Virus checker

  • Thread starter Thread starter KenK
  • Start date Start date
K

KenK

I've been using Kaspersky for years but this year can't renew at their web
site and they list no email, USPS or phone number support. Their web site
evidently doesn't work properly with Firefox and I can't enter billing
info. I've tried on and off for several days now. Auto-renewal isn't going
to work because my card expiration date is different.

No Norton - they are, IMHO, worse that a virus.

I've trie free ones in the past - Avast? maybe - and it let malware (key
stroke logger) in.

Duggestions? Using XP Home SP2. I could buy a new Kaspersky at Walmart but
I'm begining to question their abilities after my renewal problems. What if
I need virus help?

TIA
 
KenK said:
I've been using Kaspersky for years but this year can't renew at their web
site and they list no email, USPS or phone number support. Their web site
evidently doesn't work properly with Firefox and I can't enter billing
info. I've tried on and off for several days now. Auto-renewal isn't going
to work because my card expiration date is different.

No Norton - they are, IMHO, worse that a virus.

I've trie free ones in the past - Avast? maybe - and it let malware (key
stroke logger) in.

Duggestions? Using XP Home SP2. I could buy a new Kaspersky at Walmart but
I'm begining to question their abilities after my renewal problems. What if
I need virus help?

TIA

Too bad you didn't include a URL, and tell
us what you're seeing on that *particular* page,
so we can compare notes.

When I visited kaspersky.com, I was redirected to kaspersky.ca.

So instead, I recommend starting at

http://www.kaspersky.com/sitemap

and navigate from there. You're likely to eventually be
thrown back onto your country-specific site eventually, but
maybe you can navigate a bit easier from the sitemap page.

I can see renewal at:

http://usa.kaspersky.com/renewal/home-user-renewals

At the top-right of the page, the renewal phone number is 877-665-4717.
A live chat is offered as well (floating dialog box, appears
after half a minute or so). I've done a live chat with
them years ago, and was less than impressed. But YMMV.

Paul
 
Too bad you didn't include a URL, and tell
us what you're seeing on that *particular* page,
so we can compare notes.
Indeed.

When I visited kaspersky.com, I was redirected to kaspersky.ca.

What a strange world. When I just tried this, using verizon as my ISP,
using XP, and living in Baltimore, I got sent to
http://usa.kaspersky.com/?domain=kaspersky.com

Are you in Canda, Paul? The OP is pretty clearly in the US because he
mentioned the USPS


Was going to post about this anyhow. For all of you who keep track of
every little thing that happens to me, you probably remember that I
seemed to have some problems related to "conduit". At least the browser
in IE changed to Bing, I think it was. I changed it back (and deleted a
couple files) and never use IE anyhow, and I did a full scan with AVG,
and there were no clear problems after that, but the computer did get
slower and slower. Then sometimes it was faster. Then two days ago,
didn't have access to the internet for hours at a time.

I'd already run a scan with AVG, my real time virus checker, always
updated, but this time I scanned with Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware.

It found 4 conduit files it objected to and about 170 other things! (I
don't know how many were PotentiallyUnwantedProgram detectors and
PUModification detectors, which I see now is set by default to be
regarded as malware. Why do they set it that way?)

I don't think many of the 170 things had arrived since the last AVG
scan. Rather they were already there.

Computer is much faster now, for about everything.

Does that mean Malwarebytes is better than AVG?


Well, just installed SiSandra and DirectX. I hope that doesn't slow
things down again.

BTW, the Sandra home page says that all versions of it run on all OSes,
but they should have rewritten that for version 2014. To get the
latest version for 2013, I had to go to oldversion.com .

BTW2 wWhile looking for that, I came to old"something"..com which looked
much like it, had sections for Windows, Mac, etc. but wasnt the same and
had no files for Sandra.

Question: Why is the default for Malwarebytes to not look for rootkits?

Micky
 
micky said:
Was going to post about this anyhow. For all of you who keep track of
every little thing that happens to me, you probably remember that I
seemed to have some problems related to "conduit". At least the browser
in IE changed to Bing, I think it was. I changed it back (and deleted a
couple files) and never use IE anyhow, and I did a full scan with AVG,
and there were no clear problems after that, but the computer did get
slower and slower. Then sometimes it was faster. Then two days ago,
didn't have access to the internet for hours at a time.

I'd already run a scan with AVG, my real time virus checker, always
updated, but this time I scanned with Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware.

It found 4 conduit files it objected to and about 170 other things! (I
don't know how many were PotentiallyUnwantedProgram detectors and
PUModification detectors, which I see now is set by default to be
regarded as malware. Why do they set it that way?)

I don't think many of the 170 things had arrived since the last AVG
scan. Rather they were already there.

Computer is much faster now, for about everything.

Does that mean Malwarebytes is better than AVG?


Well, just installed SiSandra and DirectX. I hope that doesn't slow
things down again.

BTW, the Sandra home page says that all versions of it run on all OSes,
but they should have rewritten that for version 2014. To get the
latest version for 2013, I had to go to oldversion.com .

BTW2 wWhile looking for that, I came to old"something"..com which looked
much like it, had sections for Windows, Mac, etc. but wasnt the same and
had no files for Sandra.

Question: Why is the default for Malwarebytes to not look for rootkits?

Micky

Some bad software on your computer, is obviously bad. In the sense that
the author doesn't want their name known, they would be arrested if caught
and so on. In a court of law, a prosecutor would likely have no problem
proving they were damaging the computer, stealing information, and so on.

Such a software author, would not have the audacity to have a lawyer write
a letter to AVG, telling AVG to remove the definition for their piece of
malware.

The Potentially Unwanted Program authors, on the other hand, pretend they're
"helping" the user, what they provide is a "service". And do it in a way
that makes it difficult for the law to deal with them in an exact manner.
If AVG added a definition for such a program, to their malware list,
the author of the PUP would immediately sue them in court. The outcome
might be unclear, with AVG winning sometimes, and the PUP author winning
other times.

As a consequence, the 50+ AV programs may not be identifying everything
that a "normal person" would consider rubbish. And it's for pseudo-legal
reasons.

*******

So while that's a general observation, the practices of individual
programs can vary, and can vary from time to time.

There is MBAM (the one-shot free malware scanner), MBAR
(their solution for rootkits), and MBAE (exploit protection).
They have separate programs, of which some are more recent
than others. And some have "rough edges" and are effectively
beta releases. Maybe they eventually roll those developments
into the main tool.

I haven't needed to use MBAM here, so can't tell you what
settings are in there, what they're capable of detecting
today and so on. I normally point people to MBAM one-shot,
when it sounds like they have malware. For rootkits, there
are other solutions, but normally people would not even know
they have a rootkit, nor that they needed to tick different
boxes to detect them. I expect the detection techniques
for rootkits are a bit different, because if you were
just a malware scanner, a rootkit can "hide" from a malware
scanner, simply by not allowing the malware scanner to even
"see" certain files.

At the hint of the slightest trouble, if you have
a large number of infections, or are infected by
one of the "scary" ones, I recommend going to one
of the sites that offers guided help. As they know
how to combine the tools, what order to run them in,
and so on. MBAM, for example, is seldom allowed to start
by malware, which is why a lot of times, users can't fix
stuff with it.

*******

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit

"For Windows, detection tools include

Microsoft Sysinternals RootkitRevealer,[
Avast! Antivirus
Sophos Anti-Rootkit
F-Secure,[65] Radix
GMER
WindowsSCOPE

Any rootkit detectors that prove effective
ultimately contribute to their own ineffectiveness,
as malware authors adapt and test their code to
escape detection by well-used tools.
"

So MBAR isn't even in that list. Neither is Kaspersky
TDSSKiller, which takes care of a particular rootkit
family.

HTH,
Paul
 
KenK said:
I've been using Kaspersky for years but this year can't renew at their web
site and they list no email, USPS or phone number support. Their web site
evidently doesn't work properly with Firefox and I can't enter billing
info. I've tried on and off for several days now. Auto-renewal isn't going
to work because my card expiration date is different.

No Norton - they are, IMHO, worse that a virus.

I've trie free ones in the past - Avast? maybe - and it let malware (key
stroke logger) in.

Duggestions? Using XP Home SP2. I could buy a new Kaspersky at Walmart but
I'm begining to question their abilities after my renewal problems. What if
I need virus help?

TIA


I was using Avast which has now become bloated , so I'm now using
Bitdefender free .
 
Have you tried Comodo?

It's fairly comprehensive once you get used to the interface and it also includes a nice browser,
Comodo Dragon, with "incognito" mode.

I use Comodo on Windows XP SP3 and also on Linux Ubuntu.
 
jim wrote :

I was using Avast which has now become bloated , so I'm now using
Bitdefender free .

How is BD free performing? Can you now bring items back from
quarantine and place them in exempt status? That was one of the main
complaints I recall reading about.
 
"KenK" wrote
I've been using Kaspersky for years but this year can't renew at their web
site and they list no email, USPS or phone number support. Their web site
evidently doesn't work properly with Firefox and I can't enter billing
info. I've tried on and off for several days now. Auto-renewal isn't going
to work because my card expiration date is different.

No Norton - they are, IMHO, worse that a virus.

I've trie free ones in the past - Avast? maybe - and it let malware (key
stroke logger) in.

Duggestions? Using XP Home SP2. I could buy a new Kaspersky at Walmart but
I'm begining to question their abilities after my renewal problems. What
if
I need virus help?

I suggest you run two partitions, WinXP and Win7, say. When you suspect a
virus got to:

http://www.f-secure.com/en/web/home_global/online-scanner

and run the free F-secure scanner from the uninfected partition on the
infected partition. F-secure claims two hours for knowledge of any newly
released virus. This means the guy who wrote the virus sits in a cubical
next to the AV guy. Be wary of commercial AV product$. Free is better.
Microsoft Security Essentials claims a 24 response time due to threat
sharing that you can opt in/out of. Not all AV products will detect and
remove all virii. Sometimes you need to do online research for specific
solutions.

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/

is one place to start.

Real time AV checking of all I/O streams can be nice but it costs and
sometimes does no work. Too much malware protection is like wearing two or
more condoms for added protection.

Practice safe computing and be wary of websites in India. They are notorious
for pernicious changes to connect you to their search engine. Adobe Flash
player update is a security hole.

Practice safe computing, cancel your ISP account and connect to the Internet
using a $14, 2.4 GHz Yagi antenna from China. That way your name is not
connected to an IP address. IPv6 helps a lot. Targeted PC attacks are as
much a reality as targeted shootings. That level of deep cover also protects
you from the RIAA and the Hollywood copyright goons. On an annual basis
about 200,000 downloaders are prosecuted by Hollywood. Remember MegaUpload?
In the latest episode of 'The Simpsons' Homer is prosecuted by the FBI for
copyright infringement, after Marg snitches on him. Going to prison is more
of a problem than a simple PC virus that was invented by some hacker in
Russia with the intention of recruiting your PC LAN into his global botnet.

Read this bit of state sponsored propaganda from Russia:

China to Replace Google, Microsoft With Homegrown OS
http://en.ria.ru/society/20140825/192333372/China-to-Replace-Google-Microsoft-With-Homegrown-OS.html

Practice safe computing. Install ChinaOS when released. After your ISP, your
second worst enemy is your own government, followed by Russian hacker mafia.
Then comes Microsoft, Apple, Google and all the other commercial and usual
suspects.
 
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