Free vs. Paid Anti-Virus Software

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster

I have noticed that you really have to be careful when installing anything from a download these days. There is a lot of good, reputable stuff out there that will install toolbars, change your browser's home page, or change your default search engine if you don't uncheck boxes while installing. I doubt that most of these are "malware," but just about any toolbar can be used as a data collection tool.


And allow me to touch on a feature used by NOD32 here. They have an option when you install it for the "Detection of unwanted programs". This includes toolbars, adware....etc. Software that isn't necessarily malicious, but annoying.

So you download a particular "free" software bundle that, unbeknownst to you, is bundled with the Shop and Save toolbar. You get a notification about this during the download process so that you can abort or continue. It can be a pretty useful feature for the sometimes clueless end-user who would otherwise end up with "toolbar-topia" where their browser window is 4" high and the rest of it toolbars (I'm not exaggerating here.....

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[DBMaster]

^LOL. I know you're not. When my daughter got her first computer in 2003 she picked up a lot of adware. The screen would, literally, be full of pop up ads every morning. It took me a lot of time and research to figure out how to kill and remove all the self-spawning programs that were installed on her system silently by "safe" kids' web sites.

We have become a pretty complacent lot. We're so used to clicking "yes" and "I agree" every time software is installed we forget to actually LOOK at what we're agreeing to.

 

[OVERKILL]

They've even got Banzai buddy in there! LMAO!!!

 

[DBMaster]

Thanks for lightening my Monday mood!

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
They've even got Banzai buddy in there! LMAO!!!

That looked like a laptop I fixed for a friend a few weeks ago. Of course, they didn't download any of that stuff, it came on the computer when they bought it, they told me. Right....

 

[DBMaster]

Perhaps y'all have heard this term, but I recall that name for all the unneeded garbage they install on new systems is "shovelware."

This is why I like building my own systems and installing the OS from scratch.

 

[Garak]

Quite true, but my friend didn't have a bunch of shovelware on the laptop. She just clicks everything she sees. I assure you that her laptop manufacturer did not load 12 toolbars onto IE before she bought the thing, not to mention loads of spyware and the MSN hijack.

As for installing the OS from scratch, that's sensible. Next time she brings me a disaster, she's going to get Linux installed from scratch.

 

[DBMaster]

I figured the pic was in jest. Computers used to come with lots of shovelware, but I haven't purchased a pre-built system since about 1997. I have been building my own since 1989 and have been playing around with PC's since 1982. Yeah, old-school. Much like some car guys like modifying or building their own stuff I prefer using a computer that I put together myself. I never spend the money to get top of the line stuff because I don't really have the money or need to do that. What is relevant to BITOGers is the fact that a computer, just like a car, requires maintenance to be kept clean and perform well. Backup, maintain, scan, defrag. That is my process. I am not an I.T. expert, but I have had better experience than most with long lasting and relatively quick systems given the hardware I have used.

 

[Mystic]

I like custom built Windows computers also. I have owned three custom built Windows computers. They all ran great. And a Windows operating system without all the garbage software runs much better than a store bought one that has tons of the typical trash software that nobody really needs anyway.

When I say a custom built Windows computer I don't mean a gaming computer either. Just a computer that has the stuff I need and is fast enough to get the job done.

With Windows 8 Pro and if you have the media center (or open source VLC media player) you pretty much have everything you need. It even includes an antivirus. About the only other stuff you need would be Adobe Elements or Photoshop, Microsoft Office, and drivers for your printer and scanner.

If you have a fast enough computer it will run circles around the computers loaded down with all of the trash software.

 

[Garak]

I don't like the shovelware, either, but the amount of nonsense I've seen people load on perfectly good Windows installations is astonishing. The odd toolbar comes up as a prechecked option in legitimate software installs. I don't like it, but I've seen it. One has to be doing something pretty bizarre, however, to get a dozen toolbars in IE. It took me five minutes to load IE on her laptop. I had to give up on IE and just downloaded Firefox, CCleaner, Spybot, and other miscellaneous goodies on my Linux box and put it on a USB stick to clean up her mess.

Her mother is the one who had accidentally installed a "porn dialer" on her own computer, as I mentioned in another thread. I'm not one to sit here and defend Microsoft, but IE doesn't need a fistfull of toolbars, and if you're using Windows, MSN and maybe one or two other chat programs are enough, you don't need a fistfull of them, either. A pretty link doesn't require you to click it.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: Mystic
When I say a custom built Windows computer I don't mean a gaming computer either. Just a computer that has the stuff I need and is fast enough to get the job done.


That is EXACTLY what I do. The one I just built used the same case/power supply from my old one. It's an AMD A8 based system. Compared the the Pentium III I was running from 2002 it is a dream. I finally had to do something because, even clean, my old system couldn't handle streaming video very well anymore.

 

[azjake]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
i have pretty much the same questions.. I use norton here but have a free one at the office from microsoft i think security essentials..
I dont use the computers for anything like banking or any other thing that requires real security.. No real social security numbers or other information

We get McAfee free as a Cox internet customer and have used it for about 4 years now with no problems or viruses and we do all our banking online.

As someone said in an earlier post keep your software up to date. Windows, FireFox, McAfee are all set up on our PC for updates to be automatically installed. For the other software if I get a popup or notice that there's an update or new version available I usually install it right a way.

 

[Jimmy9190]

AZJake..I was wondering how McAfee is working.. Is it as good or better or worse than MSE? I recently found out I can get McAfee for free, probably the same version as what you have. Is it just an AV/Malware program or does it have any extra bells or whistles that I might be able to use and get better results than MSE? I am satisfied with MSE but am always curious if anything else might be better. Thanks.