Microsoft One Care Safety Scanner, April 1st virus.

[ricleo2]

The IT nerds at work got me paronoid about a virus that is supposed to hit on April 1st. I scanned my computer with Avast and Windows One Care Safety Scanner. Scanner found two virus' that Avast did not. I am impressed with Microsoft's newest utility. Do you think it's worth 50 bucks a year? How come Avast did not find the virus' that One Care found? Is there really anything to worry about from this latest virus? Thanks for any response.

Moved from Software For Windows to Security.

AnandTech Moderator
mechBgon

 

[lxskllr]

Are you sure it's a virus? It could be a false positive. And no, I don't think A/V is worth $50 per year.

 

[Trashman]

Do you think it's worth 50 bucks a year?

Not anymore, MS, from my understanding, is dumping onecare, i think sometime this summer, but if you do buy they will still support it for 1 yr.

 

[Trashman]

Here's an article in case your interested----------> onecare

 

[dguy6789]

Why anyone would spend money on an antivirus program and then spend money on a subscription, I don't know. AVG is less bloated, free to install, free to use, and does as well or better than every single anti virus that costs money in detective viruses.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Why anyone would spend money on an antivirus program and then spend money on a subscription, I don't know. AVG is less bloated, free to install, free to use, and does as well or better than every single anti virus that costs money in detective viruses.

I disagree with that. AVG is free for home use, but if you think its detection rates are as good as every paid antivirus product, or even the best of the free ones, that really isn't borne out by any tests I've read (or done myself). Kaspersky easily dominates AVG in signature-based detection (and has behavioral detection features as well), and AntiVir (free or paid) has some exceptional heuristics that also dominate AVG. I think there are better options.


Regarding the original topic:

1) Microsoft OneCare has been improving after a mediocre start.

2) Microsoft is discontinuing OneCare, and plans to release a basic free antivirus afterwards.

3) Avast's detection rates historically have been lackluster. Lots of bling, though :evil:


Anyway, if your system had malware on it, I wouldn't stop where you are now.

• Uninstall Avast, install AntiVir, max out the settings you'll see during setup, run an Update, and then scan with that.
  
• Also install Secunia PSI, run a scan, and fix everything it says is insecure.
  
• Review the tips here to set up some additional defenses, such as Data Execution Prevention.

 

[ricleo2]

Thanks mechBgon.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: ricleo2
The IT nerds at work got me paronoid about a virus that is supposed to hit on April 1st.

What will happen on April 1st is those workstations who have ALREADY been infected with the Conficker worm will phone home and get the new variant. But if you're patched up and protected, it's not like you will magically get infected with a new worm.

Conficker is known to be very difficult to remove on a large network, which is why your IT guys are very concerned about it.

 

[Scouzer]

Avira seems to have the best detection out of anyone, even in the free version!