TSGL: AVG Free AV vs. Avast AV ???

[H Davis]

Well Don, it's getting a little crowded over here in confusionland now 
that you've joined us.

I guess my general understanding pretty well matches yours and, I too, 
use the popular free antispyware duo. And, like you, they never find 
anything of consequence. I've always suspected that the best defense 
against these "baddies" is just don't do anything stupid. I haven't had 
an AV or AS alert in years (except for tracking cookies).

But to support my suspicion, I've recently been given (err.. make that 
volunteered to clean up) 2 XP machines that are about 3 years old. 
Neither of these machines had any AV software on them when I got them 
although there were some remnants of Norton. Both had the Windows 
firewall turned on. No antispyware either. I know they were both used by 
extremely unsophisticated folks (computer-wise at least). But, when I 
installed some AV and AS software and ran scans - clean as a whistle 
(except, of course, for those pesky tracking cookies; a lot of them).

Interestingly, these machines were on a network and neither used a local 
e-mail client; Yahoo mail only. And I suspect that very few attachments 
were downloaded because I don't think they knew how to do that. So the 
primary entry point for viruses (I think) was essentially blocked. They 
did, however, figure out how to install nearly every game and Google 
gadget in existence.

I'm not sure what to conclude from this. Just another piece in the giant 
puzzle.

H Davis

Don Penlington wrote:
> H.Davis wrote:
>   
>> It's not clear to me if AV programs detect this type of infection or if
>> Anti-Malware software does it. (Or maybe nothing detects it.)
>>
>> Can anyone else illuminate this area better?>>
>>     
>
>
> Perhaps I can add my miniscule grain of understanding here.
>
> As you have already surmized, the boundaries between malware, spyware, and 
> viruses are indeed very undefined.
> It depends who's doing the defining. Last time I looked, one of the site 
> newsletters (McAfee I think) had something like 28 distinct  classes of 
> malware alone.
>
> Some software will define a certain item as a virus, while another might 
> define the same thing as malware, trojan, or spyware. Others might regard 
> it as harmless and not flag it at all.
>
> Let me give you an example of what I mean.
>
> For years I've used Download Accelerator Plus as my download 
> manager/accelerator. It works very well, and really does accelerate 
> downloads.  There's a free version and a paid version. I use the free 
> version. It flashes banner ads which change every 20 seconds or so. They 
> aren't intrusive. I don't even notice them. I regard it a small price to pay.
>
> Spybot sees these ads as spyware (because the program is loading something 
> without my express approval) and therefore flags DAP, whereas AdAware 
> disregards it entirely.
>
> There are two distinct types of antivirus software---proactive, and 
> reactive. Proactive (of which Nod32 is the only one I'm aware of) scans 
> files before you download them. That could explain why Avast is slowing 
> down Lee's browsing, though I doubt it. Reactive (which is most of the 
> others) scan files as they get downloaded onto your hard drive, but before 
> they can be activated. Personally, I don't think it makes much difference, 
> unless you are in a very high-risk environment. Others will disagree, and 
> are willing to pay for a proactive system.
>
> It's a good idea to have at least 2 anti-virus programs---one running 
> actively, the other just for running an occasional scan when you see 
> something that might be suspicious, or checking something you've downloaded 
> from a dubious site.  As well, you should have at least 2 or 3 anti-spyware 
> programs. Spybot and AdAware are the usual standards.  I'm also most 
> impressed by Superantispyware which is receiving very good reports. 
> (Incidentally, it also includes a free online check of all your running 
> applications).   www.superantispyware.com/
>
> All are free. I use ZoneAlarm Pro as my active anti-spyware, and run 
> occasional scans with the others. They hardly ever find anything, never 
> anything of any consequence, so I guess ZA Pro is doing its job OK. The 
> free version of ZA does not have this facility.
>
> When you're near the borderline, it's very much in the eye of the beholder 
> as to what's allowable, what's not, and how it's defined.
>
> Which explains why most of us, myself included, live in a state of 
> perpetual confusion.
>
> Don Penlington
>  From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
> Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
> http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html
>
>
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-- 
H Davis   hdavis1 at gmail.com