Comments on: VIRUS WARS II

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:58:45 +0000

Okay checked in the article, the site is still listed at the top, the author made it not be an active link anymore, so those who want to test their software, they can copy and paste the url and see how they fare. If the site is still as it was, it is nasty.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:54:12 +0000

Never mind on clicking on the link, I see the author did as I asked and removed it, because I didn't want to have someone inadverdently clicking on it and getting infected. But to any who want to test their software, let me know and I will supply the url to them in an Email so they can go to the site and test away. This is a do at your own risk, and I would suggest using a computer that you use for testing for this purpose. Cause I don't want anyone to possibly risk damaging their main machine, I have to look and see if Google has taken the site down off their rankings yet too. I reported that site to all the search engines as an infection hazzard and danger to computers.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:47:59 +0000

To Mark Lytle, I don't know how much you do know on A/V or Spyware and Malware removal, so won't say you are a noob, all I can say is I have more than the average IT person as well, and have had good experience with SAS, I also use the Hijack this log system to show and report things that it and other setups remove and don't, I also have a friend from California, who is a real good IT person too, and he has had issues with SAS as well. We found what was the cause of his issue and he now likes the program as well. It was driver conflicts on his machine, that caused his problems. As per each user, a machine is unique to each person, what I mean is each person sets up their machine in different ways. As per their use habits. Sometimes these setups can conflict with some programs and software, and A/V and Anti spyware and malware programs are no different to this. And if I were in your shoes and had bad luck with the program, I would feel the same, so I am not going to rag on you, because you may have a legitimate issue, something that I and others haven't come across yet, but on the same note, don't condemn a program until you test and see what caused the issue, as my friend in Cal. did. We worked together on it for a week until we found the issue he was having. Though his issue wasn't the same as yours, it was still a valid issue, His install severely slowed down his machine and kept registering his A/V program as a trojan. But once we found the drivers that were in conflict from anothe program he had, and re-adjusted things, he was running fine. I do hope you do find the time to test SAS more, even if you put it on a computer you have just for that purpose, I have more than one computer, and one of the machines is specifically to test new software, and rate it for companies. I try to run them seperately, together and in mixes with other software of the same kind. Purposfully trying to crash that computer. And I only reccomend what I find that works from my tests.

To Brian, okay you perform real research on these, then you are guilty of what you accused the rest of us of, where is your data and stats to prove this. Like I said to Mark, I only reccomend things that I have severely tested first. Not just because I hear or think it is a good product, I test first, and when the test trials are over, I make my decision on what I would use on my computer, and some of the reccomendations I have gave are from what I have found that have worked from my tests, if you want a good trial of your software, then by all means visit the link I put at the first of this thread, and see how well your programs work, but I would use a computer you don't normally use, I found that site from a friend looking for info on his line of work and it hit him so hard, that he thought his computer was useless and would have to rebuild from scratch the O/S and his programs. I saved his computer with the very programs listed here and a couple I have that I use. The extra programs I used that aren't listed here aren't A/V or anti spyware/malware programs, they are made specifically on accessing computers when they will not respond or start, they also do more. But will not go into that for security reasons. I repair computers and make custom ones for people, and on my computers I make, I put all the bundle packages I personally use on them for my customers. I also post my test work on the A/V and Malware forums and other sites for that info, for others to know what is out there and to protect their computers, this is just an article and if it were a trade paper site or trade site for this subject and had the room for the test results and log files to show things then I would post it. But as the author of this said, it is an article, and it should be kept that way, this isn't a white paper site, so the info on that should be found there on those sites and other sites of the same issue.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:08:39 +0000

12 years ago I was asked to recommend a virus protection product for my company. Before I did so, I actually performed REAL research. I examined studies of lab tests that were performed to determine which products side by side were able to handle which threats and to what degree of success. The tests were comprehensive using as many viral threats as they could find in the wild as examples. My recommendation was backed with statistics that demonstrated effectiveness.

I see nothing like this neither in the article nor in the comments.

All I read here are folk asserting that one product is good over another with very little back their assumptions. If â€œXYZâ€ program is keeping your system clean, how can you know this? There is no real substance to any of the assertations of how effective these programs are. No testing quoted, only anecdotal testimony of how people â€œfeelâ€ the software is doing on their system with no real facts to demonstrate this. Beyond how â€œuser friendlyâ€ one product might be over another in terms of interface or performance, I donâ€™t find a single opinion here worth consideration due to the lack of hard facts. I donâ€™t have those facts either I guess as I am too lazy to repeat such research again anytime soon. But then I am not asserting that I magically â€œknowâ€ that one AV program is better than another. Nor have I purported to have written a supposedly useful article on it.

By: Mark Lytle

Mark Lytle — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:16:43 +0000

Back @ Chucklin – never heard of your sources – don't trust your answers. At the same time _ have doing this probably much linger than you – it is what I do. So I don't have much to say here other than SAS is porbably imperfect and do not use FREE solutions – none of them are perfect. No offense Chucklin brother….

By: T Kime

T Kime — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:43:17 +0000

your number 1 threat is wrong! the Number 1 Virus threat is your own behavior , free music , free movies , free cute little cursors , the list goes on and on

By: Charles J Etheridge

Charles J Etheridge — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:46:15 +0000

I've found that Windows Live OneCare v.2 does a fine job of keeping my system clean. Version 2 includes Defender so I don't have to deal with that any more. Of course I visit generally sites where there's not likely to be all that much problem. Sure it costs $49.95 per year but I'm never aware of it running and I really don't think that it slows me down at all. Of course I am running Vista Ultimate SP1 and now IE8 Beta 2, but I've never been aware of anything that seems infectious. I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I do have Comcast 12mb/sec service along with digital cable for TV, though I declined the AV that they offer. With both the Vista and the OneCare firewalls it seems that I have a pretty good protective suite, and the nice thing is that in operation it is never noticeable. The IE8 is great, faster than IE7 and better protection.

By: Chucklin

Chucklin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:19:28 +0000

No AV/AS is used here and I deliberately download and install any and all types of malware then upload the results to antimalware authors for any needed inclusions to their databases.

Hardware FW, Returnil, Sandboxie, Ghost Images and Virtual Machines are my solutions.

In my cleanup routines of the many other machines I have worked on and besides manual cleanups I also utilize Malwarebyte's Antimalware, SuperAntispyware, AVZ and Dr Web's Cureit.

@ Mark Lytle, I don't believe a word you are implying about SAS deleting your pics.

I would have to ascertain that you actually don't know what you are doing.

By: Mark Lytle

Mark Lytle — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:42:30 +0000

OK – I just let the 'superantispyware' installed for two days – its very quiet malicious software. I was working with pictures and all of a sudden this thing – as I have not changed a thing or have been attacked – will delete pictures and folders – and they not infected.

You have a very sneaky criminal out there that is malicious. And don't give me 'any' 'well you must be infected with something else or your pics are'

This software is a 'bug' in itself… I am far beyond the average IT guy in this… let alone any typical user.

So bad news for that product – I just lost a few slides I will have to re-scan and a camping trip of 70+ pics because this things was running… I can recover – but I see a lot of – here – amatuers…. so I'll say good night and no worries…I will not be back thank you.

By: Mark Lytle

Mark Lytle — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:53:43 +0000

To Patrick,
Through the years it is common practice NOT to use more than one anti-virus. Problems result in one reacting to anothers real-time protection and scans. They may conflict in ways that may generate messages from one or the other and/or you may see your computer get real slow. I have found usually more than one anti-spyware – if they don't give obvious signs of conflict – to run simultaneously in real-time – is OK. You want to pick ONE good AV and then at least one good AS. For your choices as long as they aren't complaining and don't obvious slow wach other or the computer down, ok, but two AVs – I say no. I personally find that Trend as with Norton – may catch the virus but not the other malware. In the end – I say read some reviews and decide for yourself. Try the different trials if available – uninstall one before installing the other, run your scans, and see what really works for you. Another consideration is – is the use of the computer, who is using it – where are they going on the web, messaging, email etc. No offense but kids or teens or even adults using MySpace and other sites designed for entertainment or the POP culture, and other more unwholesome sites – I would recommend you use the strongest products you can find and schedule scans daily – maybe at night after bed time. Again above I mention what I use as I have used pretty much all mentioned in this collection of input here and the stuff I use will find things these others do not and has strong real-time protection without hogging resources or generating numerous redundant pop-ups. Its the best combo I have seen yet. Keep in mind in six months that can all change – the very popular vendors of the past have slipped in their ability to protect against malware – that is just obvious. And maybe in time they will improve again – it is a rollercoaster ride, always has been in this war between protection and those trying to defeat it. So good luck.