Top 10 Anti-Virus products

hush! You shouldnt disclose information on how to obtain full versions of software illegally. This is not allowed in the TOS.

 

I guess I am just not fully aware of the difficulties involved in protecting software. Clearly there are things that some software vendors do knowing full well that it will lead to unofficial pirated versions.

What I was hoping to hear was confirmation either way from someone that is familiar with protections. Is it really that hard for Norton or anyone to protect these programs? I bought the boxed version of Norton. How hard would that be to duplicate? I meant it literally when I said i was making the assumption Norton could combat piracy. I have to believe one of the possibilities.

- They don't mind a certain level of piracy, but what would that level be? Apparently pretty high.

- They could use stronger protection, but it would cost them more.


I've noticed a lot of popular programs on line send you a key file, something they call an octet stream. I have no clue how it works, but I suspect that it wont work on another computer (or why bother?) could it be that some information about you or your computer is known to them and is part of the key? anyway, only point is that this is hassle free for me to use, so I have no complaints. I guess anything can be broken. I only know that I hate activation, and programs that continually are verifying and/or connecting to the internet. My biggest experience with activation is with MS Word, and XP itself. Both installations are among the most troublesome, and both occasionally go haywire. This is not such a great option. I don't want or need to pirate either program, but I'm to the point where I'm thinking that they pirated versions my not have the hassles that go with the genuine versions.

Translation: Activation invites pirating because running programs that can become crippled because of quirky activation and authentication provides a lot of incentive to investigate alternatives.

By the way, if i own a genuine xp, but opt to installed a pirated version with the activation removed, but I only run it on one machine (which is all i have) then in principle, am I not a legitamate XP user?


-HandsOff

P.S - this latest discontent is do to my microsoft works going haywire. i needed a feature on the disk, but it could not "find" the installer file, even if I navigated to it. then i realized that office update had changed some parts of the program, and now the installer was convince that it was a bogus version. I uninstalled the update, uninstalled the product, reinstalled the product, relocated the file on the DVD (yes its so big it comes on a DVD). Oh, just great, only 2 hours to install one little feature! This is rediculous!

 

Man, that REALLY is ridiculous. If they can't code a feature properly, then to hell with the feature!

I wonder what kind of testing was done with the software if such problems are apparent the way they are to you, HandsOff.

Of course, I do not mean any offense to you, so please dont take it wrongly.

Regards,
Firecat

 

i do not want to start any trouble with anyone and please no one take any offense to any of this.
ANY program can be broken. its life deal with it. its an unfortunate thing and i do not promote piracy nor do i use pirated software. but it doesnt matter what type of activation or key files or whatever they can all be broken. usually within a day or so of release. i will not disclose which company i used to work for. i did work for ibm and then someone else. a resonably large software company (gaming wise) and i got paid by them to "crack" or make work thier software. to see if it could be done. there were quite a few companies that used to do this i do not know if they still do but they used to. all we had to do was take thier software and make it work without the serials or keys etc..... again i do not and will never promote this. if everyone stole all thier software there would not be any software companies left. they try very hard to keep up on new types of activation and key files etc... because of piracy. its all way to easy today. thats why the riaa and mpaa is battling it out in court all the time with copyright offenders. soo i presume it will be the software companies next.
look at what microsoft is implementing or has already. they are stopping use of all oem cd keys. if they have not now they will soon. anyone trying to activate xp will have to call it in and give them the key over the phone each time they install it. i use a corporate version for my business so i do not deal with this. but to many copies of xp around for microsoft. companies that are implementing the "call home" type of security are doing this because of how bad the issue has gotten. and it will continue to get worse until they can figure it out how to stop this. i used to gat paid to test "cracks" to see if they really worked and find them for this comapny. yes most of the time they did so they would have to then blacklist or stop the use of those serials from updating. i repair computers all the time and i couldnt begin to tell you of all the stuff people bring in on tier machines cracked this and cracked that. i will usually inform them they are using an illegal copy of whatever , some are "suprised" and allow me to remove it and some say yeah i found that cracked on irc or whatever.
as stated by someone else all these cracks etc.. serials and all should be made to the software company to allow them to do something regarding it.
i ve been long winded here but my point is, if you are using pirated software we all hope you will get yours. and please this is a great forum do not promote this activity here. most here are very responsible witht his but some i have seen are not. also just because you found a crack somewhere online does not make you a hacker!!!! most of you wouldnt know where to begin so again dont promot this because you dont really know hwat you are talking about. i no longer do this type of work and when i did it was legit working for a software company. we saw how many copies of thier software had tried to continually be activated after they blacklisted ceratin serials or cd keys. it just kept going until people found these no longer worked but it wasnt soon before they found new ones.
do i agree with calling home, not really i am all about privacy trust me. but if this will help with this issue i hope all companies implement this type of security it would benefit everyone in the long run

 

I have an OEM key but I dont need to call MS.....Sometimes it does work even with Internet Activation.

Its a good thing that I know I'm doing the right thing by sending cracks to the software companies

 

from what a few insiders said this oem key thing will end soon. some are already not working for people. do a search for it there is info to be found online already regarding this

 

Nah, I would not take offense, I'm glad you can see what I am getting at. The fact that, I, just an average computer user, encounter problems makes me ask that very question you asked. How can they say that they tested this?

In a somewhat related issue, I often wonder about the practice of having software experts beta test programs. As a software maker, I'd be a little more interested in whether an average user could run the program and be comfortable with it. They are seeking out problems? Or they are preaching to the converted? You tell me!


To Zfactor-

I am not (totally) unreasonable. All I ask is three things.

1) whatever protection they use, it better not shoot first and ask questions later. I don't call it reasonable to say my operating system or my firewall shuts down do to activation quirks is just a fact of life. If it is an accident with the program function it is forgivable. but if it is an accident with activation its not. Why? because that feature is there soley for their benefit. Since removing it would not effect what I paid for, I have just about zero tolerance for any problems it creates.

2) It better not use more resources than the program itself!

3) No program should be able to give itself the priveledge of connecting to the internet whenever it wants. Period. Be this for authentication, auto - updating, whatever! We all know what autoupdate has ment to privacy. Now ask yourself how much worse, if they don't even need the vague justification of "just checking if you need an update".

Activation that allows products to phone home is a new low for an industry that has been continually redefining low. Or should I say, "auto-updating" how low low can go. Not only to spy on users, collect marketing data and use them as unwitting beta testers, but now to try to claim the moral high ground and say because of us evil computer users, they have to, as a desperate last attempt at self defense be trusted to send unknown data from their paying customers computers to themselves whenever they like?

Microsoft having a monopoly on windows could probably demand the the corporate boads of fortune 500 companies dress in pink tutu's and they would do it. But I can think of precious few other products that can get away with treating there customers like that and retaining any business.

- HandsOff

 

Experts stress test a software. they'd know where to look for memory leaks and conflicts and can troubleshoot their own systems [which saves the dev guys a lot o bother I suppose]
Avergae users are going to be slightly afraid of touching betas that can crash their PCs irrevocably.

 

I agree to the extent that no program should phone home without at least telling you about it first. The AV publishers have an advantage here because they are in effect selling a virus signature update service that necessarily requires checking in with a server. However, the tactics get a bit slimy with CD ripping programs that do a server serial number check at the publlisher's server while accessing CDDB.

 

Well...I've *always* had to call MS for activation except for the last time I tried. I dont know what happened.

 

they got tired of your reinstalling every five hours

 

Hehehehe...

 

Experts also follow similar lines of thinking. You have 100 testers out there testing in exactly the same way, for exactly the same thing, and totally unconcerned and/or oblivious to poorly designed menu's and a complete lack of meaningful support material. On top of that, more than likely they are running high performance machines with vast resources, zero harware and driver conflicts. All patched up, updated and turbo charged.

Imagine the boon to the pharmacuetical industry if they had an army of perfectly heathy identical clones to test new medicines on.

Obviously, they would not do this. The reason is fairly obvious isn't it?


- HandsOff

 

Well I do agree that the expert users never bother much about a program's interface or its support (because they have enough knowledge to fix problems). Its bad of companies to do this, and I say that betas should be developed according to BOTH an expert as well as a normal user's opinions.

After all, its good for everyone when a product is simple enough for the normal user, and still complex enough for the expert

 

Exactly. The product and the support. There doesn't need to be just one level of complexity. As long as options are there for those who can use them and an effort is made to make them accessible to those who want to find out more about them.

Personally, I dislike the phrase, "for advanced users". This may be splitting hairs, but I prefer to think of "advanced options" not "advanced users" because your "average user" may need or want to explore advanced options.

Besides, do they think someone is born an advanced user, or what?


-HandsOff

 

Excellent point! This would seem to me a perfectly acceptable opportunity to do their authentication. Provided, this is done, quickly and effectively, who could argue with this?

...i wish you hadn't added that bit about CD ripping programs. CD ripping is what I consider to be one of the four good reasons to own a computer!

...just what exactly are they doing [i see i am in for some sleepless nights]

- HandsOff

 

sorry was giving an example MD

 

"His words were very swords..."



-HandsOff




P.S. - I dont think hardly anyone noticed. As usual, I missed the post that was removed and am left to my imagination....Wow! Oh, My!

 

Who cares about most popular (marketing stuff)

I want to know which one is THE BEST. I own NOd32. I found Blackspears tutorial to be second to none. Is NOD32 the best there is?

Also, if computer security is sort of like treating AIDS, that you need a cocktail, what are the absolut best programs to have?

I currently run:
Nod32
LooknStop
Spybot SD
Adaware
Silent sword (getting rid of it, they are too new, but do have a very good idea)
TDS3

Having some trouble with PG...but normally i run that too.

trock

 

The hospital I use is one of the best in the country and they use Norton Corporate Edition. In the stores here Nortons and McAfee have a monopoly. They are good products but there should be more choice. I have only seen Trend in one store and none of the other top ten at all.

 

You may want to take a look here. As well there are discussions on security software here and even more here.

Hope this helps...

Let us know how you go.

Cheers

 

trock,

Although the answer may sound too glib, you do need to define what best means first. The traits that you value most may not be the same as the next user. I own all the programs you mention and use two of them (NOD32 and LooknStop) as my primary tool in their area of specialty because traits I value push them to what I view as the head of their class.

Blue

 

I run;
Nod32
Kerio Firewall 2.15
Startup Monitor


Thats it, and not had a virii or trojan infection of any kind ever, never ever.


safe hex!


Kev

ps and how with Nod32 installed are you sure ?? without kaspersky yes.

 

BAD NAME OF TOPIC, this need to be changed to (TOP """SELLING""" ANTIVIRUS PRODUCTS), or simply add to it (top 10 "SELLING" anti-virus products) cuz certainly sales nowdays dont reflect if a product is better than other, or its certainly better proven efficiency in comparison to other ones, the only factor that can be considered when selecting an antivirus program or anything in life its only its proven efficiency overall through neutral opinions (no freaks giving his life for anything that only shines...) of people that have been using the product in question for quite some time, of course people with some kind of xperience in the area, i refer to nowdays cuz marketing has started to being an x-tremely powerful tool (has being achieving a trascendental place on companies for the last years cuz of the new tools that have been appearing through the last decades), publicity is always a factor to consider, and yeah, as maybe some ppl supposed by now, i study marketing!!!!!1 LOL.