Defender
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_start/win-7-windows-defender/6df2303a-021a-4937-98c1-ad11705d7a81 (3rd reply down)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Security_Essentials
Apparently, MSE is the #1 most popular AV in North America and #2 in the world as of September 2011 according to this OPSWAT report (http://www.opswat.com/sites/default/files/OPSWAT-market-share-report-september-2011.pdf) (I wonder what the most popular AV in the rest of the world is? Wating for the dumb OPSWAT report to load over HughesNet satellite connection {hello, dial-up!} {OK, apparently it's Avast Free})
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@Klaustrophobia: System Restore?
i tried that, but there was only one restore point available and it was after the infection. i'm guessing that those were cleared at the same time as the services. i've tried a number of methods for fixing system files like the system file checker command and repair tools on the windows disk, but none of them detect or fix any problems. anyone know how to force it to reinstall all the system files from the disk (and leave everything else alone)?
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Just do not use the one that woutersmittsn uses
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To repair all Windows system files, at an elevated command prompt, put in
sfc /scannow
That's probably not the only issue however, the infection may have cleared out the registry entries that load the services. If System Restore isn't available, you may be stuck doing a re-install (the other option is a repair install but those are usually messy enough afterwards to warrant a re-install).
I wish there were a true repair install for Windows that did not involve re-setting many of the connections that programs have made in the registry.
EDIT: If you know exactly which services are missing, you can copy the registry entries from another Windows install if it's the same version (I mean Vista or 7 or XP, the variations between each of those (Vista and 7 Basic/HomePremium/Ultimate/etc and to a lesser extent, XP Home/Pro) usually don't matter.
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the sfc is one of the things i tried that found no errors. i couldn't figure out how to do a repair install from the disk. the closest thing i saw was the "let windows fix it automatically" which seemed to be the same thing as the sfc check. i'm gonna ask for help on majorgeeks or something before i resort to a reinstall. i just built this computer, i really don't want to start all over getting it set how i like again.
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For a repair install... IIRC you can modify a file in the windows install disk image, that will allow Windows Setup to do repair installs. (M$ handily disabled it).
You could try asking at the MyDigitalLife forums about this; I'm pretty sure they would be able to tell you how to do it.
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Just do not use the one that woutersmittsn uses
NOD32 actually does get a plus point for me: A lot of people where reporting a virus that somehow had infected the homepage of one of my favorite websites at the time (concerning LEGO). NOD32 was rather usefull as it reported in full where the virus actually came from (the staff had trouble finding the bugger), and thus a small crisis was resolved.
However, NOD32 is quite paranoid - its just that Wouter blindly trusts it as if it is the TSA or something.
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score one for combofix. i've got my services back now. looks sketchy as hell, but it works.
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Just do not use the one that woutersmittsn uses
NOD32 actually does get a plus point for me: A lot of people where reporting a virus that somehow had infected the homepage of one of my favorite websites at the time (concerning LEGO). NOD32 was rather usefull as it reported in full where the virus actually came from (the staff had trouble finding the bugger), and thus a small crisis was resolved.
However, NOD32 is quite paranoid - its just that Wouter blindly trusts it as if it is the TSA or something.
Wait, one actually trusts the TSA?
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FYI, MS released v4 of MSE just yesterday.
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i thought something looked a little different when i reinstalled it today.
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Just do not use the one that woutersmittsn uses
NOD32 actually does get a plus point for me: A lot of people where reporting a virus that somehow had infected the homepage of one of my favorite websites at the time (concerning LEGO). NOD32 was rather usefull as it reported in full where the virus actually came from (the staff had trouble finding the bugger), and thus a small crisis was resolved.
However, NOD32 is quite paranoid - its just that Wouter blindly trusts it as if it is the TSA or something.
Wait, one actually trusts the TSA?
Yes. Mainly people who do not fly and politicians. IE - people with not a lot of knowledge on the subject matter. Like Wouter. (Geen kwade bedoelingen gozer, maar als je ook maar één programma in de IT 100% vertrouwt dan heb je er nog niet veel van begrepen...)
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Klaustrophobia, do you still have access to "Previous versions" of your folders? (Right-click - Properties - "Previous Versions" tab)
If so, how far back does your %windir%\system32\config folder go? 'cause that's where your registry files are kept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry#Windows_NT-based_operating_systems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry#Windows_NT-based_operating_systems)
Windows NT-based systems store the registry in a binary hive format which can be exported, loaded and unloaded by the Registry Editor in these operating systems. The following system Registry files are stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\:
Sam – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
Security – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY
Software – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
System – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
Default – HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
Userdiff – Not associated with a hive. Used only when upgrading operating systems.[28]
The following file is stored in each user's profile folder:
%UserProfile%\Ntuser.dat – HKEY_USERS\<User SID> (linked to by HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
For Windows 2000, Server 2003 and Windows XP, the following additional user-specific file is used for file associations and COM information:
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Usrclass.dat (path is localized) – HKEY_USERS\<User SID>_Classes (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes)
For Windows Vista and later, the path was changed to:
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Usrclass.dat (path is not localized) alias %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Usrclass.dat – HKEY_USERS\<User SID>_Classes (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes)
EDIT: You can use any value enclosed in % signs as if it were the actual path. e.g. %windir%
If you want to know the value of one of those, in cmd, put echo %windir% (obviously replace windir with the variable that you want to see). For a list of variables, just type set in cmd and hit enter.
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it's fixed. all is well with my computer once more.
well, except for seagate's external hard drive firmware sucking nuts, but i can't fix that.
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Yeah you can. Inside, it should be a regular hard disk. Get a new external enclosure from Newegg, and swap them out. Unless it's the actual firmware on the regular hard disk which is in the external enclosure, and Seagate hasn't fixed it. If they did fix it, but they don't have a util to update the firmware over USB connection, you could just take it out, update it, and put it back.
What exactly is the situation?
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files corrupt way too frequently for my liking when copying over, it doesn't work with windows 7 backup (i knew that going in, but it would be nice to have if i ever decide to use it), and it makes the BIOS hang at the splash screen when you restart the computer. cold boots work fine. seagate support's response (to MANY people who have similar problems) is basically, "tough ****, we aren't going to fix it."
i'm not going to pull it out and put it in something else. if anything, i'll just return it and get a WD. it would be cheaper than buying an external enclosure. the really sucky thing is that the base of the goflex pops right off and exposes the SATA connections, but the enclosure is built so that normal sata cables won't fit.
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Out of curiosity, how have you determined the problem is the HDD? I've had quite a subtle file corruption issue in the past, which was caused by faulty memory module. Memtest86 didn't find any issues, only Win7's own diagnostic did but only if used the extensive test.
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not for sure. i've considered that it might be the USB link, but it sure seems like it's the disk. i'm nearly certain it's not the memory or something like that. i've never had any amount of corruption without using the external. files will corrupt being put onto the external, but so far i haven't seen any additional corruption going the other way. this is why it would be really nice to have the SATA ports available without breaking the enclosure, so i could check if it is the USB interface or the disk. it's worth noting that i was beginning to have corruption problems on my old external hard drive (also a seagate) which is part of what prompted the new one. i thought it was going bad because seagate's diagnostic tools failed or just plain didn't work on it, but after looking into it, it apparantly never worked right on USB connected disks. even though their support tells you to use it.
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Hmm, you have GoFlex? Well, you could test putting another sata hard disk on the goflex end and see if it still corrupts. If it does, it's the goflex or computer. If not, it's the hard disk part of the goflex. Unless it's some weird thing between the goflex and it's own hard disk attachment.
I've actually purchased the goflex end separately just to use it for an external sata hookup.
I do know that SeaGate has had major, major problems with some of their firmware before (that is able to be fixed by going mcguyver and hooking up some oddball usb serial connection and typing commands to the actual hard disk controller - standard procedure by seagate is to say it's a total loss, replace it if it's under warranty, kiss your data goodbye, but with the terminal over usb to the controller, you actually get all of your data back and get the hard disk working 100% again - assuming you upgrade the firmware after you fix it, so it doesn't corrupt itself again.
EDIT: Here's what I mean:
http://www.overclock.net/t/457286/seagate-bricked-firmware-drive-fix-with-pics/40
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that's a good idea. unfortunately the only other hard drives i have are my primary internal and and old IDE.
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OUch... well... IDK what to tell you...
What model is your GoFlex?