<div dir="ltr">Dump 3rd party AV suites and use the OS provided AV tools. In order for antivirus software to work, it needs to install hooks into the OS, introducing weaknesses into the OS that were not there before. For an AV to work they need to do all the things a virus does such as man in the middle attacks EG reading your communications, even secured communications. The OS developers know where the right places to install it's own AV without weakening the OS.<div><br></div><div>It's hard to know where a virus ends and the AV starts because they both do the same thing to get installed starting with the similar social and psychological tricks to get you to install them. And once installed they both use these same tricks (but in different ways) to make you keep them installed, or to prevent uninstallation. A bit like different political parties! </div><div><br></div><div>As previously mentions, the best AV is UNcommon sense! Think before you click, ask the following questions : </div><div><br></div><div>Who gains from this? Is there ulterior motive such as gaining personal information?<br></div><div>*Did I ask for this? Unsolicited files or offers are not free, nothing is free except risk.</div><div>*Do I want this? -- Does the file come with an anything extra you didn't want</div><div>*Why are they asking me for this? -- EG do they need my credit card number? All I need in some cases is a name, half a telephone number or postcode/town name and I can with reasonable certainty find someone and dig really deep in to their personal life (I had to do this for a job I had, I'm no expert but I always got my target, a professional will always get you).</div><div>*Is this really the file I wanted? -- Do you know how to check the file for tampering by checking the MD5 checksum?</div><div><br></div><div>And more importantly a good, tested backup system known to be reliable and accessible is the minimum safety you should have. I mirror my drive and have copies made stored in my safe, and at a remote location. The remote variant is in a uniquely sealed bag, but that's just me. For many this is overkill. However, I can be up and running from a dead PC in 20 minutes from exactly where I left off.</div><div><br></div><div>I have not had a successful virus or malware attack in 10 years since adopting this method. SSD's instead of spinning rust drives are vastly faster, and for the most part just as reliable, but with the back ups it makes them even better. Also it's fair to say this method works equally as well for Windows and Linux, and probably Macs but since adding things like extra drives is almost impossible, I have my doubts!</div><div><br></div><div></RANT></div><div><br></div><div>Dennis Smith</div><div>M1DLG</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 29 January 2018 at 08:53, Dave B via chirp_users <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com" target="_blank">chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
Quite honestly, I'm amazed anyone still thinks running Norton AV is
an acceptable solution to a perceived problem.<br>
<br>
It itself is riddled with inconsistencies and other funnies, plus
has a hair trigger for false positives. "Not seen by many users" is
NOT a good metric to judge if something is bad or not.<br>
<br>
Windows own Windows Defender, in conjunction with whatever "Security
Essentials" is now called is more than adequate for 90+% of users,
and the price is right.<br>
<br>
Coupled with the use of "uBlock Origin" in your web browsers, to
block the obnoxious nasties in on-line add's, and you'll have a
slick fast and more than safe enough system. (Heck, that is even
in the MS app store now, as well as Chrome's webstore.)<br>
<br>
The single best AV tool, is common sense... Never, and I mean
NEVER <b>NEVER</b> Click on a popup you didn't expect*, or go to a
site or download something <b>YOU DID NOT YOURSELF ASK OR GO
LOOKING FOR</b>!<br>
<br>
And Never EVER respond to anything in unsolicited (spam) email's,
however attractive the proposition may look.<br>
<br>
(* Not even any 'X' close button, that only confirms that they've
found a human, and may not even remove the popup. Back out of that
website/restart the browser and find another with what you want.)<br>
<br>
Norton AV used to be good, it's now just more bloat-ware, with
questionable practices, and not in truth a particularly good user
experience.<br>
<br>
As above, the best AV tool, is the wet stuff between your ears. As
in all life, if something appears to be too good to be true, it
probably is bad for you, your PC, and/or your bank account!<br>
<br>
73.<br>
<br>
Dave G0WBX.<br>
<br>
</div>
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