AVAST OR AVIRA

[HansV]

By practicing commonsense safe-computing, ensuring all my ports are closed, being cautious with all downloads and accepting that no AV package can prevent a drive-by attack, I went for almost 3 years with no AV protection at all. Never had a single problem.

This will keep you safe most of the time, but unfortunately sometimes a perfectly reputable-looking site will be infected. An attack by a fake anti-virus program can be very difficult to fend off, but up-to-date protection should nip it in the bud.

[PaulB]

...but unfortunately sometimes a perfectly reputable-looking site will be infected.

I quite agree. This is what I meant by a drive-by attack or download. While today's AV packages are getting better and better, they still provide little to no protection against such attacks.

An attack by a fake anti-virus program can be very difficult to fend off...

Not sure what you mean here.

[HansV]

Some websites will, the moment you visit them, put up a very convincing message that your computer has been infected by malware, with an option to "protect your computer now" or similar. If you accept, a fake antivirus program will be installed that will nag you endlessly to get a paid upgrade (and that may try to disable your real antivirus program). If you don't accept, the infection warnings will continue, with endless popups.

Here is a screenshot of such a fake warning (I added the FAKE! message to - hopefully - avoid confusion).

fake-antivirus-2008.jpg

[PaulB]

Understood. However most, if not all, AV programs offer no protection against 'social engineering' scams such as this and the 'Nigerian Letter'. This is where commonsense safe-computing practices kick in.

Any harm from these attacks requires my (naive) active participation.

[Hey Jude]

Some websites will, the moment you visit them, put up a very convincing message that your computer has been infected by malware, with an option to "protect your computer now" or similar. If you accept, a fake antivirus program will be installed that will nag you endlessly to get a paid upgrade (and that may try to disable your real antivirus program). If you don't accept, the infection warnings will continue, with endless popups.

I am not hijacking this thread, but as an aside to this, I wish to alert you to the fact that http://www.mywot.com/ shows EL as GREEN with an EXCELLENT rating. I remember an early topic where WOT only showed EL as gray due to not enough user ratings. With that being said, I rely on it, but am not so naive as to believe any one program can determine the reliability of any site. It takes common sense and so far the only time I encountered a negative report from Avast was due to a "false positive" which was rectified immediately (several years ago). I rely heavily upon recommendations I've gotten over the years thru trustworthy techie friends and sites like EL to determine which programs I'll use. I decided to ditch Avast on my 7 laptop as a result of reading various message threads. Keep yourself informed and when you encounter any problems, Hans et al are always ready to assist with the most reliable information I've found anywhere.

CONGRATULATIONS ON WOT GREEN

EL WOT rating.png

[PaulB]

I don't see your response as a hijack, but rather as an example of your using good commonsense safe-computing practices.

[Hey Jude]

I don't see your response as a hijack, but rather as an example of your using good commonsense safe-computing practices.

As a child, a 98% safety rating is essential to ongoing computing development