When Antivirus Software Goes Bad: 3 Myths Debunked
The worst thing you can do when securing your computer is to provide yourself with a false sense of security. Often, Mac owners, thanks in part to Apple's crafty marketing, will think that they could never get a virus. Even Windows users will sometimes say "But that could never happen to me!
The sad truth is, no matter how safe you think you are, there's always a risk, and the security "experts" are not doing enough to warn you.
Myth #1: Spending more for Antivirus software means better protection.
Nope! From my work in the field, it's often the most expensive software (Norton etc.) that manage to fail. The other week, I've seen 5 PC owners who thought they were protected with Norton and still got some infections. Just because it costs more does not equate to a better product.
Myth #2: You don't need security software.
Wrong! Even on platforms that don't suffer from as much malware as Windows, it is still a good precaution to have something. Going unprotected could mean more downtime and lost files- and a bigger headache for you to deal with later.
Myth #3: Once the virus is gone, you don't need to change passwords.
Take heed of this warning, as one of my clients learned the hard way. Many times, viruses will pose as a useful program, when in fact they are harvesting your personal data as you type it. This can expose important data such as bank account passwords and email, potentially sensitive data that could lead to identity theft.
So what can we learn from this? It's always better to be safe than sorry. Be conscious of what you install or download onto your computer. I personally reccomend using the Google Chrome Web Browser and AVG antivirus software, as these are what I found to work best for both my clients and myself. If you have Norton, uninstall it now, it's been nothing but trouble for my clients.
If you need help or want to ask a question, you can read more at my website.
I will also be here to answer your questions at the Chamber of Commerce's Town Square Sale Come by my table!
Dale
10:53 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
AVG is good anti-virus software. However, the problem with the free edition is that major updates are often not downloaded and installed automatically; however, minor updates are indeed downloaded and installed automatically. When the free edition expires, the software prompts the user to download and install the premium edition. Of course, tech professionals know how to download the latest version of the free edition but others may experience difficulties with this process.
Therefore, I now recommend the free Microsoft Security Essentials - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials - for Windows users. It updates automatically, has a simple interface, and is light with system resources. In addition, it is produced by Microsoft, the same company that makes Windows, so conflicts with essential system services are unlikely. In the past AVG has misidentified an essential Windows file as malware and then deleted this file. Once this file was deleted, Windows would not boot - http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/212001916 .
Dale
11:06 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
Google Chrome is an excellent browser, although it does have a few issues. For one, there are concerns with privacy. Depending on how Google Chrome is configured, information about the Web sites that you visit can be sent to Google. Of course, knowledgeable individuals can configure Chrome's settings to prevent this occurrence, but not everyone may be familiar with how to do this or even know that this potential privacy issue exists.
In addition, Google Chrome tends to use more memory (RAM) than other popular Web browsers. This can present a problem on older systems or if many programs are open at a time.
I usually recommend Mozilla Firefox - http://www.mozilla.com - for most people. Mozilla Firefox is produced by a non-profit organization and open-source developers who have shown a commitment to privacy. For example, Mozilla Firefox has an option called "Do Not Track," which tells participating Web servers not to report to third parties what Web sites you visit. Unfortunately, Google Chrome does not have this option, although it may be included in a future version.
In addition, the current version of Mozilla Firefox tends to use less memory, on average, than Google Chrome. Earlier versions of Firefox had a memory leak, but this problem seems to be fixed in the current version. Firefox does take a little longer to start up than Chrome, although the difference is under a second, but once started, it usually consumes less system resources than Chrome.
Gavin Rozzi
11:21 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
I have to disagree.Firefox is still bloated and not as secure- it lacks important features such as sandboxing and the Gecko rendering engine is terrible, performance is noticeably slower than Chrome. The memory leaking issues are still present. Firefox has many issues and Chrome's WebKit rendering engine is much better, as shown by the recent gains in marketshare and critical acclaim. If you are concerned about privacy, there are numerous extensions or you can try the open-source Chromium, which is Google Chrome sans Google. Security essentials has been pretty bloated and failed to detect some viruses for my clients. The only suite that I've found to be satisfactory and that has worked for my clients and myself is AVG. AVG has a very light footprint and is very efficient, and their rescue CD functionality is top-notch. The issue with AVG was back in 2008 and has since been fixed. Both of these recommendations have worked flawlessly on pedestrian Windows XP era hardware.
Dale
11:55 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
Please see the recent Lifehacker article comparing the latest versions of the popular Web browsers: Firefox 13, Chrome 19, Opera 12, and Internet Explorer 9 - http://lifehacker.com/5917714/browser-speed-tests-chrome-19-firefox-13-internet-explorer-9-and-opera-1164 .
Firefox won some of the performance tests, such as tab loading, memory usage (with nine tabs open), and memory usage (with nine tabs and five extensions). Google Chrome won others, such as URL loading and Javascript. Opera even won a few tests.
According to this article, when loading nine tabs, "Chrome continued to be agonizingly slow."
Based on the tests done by Lifehacker, they awarded Mozilla Firefox the best overall score.
I agree that Firefox lacks sandboxing for the browser and hopefully this feature will be added in the near future. However, Firefox does sandbox plugins, such as Adobe Flash, which is a notorious security risk. It also should be noted that Steve Gibson, of GRC (Gibson Research Corporation) and co-host of the Security Now podcast (on the TWiT network), still primarily uses Firefox on his own computers.
Google Chrome may have gained some market share due to being faster sometimes. However, they probably gained much market share due to the ubiquitous advertising of Chrome across Google properties and other Web sites. In the past few months, how many times have you seen ads for Chrome? Have you seen ads for Firefox?
Dale
12:13 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
I like AVG and used to use and recommend it before Microsoft Security Essentials. In addition, I have found AVG very effective in stopping many viruses. However, I have found Microsoft Security Essentials also effective in stopping many viruses.
Unfortunately, no anti-virus software, whether AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials, Norton, McAfee (the worst), Avira, Avast, Kaspersky, NOD32, etc., is 100% effective at stopping malware. I have encountered clients' computers running many of the aforementioned anti-virus programs being infected with malware. One statistic I have heard, although I do not know how accurate it is, is that an anti-virus program will only stop about 80% of the malware in existence. However, which 80% that is stopped varies by the anti-virus program.
The best method to prevent malware infection is user education. The best anti-virus program in the world will not stop an infection if the user is uneducated on what not to do. This includes educating the user on what warning messages from their anti-virus look like so they will avoid interacting with false warning messages that are meant to trick the user into downloading malware.
I agree with you about staying away from Norton. I would also add McAfee to the list of security software not to use.