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Geek Culture / Sis got several Viruses..

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David Gervais
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Location: Montreal, Canada
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:09
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Well, call me suspicious, My sister got like 3 bad viruses on her computer. She never goes to strange sites, just likes to go to store sites like Sears, Home Depot, Staples, Canadian Tire etc. She got like 3 very bad viruses, one that prohibits her from going to any anti virus site on the net.

I go to many of the same sites as her but never get viruses.. I HAVE NO Anti-virus software installed. I haven't gotten any virus in the last 20 years. she HAS Anti-virus software installed (paid for, not the free stuff and a well known company) and gets viruses all the time. Seems like every other month she is in a virus pickle jar.

Call me paranoid but I don't believe in coincidences, I strongly suspect that some anti-virus software companies spread viruses in order to promote their latest and best virus killer. After all who else benefits from the nasty viruses out there? And seeing that both my bro and sis get viruses from time to time and they both have different anti-virus software installed. leads me to this conclusion. I mean really, has common sense been removed from the general public to the point where they feel the need to 'reply yes' to every pop-up message they get in windows or while browsing?

I am paranoid and don't believe in coincidences.

Cheers!

P.S. Oh as per my usual, when she got her latest set of viruses I scanned my PC with home housecall from Trend Micro..(an online virus scanner) it found none,.. then installed and scanned with Avast! it found none, (I have automatic and 'live' scans turned off) then with spybot search and destroy, it found none, then SuperAntiSpyware.. it found 3 suspicious cookies. I have none of these running at bootup, I only run the scans manually when these things happen. So I have no 'active' anti virus running. but I seem to remain virus free. Did I say I'm suspicious and paranoid about active anti-virus software?

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BiggAdd
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:12 Edited at: 22nd Aug 2009 13:18
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She opened an email from anyone? Also which Anti-virus?

I have Norton, but still got a virus from an email, it was from a friend as well (Sending over wind tunnel data).

If you don't have an Anti-Virus, I would strongly suggest Norton Internet Security.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:16
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MSN is pretty bad for viruses. Doesn't help that idiots will click any link their idiot friends send them, whether they actually sent it or not. You should always ask if they sent the link.

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BiggAdd
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:20 Edited at: 22nd Aug 2009 13:21
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Hope that wasn't aimed at me!

I get a lot of those automated emails as well, I don't see why people would want to sign up for the stuff thats on offer, let alone the fact its obviously a spam thing.

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El Goorf
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Location: Uni: Manchester, Home: Dunstable
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:27
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It's true. There so many scanners which let you scan for free, tell you you have 2000 viruses, and that you need to pay to remove them >.<

Like you, I don't have any virus scanners installed, after yrs of dodgy surfing and limewiring as a teen I've learnt how to avoid them, and havent had any problems in several yrs now...

http://notmybase.com
All my base are not belong to anyone.
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David R
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:33 Edited at: 22nd Aug 2009 13:37
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Quote: "I haven't gotten any virus in the last 20 years."


How would you know unless you had AV? (Because some of the more sophisticated ones certainly do not just say "HI IM VIRUS!" to you)

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
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Ernst Rolf
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Location: Sweden
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:53
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Quote: "I strongly suspect that some anti-virus software companies spread viruses in order to promote their latest and best virus killer. After all who else benefits from the nasty viruses out there?"

I'm with you on that one.
My mother, who hardly does more on the internet than read her mail and occassionally visits her working place's website gets some really vile viruses every now and then, while I, (once I did not install any antivirus after having to reformat two times to recover from severe infections, previously gained while running F-Secure) have no issues at all any more.

I believe that not only do the anti-virus companies spread the viruses "in the normal fashion"; their own "protecting" software is probably the biggest trojan of them all.

O ja
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 13:56 Edited at: 22nd Aug 2009 13:57
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Yes. How do we know their AV programs themselves are bug-free?

They're not, and adding more fuel to a fire only makes it worse.

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 14:20
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David Gervais you could have rootkits and various spyware without you knowing it, internet security doesn't only help keep the viruses away but stops hackers from spying on you and taking personal details, which could be used for fraud. Also, just because a site is owned by a big company, doesn't mean it's virus free.

Also, some anti-virus software is crap.

I'm going to counter Big Add's suggestion (as I'm not a fan of Norton) and say Kaspersky is a very good piece of Internet Security and something I highly recommend, it's straightforward to use, it doesn't get in the way, it isn't heavy on the system resources and does a bloody good job. All virsuses I've had so far eliminated before they could do any harm and it has some tools to make you extra secure like the virtual keyboard feature, when used it allows you to type in personal data safely, useful for bank details. Personally I love it.

Avast! and Spybot I don't think are very good, at least they didn't do the job so well when I was using freebies to keep my computer protected. The other tool you mentioned, I've never heard of.

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HowDo
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 14:47
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Strange indeed, I only had a few virus get in and that was when using Norton, now I use Kaspersky and nothing gets through, not even stuff I would like to install like Apache for servers, still working on how to let it install Apache.

Dark Physics makes any hot drink go cold.
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Mahoney
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 15:56
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The best free AV is Avast!, and I've heard the best paid for is NOD32.

Windows Vista Home Premium Intel Pentium Dual-Core 1.6 Ghz 1GB DDR2 RAM GeForce 8600GT Twin Turbo
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xplosys
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 16:53
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I don't think that the creators of AV software are the sharpest knives in the drawer. I don't think that any software or company is so secretive and bullet proof that they can hide trojans for years without being found out. Not even Microsoft can slip things into it's own O/S without being caught by watchdogs.

Unless it's a world wide conspiracy, and you're the only one who doesn't know about it, then I would have to think that these evil AV companies who secretly infect your system or spread infections would have been found out by now. Some disgruntled employee would have come forward.... or perhaps they never make it out of the building.

Brian.

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Green Gandalf
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Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 18:28
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Well, call me suspicious, but I wonder whether someone has hacked into David Gervais's PC, grabbed all his passwords and posted here in his name.
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lazerus
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 20:20
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Large antivirus companies actually pay people to hack, bypass, infiltrate their antivirus's so they can better them, this however also leaves the door open for the virus being sent around.

Am not much of the, everyones out to get me kind of guy, but think about it? when did a hacker gain the skills and know-how to bypass some of the most advanced AV out thier?

Think of it as this, if an AV that was perfect was realiesd, what would the companies make money off? there would be no need to upgrade would thier?

It pretty much comes down to money, again...

2cents lol

"Good never just happens, fate feels pity and grants a calm before the storm...
"
http://lazerus-reborn.deviantart.com/
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Uncle Sam
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Location: West Coast, USA
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 20:56
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I strongly recommend putting your AV software on "active". Don't push your luck any longer.

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Dark Dragon
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 22:02
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Get Avg Free version if you dont want to pay for norton. best 2 in my opinion, Keeps me well protected.

(\__/) HHAHAHAHAHAH!
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Insert Name Here
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Location: Worcester, England
Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 22:39
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I got AVG about three years ago and HATED IT and I will admit occasionally wanting to disembowel whoever decided that notifying me that adobe photoshop 3 was a danger to me AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN even if I put it on 'ignore', and so I turned it off. I downloaded it again recently and it's much better now. So I use that.

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The Wilderbeast
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 22:46
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Hmm, the only virus I've ever had was when I was young and foolish and tried download a keygen program - never made that mistake again. I'm using Avast and it's blocked a couple of things, other than that I've never had any issues with viruses anyway. Most of it is common sense.

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