Really McAffee?

[hallsofvallhalla]

So I get my new computer in and of course it has stupid anti virus installed on it. I still do not see the use in anti virus but whatever. I load up my external hard drive to start installing things.

McCrapafee decides to go through and delete ...Not quarantine..but delete everything it thinks is a virus. Programs I wrote. Software that I had that may have cracks with them but I either already own(ever try to find your cd key from a game you bought 10 years ago) or are out of print. Files named crack, like Windshield Crack.jpg, and just tons of other stuff.

That is really stupid. I am sick of things touching my files. I am sick of not having permission of my own files. Everything in my laptop is mine. I do not need anything else managing it. No wonder the user experience on PC has gotten so horrible. It is the protection that makes it a bad experience. Much like flying. The security is what is terrible.

[Xaos]

Wow, that bytes. Like the ones McCrappy just deleted.

[bogezie]

Yeah that sucks man sorry you files were erased... I always wipe my PC and install fresh copy of the OS and never install anti virus on machines that I have with important files (for the exact same reason of what happened to you). A good practice may be to have a primary PC for programming and important personal files with (No anti Virus Software) and a secondary PC that you use with Anti Virus so that you can scan downloads for viruses, then transfer them to your primary.

I haven't run anti virus on my machine with personal or important files in a long time, and my machine is doing just fine. I do all my surfing on the secondary PC which has been hit with a virus or two ... or a few during it's course of life lol

[Callan S.]

An example of giving up liberty for security.

Who secures you from the securers?

Edit: Man, 'Securers' would be an awesome band name...I'll just write a note on my comp, save it as crackingly good band names.txt - oh crap, McAffee just deleted it - what was that name again?

[hallsofvallhalla]

hahaha

I havent used anti virus in over 10 years and no virus's.

I had backups of most of the stuff. Its just the idea.

[Jackolantern]

I still use anti-virus software simply because I worry about trojans stealing info much more than traditional viruses (and you usually don't know you have a trojan).

But I have never used McCafee or Norton, as those are 2 of the worst on the market. They make their entire living by paying computer OEMs to preinstall it so computer novices think that is the only option, and just keep re-upping it year after year. And it is good business for the OEMs, too, beyond the money they make because both of them steal about 50% of your computer's performance, thus pushing the user that much faster to buy a new computer from them, which will also have one of those two on it, and on and on.

I typically use either Kaspersky or eNOD32. Particularly eNod32 is extremely low footprint (taking less than about 3% of the system's power to run) and very hands-off. It would never delete anything without your permission, and typically even requires your permission for quarantine.

[Xaos]

I use avast. Def not as bad as others.

[MikuzA]

Wow, that's awful.. Can't imagine your face when you see the log entries of McCrappydoodleys giving you.
I personally use Avast, since I'm seriously not paying for virus protection. But If I would pay for it, I would go for FSecure (rooting for Finland, hurray!)

But still, AntiVirus is more of an protection against yourself and what you do. So if you know what you are doing, you do not need AntiVirus.
Firewall is a must. And as a suggestion, Zonealarm.

[Hamilton]

Eh gads. Sorry about that.

From my experience with viruses, it is still a good idea to have one installed. I go with the ones that do not have a subscription; either free or a one-time payment; but not on-going. I go with Avast so far, seems to be just fine and with that Pirate voice too.

A few years ago, I got hit by this one very well made malware. It was delivered by viewing a webpage... I unfortunately did not pay attention as to how it happened, but it was not through a download. Got in without making a peep and Symantec (is what I was using) did not trip. The evil code managed to store a tad bit of info in the Master Boot Record, BIOS and its main code resided in a small portion of the hard drive windows does not format, I believe was just a 128kb sector. When the malware decided to go active, Symantec was popping off alerts that sending emails were being blocked. My screen was filling up with alerts, thus my laptop became a spamming computer.
Symantec could not find it.
I went and found a rogue process, easy to find as it had a random name, killed it. Found the file and associated files and deleted those.
But every time I booted up, the bugger was back.
I went through a couple other A/V programs, which had better success at finding files, but not that hidden source code in the unformatted area.
So a came across Combofix, which basically is like doing chemotherapy to the O/S. But fortunately did the trick, creamed out the MBR of baddies and the O/S was still operable. I didn't have to resort or a full diskwipe and reinstall.

So from that experience...
Top marketed A/V programs are not that better than other more affordable programs.
Malware is out there, and just viewing a webpage can make it happen.
Started using VMWare and creating snapshots. So if this did happen again... well instead of going through the mess, can just re-apply a saved image.

[Jackolantern]

A few years ago, I got hit by this one very well made malware. It was delivered by viewing a webpage... I unfortunately did not pay attention as to how it happened, but it was not through a download.

This is the crap that I keep anti-virus for. Websites can get infected with garbage themselves, or something could even attack through an ad that the site has nothing to do with (I can't count how many times I have seen trust-worthy sites apologize for an ad infecting their viewers). They are extremely common in gaming-related websites, as stealing accounts is a multi-million dollar business. Sometimes even the ad-supplying company was infected with the malware against an ad in their rotations and then the ad company inadvertently distributes it all over the world.

To me, there are just too many uncertainties to try to control it with my own activities.