i need free virus scanners

[ecookman]

currently i have no virus checker...ya bad...i know


suggestion for free ones?????

i am currently looking at avast...but are there better free ones that are a full version not a trial

[Insectoid]

AVG is one...I'll find some others, they've slipped my mind.

DON'T download 'antivirus 2008/2009/etc. This is a virus. I believe majorgeeks.com has some good links.

[btiffin]

Windows http://www.clamwin.com/
GNU/Linux http://www.clamav.net/

Cheers

[syntax_error]

I second AVG.

[andrew.]

I use Avast! I find it better and faster than AVG and it also doesn't slow your computer down at boot up.

Oh yeah, I just looked at Clamwin and it says that there is no real-time scanning, so that means you have to scan a file as you download it. Personally, I wouldn't go with Clamwin especially because it's open-source and it would be easier for hackers to get by it.

[[Gandalf]]

andrew. @ 2008-12-04, 11:34 pm wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't go with Clamwin especially because it's open-source and it would be easier for hackers to get by it.

True, that's why Linux is riddled with security problems. Same with FireFox.

AFAIK, AVG 8 became a lot more bloated than AVG 7, you might want to give the previous version a try.

[bugzpodder]

if anyone wants to know about firewalls, i saved a link: http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php#firewalls-ratings

[rdrake]

Gandalf @ Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:42 pm wrote:

andrew. @ 2008-12-04, 11:34 pm wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't go with Clamwin especially because it's open-source and it would be easier for hackers to get by it.

True, that's why Linux is riddled with security problems. Same with FireFox.

The sheer amount of sarcasm in those two sentences is staggering. I'm proud of you .

In the past AVG's worked pretty well for me.

[ecookman]

ya... i had AVG (free version)...but dissapointed of how it really bogged down your computer...all...the...time!!!


then comes the really annoying part...the freeversion is now a trial

the version of AVG I had expired so then i got Windows Defender...to only realize it only picks up spyware

thanks for the help!

p.s. what is wrong with fire fox..i like it

[Insectoid]

*sarcasm*

[Zeroth]

ecookman, he was being sarcastic. You just spouted off, mindlessly, one of the claims of propietary software makers(like Microsoft). Here's the thing: security through obscurity is not a good tactic. "Oh the hacker's don't know how we scan for viruses... they'll never crack it!" Yes, and no one's been able to crack software ever, eh? The problem is that, in propietary software, often the only real security IS the security through obscurity. Whereas open-source software has to actually have real, verifiable security, with algorithms that can be checked. In the security industry, since the very beginning, has always been the approach that encryption algorithms are never closed off. They want people to analyze and break the algorithms.

Here's a little known secret: hacker's don't read the source code of the antivirus programs to trick them. They just install and run the programs, and see if that catches the virus. So, ecookman... learn more. Don't be a mindless sheep. Analyze, be pragmatic. Accept nothing at face-value. Be a critical thinker.

[ecookman]

well sorry i figured you guys knew something i didn't...

and i didn't pick up on the sarcasm...my bad


and if you were a true hacker...you probally would read the source code

[Tony]

Actually the statement was made by andrew., not ecookman.

andrew. @ Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:34 pm wrote:

it's open-source and it would be easier for hackers to get by it.

Zeroth is spot on though. Take RSA for example: "RSA is widely used in electronic commerce protocols". The algorithm is posted right there on the Wikipedia, and is covered in the first year of studies at Waterloo. Though it is exactly because this algorithm is so well known, that makes it secure enough to use for online banking.

edit:

ecookman @ Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:23 pm wrote:

and if you were a true hacker...you probally would read the source code

If you were a true hacker... you wouldn't be distributing malware.

[Zeroth]

Whoops sorry.

[md]

/me notes that virus scanners are useless.

So you write your virus. Then you download all the popular antivirus software onto your virtual machines. Then you infect the virtual machines and see which virus scanners detect it (usually none). Then if it is detected you make changes and try again. Repeat until no scanners detects your virus.

Now you release it!

Virus scanners cannot work. At best they can help keep you from being infected by old virus, which would not be able to function anyways if you patch your computer.