   Virus
  Ive been pretty slack when it comes to viruses. For the longest time, I had no virus software whatsoever. Nothing. And I never got a virus. Or (more likely) I did get viruses, but they didnt seem to affect anything. My computer never crashed, my files never got deleted, the system never slowed down noticeably, nothing. About a year ago, I got McAfee virus software and things started to go downhill. I had to turn McAfee off anytime I played a game, otherwise my frame rate suffered, as well as my ping if playing online. With McAfee running, I constantly got annoying warning messages about suspicous files and viruses. Fuck it was annoying. Every 30 seconds another message from McAfee would pop up warning me about some kind of bullshit. So I click the clean/delete button, and every goddam time it tells me that it cant clean/delete the file. So what the hell is the point of McAfee? To warn/annoy me about 'viruses' (that dont seem to be actually causing problems anyway), and then not do anything about them anyway? If you ask me, McAfee is the worst virus my computer has ever had, in terms of pissing me off and fucking up productivity.So anyway, I figure I should have some kind of virus protection, although Im not impressed with McAfee so far. Any other suggestions?Ive just heard about a very interesting solution to all my problems. Could someone who knows more than me (anyone) please confirm that this is a good idea and will work? : Have a second computer running between my real computer and the internet, and have the virus software installed on it. Not sure how to do it, but make all internet traffic go through that second computer, and thus the virus scanner. Assuming I keep the virus definitions up to date, this should provide complete virus protection for my real computer, which wouldnt need any virus software at all. Which would make me very happy. Considering the trouble that McAfee had with cleaning/removing viruses, Im thinking that prevention is a much better alternative to cleanup.[Edited by - AndreTheGiant on December 14, 2005 10:36:14 AM]
AVG;  If your having so many virus warnings, why don't you just do a full system scan and get rid of them all? It is not that big of a hassle if they are all gone. That is what most people do, try this free online scan.   ;Quote:Original post by GDKnightIf your having so many virus warnings, why don't you just do a full system scan and get rid of them all?Yes Ive done a full system scan, it finds quite a few viruses, but Quote:Original post by AndreTheGiantSo I click the clean/delete button, and every goddam time it tells me that it cant clean/delete the file.;Quote:Original post by AndreTheGiantQuote:Original post by GDKnightIf your having so many virus warnings, why don't you just do a full system scan and get rid of them all?Yes Ive done a full system scan, it finds quite a few viruses, but Quote:Original post by AndreTheGiantSo I click the clean/delete button, and every goddam time it tells me that it cant clean/delete the file.In that case check your process list and close all processes that are un-needed chances are it is in your processes, this should allow you to delete some if not all of them, this is caused because the file is currently running. Or you can boot into safe mode with F8 and do the scan.Also, if you don't have it already get these: SpywareBlasterAd-AwareSpybotOpen up SpywareBlaster, check for updates and then enable all of it's protection. This keeps tons of stuff off your computer.Open up Ad-Aware.Run a full system scan with ad-aware.Open up Spybot, update it if you want, in spybot turn on advanced settings goto->tools->host file then click the button that says Add Spybot Search & Destory hosts list. This will protect you from various sites that might toss things at you such as malware, trojans, spyware, adware, etc.Also, in Spybot go to the Immunization tab and click Immunize. This will keep more stuff off of your comp.Then run scan with Spybot search and destroy. That should keep you pretty darn safe from ad-ware and related things such as trojans, viruses, malware, spyware, adware.   ;  Yeah, do what he said.  Don't even have to rerun the scan... just write down the names/paths of the files, go to safe mode, and kill them.   ;  I don't use anti virus software. Sometimes I run programs to check for viruses just to be sure though (but I'm pretty sure I'd notice anyway through anomalous bandwith usage and other strange behaviours). I've only once ever gotten a virus, and that was because I installed win2k and connected to the internet before installing the latest service pack. I have a few simple rules I follow:Never connect to the internet without the latest security patches installed.Never execute files from sources you don't trust (this includes suspicious email attachments or files transfered over IM).Never use Internet Explorer on sites you don't trust.There is always a risk offcourse, but I dont really trust anti virus companies. After all their source of income is the viruses. But for the average ignorant user I'd still recommend using an anti virus program, if you don't know what a file extension is then it would be impossible to filter out executable files.;  Im not an ignorant user who downloads exes from porn sites or opens attachments from people at free69Warez@hacks.net. Viruses/spyware are just pretty much unavoidable.Anyway, thanks everyone, I guess I have a bunch of things to try when I get home tonight.But my most important question is still unanswered:Can I put the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware software on a separate computer between my main computer and the internet, in order to protect my main computer from virus/spyware, while not encumbering my main computer with the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware overhead?Thank you.   ;Quote:Original post by AndreTheGiantIm not an ignorant user who downloads exes from porn sites or opens attachments from people at free69Warez@hacks.net. Viruses/spyware are just pretty much unavoidable.Anyway, thanks everyone, I guess I have a bunch of things to try when I get home tonight.But my most important question is still unanswered:Can I put the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware software on a separate computer between my main computer and the internet, in order to protect my main computer from virus/spyware, while not encumbering my main computer with the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware overhead?Thank you.I am pretty sure you can't unless your other computer is like a server and you just access it from some dummy computer. This is because the files on your computer are not the same as the other computers. The only way you could possibly do that is by having some sort of system where it literally scans every single packet inbound.Which I don't know if it exists but I am pretty sure it doesn't. The scanning alone for each packet would cause more overhead then the virus software you run on your computer.   ;  A good hardware firewall can do wonders. Block all incoming connections, and only allow outbound connections on the most important ports (http, https, ftp, smtp, pop). This won't help you if you execute an infected exe manually, or use IE / Outlook, but combined with Firefox, Thunderbird, a non-intrusive antivirus software such as AVG, and a good safety distance from anything smelling P2P and/or warez, you should be perfectly fine.   