Microsoft to release free antivirus PC software

You use a browser when you DL wares ?? I'd rather use Utorrent

 

I'm taking it MIRC is a Internet chat client?? Its not seeing it as a virus, but as riskware.
mIRC isn't really a virus, but it can be hacked & misused. That's why it is detected as a riskware (the not-a-virus thing).
The definition of riskware in KIS, it is serious, its not joke programs.
It is possible to run mIRC(with a script preloaded) and have it wipe out your whole computer on next reboot, just by running the mIRC.exe file, it is also possible to get mIRC to download and execute files from the internet."

 

Yeah, it can be used to control botnets and stuff too. It just popped it up as a risky program to be using.

 

I use Firefox for my everyday surfing the internet. Nothing wrong with using a torrent for downloading stuff, as long as you use a good anti virus or internet security program in case the file you download has a virus or the such.

 

mIRC and PIRCH have been around for years. They're no more dangerous than a video game, if your security settings are correct.

Both are the most highly modified and modifiable chat platforms on the web today. That's why they get the "risky" rating. Download it from an unknown source....well you get the idea.

File sharing is rampant on IRC

 

Really you can use any chat program or whatever software you want, the main point is that is you dont have a good AV program, you can get screwed!!!! Hell, surf all the porn sites you want if your computer is secure in all areas. But from a guy who just admitted he get 20-50 viruses a month, I wouldn't be handing out PC advice to freely.

 

No...but as a guy who knows what sites to avoid. What software to avoid. And what settings it takes to block the BS. I have lots of advise to give.

My methods and choice of downloads may be suspect. But, it has made me very good at spotting potential trouble and avoiding it.


To say I "got" 20-50 virus and/or trojans a month. Doesn't mean my system was infected. It only means there was a potential, from something I had downloaded.

I have 3 rather nasty trojans sitting on my hard drive right now. They'll sit there forever and harmless. Unless I extract them, or delete them.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how extract them, without damaging the software that contains them. Which may be a lesson in futility...But it won't be the first time.

I have to give some of these guys credit...they're good Not your run of the mill...insert trojan here BS.

 

My computer stats using AVG/windows defender for the last 12 years:

Number of virus's: 0
Number of spyware infections:0
Number of trojans 0

 

Look, I know you like the anti-virus you shell out your hard earned money for. Good for you. But "uneducated in terms of computer knowledge?" If you enter into the world of downloading torrents, downloading programs with limewire, search for "serialz and cracks" to make that shareware program full featured, are dumb enough to click on links in email, and most importantly, skip a windows security update every now and then, blind faith in your antivirus program is going to get you bit. They ALL have failure rates, none of them even claim to catch them all. That is fact.

What I said was is this: Most of the computers I repair, which I do quite frequently for friends and family, that are chocked full of virues, got that way because they missed a microsoft update, or hasn't been updated at all. What happens is this: Microsoft releases security patch to patch a vulnerability they have discovered. The virus writers download the patch, see what hole microsoft is plugging, and write a new code that takes advantage of that hole, then flood the internet with their code, hoping to snare unpatched computers. On those unpatched computers, it simply does not matter what anti-virus you are using, because the malicious code will circumvent it. The hole to get in is wide open on an unpatched computer. The last laptop I worked on the user was putting into sleep mode instead of rebooting. They had it set so the power button put it into sleep mode instead of powering down. It had hundreds of infections, and yes it was running a commercial antivirus. It was still waiting on a reboot from a patch it had installed months before, so the patch, and every patch ever put out after, was never applied. If you are running windows, the most important thing to do to protect yourself is to download, install, and apply the patches the day they come out. If you don't do that, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH ANTI-VIRUS YOU USE. (there sir, I said it again.) It is not just "wise to keep up with the latest service packs from Microsoft, by getting them through windows Updates," it is imperative that you do so.

 

The average time for an anti-virus program to be updated against a new virus, is 36 hours after they get a copy of the new virus to dissect. So, in the real world you are spending 2 days with a bad system for every new virus.

No Anti-Virus software system will protect the uneducated PC user. Why does everybody think they don't the responsibility to protect themselves?

Mark