Recommendations for anti virus. (1 Viewer)

Marmot said:

Our subscription to Norton Anti Virus runs out in just over a week and we are going to change it, but what to?

I became annoyed with Norton Anti Virus at the beginning of Dec when my elderly (Win 98) computer started to bring up that I had done "an illegal op on it and was shutting down"...put that query on here and one of the answers was it may be a virus. As it is running in the background all the time and is updated every week I had doubts, but on doing a full scan it brought up 7 threats and since this was done and dealt with everything is ok and the message has stopped appearing. So I was thinking how come they have got past this so called "top notch" anti virus software which you have the "pleasure" of paying for and get no discount for after renewing it every year.

I have heard that AVG is supposed to be quite good and free. My knowledge of computers is not much, so don't get technical..what I want is one that will not clash with anything that is already on this (elderly machine) and preferably free.

Any recommendations please.

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Hi Marmot, I'm sorry I seem to have hijacked your thread a bit. Because of my frustration at being unable to sort out my problem I saw your thread and just jumped in, so please accept my apologies. Unfortunately, being such a duffer with IT I cannot help with your problem.

Dave

Having let my NAV expire I have downloaded and bought NOD32 AntiVirus , and it's excellent and not too expensive . Used with Spyware Doctor and Sygate Personal Firewall and the latest version of Firefox ( 1.5 ) my machines stay free from all nasties !! . Ok , I have opted for things that need to have some money spent on them , apart from the firewall , but what the hell , at least I don't have any trouble and you DO get what you pay for .

Ashley

"Just yesterday we got a machine with a brand new copy of Mcafee that couldn't install it and couldn't uninstall it either. Because of this, it was impossible to install any other anti-virus program either. After an hour of (expensive) hand-uninstallation work (mainly brute-force file deletion and ruthless removal of any and all Mcafee-related registry entries), I gave up on it. Maybe I could have got it if I'd been prepared to spend another 2 or 4 or 8 hours on it (can you imagine the size of the bill if I did that?), but it was more practical - and much cheaper - to admit defeat, back up cruical accounting data, format the hard drive, and start again. This is serious, serious stuff. Let me put it this way: I'm struggling to remember the last time I let a mere virus do that to me. There are times when we just format anyway because the customer doesn't care about his data and it's cheap and easy, but it is very rare indeed to see a virus/spyware infection make such a mess of a system that I can't fix it. Here, in other words, we have a supposed security product with a damage payload worse than that of the viruses it is supposed to protect against."

Tannin,
I want to uninstall McAfee from my pc but after reading the above extract from your thread am very wary of doing so - afraid it might cause more problems than it's worth, especially as i'm a bit of a dummy with them anyway.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

regards

john

You could do a lot worse than AVG. Have a look at their web site www.grisoft.com and dig about for the free download (it can be tricky finding it but it is worth looking at). Worth noting that upgrades are also free for individual private use. I've used it for a long time without problems, as have many people I know, but it does depend on the degree of protection required.

Hi all, just an update on my computer problems outlined in previous posts. I took Taninn's advice and ran adaware in safe mode, cleaning stuff as it was found, then ran spybot and rebooted in normal mode. Everything seems a lot better now however there is still one niggle. I use dial up tp go online and when I finish and dis-connect the dial up box appears on the screen and even when I click cancel, it just reappears and tries to dial up a conection. To defeat this I remove the phone plug from the wall socket and then through control panel-internet options-connections, I click 'never dial a connection'. I works but is a bit long winded. I hope to use an alternative browser soon. The only other difference is the chattering noise my computer makes when I am on the internet, it seems much slower than previously.

Thanks for any advice.

Dave

Sorry, john-henry, didn't see your post till just now.

Start with prayer. Then clean out any other stuff you have in your start-up that might cause problems (MSCONFIG is your friend), reboot, and try the uninstall routine. (Is it start - programs - mcafee - uninstall? Or control panel? the latter, I think. Yes, it's a control panel one.) If it works, it works reasonably well, though it still leaves some stuff that shouldn't be there, such as shortcuts on your desktop. If it screws up, you are in the poo up to your eyeballs. Sorry, that's the long and the short of it. Once you install Mcafee, there are no guarentees.

There is a whole stack of stuff on their website, which is both accurate and relevant. Unfortunately, the bits that are accurate aren't relevant, and the bits that are relevant aren't accurate.

Looks like time for a Hijackthis scan, d.steeley. Download it from http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/ then post the log it produces here. Probably best not to try removing anything yourself just yet, get someone like me or Andrew Rowlands to run an eye over it and suggest what needs to come out and what needs to stay.

I think that some of your computer "whizzos" are being very high-handed and derogatory towards us mere "mortals".

I use IE on Windows XP Home, Outlook Express, and Norton IS 2006 on my desktop and laptop (Sony Vaio) - never had a problem. I know people who who are tearing their hair out because of problems with Firefox, etc. Most problems occur because users have an "old" OS (95, 98 or even 2000) which is full of "detritus" (not bugs, just crap clogging up their system) and simply does not work (efficiently) with programs created inthe past 18 moths or so.

Computers live for 3 years, then they die.

Margaret.H said:

I think that some of your computer "whizzos" are being very high-handed and derogatory towards us mere "mortals".

I use IE on Windows XP Home, Outlook Express, and Norton IS 2006 on my desktop and laptop (Sony Vaio) - never had a problem. I know people who who are tearing their hair out because of problems with Firefox, etc. Most problems occur because users have an "old" OS (95, 98 or even 2000) which is full of "detritus" (not bugs, just crap clogging up their system) and simply does not work (efficiently) with programs created inthe past 18 moths or so.

Computers live for 3 years, then they die.

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Well put. I have said the same here and been stung by one or two replies. Hopefully you'll not suffer the same way! Since using WinXP SP2, I think Microsoft have resolved so many issues that we can fairly say that the PC is now a very stable entity indeed.

The problems that do arise are often those caused by kids surfing the wrong type of site downloading music and such and infecting their machines with spyware and the like.

I use IE on Windows XP Home, Outlook Express, and Norton IS 2006 - never had a problem.

Yeah, right. And I smoke 30 a day - never had a lung cancer.

The analogy is exact. If you have high-risk habits, you are indeed at high risk. IE is high-risk. It is the only browser still in common use that is high-risk. Most of the worst security holes in Outlook/Outlook Express have been patched now, but it remains a substantially higher risk product than many others. And there is a ton of empirical evidence to demonstrate that Norton AV users are at substantially higher risk than users of many other A/V products.

Since using WinXP SP2, I think Microsoft have resolved so many issues that we can fairly say that the PC is now a very stable entity indeed.

So why does every computer repairer on the planet have a constant stream of WinXP SP2 systems crossing the workbench to have the security problems fixed?

I don't want to offend people, specially not fellow bird lovers but, frankly, when you don't have any expertise in a subject it's generally a good idea not to say things about it. We end up with nonsense like the above - I'm thinking of the "computers live for three years" statement, for example, or the "XP SP2 has fixed all problems" one. There is a mountain of evidence to demonstrate that these are untrue. Visit any competent computer repairer and ask, or look at the row of systems waiting to be attended to.

There is a grain of truth in your last statement though Steve - "... caused by kids surfing the wrong type of site downloading music and such and infecting their machines with spyware and the like". File-sharing (Kazaa, Limewire, and the like) is very high risk, and kids are very good indeed at ignoring security guidelines and infecting the family computer. The very worst - by far the worst - combination is kids + Internet Explorer. There you have two high-risk behaviours at the same time, and the combined effect can be devestating. I've seen machines come back the very next day in almost as bad a shape as before we fixed them, because the kids didn't listen to my quick lesson in basic security. (Typically, this is because I told Mum, and either she didn't pass the message onto the kids, or else they ignored her, as teenagers tend to do. These days, I try to get parents to bring the kids in with them when they pick up the machine. They tend to listen to me much more readily than they listen to their parents. Hey, they have had 15 years of practice at ignoring Mum, but they've only had 15 minutes practice at ignoring me.)

We always install a modern browser (usually all three), normally remove the shortcuts to Internet Explorer, and always spend a short while teaching basic security. In combination, these things are pretty successful at cutting the reinfection rate. I don't think I've ever seen a reinfection where people have applied the simple rules we teach them (at least I can't remember seeing one).

I would be interested to know what browsers you install, I use Firefox no surprises there but that's because it is so much better than IE which I have to use at work, I miss the Tabs, the spell check, the toolbar bookmarks and that's just for starters, being more secure is just a bonus for me. I presume one is Opera but what is the other?

Mick

The other one is Mozilla, Mickeymouse.

Of the three, I like Firefox least and used to like Mozilla the most, but seem to be using the new Opera more and more of late. But, I hasten to add, that is purely a matter of personal taste, as significant from a security and efficiency point of view as whether you prefer yellow or green wallpaper. Which of the three is most secure? Probably nothing in it. Well, if I'm going to go to a known bad hat site, I'll probably use Mozilla, but have no actual evidence to show that it is or isn't any better/worse than the other two. (I sometimes need to visit a bad site to see what has happened to a customer machine If the site is really bad, I'll use Mozilla on a non-Windows system, which is about as safe as you can get. Well, ignoring text-mode browsers.) While the differences between Moz, Opera, and the Fox are trivial and possibly non-existent in practical terms, the gulf between the three modern ones and IE is vast, and readily demonstrable.

Curiously, having said I don't much care for it, I always use Firefox here at Bird Forum, simply because I habitually have dozens and dozens of windows/tabs open at a time, and it's easier to find stuff if I use a particular browser for a particular site.

Tannin said:

Looks like time for a Hijackthis scan, d.steeley. Download it from http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/ then post the log it produces here. Probably best not to try removing anything yourself just yet, get someone like me or Andrew Rowlands to run an eye over it and suggest what needs to come out and what needs to stay.

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Hi Tannin, thanks for the advice. I will attempto to do as you suggest and post the scan results. I am a little concerned about when I go online and the possibility of my 'computer infection' directing me onto an expensive isp As happened to me some time ago. When I had my phone bill there was a £1.00 per minute charge for a particular number which I realised was occuring when I went online. Adaware sorted out that problem. When I go online now I right click on the two screens icon>status> and the box that appears says "connected to Freeserve" which is my ISP. Is there a chance that my computer could be connecting to a premium site but still be telling me I am connected to freeserve (now Wannado). I ask this because the projected time for my computer to download 'Firefox' is at least 45 minutes and I don't want a bill for £45.00 turning up. Thanks again.

Dave

No worries Dave. I can't promise from this distance, but I think you have nailed that one. Good thinking, checking it like that.

If I were you, I'd look around for a copy of Firefox on CD just the same. Huge downloads are such a pain. You will probaly get one on a computer magazine cover (but beware the version: you want the current 1.5, nothing older if you can help it). Or slip into your local computer shop: I imagine that they would be happy to drop a copy on a blank CD for you for a few pounds. (I'd usually do it for nothing, unless I thought you were a total time-waster, as little service things done with a smile soon add up to big sales later on. It's good business the way I look at it. Much cheaper than paying for advertising.) Or, best of all, ask a friend with broadband to burn it to CD for you. Probably cost you a beer.

By the way, the current versions of the modern browsers weigh in like this:
Opera 8.51: 3.8MB
Firefox 1.5: 5.2MB
Mozilla 1.7.12: 12.0MB

So if you are stuck with downloading on dial-up, you might prefer to grab Opera instead. It loads and runs faster on an old machine too, but is not to everyone's taste.

PS: Hijackthis is a very small download: 0.2MB. Won't take long at all. Let me know how you go.

We've got a virus that has bypassed our Norton Internet Security package which Norton can't delete. It says a file is still infected. The virus is a Downloader Trojan (eied s7 c 29.exe). I don't know a huge amount about this but it appears to have been around for a while. We regularly update the system. I've got some questions:

How did it get past Norton?

What is it and how damaging can it be?

How can we get rid of it?

Gus

The operative question is how to get rid of it!

This could help: http://forums.techguy.org/security/427888-eied-s7-c-29-exe-how-remove.html

Then, get rid of Norton!!!!

Tannin said:

Sorry, john-henry, didn't see your post till just now.

Start with prayer. Then clean out any other stuff you have in your start-up that might cause problems (MSCONFIG is your friend), reboot, and try the uninstall routine. (Is it start - programs - mcafee - uninstall? Or control panel? the latter, I think. Yes, it's a control panel one.) If it works, it works reasonably well, though it still leaves some stuff that shouldn't be there, such as shortcuts on your desktop. If it screws up, you are in the poo up to your eyeballs. Sorry, that's the long and the short of it. Once you install Mcafee, there are no guarentees.

There is a whole stack of stuff on their website, which is both accurate and relevant. Unfortunately, the bits that are accurate aren't relevant, and the bits that are relevant aren't accurate.

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Many thanks Tannin, I think i'll leave it as it is for the time-being.

regards

john

Tannin said:

No worries Dave. I can't promise from this distance, but I think you have nailed that one. Good thinking, checking it like that.

If I were you, I'd look around for a copy of Firefox on CD just the same. Huge downloads are such a pain. You will probaly get one on a computer magazine cover (but beware the version: you want the current 1.5, nothing older if you can help it). Or slip into your local computer shop: I imagine that they would be happy to drop a copy on a blank CD for you for a few pounds. (I'd usually do it for nothing, unless I thought you were a total time-waster, as little service things done with a smile soon add up to big sales later on. It's good business the way I look at it. Much cheaper than paying for advertising.) Or, best of all, ask a friend with broadband to burn it to CD for you. Probably cost you a beer.

By the way, the current versions of the modern browsers weigh in like this:
Opera 8.51: 3.8MB
Firefox 1.5: 5.2MB
Mozilla 1.7.12: 12.0MB

So if you are stuck with downloading on dial-up, you might prefer to grab Opera instead. It loads and runs faster on an old machine too, but is not to everyone's taste.

PS: Hijackthis is a very small download: 0.2MB. Won't take long at all. Let me know how you go.

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Thanks Tannin, I will give this a try over the weekend and report back.

Dave

Hi, its me again. I have downloaded Hijackthis but when I unzipped it and tried to open it I had a message "A required .DLL file, MSVBVM60.DLL was not found. So I put the DLL file name into Google and found a site from which I could downloaded it. I downloaded it to my desktop and after unzipping it, saved it in the same folder as Hijackthis. However when I tried again to open Hijackthis I still get the same massage about the DLL file was not found. I am obviously doing something wrong but my lack of IT knowledge prevents me from knowing just what it is I am doing wrong. I am very appreciative of everyones help, especially Tannin, who must be fed up with me by now, but I am wondering if I should just buy a new computer (something I intended to do prior to my problem) and let you all get on with other things rather than using your valuable time helping me?

Thanks again.

Dave

Not at all, Dave. I like it when people ask questions I can answer!

Put MSVBVM60.DLL anywhere in your path*. The Windows folder is a good place. It is the Microsoft Visual Basic library, which Hijackthis (and lots of other programs too) uses to do simple and boring stuff like redraw the screen and make tick boxes and so on. The idea is that by having all these fundamental functions in a single file, the programmer can get on with writing the interesting and different bits instead of messing about reinventing the wheel every time.

* You don't need to know this stuff, but just in case you are interested, the path is the list Windows keeps of the places it should look for programs and bits of programs. It's a hangover from DOS days, but still used by lots of stuff. It is a simple, practical idea as these things go, and quite easy to set and change if you like doing that sort of thing, so doubtless they will think of a vastly more complicated and difficult way to do the same job before too long. For your purposes, all you need to do is put MSVBVM60.DLL in your Windows folder.