what is the best of the best anti virus program???

[Vulcan]

I don't go to any sketchy sites on my main PC....common sense is the key.

that doesn't work.

[100Coogn]

In my experience the NGAV has less CPU load - Windows Defender is absolutely crap for detecting new stuff - it can be months behind and has been used as an attack vector.

Months?  My Windows Defender is updated daily.

Coogan

[Vulcan]

Months?  My Windows Defender is updated daily.

Coogan

It takes MONTHS for it to get signatures that recognize the latest malware.

[Bizman]

I fully agree with Vulcan, it's a wild world out there. Similar statistics are used for marketing anti-virus programs.

However, there's some points I consider as scaling issues. I'm not an expert, though, so take my comments with a grain of salt. Or a spoonful.

---
 - a file comes
 - if that file is of interest (eg .exe / pdf / java / word doc and so on) it is scanned by a traditional signature based AV engine. ---
---16000 files made it past the ~60 antivirus scanners, in one month. That is the bit that should scare you.---

So, if the computer user never gets any files from suspicious sources? Downloading any .exe from some warez site or opening e-mail attachments from unknown senders already counts as deliberately searching for trouble. People who use the computer for banking and reading leading newspapers. Who get a handful of e-mails a month from close friends and relatives only...  Downloading AcesHighIII.exe from HitechCreations.com should also be safe. What is the likelihood to hit one of the 16000 monthly scary files?

I run a one man business and my official e-mail address can be read on my website. The authorities also legally sell addresses to almost anyone asking for them. Still I don't see too many files "coming". Some spam, yes. Marketing messages for office furniture and services, yes. Occasional phishing messages, yes. Occasional Nigerian scams, yes. Attachments from unknown senders, no.

So I'm asking, where would the harmful files "come" from if the user uses common sense in downloading anything and verifies the e-mails at least before executing any attachments?

[Vulcan]

That's not the way it works. Plenty of sites and applications get compromised, as do your friends and clients. All it takes is one of them to send you a word document with a new attack and you're away.

Those 16000 scary files are the ones the bad guys are pushing around. So the chances someone will see them is surprisingly high. I get engaged with a lot of clients AFTER they have been hit.

The bad guys are making a lot of $$$$ - and don't write these statistics off as marketing. They are raw data from a live engine from live customer sites around the world. There is no massaging.

We also see other nefarious things happening that are quite left field. For example there was a builder here in NZ whose PC got infected, the bad guys hijacked his email and changed the back account number on his invoices he was sending out for milestone payments. They got away with $150k before he figured out what was going on.

If you were seeking my professional advise, I would rate your chances of coming across such malware 50/50. You need to decide is there anything on your PC/gmail account/etc that could cause you financial grief if you lose control of it, then you need to decide if your data is sufficiently backed you could survive wiping your PC. From that you make your decision based on risk vs $$$$.

If you then said OK do something I would say:
 - invest in good AV (I'm not affiliated with any AV company btw   )
 - invest in good backup
 - make sure you use two factor authentication on any banking / financial systems

[Bizman]

Thanks, Vulcan. It appears my wording wasn't quite as accurate as I'd wish.

By using the word "marketing" I was just referring to the anti-virus advertising. They use statistics or numbers looking like that. I fully agree that the bad guys are after big money and since they continue doing their dirty deeds they must be successful.

Although there really is a lot and more malware out there, 50/50 sounds quite a lot. In my understanding that means that every second website and every second e-mail would be compromised. Or, as my brother-in-law answered in a math test, the odds of winning the jackpot are 50/50: You either win it or you don't. We both know you don't mean that.

The risk analysis idea is good and everyone using a computer should pay attention to it. In my case there's nothing critical inside. Yet a backup will save from lots of work.

Here in Finland banking has always been two-factor authenticated, mostly with a list of changing passcodes along with the traditional combination of an ID and a passcode. In the era of smart phones the list can be an app in the phone. In any case, the bad guy has to get access to the random codes before being able to do banking with a stolen identity. 

[Mister Fork]

I use Webroot - recommended here by others.  I have tried them all and everyone of them have failed me at least once or twice. Avast, AVwhatever Defender Kasperghost etc. all have failed when a good virus/Trojan kit invaded my computer. I have Webroot for a couple months now. Time will tell.

[Vulcan]

Although there really is a lot and more malware out there, 50/50 sounds quite a lot. In my understanding that means that every second website and every second e-mail would be compromised. Or, as my brother-in-law answered in a math test, the odds of winning the jackpot are 50/50: You either win it or you don't. We both know you don't mean that.

No I mean't on a per month basis the chances of you being exposed to a single new malware variant are 50/50.

[Ciaphas]

It’s pretty darn simple to protect your machine from malicious attacks. You just to be vigilant, monitor your system and networks. Spend some time learning about the tech you own.

Once I completed my IT certs (A+, Net+, Sec+, MS Windows server admin and a few more) I stopped paying for antivirus, malware and anti spyware programs. They really are not needed if you pay attention to your network and devices. It takes just a few minute to monitor your environment and to make adjustments if needed.


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[100Coogn]

It’s pretty darn simple to protect your machine from malicious attacks. You just to be vigilant, monitor your system and networks. Spend some time learning about the tech you own.

Once I completed my IT certs (A+, Net+, Sec+, MS Windows server admin and a few more) I stopped paying for antivirus, malware and anti spyware programs. They really are not needed if you pay attention to your network and devices. It takes just a few minute to monitor your environment and to make adjustments if needed.


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Agreed.   

Coogan

[Vulcan]

It’s pretty darn simple to protect your machine from malicious attacks. You just to be vigilant, monitor your system and networks. Spend some time learning about the tech you own.

Once I completed my IT certs (A+, Net+, Sec+, MS Windows server admin and a few more) I stopped paying for antivirus, malware and anti spyware programs. They really are not needed if you pay attention to your network and devices. It takes just a few minute to monitor your environment and to make adjustments if needed.


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You just gave the worst advice ever. Tell me how would you deal with a malicious PNG?

[zack1234]

Scary files

The bloke who wrote that needs to get out for a bit.

If you do internet banking and Mr John Mubala III from Nigeria steals your coin and buys another wife it’s Darwin’s theory of evolution in practice.

Its a age scene, anyone under 50 is caught in the culture of living their lives on the Internet, if I get IT problems the only outcome is the AH community have game play for a couple of weeks without me writing gibberish on here and on the text buffer in game.

Scary files, you should have seen my bathroom over the festive period, that was scarey

[Ciaphas]

You just gave the worst advice ever. Tell me how would you deal with a malicious PNG?

Well common sense kicks in with all file types as they, for the most part, have there own typical file size depending on the size original file and if you were expecting a file from a friend than it should be no issue at all.  Also anyone that has auto read turned on in any email program that they may use deserves what they get as that is the most insecure method of checking your email. So it boils down knowing what is going on in your IT environment. I get it dude, got to get those sale numbers up but in reality simply paying attention to what you are doing is the best proactive method out there and being able to react to a threat is just as valuable.

Working IT contracting for the government has taught me a lot about personal accountability with safe, responsible and productive computing.


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[Skuzzy]

You just gave the worst advice ever. Tell me how would you deal with a malicious PNG?

It depends on how the code is embedded. If it is the old double extension trick, then just enabling the ability to see the extensions in Windows will reveal that.  If it using steganography, then you are not going to just stop that download, but that also requires an external program (malware/virus) to extract and build the final code from the image.

Stopping that malware/virus from ever getting there is pretty straight forward, but it also means giving up a lot of the default features of Windows.  Example:  Remove Java, Flash, and disable javascript, and activeX controls as a start.  Disable all auto-downloads of everything.

Not to make it sound so trivial, as it is not.  There are applications, such as Intuit's software, which require you to open your security up and expose your computer to every bad thing there is.  Solution:  Avoid those programs.

Then there are bank sites which also require you to drop all your security before they will work.  I do not do business with those banks.  They are all set to be hacked.

It takes more than just common sense to protect your computer from the bad stuff out there.

One last thing to consider.  The more a system tries to do things for you, the more likely it will be hacked/infected.  Most people need anti-xxxx software because most people are not willing to give up the flashy/sparkly stuff.  Here is a test.

If you go to Youtube and the videos play without you having to do anything, then your computer is open to all manner of bad things.  Get an anti-xxxx program,....quick.

[Ciaphas]

Same rules apply to auto update features that come packed with most software, disable it and check the vendors website before downloading it and if at all possible give the update a few days before downloading and installing to allow time for the bugs and/or malicious code (if any exist) to be rooted out and corrected/removed.


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