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Last post Author Topic: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?  (Read 41332 times)

Jibz

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #50 on: July 29, 2014, 05:27 PM »
The only thing I've seen recently was EMET stopping an older version of flash player in FireFox after an ad set something off.

Stoic Joker

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #51 on: July 29, 2014, 08:21 PM »
The only thing I've seen recently was EMET stopping an older version of flash player in FireFox after an ad set something off.

That is an interesting one, but it will have a distinct impact on performance when turned up all the way. It noticeably slowed up the ~6mo old HP Z420 I have at the office and that's a really high-end machine.

Innuendo

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #52 on: August 02, 2014, 06:30 PM »
This ain't script-kiddie stuff she got hit with. This is definitely the work of pros.

There are a lot of criminal elements in Europe and what used to be the Soviet Union who have concentrated all of their resources on this kind of stuff as it is far more lucrative than the 'conventional' crime they used to engage in.

Is anti-virus software a waste of money? There is a very good possibility it may be.

Is anti-malware and security software a waste of money? There is a very good possibility that it isn't.

Innuendo

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #53 on: August 02, 2014, 06:34 PM »
In my experience, Avira stopped a couple of things; MSE nothing yet - but I think I've only had one attack since I started using it (probably a couple of years ago now).

I conducted a fun (and very telling experiment) with MSE a couple months ago. I took an external hard drive and filled it with all sorts of 'sketchy' stuff...lots of viruses, trojans, malware, pupware, cracks and keygens.

MSE detected every single crack and keygen on the drive. Every other file MSE triumphantly declared as being clean. This should tell you what Microsoft's focus is when it comes to their 'security' software.

MilesAhead

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #54 on: August 02, 2014, 07:36 PM »
I conducted a fun (and very telling experiment) with MSE a couple months ago. I took an external hard drive and filled it with all sorts of 'sketchy' stuff...lots of viruses, trojans, malware, pupware, cracks and keygens.

MSE detected every single crack and keygen on the drive. Every other file MSE triumphantly declared as being clean. This should tell you what Microsoft's focus is when it comes to their 'security' software.

It would have ben interesting to let it find a crack of an MS product.  Then check the logs to see if it tried to call home.  ;)



nosh

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #55 on: August 03, 2014, 12:41 AM »
A quote I read somewhere recently:
"Virus check complete. All viruses functioning normally."

MilesAhead

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #56 on: August 03, 2014, 09:44 AM »
A quote I read somewhere recently:
"Virus check complete. All viruses functioning normally."

Heh.  A new product could be Intel VO.  No, not a whiskey.     Virus Optimization.  ;)

mouser

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #57 on: January 29, 2017, 01:24 PM »
Another recent opinion piece saying that installing a 3rd party Antivirus tool is counter-productive:

http://www.osnews.co..._except_Microsoft_s_
http://robert.ocalla...software-except.html

Some of you have been saying this for a while.. I still use an antivirus but pieces like this from knowledgeable people are making me think about this seriously..

Tuxman

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #58 on: January 29, 2017, 01:27 PM »
Did you just call us not knowledgeable?

mouser

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #59 on: January 29, 2017, 01:32 PM »
I didn't intend to. What i meant to say that I am taking notice as the opinions of you folks are echoed by EXPERTS IN THE FIELD it is making me take notice.

Tuxman

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #60 on: January 29, 2017, 01:33 PM »
So we're not expert enough? What does it take to be a mouser-qualified expert on security topics?

Innuendo

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #61 on: January 29, 2017, 01:57 PM »
Ars Technica posted an article just a few days ago as well...

https://arstechnica....01/antivirus-is-bad/

Febr9

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #62 on: January 30, 2017, 04:22 AM »
Of course not. It is very useful thing

Tuxman

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #63 on: January 30, 2017, 04:29 AM »
For what?

IainB

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #64 on: January 30, 2017, 05:45 AM »
So we're not expert enough? What does it take to be a mouser-qualified expert on security topics?
Presumably someone who seems to know what s/he is talking about on the subject under discussion.
Oops. Oh, wait...


mouser

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #65 on: February 01, 2017, 02:53 PM »
Days after former Firefox developer Robert O'Callahan said that antivirus security suites are not necessary, and AV vendors are of little help. A Google Chrome engineer has echoed the same message, reaffirming that Microsoft's built-in software is indeed the most well-behaved security suite.

https://it.slashdot....ns-of-empirical-data

IainB

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Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?
« Reply #66 on: February 01, 2017, 09:03 PM »
I have updated the Windows Defender (also Microsoft Security Essentials MSE) - Mini-Review with comments and a link to this discussion thread.

As stated in that review:
Conclusions:
Windows Defender aka MSE is an excellent AV tool. Performs as designed, and very well.
There are other AV tools, but to a large extent they would seem to have been eclipsed or made redundant by Defender/MSE, as the latter would now seem to be the de facto anti-virus application and virtually a no-brainer for the majority of PC users.

Given the latest turn in events and as per this discussion thread:
In the ongoing discussions, there was a general argument that most AV products could be akin to a scam and in some cases as bad as a virus, with the sole exception of Microsoft's MSE/Defender.

I found this interesting because I had independently - and based on experience - already arrived at this potential conclusion some years back. In particular, for example, the experience of Norton/Symantec AV, as an OEM install, being notoriously cuckoo-like and hostile to other AV software to the extent that it blocks out Defender and puts hooks all over the ruddy registry - so much so that it even needs to have it's own special tool made by Symantec, to completely expunge it from the OS. Hence, "Like a virus."

From my perspective, after the experience of using Defender/MSE over the years, supporting several PCs with it installed, and installing Defender/MSE on other people's PCs to replace their existing cruddy/$annoyware AV products, the best things about Defender/MSE seem to be:
  • It just works pretty much seamlessly with everything.
  • You can install it and forget about it.
  • It just gets on with doing its job.
  • Very low maintenance.
  • One less potentially unproductive technical support issue to have to spend time on or worry about.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2017, 10:53 PM by IainB »