Norton internet security and other American Software..All malicious code ???

Originally posted by vcwxvwligen

Originally posted by boondock-saint
Symantec is on the US list of contractors.
To what extent Symantec is used in that
capacity, I have no idea. However, McAfee
is on the same list as well as Cisco and
Microsoft. So if you are going by that list
as to companies to boycott, you might
as well stop computing unles u write ur
own operating system software.

It's called "Debian Linux" and "wine"

Actually Linux being a free OS in all of it's 20 or so flavors goes completely against American by not supporting
the American Capitalistic System. Microsoft is a much better company in terms of supporting America. The jobs created by MS outweigh Linux 1000's to one. Just the shear fact people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for Windows with it's BSOD and all of it's warts versus the free OS Linux should be the indication that the complexity of dealing with code required to create a Unix OS would indicate the free market capitalistic society is working perfectly.

The language was perfect in questioning the possibility of malicious code in any software package. If you don't have the smarts to ask these questions then look to yourself when you find your personal information extracted from your PC. With America's original foundation created with the check and balance system and not the perverted legal system we have now. If your private information is lost from malicious code buried in an OS your chances of legal recourse are much better with something like MS than the free latest distro of Linux for the obvious reason free means the maker has no money. So restitution is meaningless from a free product.

Now if you want to devote a serious amount of your time to learning and developing a free OS then go right ahead that's why they call it a free country. But my company will continue to purchase a paid for OS with a professional development team creating 1000's of jobs around the world that doesn't take employee's an extraordinary length of time to learn. They use the same thing at home and it makes the transition easier.

Nobody was attacking America, it's a legitimate question to ask. Besides being an American allows me to use my 1st amendment rights as I see fit. Many soldiers died for me to have it, and I wouldn't want to waste their sacrifice by staying quiet.

I have tryed to get help with this on this site.
got no where.

Norton uses to much of the computer.
why?
when you are doing nothing and not connected to the net what is it doing?

if I use windows I use AVG free Virus prog.
#& comodo free virus & fire wall & other stuff.
& zone alarm free fire wall.
& ad-aware free.
all have free up dates.
I use all at the same time.
and they use less than norton.
they work together well. no trouble at all.

but the best thing is to use
Ubuntu 10.10 - the Maverick Meerkat.
you add Wine and stuff.
then you can use programs that run on windows ! YAY!
Linux operating systems have almost court up with Windows.
and Linux (Ubuntu & others).
and Linux is FREE!!!
and almost all of the soft wear is free!
Linux is faster and you can see the code.
so you know what the soft ware is doing!
you down load the operating sys program.
put it on a CD or DVD and you can boot from that
to see if you like it.
then you can put it to the hard drive and add programs very easy.
there are a LOT of forums that can help you.
I will help you to!
you will need a little help. sorry.
it is a LOT safer as it is not made to be hurt by viruses like windows.

KILL windows off USE Linux.
when you get a new computer.
you can tel them you dont wont the windows operating sys.
and just install a Linux operating sys.

reply to post by InvisibleAlbatross


Lately there's been a wave of anti-American sentiment, and this seemed like an attack on American software. Any group from any part of the globe is capable of producing trojans or malware. American anti-virus developers don't have any special distinction.

Originally posted by TedHodgson
reply to post by OddTimeSignature

 

Anyone with half a brain wouldnt use Norton Pro-virus anyway! i used it for a year, re-installed it 6 ruddy times and it still kept taking the piss by diss-allowing my access to things i wanted to use, However there may be a Malicious code, But then again i find it a malicious program anyway, Hence i use Kaspersky

Agreed.
I use Kap as well.
And on a separate HD, I have Kap, PC Tools and AdAware to scan my main C drive.
I used to use Trend Micro and worse, Bit Defender

Originally posted by charlyv
The best AV/AMW software out there is AVG, bare none and it is free. I had a PC business for years, and it was the only software that really did what it was designed to do. Most customers that brought thier infected systems in to us had Norton or Mcaffy on them. Many times, the only fix we had to do is run AVG on those systems and they were sterilized.

I've heard differently, that customers with infected systems had been running AVG Free.

In an independent study, Avira did the best among free solutions, and paid solutions which did not offer free versions did even better. Norton was about middle-tier.

I must admit, though, one time I saw McAfee's heuristics engine catch a trojan that no other program could detect. However, it's probably better to try use another program and take extra preventative measures because McAfee is a pain in the neck when Windows is booting up.

Avira does not play nicely with ClamWin, which is a shame.

reply to post by charlyv


Have to disagree about AVG being the best...

I've gotten some trojan hijackers lately and the only thing that would touch them was Malwarebytes in safe mode.

Originally posted by charlyv
The best AV/AMW software out there is AVG, bare none and it is free. I had a PC business for years, and it was the only software that really did what it was designed to do. Most customers that brought thier infected systems in to us had Norton or Mcaffy on them.

Really?
And you spell McAfee, "Mcaffy ."!

Originally posted by MarlinGrace

Originally posted by vcwxvwligen
It's called "Debian Linux" and "wine"

Actually Linux being a free OS in all of it's 20 or so flavors goes completely against American by not supporting
the American Capitalistic System. Microsoft is a much better company in terms of supporting America. The jobs created by MS outweigh Linux 1000's to one. Just the shear fact people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for Windows with it's BSOD and all of it's warts versus the free OS Linux should be the indication that the complexity of dealing with code required to create a Unix OS would indicate the free market capitalistic society is working perfectly.

Many governments are phasing out of using Windows and Microsoft Office, and are using OpenOffice.org as a cost-cutting measure. That's why Microsoft is shifting its development strategy towards the Internet and cloud-based computing.

Microsoft's tech support -- and a bit of its programming -- is outsourced to India. Its payroll goes into the economies of central and southern California, and Washington State. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates money to international charities, not necessarily American ones.

Most of the profit in the IT industry comes from the Internet, and most of the Internet exists on Linux servers. If you wish to survive as an IT business, you will need to learn about things like .htaccess files sooner or later.

If your private information is lost from malicious code buried in an OS your chances of legal recourse are much better with something like MS than the free latest distro of Linux for the obvious reason free means the maker has no money. So restitution is meaningless from a free product.

AFAIK, you cannot indemnify Microsoft for damages arising out of third-party malicious activity. A well-updated Linux system is much more resistant to malicious attacks, than Windows. Any neglected system is as good as gone against the newest threats, no matter what OS it uses.

Now if you want to devote a serious amount of your time to learning and developing a free OS then go right ahead that's why they call it a free country. But my company will continue to purchase a paid for OS with a professional development team creating 1000's of jobs around the world that doesn't take employee's an extraordinary length of time to learn. They use the same thing at home and it makes the transition easier.

Linux is not just a hobby. It has been deployed in professional environments for more than a decade. It's more idiot-proof than Windows, so employees using a Linux-based server need not worry about taking it down just by checking email.

Nobody was attacking America, it's a legitimate question to ask. Besides being an American allows me to use my 1st amendment rights as I see fit. Many soldiers died for me to have it, and I wouldn't want to waste their sacrifice by staying quiet.

You should honor those fallen soldiers by not singling out America as the source of all malicious software.

I still think that microsoft creates most of the viruses.

Originally posted by boondock-saint


reply to post by jacksterson

 

That's like a used car salesman
saying: "I've got the best deals, don't
go over there to Bob's place nor Ron's
Place nor etc...."

Mod Edit: Quoting – Please Review This Link.

edit on 2010/12/1 by GradyPhilpott because: see note above

what's wrong with Bob's place?

reply to post by MR BOB


Bobs place is Eastside, i is westside .

Personally the best anti-virus i ever used was pc-tools and it was brillaint but was costing me too much

Originally posted by Slipdig1
I still think that microsoft creates most of the viruses.

I have to agree here. I repair computers, and you would not believe some of the problems these things have. Microsoft stores everything that you do, every cookie, every temp file, every html file, encrypted file, and in some cases, every keystroke. Windows needs to reboot after any installation, so that particular program can then be on the "start menu." Windows uses "Active X," and Java application that is malicious code in itself. Active X can and will download things you do not want on your machine. Windows degrades as time goes by, and in a few years of service, it will be unresponsive, slow to boot, and sometimes a blue screen will greet you. Remember everything writes to the Windows Registry, which is only so big, and will fill up with unneeded code.

I run Fedora Linux myself, and would not run anything else. I did the "distro hop" thing for awhile, but as all Linux users do, I settled on one that suited me. I don't run wine, or Office, have no use for them, and do not wish anything Microsoft on my machine. I have a strong firewall of the I-Tables variety, a Proxy Server, and Linux never degrades, it is as fresh every morning as when I installed it. There is an excellent forum where I can ask questions, and answer questions. If my installation fails, I have the DVD, free from the internet, and I can easily re-install. I don't have to buy anything but the hardware.
I belong to the Free Software Foundation. www.fsf.org...

Working together for free software You deserve to use software that is: free from restriction, free to share and copy, free to learn and adapt, and free to work with others. You deserve free software.

What we do
* The FSF advocates for free software ideals as outlined in the Free Software Definition, works for adoption of free software and free media formats, and organizes activist campaigns against threats to user freedom like Windows 7, Apple's iPhone and OS X, DRM on ebooks and movies, and software patents.
* We promote completely free software distributions of GNU/Linux, and advocate that users of the GNU/Linux operating system switch to a distribution which respects their freedom.
* We drive development of the GNU operating system and maintain a list of high-priority free software projects to promote replacements for common proprietary applications.
* We build and update resources useful for the free software community like the Free Software and Hardware Directories, and the free software jobs board. We also provide licenses for free software developers to share their code, including the GNU General Public License.

A strong free software movement focused on the principled issues of software freedom — and a strong FSF in particular — will determine what freedoms the next generation of computer users enjoy. At stake is no less than the next generation's autonomy. — Benjamin Mako Hill, writer, technologist and FSF board member

www.fsf.org...

Free software is the best way to go, not some big corporation that already has billions of your dollars and does nothing to give you long term stability. You must run anti-virus programs, and anti-spyware programs. You have constant security updates...you would thing that good security came with the OS, wouldn't you? If you run into difficulties, you call technical support, and then you get to converse with someone from India, and you have to give him or her remote access to your machine, and then you have to manually turn off this remote access.

My machine has an encrypted drive, and and encrypted Home on a separate partition. I have a user account, and have to input a root password to do anything Administrative on the machine. During the install, Fedora's Anaconda installer partitions the hard drive almost automatically, and I can choose what programs to install, from Gnome Desktop to KDE, to several others. I use an eye candy intensive KDE 4 desktop, it is fast and responsive, and completely configurable, many themes and "wigits," little things like clocks, pic frames, weather apps, for the Plasma desktop. Don't be afraid of Linux, it is not as hard to install and learn as Microsoft would have to believe. You can even have an Internet Explorer theme for your Firefox.

Originally posted by vcwxvwligen

Originally posted by MarlinGrace

Originally posted by vcwxvwligen
It's called "Debian Linux" and "wine"

Many governments are phasing out of using Windows and Microsoft Office, and are using OpenOffice.org as a cost-cutting measure. That's why Microsoft is shifting its development strategy towards the Internet and cloud-based computing.

Again your falling into the example I give of free, openoffice is free therefore at your own consequences, but your claim was the post was Anti-American and yet here we are at another example of Anti-American. This software (OpenOffice) was written with the intentions to harm Microsoft. Again Anti-American. With the free market system if you don;t like it don't buy it, your dollar is your vote. Obviously people like it or BG wouldn't be worth over 50 billion dollars. Somebody seems to like it, a lot of somebodies.

Microsoft's tech support -- and a bit of its programming -- is outsourced to India. Its payroll goes into the economies of central and southern California, and Washington State. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates money to international charities, not necessarily American ones.

Outsourcing to India by Ms, Dell, or any other tech company has to go where the brainiacs are. Thank the Government education system for that not American companies. Thank god their payroll stays here locally.
It's the Gates money and their willingness to give so much of it away makes them pretty good Americans. Is it their choice of giving that you disagree with, or the fact it's money based from the Microsoft product? I wonder how much Linus Torvalds donates to society, or do you consider the free OS a donation? Because if you do I am sure the aids infected Africans don't see the need for a free OS.

[quote]
Most of the profit in the IT industry comes from the Internet, and most of the Internet exists on Linux servers. If you wish to survive as an IT business, you will need to learn about things like .htaccess files sooner or later.

I am very familiar with htaccess but the issue was never the IT side of things but if you choose to go there then again Linux and all of it's flavors, originally based on Unix source code is again Anti-American. How could anyone in their right mind thinking free software created by a Non-American in another country and giving it away is a good idea is beyond me. This creates a pure and simple way to assist in bringing down America's businesses in a capitalistic system. So if Toyota builds a free car and gives it away are you going to tell me this is good for America are going to drive one then claim it is the best car? Is it good for GM, Ford etc? And BTW server farms loaded with Linux are not any safer than windows based servers in the same farm system.

AFAIK, you cannot indemnify Microsoft for damages arising out of third-party malicious activity. A well-updated Linux system is much more resistant to malicious attacks, than Windows. Any neglected system is as good as gone against the newest threats, no matter what OS it uses.

The comment was never about third party software it was about malicious code in an OS. I couldn't hold MS anymore more accountable for third party software than GM for Valvoline oil after I put it in. " Any neglected system is as good as gone against the newest threats, no matter what OS it uses." Agreed.

Linux is not just a hobby. It has been deployed in professional environments for more than a decade. It's more idiot-proof than Windows, so employees using a Linux-based server need not worry about taking it down just by checking email.

i never insinuated Linux was a hobby only a Anti-American Product produced by a someone in a foreign country and introduced in America to compete with companies creating jobs and paying taxes making the capital system work. Without that we couldn't and wouldn't exist.

You should honor those fallen soldiers by not singling out America as the source of all malicious software.

edit on 2-12-2010 by vcwxvwligen because: (no reason given)

I didn't single out anyone on malicious code, the issue was as still is Free Linux is Anti-American and so are the people who support it. It isn't about one OS being better than an other, the question is expecting American Companies to compete with a free product. But then again you probably think the slave labor driven Communistic country of China provides better products than American's and buy them freely telling your friends they have a better product. The only thing Anti-American in all of this post is thinking free Linux is a good idea.
Buy everything you can made in this country, make the effort to find those products produced here, and when you can't only then buy from a country that supports American Values.

AVG is far from the best; I've used Norton, AVG, McAfee and Avast.

I've had the least issues with Avast, keep in mind I also run NoScript in Mozilla, a firewall and regularly check my system with HijackThis. There is no perfect software and I certainly trust open-source software before Microsoft's security suites. ESPECIALLY since I, as an administrator had to give myself "administrator" privileges and still struggle around their crap to access folders and files Microsoft deems me too stupid to access.

reply to post by MarlinGrace


I have got to add my 2 cents.

A free OS is not going to have a negative impact on American jobs. Most of us set aside a budget or price range for a computer, the hardware is the initial purchase. The money we don’t spend on the OS is going to be spent on peripherals or things used for our computer needs. If I don’t spend money on an OS I’m going to get a bigger hard drive, nicer video card or maybe a nicer monitor. The money will get spent.

Linux is a safer OS and has many more features to offer. You can run a Linux OS without installing it and can even operate a workstation without a hard drive (saving $50 to $200), and save your files to a thumb drive if you want to. You need to install Windows before you can use it. Linux gives you so much more, is very flexible and more dependable. You don’t need a serial number or key to get started and can even run on that outdated 98 machine you have collecting dust. Try that with Windows 7!

No disrespect to my Windows friends, but MS is hiding Linux right under your nose.

reply to post by fisheye


A very valuable two cents indeed, the whole crazy length of this post is based on asking a simple question about software having malicious code, and the result being Anti-American, and that concept is clearly wrong. But like most Americans given the option of free OS or pay for the OS I am buying. It's all a matter of the learning curve and my old brain is tired. And it is a matter jobs if whatever version of Linux you prefer was as simple to use as windows then what would you do with all those jobs supporting Windows when everyone went to free and easy software?

Linux is for advanced smart people and not yet ready for the masses but it is close. I just take offense to someone from another country creating a free product giving it to our country and listening to Linux folks bad mouth a competing product MS created in this country by American workers supporting our economy. It is the basis for driving Ford trucks, my money goes to the US workers who assembled it, not a country that would like to see us disappear while we finance their rise.

reply to post by vcwxvwligen


Nice feedback. I must admit I am a bit biased on AVG because It has worked so well for me. Also agree that heuristic approaches can definitely trap new stuff where there is no signature yet to put in a database. Saving that, alot of it has to do with a users risk factor, e.g. How much do they expose themselves to, especially with torrent sites and porn bins.

It is a real good idea to back up a good AV/AMW program with nice (and free) programs such as Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware, as these can also find things that still lurk after a scan.

Another good thing to do with AVG is to opt in to auto feedback that collects data and sends it back to them. They are very pro-active in this area, and that reflects back into the updates that everyone gets.

Even if I assume Norton is not riddled with spyware from US Department of Homeland Security, we can assume the DHS has a version of all kinds of things that you will probably help them to install on your computer in some way or the other.

Several years ago it was reported that hushmail, who runs an encrypted email service which they claimed they would not keep a copy of your private key (meaning that if you lost you PassWord, you could not login ever again), had two different versions of its software. The Java program which did the encryption work had the usual version and one they would hand a user, if the right government agency asked hushmail to, which would hand the government agency the PassWord. I also presume the government agency would be allowed to use the PassWord on a private citizens account without leaving any footprints.

Therefore I think it a good presumption that almost any popular software has another DHS version that they will try to slip in to a target computer.

We know that Java is extremely insecure and can be used to download all kinds of things onto target computers. Java is infuriating because no one seems concerned about fixing it, while nearly every website insists on using it. Likewise Adobe has security issues with Flash, PDF and its own downloader program which they are not very motivated to fix. Like Apple CEO Steve Jobs implied, we can do without Adobe altogether when HTML5 is the standard.

The problem with Microsoft (M$) is that the security problem is not just a problem of the OS, it is that we have the wrong design for the hardware. We, as a society are not willing to pay for the hardware design that will make a more secure computer. How the hardware needs to change is not a secret, it just costs money. When we buy computers, we buy for price, not for quality.

We know that the "authorities," both government and those in charge of computer systems must surely have implemented a means to trace almost anything across the internet so they can catch malware instigators.

Like a privacy expert said in an interview, "privacy is already dead, it does not exist, it has not existed for quite a while." Anonymity does not exist. We can not simply get lost in group by trying not to stand out. it is too easy for the computerized government to keep files on so many. They are now collected automatically by computers. Trying to live off of the grid is likely to start a surveillance.

As the most basic firmware of computer, BIOS and such is now written in India and China, what are the odds that we do is hidden from them either. Seems that China has not used such a resource to track down Chinese dissidents, so maybe not yet.

reply to post by MarlinGrace


The free software movement is not inherently pro-American, and there are a few who are anti-American, but this thread singles out Americans as developers of "malicious code."

reply to post by charlyv


Even Spybot catches some things that AVG doesn't. Commercial programs have better heuristics than free ones. I personally have not used paid AVG, but the free program installs a browser toolbar and an uninstallable Firefox add-on which is annoying. It also slows your system to a crawl when another AV program is running concurrently. With the exception of high-profile malware, anti-virus companies pretty much compete with one another and tend not to share their research.

The weaknesses with peer-to-peer is that not only do you invite yourself to be scanned (people find you by searching for files that you're sharing, or by receiving your search requests), but the software itself contains vulnerabilities and backdoors. I've seen crackers use eMule to escalate priviliges on a Windows 7 box, which was supposed to be the next best thing in Microsoft security. It's WAY more secure than XP, though, I will grant that.