The plural of virus is viruses.

It could be complete fiction - it doesn't make it any less amusing.

And the Latin plural is viri.

Viri, virii, viruses,

Only the last was not flagged by the FF spellchecker.

That doesn't mean much. The dictionaries in these browsers are woefully inadequate. They miss pretty common words all the time. Yes, ones which I know are spelled correctly, because I'll be so shocked that it isn't recognized that I'll research it even though I'm certain of the spelling. I don't know why they're missing so many words.

He specifically said the Latin plural, though, so maybe the spellcheckers miss that. The English form appears to be viruses...

No, it's not.

Whoops. Misread my dictionary. Damned Latin declensions.

This reminds me of last night's episode of the Office for some reason....

-=Chuckle=- Agreed. I will be sad when that show is over.

Indeed! Wow. I had to share it with some friends (and for the first time in my life I shared it on facebook. Whatever).
Thanks for posting this, Bruno.

And yes, Virus, as far as I remember from highschool, is 4 declension. Nonetheless, why use Latin? "Virus" comes from Latin, but is very well into the modern English language.

Mostly because they can't. It isn't a technical control that is required or possible.

Actually, you can build technical controls that could do this but users don't want them as they impact on usability. Annually, about 5% of all the security work I do is awareness training. It isn't sexy or glamourous, and the downside is every time we do it we need to change the approach as users forget/are indifferent after about 6 months at best.

I think it is human nature (normals, not geeks) to ignore any of this stuff as it doesn't seem to have a direct impact on safety (in the old fashioned 'will it stop me being eaten' kind of way)

The attacks I wad talking about is the fake anti-virus tools, there is no reason why the mainstream tools couldn't treat those fake tools as viruses and block them from running.

Because anti-virus is unlikely to spot the majority of them before install as they don't require anything to be installed before the user clicks. Once they do click, you can scan the app but if it doesn't match an existing signature it won't get picked up. And enough get through on each version that the bad guys keep at it.

Bitt, I know you're right about this because I've seen them before, but I can't seem to find any now! Any Amazon links?

Newegg


They have others as well, I used the keyword 'write protect' when looking at their USB Flash Drives.

Like this?

tanstaafl.

Nah, I don't need it to be secure or anything, I just need something that can't be written over.


Thanks, that should work fine. It's not the greatest looking/smallest one I've ever seen, but it'll be fine for this purpose. I ordered a couple from Amazon.

Reviving an old thread because my NOD32 anti virus licence expires in a week and I'm looking out if there are no better alternatives out there since the last time I renewed my licence. (and no, I'm not switching to Mac or Linux )

I've been using NOD32 for years now and I'm pretty happy with it. In fact, I would have no problem renewing the licence for it's anti-virus skills. It's just that lately, I've noticed a different type of infections are now quickly becoming the most dangerous and most widely-spread ones. Up to a few years, email attachments were the most dangerous. Nowadays, simply clicking on the wrong link in your browser can make a lot of bad things happen for you. I'm not sure NOD32 is capable of intercepting this kind of thread. No, let me rephrase that: I've known NOD32 to intervean on a few occasions but I'm not sure if it's their forte or not. Online review claim it's not in any case.

So now I'm considering installing Microsoft Security Essentials for the anti-virus part, and buying Malwarebytes Anti-malware Pro since the pro version comes with a live scanner.

Would this be a good idea? Or should I just stick with NOD32? Or is there an even better option?

Thx!

Whatever you end up doing, don't install two real-time virus scanners. MSE does live scanning as well.

At the end of the day, the best antivirus is good user behavior. I've been rocking MSE for years now, and haven't had a virus in that time, but none of these programs are 100%. It's always possible for a user to do something that gets them infected.

The reason I decided to go with MSE was that it was the most lightweight antivirus out there. It never annoys me unless it sees something nasty go by. It doesn't put a strain on my system. It doesn't bother me constantly about renewing anything. It doesn't prevent me from going to any websites or from setting up a networkable printer (which I've seen several times with stupid Norton). MSE gets out of my way and gives me some security.

I would say that combining MSE with the free version of Malwarebytes (which you run every once and a while), is all you really need.

Why not? Does this significantly slow down your system or something?


Agreed, but back in the day you only had to be aware of your email attachments. Nowadays, simply clicking on the 'wrong link' is bad. There's no way of checking that beforehand and cautious surfing beaviour won't help you here.


I have the same feeling about NOD32. It's never failed me, not once. But multiple online review I've read seem to indicate that their live scanning could be improved, especially when it comes to rootkits. This is the reason I've started to look at alternatives.

I was going to say the same thing... but about AVG. Maybe it's just my naivete and ignorance speaking, but I have been 100% satisfied with AVG for the five years or so I've been using it.

tanstaafl.

I've been wary of AVG ever since they made that error in one of their updates so it pointed to some essential windows system files as being malware and removed them, resulting in a inoperable pc. Granted, that was some time ago, but I guess I haven't been ready to forgive them.

Which suspenders would you like to wear with that belt?

But seriously, why have everything you do run past two sets of eyes? If you have a decent AV you shouldn't need a second one, and it'll make your computer happier. It's not really going to help you anyway.


I really think you're being a little more scared of viruses than you probably need to be. Your language makes it seem like you're peeking around every corner of the web, afraid that a criminal is right on the other side ready to accost you.

What I was trying to say before was that I've been using plain old MSE for years now, with nothing but the Windows firewall and a router, and I haven't had a disaster yet (*knock knock!*). Even if it did, I have all my data backed up.*


Here's what I suggest to my clients:
MSE
Google Chrome browser (I like Adblock Plus but some have understandable ethical issues with it)
Windows Firewall enabled
An average router
Malwarebytes (run every month or so if it makes you feel better)
TDSSKiller (for rootkits - same frequency)

I understand that you like AVG, and I have nothing against them. My problem with them, as I've stated before, is that I see them getting out of control with the feature creep that did Norton and McAfee in. Eventually their software is going to start impacting system performance just like the big guys they supplanted.

That, and the false positives that Archeon mentioned. Also, you do get bugged for renewals, don't you?

Ah, so malwarebytes is also just another AV program? I thought malware was a different category alltogether, thus requiring a different approach. I'd rather also squash the infection as it is happening than clean up the mess afterwards, hence the lookout for a utility that does real-time scanning. Of course, if all this is not the case, then I can just as well stay with my NOD32 (which I've been happy with for a long time) and indeed use the free version of Malwarebytes now and then.

I've also heard good things about Bitdefender. It's malwareprotection is supposed to be pretty good, as well as it's virus squashing ability. The only problem is I have no idea how slow it might make my pc.
Does anybody have any info on that?


No, not at all. I'm sorry if I made it seem that way, but I'm not paranoid about security at all. I just like to be prepared to the best of my ability. For years, I also didn't use an AV suite (only since the last 5 years or so)


Thanks for that list, that may come in handy in the future! Also, thanks for your feedback!

Never use two live scanners - it doesn't just slow things down twice, contention sometimes means it could be slowed down an incredible amount.

Plus, there's no point :-) They are all pretty much the same on this front. I still would prefer MSE over the others, for the reasons described above, but they all just work.

Thanks guys, I guess that settles it then. I won't install MSE now (maybe on my next pc or with a fresh install), but upgrade my NOD32 licence for another year. I'll also make sure to run the free version of malwarebytes now and then.

Thanks!

Nope, just a regular antivirus. Some programs use different methods to detect viruses, but they're still just antivirus programs. The free version of Malwarebytes has to be run manually, and the paid version includes a live scanner. If I were to pay for an antivirus, personally I'd use Malwarebytes. It seems to be the only one that identifies and removes those fake antivirus viruses. Or at least it did until those guys got better about getting around almost anything.

These days, some of these viruses are so bad that the only thing I can use is Combofix, which I try to save as a last resort. I haven't had it mess anything up, but the potential is there, and it can mess with settings and applications. Still, it's one of the few weapons that work against many of the more infected machines.

But that's not something you have to worry about. You aren't the type who is going to let a virus like that get ahold of your system. These viruses typically start as a pop-up, and trick a user into clicking on them by claiming they're infected. No matter how many times I warn some of my clients, they'll still click on those fave AV's. I feel like I should make them a sign that says "If it doesn't say Microsoft Security Essentials, DON'T CLICK ON IT!" But they still would...

No.

I buy a two-year license that expires about on my birthday, and I just remember to renew it before the renewal notices start.

About the only time I am even aware that I have AVG is very rarely, maybe once or twice a year, I get a pop-up saying AVG has quarantined known malware, asking if I want to take further action.

tanstaafl.

I've set a few people up with the free license for Avast - which gets renewed yearly. They've only had good things to say about it. I use it on my VM's but never pay much attention to it since I rarely install software on them.