Does it pay to purchase an antivirus program?

[cosrocket]

With the free anti virus programs out there such as AVG, Avast etc. does it pay to actually go out and purchase an anti virus program? I'm running Vista Business and I set my account up as a standard user so am I more protected from any viruses or spyware getting in than if I had an administrator account?

 

[Schadenfroh]

To learn about how not using Administrator accounts can help you, read over mechBgon's website.

To see how different antivirus products compare to one another at detecting viruses, please see the antivirus detection rate thread. Note that AVG Free Edition may not have the same detection rate as the AVG distribution used in some of the tests linked.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Not really. Kaspersky might be worth it, but its free after rebate.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
Kaspersky might be worth it, but its free after rebate.

Several security products are Free after Rebate right now

 

[pcslookout]

How long is the free after mail in rebate license for with KAV usually ?

 

[nordloewelabs]

if you:

- run the computer using a Restricted account.
- keep Windows, and Flash updated.
- uninstall Java (or at least, keep it updated).
- use Firefox or Opera for web browsing.
- use Foxit or similars for PDF viewing.
- avoid EXE, COM, BAT, PIF, VB, SCR attachments.
- avoid warez (find freeware alternatives).
- set the email client to view all HTML messages as Plain Text.

Edit: added Plain Text emails at the end.

a free antivirus will do. i like AVG and AntiVir.

 

[Lemon law]

The point is, for a paid AV, NOD32 and Kaspersky are top of the line excellent on detection rate.

When compared on detection rate alone, the avira antivirus freeware set correctly is
on a par with or only a tiny bit under NOD32 or Kaspersky. And much better than either AVG or Avast. But the curse with antivirus free is that it does not actively prescan incoming emails. And if you want that email pre scanning, you buy the paid version of anti virus. And with Avast or AVG, the pre scanning of email goes with the free package.

So the choice of free vs. paid may be partially driven by your email needs. If you (a) Only open text email from reliable sources and never allow attachments. (b) Have an ISP that pre scans incoming email for malware. (c) In my case, my PC is networked and another computer on the network usually catches the emails.

In any of those cases, antivirus free would be really great.

 

[nordloewelabs]

how often a virus get to the system via an HTML message or it is auto-executed by the email client? i thought MS had patched both Outlooks to avoid such attacks.... in any case, i setup my Outlook Express to convert all messages to plain text, so a maliciously crafted HTML email message cant do any harm. i should prolly have added that to my list too.

regarding scanning attachments, arent they automatically scanned when you try to open them or save them to your hard drive? i always thought pre-scanning incoming emails was redundant....(?)

 

[mechBgon]

Outlook and Outlook Express treat HTML in email as if it's in the Restricted Zone, which prevents active scripting and such. People who click links in emails, however... :Q yeah.

Regarding email attachments: for versions of Windows XP and Vista which have a Group Policy Editor (WinXP Pro & MCE and Tablet Edition thanks nordloewelabs, Vista Business/Ultimate/Enterprise), you can run gpedit.msc and drill down to... lessee here...

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachment Manager

and there's an option to force Windows to run all attachments through the resident antivirus program or else it won't let them be opened. This could be handy if you want to prevent the user from opening attachments after disabling that pesky antivirus program that keeps nuking their precious attachment.

 

[nordloewelabs]

you can add WinXP Tablet Edition to that list. it's a superset of XP Pro.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: nordloewelabs
you can add WinXP Tablet Edition to that list. it's a superset of XP Pro.

Edited previous post, thanks for that info :thumbsup:

 

[nordloewelabs]

a bit offtopic here, but since you mentioned.... the Group Policy merely changes Registry settings, right? if not, can XP Home users have access to all those GPEdit settings some other way?

 

[narzy]

I don't know, to me I guess when it comes to AV software I have always been of the opinion that I get what I pay for. Generally something is better then nothing, but I've seen many of machines come in to a shop with the free AV software installed infected to high hell but I also see the likes of McAfee and Symantec in the same boat. I personally use Eset Nod32 and have recently adopted the Eset Security Suite (although I find the firewall a bit too banhammerish for my liking but error on the side of caution is not a bad thing I guess, I rather have too much then not enough.)

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: nordloewelabs
a bit offtopic here, but since you mentioned.... the Group Policy merely changes Registry settings, right? if not, can XP Home users have access to all those GPEdit settings some other way?

The Registry key being changed is

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{72D39707-0E32-475F-829F-9538FF1679D0}User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments\ScanWithAntiVirus

So I doubt XP Home would support a Registry "intervention."

I :heart: gpedit.msc

 

[jameswhite1979]

no just use AVG Grisoft Free edition

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: nordloewelabs
a bit offtopic here, but since you mentioned.... the Group Policy merely changes Registry settings, right? if not, can XP Home users have access to all those GPEdit settings some other way?

The Registry key being changed is

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{72D39707-0E32-475F-829F-9538FF1679D0}User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments\ScanWithAntiVirus

So I doubt XP Home would support a Registry "intervention."

I :heart: gpedit.msc

Yes, they can, but possibly not the specific key... but maybe. You would use SECEDIT and the MMC component Security Templates.

Security Templates can do almost everything that GPO does 'stock'. If you understand the format of the .ADM files, you can create a template option for any key (don't modify the default windows ones, add the new one to the %windir%\inf directory.)

The Security Templates app then creates a .inf file. I have attached my lines from by VBS script for installation on how to apply a template.

Note that I used a ; in the attached code to mean new line