[Ian]

Has your PC ever been infected by a computer virus, or has your AV software picked up a threat before it has taken hold?

I hope no-one reading this has no AV software!

[Taffycat]

I'm happy to say that my AV software has always intercepted any would-be threats. I use AVG free on the XP PC and KIS7 on Vista, both applications have done their jobs well for me

[floppybootstomp]

Twice. Once back in 2001 when somebody unwittingly sent a mass mail out with photos of their kids (so it said) as an attachment. They were not photos, it was a virus. Resulted in format: C

Second one around a year ago, I visited a place not really recommended. A virus slipped by all the protection I had in place - fresh installation.

Other than that, in around eleven or twelve years of being online with between two and four machines - nothing.

I could tick two boxes above as Antivir does detect and block a lot of viruses.

[feckit]

Twice in the past whilst running inferior AV Software than now.

[Abarbarian]

I've only been a pc user since 2002 and always used Avast Home free version . It has given me about 20 alerts whilst I have been surfimg which the program then stopped the nastys from getting into my machine . It has also shown up some possible nastys from downloads I have made , but some of those could have been false alarms . Touch wood I have never had a nasty infection .

I do run all the time and they do not seem to slow down the pc ,

McAfee Firewall free from AOL
Avast free anti virus
Windows Defender - free from Microsoft
SpyBot Search and Destroy free addaware

There is no reason for anyone not to have their pc protected with all the free programs about . If your pc gets infected its not the end of the world . However you may loose all your important data, pics, music etc etc . Also it will , no matter what you do or how much you know , take a few hours at least to clear the problem up . Thats every time you get infected .

I demonstrated how easy it is to get a pc infected with a friend . I built a pc for them and was going to let them find and download and install all the protection stuff themselves whilst I was there to help them along the way . The teenager I was trying to help did not want to waste time with boring stuff and just wanted to get on with more important stuff , instant messaging etc etc . The parent did not really see the value in it either as they were only going to be surfing and using good sites , not hmm cough cough dodgy sites . So they turned me offer of help down and said they would do the protection stuff later . Like I believed that . Anyways it was the lasses pc so I just shrugged me shoulders and let her carry on and sat in a different room with her mum and chatted away .

Next day I got a call saying that someting was wrong withthe pc . I went around and found that they had downloaded and installed Avast and it kept on showing virus warnings and they did not know what to do . So I showed them how to use the , remove , move to chest etc etc functions of Avast but the pc was still not right . Teenage trauma all round ensued .

Now I was on holiday and had given good advice so I was not prepared to fanny around searching and cleaning up the pc . So I said the best thing would be to do a clean install making sure that protection was in place from the start .

How would this be done and how long would it take me to do this as an important message needed to be sent , asked the teenager .

I laughed wickedly .

Won't take me any time at all I said .

Good said the teenager .

Your going to do it I said .

Me squeaked the teenager , how long will that take .

Not long I said I'll get you started and started the process for her .

Better not take long the teenager muttered .

If you get stuck I'll be in the garden with your mum I said as I closed the door .

It took as you will all know a long time . One angry teenager got angrier and worn out by the end of 4 or 5 hours . I was called for advice quite a few times and met with a angry and glum face every time I said , yes you have finished that part but now you need the updates , you have to download and install this etc etc .

Finally the job was done and messages could be senyt and recieved again .

Was the teenager happy .

Not really .

As there was a problem trying to play some anamie files .

Ahh I said you'll be needing to install some codecs and that nice player they are her in this folder , if you get stuck read the help file . I'll be next door talking to your mum .

I can't read the help file wailed the teenager .

Ahh I said you'll need to install Acrobat or this much quicker FoxitReader. Its here in this folder , I'll be next door talking to your mum.

An so it went on .

All that work setting up the pc down the drain all them programs and tweaks gone in an instant .Did I mind , not really . Do I mind all the phone calls , how do I do this that an tuther, not really .

See the teenager has a pc that works well . She also knows how to install an operating system and all the stuff that entails . She knows how to install and set up programs . Best of all she understands why its important to have up to date protection .

Like me parents always told me . There is an easy way to learn and there is a hard way to learn .

[muckshifter]

Oh, there will be some smart person voting they don't use an AV program ... must admit, I never did when using Linux.


I been caught once, not a virus, was the Blaster Worm ... was caught on its first days out, I think ... fortunately it was only the workshop PC, I quickly learnt about "shutdown -a" & got a decent Firewall installed.


Abarbarian, I have many similar stories ... I preferred teaching someone how to use their PC, helped to cut down on phone calls.


May as well add my preferences to the list I use ...

KIS (has its own anti-malware/spyware scanners & Host blacklist)
Windows defender (really is good, but then MS never invented it in the first place)
IE7 (no, really, does offer "protection" to sites, a better alternative than IE6)

[Abarbarian]

Originally Posted by muckshifter

Abarbarian, I have many similar stories ... I preferred teaching someone how to use their PC, helped to cut down on phone calls.

I prefer teaching simply aswell .

Trouble is if the othere person does not want any teaching there is not a lot you can do .

They paid for the calls at 6p per hour thats fairly cheap but a frustrating way to pick up knowledge .

[michael555]

I do not understand people not putting a virus checker on in the first place.


If your going on the net you need one and a firewall(free with windows xp).

There are alot of free virus checker on the net and 30 day version.

Download.com is a good place to started.

[GameMaster]

Well before I started to learn virus protection, I had big problems with viruses, because I liked to download stuff, and because I didn't have a good AV (again, because I didn't know which one's good ).
Had great problems with PC Cilin ( in fact, no problems at all, my computer was getting slower and slower, I've been scanning my PC every 3 days, I have never found a virus. ) Until I had to reformat because I had xxx number of worms in the registry.
Next I had Kaspersky, then AVG. Kaspersky was unregistered version (*embarassed*) then AVG was great...but yet, I had to reformat my PC because my Hard Drive died :eek!: That was 2 mnths ago.
Then I said, Hell and the viruses!
I got Nod32, and after that...I got very few viruses, everything I download is scanned and terminated if nasty.
So, what can I say? Yes to the first question, yes to the last one.

[masterkeedu]

www.free-av.com

Anti-Vir is a german based AV that is completely free with no subscription costs.

Every update will open a advertiesement (FRom AV) asking you to buy the license. There is no viagra or other ads, and you can close right away, only one, on updates.

I paid $80 (US) to license 3 computers for a year, pretty good deal i thought based on the experience i have ghad with it.

I have never got a bug since I began using it 4 years ago. I have had several "Anti_Vir heuristic found supisicous activity" and caught too many stupid IM worms beofre they infected me.

Also when you chip in the money for a license they give you email protection too!