As of discussion we have winners of Kaspersky and NOD32 how about Webroot Security suite and Computer Associates suite? does any body have comparing experience with these?

Click on this link.

In the left hand column click on "comparatives," then in the new page click on "on line results" for August, 2007. AV Comparatives is a not for profit testing outfit, and their results are genuine. They have nothing to sell.

Not all AVP's are listed, but the ones that are the testing was most thorough.

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Thank you.

I had chance to use only spyware function of Webroot and CA and the strange thing noticed was Webroot scanned for 15min mostly comes out with 0, but CA scanns my pc for 1min or less and mostly comes out with a few catches (for 1 year use). And I was not sure which of them working better.

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Mandtugai!

You can also go here and download the Kaspersky Online Scanner. It's free and its' detection rate is top of the line. However, it will not clean anything up that it finds, but will let you know what was found. Be sure to exit Boinc and all other running programs while using it. It only works with Internet Explorer and Windows OS.

You will not have to diable your current AVP while running this program.

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A good friend...Darth Dogbytes...turned me on to Kaspersky Internet Security...It's a top notch program and you can download and test it free for a month...

Kaspersky 30 day free trial

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

I hope no one minds that I am moving off-topic posts from "Trekkies" here.

Ah, sorry, another off-topic thingy.
Looking at your avatar, I see my PM to you in June or July was correct. You are indeed a fan of Ozzy Osbourne. Hence, no mystery to my quoting you some Ozzy lyrics.

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Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.

I hope no one minds that I am moving off-topic posts from "Trekkies" here.

Ah, sorry, another off-topic thingy.
Looking at your avatar, I see my PM to you in June or July was correct. You are indeed a fan of Ozzy Osbourne. Hence, no mystery to my quoting you some Ozzy lyrics.

Yes, just as I told you in my PM. I've had several users ask me about that. But I just find/found it a little unusual that someone just starts quoting me lyrics from Ozzy. It just doesn't seem normal to me.

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Typically what I do is pay some geek 1,000$ to find out who has done what to me then pay another burlier geek 2,000$ to go and have him beaten senseless. I know it's not a preventive measure but sure scratches the satisfaction bones.

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Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

@ Gavin - Computer Associates Internet Suites uses a Licensed Version of ZoneAlarm PRO with their Suites . . . (in case you didn't know) and ALL works well for mi . . .)

ZoneAlarm works well for me. Mainly because I kind of know how to lock it and my computer down. It's not perfect, but I and my family have used the ZoneAlarm firewall for years now and not once has it been broken (I have probably have been lucky) and the handful of viruses that have gotten in (through Internet browsing) have been detected by it. It doesn't always remove them successfully and so I have had to manually get rid of some. Not always easy but I have beaten them all so far and I intend to keep them all at bay.

Thanks for the thought and suggestion.

Your Welcome . . . the ZoneAlarm has always been on mi Systems - ever since they Originally came out with the 'free version' Years ago - and i've NOT had problems with it either . . .

Have a Great Day Gavin . . .

I have used ZA for about 8 years now and have had no problems, I am also using a Linksys router wit a firewall on it too. I have used Ad-Aware and it was ok, but I like Spybot. It catches a lot that Ad-Aware misses. I also have a version of a Symantic AV that does not slow down the machine by any appreciable amount. Everything comes up very fast.

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What you do today you will have to live with tonight

Typically what I do is pay some geek 1,000$ to find out who has done what to me then pay another burlier geek 2,000$ to go and have him beaten senseless. I know it's not a preventive measure but sure scratches the satisfaction bones.

Now that's my style of Virus Scanning.....lmao

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Air Cold, the blade stops;
from silent stone,
Death is preordained

Calm Chaos Forums : Everyone Welcome

I appreciate the welcomes extended by all of you long timers. Thank you all for being so very inviting.
I think I'll be spending most of my posting time inside the Cafe SETI after reading the threads in Politics.
I do have one question. I've spoken about BOINC and SETI to friends and people at work. Many of them have expressed fears about the security of the system.
While I don't have any important information in my hard drive, many people do and aren't willing to expose themselves.
Have there been any instances of hackers breaking into the computers of participants?

Hi Robert W.

I think you are being a little over cautious.

Are you on dial-up (56KB modem) or using cable (EG: a network card)? Do you have a router?

Using the BOINC application and crunching for SETI creates almost zero threat to you or your PC.

It is far more likely that your other internet activities might cause you problems.

If you are on dial-up (56kb modem?) and stay online for more than a few minutes then getting yourself a software firewall (EG: Zone Alarm) is probably a good idea.

However as BOINC only connects to a specific site and has it's own protocol you are unlikely to suffer an attack because of SETI.

If you are using 'cable' or a 'network card' then getting yourself a router will be your best option.

If you have a router already then you are probably already as safe as you can be given most routers have hardware firewalls built in.


How do you connect to the net? Dial-up or cable etc?

I appreciate the welcomes extended by all of you long timers. Thank you all for being so very inviting.
I think I'll be spending most of my posting time inside the Cafe SETI after reading the threads in Politics.
I do have one question. I've spoken about BOINC and SETI to friends and people at work. Many of them have expressed fears about the security of the system.
While I don't have any important information in my hard drive, many people do and aren't willing to expose themselves.
Have there been any instances of hackers breaking into the computers of participants?

I know of no instances of hackers breaking into the computers of participants.

Your friends fears are a normal response of people with a small amount of knowledge of computers & the internet. Berkley University is trusted, & I sincerely doubt they would jeopardize their studies by leaving gapping security leaks in their system.

That being said, ANY forum ANYWHERE could be subjected to hackers. Anytime you hook your computer to the outside world you are in effect putting yourself out there. If your computer browses the internet & receives email, you are subject to spam, viruses, adware, spyware, & rootkit invaders. You should always follow some commonsense rules....

1. And most importantly is a good quality virus detector (several are mentioned below). And a good quality firewall.

2. Never put your email address in any forum (including the SETI boards)

Whoever said the internet is like the Wild West was not joking. Packing your own heat is the only way to protect yourself. (You government is NOT going to help you by passing laws against syware/adware)

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Packing your own heat is the only way to protect yourself.

That's why when I come here I bring the Prometheus with me.

And a good firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware x 2 and anti hijacker with me...

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

I have used Ad-Aware and it was ok, but I like Spybot. It catches a lot that Ad-Aware misses.

And I have seen Ad-Aware catch things that Spybot has missed, which is why I run both (I forgot to mention it initially).

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I have used Ad-Aware and it was ok, but I like Spybot. It catches a lot that Ad-Aware misses.

And I have seen Ad-Aware catch things that Spybot has missed, which is why I run both (I forgot to mention it initially).

That's why having one of the top notch AVP programs like Avira, BitDefender, and Kaspersky are better...you don't need to use several freebie apps to keep your system clean and all the security components work together seamlessly and are proactive which the freebies are not. What one freebie misses, the other might catch, but who knows...their .dat files updates are hit and miss and usually always stale by the time you download them. As an example, Kaspersky issues new .dat file updates within 90 minutes of discovery of new malware and its' client downloads them every 60 minutes or less. And another thing, Ad-Aware and for the most part Spybot only might catch stuff after you've already been infected and can't even dream of catching anything embeded into rootkit.

As a rule of thumb, you usually get what you pay for...the freebies are like going to a house of ill repute in a third world country with ten you old Russian condoms. It's called a false sense of security. And ask yourself this question, which programs do you think hackers use to protect their systems.

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GRC

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

Kaspersky Virus Watch

Take the time to watch it cycle through...the times are in local using 24 hour time.

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It should be noted that no one package/program is perfect. Yes, some are better than others, but in all the 'independent' AV test reports I have seen (I don't consider the company's own tests of their product against others since I perceive bias in them) not one single program has ever gotten a perfect score of 100 (catch everything).

So people should not think that 'my one program' is enough and is perfect. I never rely on a single line of defence. I believe in multiple lines of defence.

Yes Spybot is free, but it does also have an immunization feature, which they claim: "Beginning with version 1.2, Spybot-S&D has been allowing you to immunize your computer against some spyware. This has been extended in every further release, and tweaks browser settings to use their methods of blocking cookies, malware installations, bad websites and more." To me this can be a good thing. How many, how much and how well it does this is probably debatable, but preventive action is better than responding after the event. If it prevents some stuff it is a good thing. As for today 31 Oct 2007 @ 11:15am AEST, my Spybot installation claims to have immunized me against 75,334 'things'. That's a lot. If it truly has then I see that as a good thing. Even if it doesn't against all, but only some than it is still good. Of course it could lull people into a sense of false security.

I like ZoneAlarm with AV because it watches programs going out and accepting incoming connections. It also notices when a program has changed (eg. updating Firefox it knows the program has changed and tells me and ask me should it be let out). It also watches what programs do and if one wishes to use another it asks me should it be allowed. If a program accesses the registry it picks that up as well and asks me to allow it. Hell, it even tells me that a program wants to monitor the keyboard and/or mouse (like on my laptop, the driver for the touchpad needs to monitor the touchpad so it knows how what I am doing so that the OS can update the mouse etc and ZoneAlarm asks me if this is okay).

However, part of stopping nasties getting on to your system is the behavior, knowledge and education of the user(s).

But while I have multiple programs etc, I also want them to be efficient as I want to get a lot of crunching done for Seti and Boinc. So I don't want to waste resources unnecessarily.

I note that it seems we have moved from Boinc safety to Internet safety. Does this mean we are going off topic or just expanding our topic?

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Never surrender and never give up. In the darkest hour there is always hope.

Good point, another reason I like Kaspersky while crunching. While operating in the back ground it usually uses <1%, while Norton uses >12% most of the time. Kaspersky, as well as all others, will use more resources during any active scan.

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Now I'm happy that I listened to the young fellow when I bought this new puter.
He recommended Kaspersky.

Hi Robert W.

I think you are being a little over cautious.

Are you on dial-up (56KB modem) or using cable (EG: a network card)? Do you have a router?

Using the BOINC application and crunching for SETI creates almost zero threat to you or your PC.

It is far more likely that your other internet activities might cause you problems.

If you are on dial-up (56kb modem?) and stay online for more than a few minutes then getting yourself a software firewall (EG: Zone Alarm) is probably a good idea.

However as BOINC only connects to a specific site and has it's own protocol you are unlikely to suffer an attack because of SETI.

If you are using 'cable' or a 'network card' then getting yourself a router will be your best option.

If you have a router already then you are probably already as safe as you can be given most routers have hardware firewalls built in.


How do you connect to the net? Dial-up or cable etc?

I'm not overly concerned for myself but I wanted to be sure I had the facts when I tell others that it's secure.
Personally, I'm on cable behind a router and firewall. There's nothing important stored on my hard drive beyond Halo and F.E.A.R.