Is difference in protection offered really worth worrying about?

Of course there is! Don't visit sites like CNN. Don't use Yahoo. Block Facebook and any other cesspool sites. Always use Fx or Opera. Never touch IE or Safari. I don't get infected because I practice safe hex.

Besides, you now claim it is not useful to ALWAYS WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTION download to disk FIRST any email attachment and scan with your AV before opening? It is perfectly ok now to willy-nilly use the stupid preview pane in OE and abandon reading all email in plain text and open every piece of email and, of course, click on every link in all email...you no longer need to practice safe hex in this regard?

No, safe hex is still alive and well. It is the bad habits of users that get them in trouble. The sites I visit are highly unlikely to become compromised unless Wilders and Castlecops are going to start serving malware. Plus, I have ProcessGuard to stop anything that might get past Avira and tried to run. But the most important thing regarding computer security is to avoid crap which now means avoiding some sites that I have avoided for years. I can't stand Yahoo for a variety of reasons. I don't like CNN either. I'd far prefer to read the Honolulu newspapers on line. As for Facebook and the others like it ....BARF BIG TIME. I wouldn't go near them with a ten foot pole.

 

You make an image every day? That took me over two hours! That was when I had only one hard drive ...now I have two it would take even longer. I can't imagine doing it every day or relying on an image as the best strategy because restoring takes several hours also. I don't think TI is that useful ...except for things like moving everything to a new hard drive or new computer. I far prefer System Restore for restoring but it has weaknesses. Avira 8 evidently got into mine before I readded System Volume Information to exclusions and ALL 90 of my restore points (excepting the last three which were of no use to me) were destroyed. The most reliable thing is practicing safe hex at all times.

 

In short, don't use the internet..

 

...or maybe even better, sell your computer


Cheers

 

Yes. It takes about 50 mins for 34GB of data. TI is totally useful. Of course safe computing is crucial- I have never been infected since I started using personal computers (1981). The weak link in the security chain is the person using the keyboard.

 

I certainly think that currently it is very possible to enjoy the internet yet practice safe hex. I have no interest in Facebook, CNN (if I wanted CNN there is such a thing called a TV) etc. I can go to many, many sites and not worry about exploits. The internet is a vast place. No need to go to the few sites that are a magnet for problems.

I might get rid of my computer though one day if the trend toward making a computer a TV keeps on (everthing requiring Flash Player or Silverlight) as I have a computer precisely because it is the opposite of a TV...you must THINK at all times and interact constantly when using a computer...so it stimulates the brain cells to grow new ones. A TV kills your brain cells and invites Alzheimer's. You don't interact with a TV or even think when watching one...it is a brain dead activity and Flash Player and Silverlight are trying to kill the interaction and thinking required to use the internet. If that is successful, I will get rid of my computer.

 

I guess with these slow backup times,that your using software from the stoneage.

 

Hi Steve1955!

No you are not alone. A few years back I did a sort of structured step wise selection process for picking AV's. At the time I was interested in reducing the negative impact of this " my AV is better than your AV" .

One of the conclusions I came too, (not fully accepted of course) was that as long as a user had one of the top 3 or 5 AV's kept it current and set it up right they were fine! I was going to do a statistical significance test on them to see if the differences were within standard error range. May still do that when I get time.

Get a good one from the top tier that does heuristic as well as signature based scanning, plug in your HIPS/FW and enjoy life!

BTW backup backup backup.

But I suspect you know all this anyway!


See you.

 

Slow relative to what?

 

That is hard to believe and I see no documentation of that speed with SP in the research I have done. Please provide it- don't just contend it.

If this speed was was true, why would anyone use Acronis instead of ShadowProtect? Also, how many successful restores have you done with SP? I know Acronis works.

 

Well, Acronis doesen't work properply on my rig, neither on my rig at work. It works fine with making the image, BUT restoring is a completely different story. Also why use so much diskspace for the program files (together with Norton Ghost) and the loooong time bootup cd (again together with Norton Ghost) ?? I'm certainly glad I fell over TeraByte's Image For Windows a couple of years ago, only about 6 megabytes in program files + bootup cd takes only a few seconds to boot + the most important of all, NEVER failed me in backup, nor in restore. Takes about 10 minutes to backup and validate 10 gigs, and off course only half to restore.


Cheers

 

Acronis works fine for me and has for years.

 

Sorry for the OT folks, only one!

He and others tested many imaging programs. You can search the forums for some interesting debates.
SP has been gaining quite a reputation here, as Terabyte's products, in stability/reliability/speed.

 

Pete,

Thanks for the response and I have searched the forum and read your comments and others as well on the topic. I am doing unverified images with ATI 10 on 59.2GB of data and this takes about 53 minutes. So using SP, it looks like it would be about 17.4 minutes as opposed to 53 minutes. Is this about right?

 

back on topic I use 2 AV's both advanced plus so your right, I feel covered either way it just depends on my mood. I also occasioanly use a 3rd that too is a+ but is a slower boot. Detection wise it just depends on how I want my machine to behave...

 

Newspaper sites are not immune to malware. Since they are managed by journalists, I don't think they would be "locked down" secure. Government and DOD websites have been hacked.

 

I agree that a TV is more of a passive activity, but I don't agree that it induces Alzheimer's. Using a computer produces side effects that a TV would not (such as eye strain and carpal tunnel syndrome). In my experience, what I get from a computer is similar to what I get from the newspaper and textbooks (I don't play games so there is no hand and eye coordination activities). In my case, the PC is an adjunct device to supplement books and newspapers. I don't use it to watch videos (especially downloaded types) and taped TV programs. If the TV could perform the same functions as the PC, then I would choose that because the screen would be much larger.

 

Suites vs. non-suites:
If you buy/get the components (firewall etc.) seperately it will usually cost you more money, time and effort, and there is the issue of conflicts between the components.
And support may be more difficult (one company blames the other, etc.)

There is something to say for 'best of breeds', but you can also consider a combination of a suite with 'best of breed'.

Especially with regard to firewalls it can be difficult to find a good, easy and free one. (My McAfee firewall is good, I'm not interested in leaktest-proof firewalls, it's hard to find a free, good and user-friendly alternative).

 

I wasn't worried about the time I spend on backup. I don't do daily backups of my system partition. The only thing I do is a daily backup of the changes in my data partition.

But I was worried about the time and work, I spend on cleaning my computer and the constant insecure feeling that it wasn't done complete.
That was bothering me, not anymore, because I fixed it.

 

.......but true.

I image 21 GB in 10 minutes; this image is made in windows.
Making this image outside windows (recovery CD) is even faster (about 7 minutes)

I'm using SP for > 2 months now, every restore worked

 

You folks who use Acronis could answer this I'm sure. Do you do a full back up or an incremental one?

 

I do a full image once a month and then an incremental every night. incremental s take about 5 minutes unless I defrag the drive then it is longer.