5 ms·

I'm silly, then. :-) I'm on Windows 7 (and XP before that), I've never used anti-virus software, but I'm careful about what I download and run. Many of my frien

by benhoyt 13y ago

I'm silly, then. :-) I'm on Windows 7 (and XP before that), I've never used anti-virus software, but I'm careful about what I download and run. Many of my friends, who do use anti-virus software, are constantly complaining of malware and the like. I realize this is just an anecdote and I could be caught out one day, but my approach is "don't install junk".

kenjackson 13y ago
Good approach, but how do you know you're not infected?
- munin 13y ago
  if you run antivirus software, how do you know you're not infected? many malwares now will partially paralyze your antivirus so that it seems all is well, but your computer is operated by someone else. TDSS would do this as long ago as 2008...
- HoLyVieR 13y ago
  You can use services like VirusTotal to do a quick file check if you suspect anything. You can also check what services/program starts on boot (msconfig and services.msc). With that you can already have a good confidence level of not being infected without have an AV draining your computer performance.
kefka 13y ago
Sounds all well and good. Back in the win98 and win2k years, we had a nice wired/wireless network. I had a shared server that served as a repository of all the movies, music, and games I collected. I also taught my sister about piracy, emulation, and other things. She also had her own good machine, with unrestricted net access at 9 yrs old. The first game she had loaded on was duke nukem 3d. (yes, my dad was 'interesting') Her big games were pokemon. And she owned the cartridges, bu waned to play with rom hacking and the like... So she looked for Pokemon yellow, and found one. Pokemon_yellow.zip. Inside was the rom and an exe. When she ran it, the virus hopped over to every executable that was on the shared server. I'm pretty sure I could have fixed them, because it only seemed more of a bacteria than something nefarious. It just annoyed the hell out of me, because I had my games directory mounted via samba from this server. If your computer is a bastion of alone-ness, you need not fear. But the second you include a trust net, you can be done in. Now, I'm a killall wineserver away from refusing an 'infection'.
- voltagex_ 13y ago
  Now there's an interesting question. How many viruses run on Wine? (sidenote: do I submit them to the AppDB?)

by benhoyt 13y ago

kenjackson 13y ago

Good approach, but how do you know you're not infected?

munin 13y ago
if you run antivirus software, how do you know you're not infected? many malwares now will partially paralyze your antivirus so that it seems all is well, but your computer is operated by someone else. TDSS would do this as long ago as 2008...
HoLyVieR 13y ago
You can use services like VirusTotal to do a quick file check if you suspect anything. You can also check what services/program starts on boot (msconfig and services.msc). With that you can already have a good confidence level of not being infected without have an AV draining your computer performance.

kefka 13y ago

Sounds all well and good. Back in the win98 and win2k years, we had a nice wired/wireless network. I had a shared server that served as a repository of all the movies, music, and games I collected. I also taught my sister about piracy, emulation, and other things. She also had her own good machine, with unrestricted net access at 9 yrs old. The first game she had loaded on was duke nukem 3d. (yes, my dad was 'interesting') Her big games were pokemon. And she owned the cartridges, bu waned to play with rom hacking and the like... So she looked for Pokemon yellow, and found one. Pokemon_yellow.zip. Inside was the rom and an exe. When she ran it, the virus hopped over to every executable that was on the shared server. I'm pretty sure I could have fixed them, because it only seemed more of a bacteria than something nefarious. It just annoyed the hell out of me, because I had my games directory mounted via samba from this server. If your computer is a bastion of alone-ness, you need not fear. But the second you include a trust net, you can be done in. Now, I'm a killall wineserver away from refusing an 'infection'.

voltagex_ 13y ago
Now there's an interesting question. How many viruses run on Wine? (sidenote: do I submit them to the AppDB?)