Comment Feed for Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus (Coffeehouse on Channel 9)

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

JonathonW — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:06:54 GMT

SlackmasterK wrote:

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:OneCare's antivirus is great. The only big problem I've had with it is that the Firewall doesn't play nicely when running as a limited user-- you don't get any prompting or notification at all that a program's being blocked and have to log in as an administrator just to find out that OneCare's the reason your application can't connect to the internet (OneCare's firewall is a two-way firewall and can block outgoing programs too).

Wow; there are actually people who run as a limited user? Is this a family computer or do you not trust your monitoring tools?

I'm the only user of this computer (it's my personal laptop). I trust my monitoring tools just fine... it's just that running as a limited user has its benefits if you get hit by a zero-day exploit, for example (the same principle as is behind Vista's UAC).

Running as a limited user on XP really isn't that bad, either. The Run As command works for virtually all programs and installers that need administrator access (with the exception of OneCare, which is why I've ditched it).

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

TimP — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:44:03 GMT

I got bit once with an unpatched exploit (I think I got hit on a Monday, the patch came out on a Tuesday :(), since then I've switched to Vista. Call it blind faith, but I feel a bit more secure with Protected Mode, UAC, and x64 not allowing unsigned kernel modules. It's not really the big obnoxious toolbars and ad malware I'm worried about, but the stuff that tries to hide itself through various means.

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

ZippyV — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:43:12 GMT

Ray6 wrote:
Avast! is pretty good, and free for home use (though you do have to re-register every year.)

I installed it for a relative but it failed detecting 1 mail-virus after a couple of months. Laptop couldn't even boot anymore. :(

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

SlackmasterK — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:42:01 GMT

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:
OneCare's antivirus is great. The only big problem I've had with it is that the Firewall doesn't play nicely when running as a limited user-- you don't get any prompting or notification at all that a program's being blocked and have to log in as an administrator just to find out that OneCare's the reason your application can't connect to the internet (OneCare's firewall is a two-way firewall and can block outgoing programs too).

Wow; there are actually people who run as a limited user? Is this a family computer or do you not trust your monitoring tools?

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

DigitalDud — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:20:51 GMT

Yeah I don't run AV either, the performance cost isn't worth it.

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

Alex M — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:14:27 GMT

Trend anti virus doesnt seem to slow anything down and seems quite good. The free AVG seemed ok but not sure how effective it is. Norton is a pos. The latest PC pro mag didnt seem that impressed by one cars detection rate and email scanning abilities.

I didnt have any antivirus for a while and was fine until I lent someone a usb stick - cue restore when they gave it back and I plugged it in...

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

YearOfTheLinuxDesktop — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:34:07 GMT

ManipUni wrote:

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:OneCare's antivirus is great.

That isn't what the experts say. In fact it is one of the lower scoring anti-virus packages. Nod32 and AEC TrustPort (which I've not heart of) are doing really well at the moment.

antivir scores better than nod32 (see the tests on av-comparatives.org) and has a free edition too. I wish it had an office plugin to avoid keeping realtime scan always running :(

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

Ray6 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:25:39 GMT

Avast! is pretty good, and free for home use (though you do have to re-register every year.)

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

magicalclick — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:28:59 GMT

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:

wisemx wrote: Won't run naked but...I do love Windows Live Onecare.
By far the best system protection I've used on a Dev machine.

In comparison, try running those heavy products on a system with SQL Server and VS.

OneCare's antivirus is great. The only big problem I've had with it is that the Firewall doesn't play nicely when running as a limited user-- you don't get any prompting or notification at all that a program's being blocked and have to log in as an administrator just to find out that OneCare's the reason your application can't connect to the internet (OneCare's firewall is a two-way firewall and can block outgoing programs too).

Nah, that' just the same problem with Norton AV. It blocks my shared printers within my own network, and there is no massage. I guessed it is AV because I always put the blame on AV first, which I was right.

This is why I don't use any AV in my own computer. It is a gamming machine, AV will hammer it. Besides, there is only two cases I got virus, I run the virus from attachment and an old famous GIF email attack. My PC is clean all the time. And I regularly PC recover to clean up my junks and potential trojen horse. Vista PC backup all the way.

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

ManipUni — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:49:21 GMT

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:
OneCare's antivirus is great.

That isn't what the experts say. In fact it is one of the lower scoring anti-virus packages. Nod32 and AEC TrustPort (which I've not heart of) are doing really well at the moment.

PS - That being said, OneCare is much cheaper than most of the competition if you include the number of computers allowed. £37.99 for 3x PCs compared to Nod32 @ £46.99

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

JonathonW — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:15:28 GMT

wisemx wrote:
Won't run naked but...I do love Windows Live Onecare.
By far the best system protection I've used on a Dev machine.

In comparison, try running those heavy products on a system with SQL Server and VS.

OneCare's antivirus is great. The only big problem I've had with it is that the Firewall doesn't play nicely when running as a limited user-- you don't get any prompting or notification at all that a program's being blocked and have to log in as an administrator just to find out that OneCare's the reason your application can't connect to the internet (OneCare's firewall is a two-way firewall and can block outgoing programs too).

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

Guy0510 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:57:52 GMT

I use Nod32 because it is light and doesn't get in the way. It comes up on the leaderboard in comparisons I see all the time which is nice too.

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

Mark Wisecarver — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:12:08 GMT

Won't run naked but...I do love Windows Live Onecare.
By far the best system protection I've used on a Dev machine.

In comparison, try running those heavy products on a system with SQL Server and VS.

Re: Windows Vista : One year without using antivirus

W3bbo — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:56:54 GMT

I haven't used any form of AV since late-2002 and everything's fine.

When I need individual files checked I use Kaspersky's online file scanner.