Microsoft looks for 'protection' money

[Seeruk]

And the people doing the suing?? The EU notified by various 'consumer groups' made of of people like Cheesoman

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Seeruk
And the people doing the suing?? The EU notified by various 'consumer groups' made of of people like Cheesoman

MS has been sued by alot of people. But the people sueing if they bundled their AV program would be other AV vendors.

 

[spyordie007]

Microsoft can give away AV with out anti-trust worries. MS can't bundle the application with windows with out getting sued. If they bundle the software they will get sued even if it requires a fee.

If that's the case how can they get away with bundling Anti-spyware (Windows Defender in Vista)?

 

[TGS]

Actually it's quite true about not needing AV software. I have *never* used AV software at any point since I started using computers(obviously I mean my home computer). The only problems I've ever had, were my mother in law installing yahoo toolbars and some junk that came bundled with it. Recently I had a problem with a website (thottbot.com to be specific) where the ads would hijack IE. So I stopped going to that page and viola(sic) no more browser problems. I did a spybot/adaware scan and came up with some residual cookies from some sites and that was it.

Though, my computer rules are:

Don't install software, without my permission.

Don't *ever* click yes/accept to *any* popup that appears in IE.

Don't visit sites you don't trust.

Don't open email attachments from anyone you don't personally know, and are not expecting an attachment from. (The only thing I see my wife opening is pictures from family but typically they talk on the phone prior to these being sent).


With those basic rules in place, my kids don't have any problems. And my computer(s) has been virus free. Now firewalls on the other hand I do believe that people should use them 100% of the time while connected to the internet. As for AV software, smart practices and limiting people that can use you computer will work wonders. Obviously this does not apply to the business world, as the PEBKAC that will use desktop systems cannot be monitored in an efficient fashion to prevent Bad Things? from happening on your network.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: TGS
Actually it's quite true about not needing AV software.

I used to run without "Active" AV protection. I had Norton AV installed, but only used it to scan downloads or to make periodic system scans. But the ongoing attacks against even fully-patched systems and applications make me now recommend running antivirus software in Active mode. Active antivirus software, for instance, could have helped against the recent .WMF Exploit, when nothing else would.

 

[SparkyJJO]

If you are like me, just use the windows updates when they come out, and use free AV (AVG free FTW) and free anti-spyware (Ad-Aware and Spybot FTW) - problem solved 🙂

 

[scottws]

I use AVG Free and keep my PC updated, but I almost never run anti-spyware scans. I ran Spybot and Ad-Aware after almost a year of not doing so and they didn't find anything except some tracking cookies. Of course it helps that I just hang out on a couple non-shady forums and use Firefox.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: TGS
Actually it's quite true about not needing AV software. I have *never* used AV software at any point since I started using computers(obviously I mean my home computer). The only problems I've ever had, were my mother in law installing yahoo toolbars and some junk that came bundled with it. ...

Saying "I don't need antivirus because I've never had a virus" sounds just like "I don't need to back up my data because my hard drive has never crashed."

 

[stash]

Saying "I don't need antivirus because I've never had a virus" sounds just like "I don't need to back up my data because my hard drive has never crashed."

Not really. Staying virus-free is something that you, the user, can control. Very easily in fact, which is why AV is not necessary. A hard drive failure is something that is completely out of your control.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: stash

Saying "I don't need antivirus because I've never had a virus" sounds just like "I don't need to back up my data because my hard drive has never crashed."

Not really. Staying virus-free is something that you, the user, can control. Very easily in fact, which is why AV is not necessary. A hard drive failure is something that is completely out of your control.

True enough, they're not exactly equal. But simply saying "I will make smart choices" doesn't mean nothing will ever happen. How much control you have over the chances isn't what I was trying to highlight. My point was that you're taking risks in both situations.

I guess overall I'm not saying I believe every single windows pc needs to have av on it (but like I said, I'm not a security expert, these are just my opinions). The concept of a 3rd party av product often seems very silly to me. What I'd like to see is to have it be a part of the operating system if it's deemed necessary to have at all. Something unobtrusive that does common sense monitoring, simply providing the most secure product that can be put together in one package. As has been pointed out, that would raise legal issues but I think that's a shame in this case.

 

[SparkyJJO]

only reason why I have AV is because of the possibility of getting a virus - and actually I have gotten viruses before, most of which were not big deals but like one I got through AIM from a friend down the hall - so in that case AV was good because I could have gotten my network port shut down (she did because her comp was sending the virus throughout the school 😛). But usually it just sits there

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: kamper
In summary, there is still a lot of room for operating system designers to protect non-technical people from themselves.

Amen.

I see the issue of MS introducing their own anti-spyware and anti-virus products, much like a car company that has a history of producing vehicles with defective door locks, choosing to include a car alarm system to alert when someone is breaking in to the car, instead of fixing the door locks in the first place. (Also charging more money for the included-by-default car alarm.)

(If you think about it, that's a very apt. analogy, since both anti-spyware and anti-virus tools are designed not to prevent infection, but to alert when an infection is in-process or present already in the system. They are more after-the-fact, than preventative, like an "OS firewall" product might be. Of course the right place for those security controls to be in place, are at the OS level in the first place.)

Edit: Btw, it's my opinion that the major factor driving MS to introduce, at least the anti-spyware software, is coming from their first-tier OEM customers. It is they, not MS, that primarily shoulder the support-cost burdens, for end-users afflicted by malware.

As far as the AV software, I suppose something similar is true, but I think that MS is finally eyeing Symantec's vast AV market-share, and deciding that they want a lucrative cut of the pie.

Well, we all know how things have played out in the past when MS wants to eat your company's primary market segment. It's not pretty. 😛

I expect Symantec to survive, due to their product diversification, but I'm sure that they will take a major hit.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: stash
Not really. Staying virus-free is something that you, the user, can control. Very easily in fact, which is why AV is not necessary. A hard drive failure is something that is completely out of your control.

Agreed. It has been my experience that running many consumer AV products, in many cases the "cure" is as bad as the "disease". I prefer to run without, and practice "safe hex" instead. But backups are crucial - not just in the case of HD failure, but if on the off chance I ever do catch something, I wont lose my data. (I swear by Ghost 2003.)

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: stash
These services don't protect you from flaws in the product. The free monthly security updates do that.

Agreed