non-music. Sources of viruses ????

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 11:53 PM

I heartily agree with JohninKansas about keeping your virus program up to date. Otherwise it's like having an empty fire extinguisher hanging on your wall.

Two programs I've been pleased with in addition to the antivirus and firewall:

WebWasher to prevent popups (much better than PopUp Killer, in my opinion). The only problem I had was that it kept hanging up when I tried to download an update. I had to remove and reinstall the program. Haven't tried it again. But the program prevents at least 95% of popups from showing up on my screen (the icon in the tray changes from white to blue every time it blocks popups), and doesn't seem to interfere with other sites.

AdAware to remove all those spyware programs and data miners that insinuate themselves into your system and tell their masters all about you and your web surfing and buying habits. Their site is one of those that is designed for IE and looks a little funky on Netscape...which I don't like in principle, but the program seems to work well.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 04:03 PM

The first thing I read about XP was about the dangers of auto updates. Haven't experienced any hardship so far by switching them off.

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: Amergin
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 02:00 PM

I would be a bit wary about auto updates for windows systems....MS tends to release updates without making sure they are bug free....

I remember last fall there was an update going on...then suddenly at work we had a rash of xp users unable to sign onto secure webservers and so unable to access email or anything else of importance...we were able to fix it with a system restore (restoring the system to a time before they installed the update)...but unfortunately it was only a temporary solution...once they downloaded the updates again....they would have the same problem....

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 01:31 PM

Well said, misophist.

And the emphasis must be placed on up to date. I get a "hit" from my Norton auto-update about every 2 to 3 days, indicating that some new "signatures" have been added to deal with "new" viruses.

I'd get very nervous if I was using week old AV without an update.

There has been quite a lot of news media talk about 3 or 4 recent virus attacks, and these infections are doing a lot of damage. ALL of the recent ones have been known for long enough that fixes have been available, for weeks if not months; and so far as I've heard, these new "plagues" have not affected anyone who had current updates/fixes installed.

It's also important to keep your operating system and other software up to date. With newer Win systems, you can set up an automatic download of critical updates (you have to ok any installation). With older systems, you need to make periodic visits to the update sites.

John

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: mack/misophist
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:59 AM

re John in Kansas: I bow to his superior knowlege and experience. Let me just repeat that the ONLY protection against virus's is a good, up to date anti-virus program.

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 02:26 AM

It hasn't been too long ago that one of the major US computer manufacturers learned that the OEM CDs they were shipping with their units contained a rather nasty virus. It wasn't installed on the machines - but you got it if you re-installed.

It hasn't been too long ago that one of the major software suppliers had a similar experience. Apparently the "job shop" that burned the CDs for them was infected.

In both cases, these vendors acted promptly to help anyone "injured." Small, but some, consolation to those affected.

There is NO source that's absolutely "safe," but common sense and dealing with reputable and known sources do give some protection. ANYTHING that claims to be "free" should be suspect.

You can probably be reasonably assured that the CDs that come with a "reputable" magazine have been scanned for viruses, but it should not be surprising if they include "spyware" of some sort. They "need" to know if you use the software, for their own circulation/advertising purposes. You have NO real assurance that they're still "virus" clean if you "take a copy from a buddies machine," or if you download from some "bootleg" website or FTP. In most cases, neither is necessary, since most magazines that attach such CDs/DVDs have a web site where you can download their "utilities" for free (if you don't consider looking at their popups a cost).

John

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: mack/misophist
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 09:10 PM

While it is possible to get a virus from a cd, it's only happened once that I know of.
These days trojans are in such bad odor, I don't think that's a real worry, either. BUT all ad supported programs are technically trojans, so take that into consideration.

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: SeanM
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 12:51 PM

The concern about free CDs from reputable sources normally isn't virus, but privacy based.

Think about it.

Free software has to be paid for by someone, and whomever is paying for it is going to get the most out of their money. It's not common, but you may run into a variety of trackers or spyware programs on those discs. Gator's a good example - roommate installed the disc he was given from a gaming magazine, and it tried to Gator our computer. Given that the loader at that point still had the "load behind the scenes" feature that cause gator to reload and reinstall whenever uninstalled... let's just say some unkind words about installing habits were exchanged...

M

Subject: RE: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 05:05 AM

Get yourself a decent virus checker like Norton or similar, you can then check anything including free discs. From what I've been told is, that like me almost everyone goes through the free disc craze when they first get a PC, but in the end very few of the freebies remain on your system. If you don't get one with your virus checker, a firewall is something else you should have.
Giok

Subject: non-music. Sources of viruses ????
From: GUEST,H
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 04:36 AM

Hia.
I'm wondering about the safety of the CD/DVDs that come with PC magazines, does anyone if they are well checked at source ???

I'm moving on to a PC from a set-top box & hoping to learn fast rather than the hard way !
First line of defence put in before PC even arrived - politely declining copied programs from a collegue who doesn't use firewalls.

Much thanks,

H