Hey @BlackHawk ,
What statement of mine do you disagree with?
I honestly don't care much about the rating of my posts, but if you disagree with a statement and express that publicly, it's only polite to counter the part you disagree with with an argument. After all, the point of a forum is discussion, right? A rating brings no one anything, but from an argument we can all learn something. Thanks

 

I use Avast Premium Security... which is not in the choices of vote.

It contains everything, antivirus, antimalware, antiransomware, sandbox, password manager, quarantine, network inspector, firewall, webcam protection, microphone protection, file schredder, software updater, etc. etc. etc.

And a very small CPU and RAM impact.

With one subscription I protect 5 computers.

Avast offers also an excellent VPN (for a just few more dollars per year).


In 15 years, never had any issue with it. Not the least bug. Except some false positives here and there as with all other antiviruses, but with Avast it is easy to retrieve the files in the quarantine and set an exception, all that in just a click. You can also sent and alert to Avast when you think you face a false positive, Avast analyzes the file and unlocks the files in its periodical database.

All good.

Since 2017 Avast is also the owner of the well known Piriform, maker of Ccleaner and other excellent tools.

 

That is not quite correct mate.

Correctly it must read: "After I transferred some datea including programs and DLL and I executed one of the programs unchecked..."

I wasn't an unknown someone but it was you-. The PC doesn't execute any file without your consent.
Simple data does not contain viruses.

No offense by the way.

It is a common misunderstanding that computer viruses transmit like biological ones.

The analogy of biological viruses and computer viruses is very limited. Computer viruses do not transmit through the air by themselves and do not become virulent through transmission.

Only executable files (including DLL) can cause harm. Therefore, it is enough to check only them and you can safely disregard the millions of other files. The problem with virus scanners is that, due to their stupidity, they slow down any system as if we had 1990.

But if you are consistent in the future, you can create an absolutely safe environment on any PC with simple measures without a virus scanner, but that requires being disciplined (as described in some posts in this thread) and not running every program you get your hands on unchecked.

 

Last edited: Dec 6, 2022

An idea for all those who want to use an anti-Virus package but don't want to slow down their PC:

If you have an old PC lying around somewhere, install a system and a virus scanner on it. Every file that comes to your PC must be transferred via this PC. This ensures that all files are scanned for viruses etc. before they reach your PC.

This way you get an antivirus appliance for free.

 

Of course I know that they don't execute themselves, but the point is, If windows security(defender) can track a keygen or patch even just after extracting or copying most of the time and it also prevents some from even opening, Then why no for this? I mean that was a real virus not a false positive.

Can I rely on a security software like that? Yeah, always make sure to check your files before executing, use your brain blah blah blah...
We all humans and we make mistakes that's human nature, that's why these type of software even exist. And also there are much more dangerous and heavily disguised viruses out there. If a free antivirus downloaded from internet can detect the virus but the more praised built-in can't, luckily that wasn't a severe one.

From that comment I wanted to highlight that.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 7, 2022

For sure.

And no.

Our first mistake is to assume that one solution is good for every existing or enrolling threat.
I cought me some viruses in the past until I learned, the anti-virus programs did not really solve all my problems as the vendors say. At least not completely.
And as I'll never know when they give up (the A/V) I just don't install one today. And now I only rely more myself.

By the way, I do use an A/V but not on my productive machines. I use a central storage and a dedicated PC for A/V like I described in my second post. No file will ever touch one of my valuable PCs without going through that old boy of a machine. Plus I do frequent backups on another central storage, that is NOT online and runs only while backing up. Plus I'm not online with every machine everytime.

I don't say I could not catch a virus again, but it will be a limited disaster because I have more than one firewall between my valuable data an hell.

I would classify that in the realm of coincidence and not as the rule.

There is of course no absolute security. Therefore the only thing I would take as a general rule: don't rely on only one measure regardless of the name.

True, it just depends on how much the attacker invests in money and knowledge. Any security can be broken...

A real revelation was the Wikipedia article on the Stuxnet virus. If a virus can stop the production of nuclear bombs, it can stop/dfestroy everything.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet
... if you have an hour of spare time. It reads like a thriller!

 

Last edited: Dec 7, 2022