I always find it funny when idiots run their pcs without virus/spyware/trojan and firewall protection and think their safe if they do safe things.

One time my neice visited a local government site that was hacked and her pc got hosed.

My favorite anti-virus is not having one at all.

I use a router firewall and haven't had any problems for four years straight. If you know your way around Task Manager/HijackThis and aren't a complete idiot when it comes to downloading exes, you'll never have a problem.

since when is visiting a government site safe?

^

LOL

Norton sorta depends on the version and the year. For instance, when I was running Norton I had the full NIS package. I was on a static cable modem IP, outside the company firewalls, and had information that wasn't mine to risk. When I got it, the stand alone anti-virus was also crap, but the business oriented security suite was top notch as long as you installed it right. It was a little temperamental about certain things. Two years later, NIS was also unusable crap and the standalone anti-virus was deleting system files...

Of course, after they started spending more money on tech support than software development, they probably cleaned themselves up again. The main benefit of having Norton was that it only did exact matches instead of loose algorithms to catch minor alterations to previously detected versions. Those can be rather inconvenient when your file that resembles a trojan is rather important.

Regardless, you really don't need one. Stop downloading porn off warez sites and warez off porn sites, opening attachments from getabiggerpenis@omgwhatatool.com, and clicking yes when a website asks if you want free viagra. The same lessons your parents gave you apply to the internet, stay out of the bad neighborhoods and don't take candy from strangers.

Two years clean as a whistle, a few annoying tracking cookies deleted at various times. I'd have a longer history of being virus free, but I downloaded a key generator off a warez site instead of calling my brother up to have him find the CD case I left at home. Needless to say it wasn't a key generator, no working removal tool either. It was one of those nice trojans that downloaded other trojans and pretended they're rabbits in heat. I got to spend a couple days tracking the components down and deleting them all, almost as entertaining as a good game.

Edi: Government sites are worse than warez. The bigger the target, the better the odds, and governments can't do anything right, so they have terrible security. Since the government consists of liars and thieves, you shouldn't trust them anyway. The US congress has one of highest rates of criminal activity in an organizational body in the country.

Viruses work by exploiting vulnerabilities in the OS and user applications. Running software that pretends to "fight" viruses is 21st century voodoo. The real solution is to fix vulnerabilities, and dump software that's hopeless (like IE).


Nothing.

The secret is that I run Windows 2000. Most of it's security problems have been long fixed.

You seem to have felt the need to make that statement twice in this thread...
All I can say is:

bullshit! IE7 is fine. All browsers have holes but the biggest hole of them all is the person behind the wheel. Ignorance of safe browsing behavior is the real culprit.

PEBKAC.

Also bull. Even the best drivers will get rear-ended. They can do alot to reduce the chances, but they can't eliminate them. Ain't their fault, but it happens. AKA: **** happens.

How about an IDTenT error?

Those are always fun too.

Huh????

Problem exists between keyboard and chair.

If you don't know, you are the PEBCAK.

Or just someone whose first language is not English.

I'd heard of it before, but I didn't know it had an acronym. Ten seconds with Google fixed that.

Don't worry Aufisch....I had to look it up as well....these youngin these days have a funny language.

If you know how to use a computer, all you need is a router, and/or a software firewall. I have run my PC for 5 years and never had a virus. In fact I have never had a problem caused by malware before. I have however had multiple problems ALL of which come directly from Norton "Anti" virus. Case in point, The game this forum is about, was being silently blocked by Norton anti-virus despite me having given it specific instructions to allow it to access the internet.

Not to mention Norton anti-virus treats you like a cretin, and won't even allow you to turn it off properly without going through multiple screens of confirmations. "Yes I really DO want to turn you off, you crappy peace of malware" AND EVEN THEN it continued to block sins, until I uninstalled the damn thing at which point miraculously(heh) I could host sins games.


In recent times, all my computer related problems are to do with variations of the Uninstall-Norton-antivirus-and-suddenly-the-application-works-correctly-nature. And before you ask, "Ah but what viruses would you find you have if you actually scanned" and the answer is none.
I did a scan before I uninstalled the thing, and nothing came up.
Which comes to a grand total of 5 years of paying subscriptions for a service that I did not need, and actively hindered my use of the computer.(Although Ill admit I didn't pay for most of those, due to living at home)

Saying all you need is still dumb. I once visited a site that sells stuff that got hacked, got a trojan.

Sometimes visiting 'safe' sites can be unsafe.

Not taking candy from strangers and not visiting bad neighborhoods is all good and well, but when the bad people come to yours, you need protection.

You need the gun of virus protection and firewalls.

And btw, using Norton is giving your soul to Satan.

One time I uninstalled Norton.

All the trojans and viruses it had collected? It let lose.

I had to reformat immediately after

If you blame your keyboard, get a new one

With A New Keyboard Excellence Returns!

Once a Businessman is Very Intoxicated, he is Oblivious to Ur Spamming

(Sorry, no good U for that)

Norton was pretty good in the early days...than after its years of goodness it got bored, and decided to go through your computer like an auto-immune diesase on the body.

Been Norton clean for over 4 months, and have no intention of going back. Been using Avast and loved it, didn't interfere in anything I did, I could easily set everything with a few clicks, didn't crash my game after it shows up "Do you want to allow" message, continously updated, free, and it has the clicky sound from Sim City   

That's 50 bucks less I got to spend on something.

Running back to Topic:

Sometimes that's caused by a protection software if its settings are set to extreme or the like. But yeah, if a program is telling you to turn something off, it might not be worth playing.

By the way: What's with all the acronyms? Pretty soon we won't need to spell anything out. I don't mind it when its used on the forums and people generally know it, but please don't say it in conversation when I'm talking to you. Likes it takes so much energy and effort to say "quoted for truth" compared to "QFT".  

Why speak correctly w|-|3/\/ u c@/\/ $p3@k 1337?

You're right, you need an anti-virus, firewall and anything else we can convince you to get...

If I were a mod, and I were just a bit meaner, that would be bannable.