Never had a Virus.

Hello forum.
My neighbor as never had a virus or nasty on his computer in 2yrs, Which i don't understand.These are the only security programs he as on his Pc. Computer Associates Antivirus and Windows Firewall.He is retired, and on his computer every day.How is this possible.Do we really need all these security programs that are available. Any answer's.
Badcompany.

 

The best prevention is your own (mouseclicking) behaviour. I think you don't need that much apps. But here on Wilders and other Security Forums there are lot's of people who like to play with/test security apps (I am one of them) . I am not running a realtime AV at the moment at all, I only scan every now and then with one on an USB stick.

Gerard

 

I couldn't agree more. In my case, I like to 4 wheel at times on the net so a measured amount of security is a must.



snowbound

 

Hello,
Why should you have a virus? It's like having chlamydia. Why should you have it? If you use your head, then you'll be fine. And if you believe Nigerian warlords will send you millions of their money, then no anti-virus or anti-whatever will save you. As simple as that.
Mrk

 

Exactly. Security companies say: If you do not have a security software, you will get infected!" But I would rephrase it: "If you are silly, you will get infected." Talking about mallware, it is quite easy not to get infected and talking about real hackers, who can hack anyone regardless the security software used, they have no reason to hack you or do they?!

Also new OS like Linux, Mac, Vista (with UAC) are quite safe, so that no security software is actually needed, especially on 64-bit with hardware DEP enabled and a skilled user at PC.

By the way, I have to say it, the topic name: "Never had a Virus" sounds so unrealistic. I do not use any security software, but I would never say it this way, rather: "I think, that I never had a virus" or "I had never had a known mallware" or something like that, you know.

 

He's never had a virus or nasty that CA AV could detect . But seriously, for a knowledgable user its extremely hard to get infected imo unless that person does something very silly. I seem to have a hard time purposely trying to get infected LOL!

 

I agree, download a scanner from someone with a high detection rate and see if he is still not infected.

 

run kaspersky online scanner on his pc.
and also run superantispyware free version on his pc as well.
i havent been infected for around 2 years.
f-secure blocked a few trojans in the first year i used that.
all after that where just fp's or nothing.
its not hard to not get infected
lodore

 

Badcompany,
Your neighbour has only one scanner. If that single scanner tells him "You are clean" every day during two years, he THINKS he never had a virus, because the scanner doesn't tell him which malware were NOT detected and removed.
Scanners are pure psychological, they comfort the mind of the user, but that doesn't mean your computer is clean. One missing signature in the scanner and his computer is constantly infected for the rest of his retirement and he won't even know it.

 

Hello,

Erik, your dogma is guilty until proven innocent.
I say, innocent until proven guilty.

The fact his scanner does not detect anything might be because there is nothing to detect - rather than lots of undetectable things.

Mrk

 

LOL. I am respectfully requesting permission to use that phrase the next time someone asks me to help them with their computer.

 

OK. Scanners don't have missing signatures and false/positives and one scanner is enough. Dream on.

 

Its good that you have raised this. Far to many seem to be afraid that without numerous security programs they will be infected within seconds.

Your neighbor hasn't had a virus or nasty in 2 years probably because he hasn't gone looking for trouble and leads a fairly quite internet life - combined with a bit of common sense. I can pretty much guarantee that if he had overdosed on security programs he would have received warnings on a regular basis - all of them false positives.

Perhaps one day more people will use their PCs for some practical purpose and not just as security testing devices ? Perhaps one day all new lap tops will come without all the crap security which only serves to confuse and frighten ?

 

Hello,

Erik, 1 or 17 scanners does not matter. If you're clean, you're clean.
Scanners miss and have FP - sometimes at the same time. So? That does not mean one's system is infected.

Some people find it hard to accept that simplicity can actually work and no special magic is needed...

benny, feel free to use under CC-SA agreement...

Mrk

 

Thanks for all your replys, it makes interesting reading.I would like to see what security program you are all using.Do any of you have a similar set-up to my neighbor.
Badcompany.

 

Netgear DG834
Firefox
Antivir free - but it never finds anything
E-mails delivered by www.netaddress.com ( they virus check, remove spam...)

Nothing else to slow me down.

 

Hello,

I have many setups.
But putting aside Linux and testing, most PCs are:

Firewall + FF
Or Firewall + AV + FF

Mrk

 

Practising safe computing and using commonsense helps. One's surfing habits often dictate whether they're likely to catch anything or not.

 

How does an average user know his computer is clean or not ? Because a scanner is telling him ? Because he doesn't want to know ? How do YOU know, because everything SEEMS to work properly ?
Your post isn't really convincing, vague and doesn't tell much.

Simplicity ? I simply reboot and my system partition is clean again, because I replaced it with a new system partition, based on an off-line installation and this takes only 100 seconds.

 

Depends entirely on use habits.

She has Dell Desktop; WinXP home (SP2) IE6 Outlook Express/Hotmail and just Computer Associates EZ-Trust Antivirus,
SpyBot and Windows Firewall for two years.

Dialup modem, Email, surfing for research & shopping.

Have done many Online Scans w/Kaspersky as well as Ewido and have never detected a scrap of malware.

CA subscription about due, was thinking of AntiVir Classic, but that CA is true set & forget AV.

 

Hello,

Erik, I can't speak for the "average user" but I can speak for myself. I know because I know. I do not need scanners to know it. I am aware of my moves and can fully consciously retrace them. I do not live in fear of unknowns and I try to understand how things work.

The basic of how to things work is that computer infections do not happen. People happen.

Mrk

 

Oh I see, you were talking about yourself.
I'm looking for solutions for the "average user", who know even less than me.

 

It's really never been about some fear for me of getting a malicious virus but rather i always been fascinated by the techniques used to first gain an entry to a platform, then write to the registry or manipulate the structure of an otherwise ordinary default sytem in order to show off purely crazy actions such as the RUN box popping up everytime you tapped a key on the keyboard. It was the funny stuff for me that got my attention and drove me to manipulate the manipulating files to perform more practical uses. Heck, i've taken intended virus code in .VBS files and fashioned them easily to say Blink my Num,Caps, Scroll Lock LED's at intervals of my own choosing or when opening a file of my own choice. The same applies to .BAT files. For me they just gave me something to play with so long as my C:\ drive wasn't deleted which is never happened on any of my active units.

I did however once accidently set off a .bat file named Hard Drive Killer one sleepy night on a laptop i kept the most serious of viruses and it proceeded to DelTree everything and succeeded. That was on a Win 98. Since XP, it's only been exposed to a dropper or two that lodged to the c:\ folder in a vain attempt to call for reenforcements it couldn't get.

So, i too have to clock in with "Never had a Virus".

 

To answer the OP's original question - by being fully patched and minimising the opportunity for scripts to gain a foothold - mainly through browser & e-mail awareness.

Then as others have mentioned, taking responsibility/appropriate steps when clicking on untrusted links or sites.

It doesn't hurt to monitor forums like this for the occasional wild card. For example, a .wmf exploit of last year was effectively first responded to by the security community before Microsoft was able to produce a practical response.

 

Hi Guys,

Sometimes I go a little wild searching & visiting strange sights. So passive software helps, & keeps Rico from visiting the nasty places.

MVPS Host, SpywareBlaster, Ie-Spyad. Perhaps the guy with no virus (post 1) uses passive defense?

Take Care
Rico