What is going wrong with top rated security recently?

Within the last three days two top rated security software programs have malfunctioned.

Yesterday [or the day before] Malwarebytes gave an update that crashed it and caused high and disabling CPU usage all over - Hundreds of users were

writing in to find out what was going on - They finally fixed it - The easy way to fix it personally was to uninstall and reinstall it.

They said it was a mistake

A mistake from one ot the leading malware security firms - Hard to believe.


Malwarebytes premium I pay for - But I use a free anti-virus; Was using Avast- today they kept prompting me to try 'system speedup' - supposedly a
a cleaning tool.

So I did - And it erased all of my bookmarks for the last month

I immediaely uninstalled it as the 'restore point' apparently wasn't availabbe for the free users - The cynic in me tells me that was the whole
idea to force purchase of a pay for version.

I uninstalled Avast completely and decided to try ZoneAlarm free version as it has been arounded for many years.

Is ZoneAlarm free still recommended?

And what about the other software malfunctions - Coincidence or are hackers causing it ???

a reply to: AlienView

It's everywhere. Everyone is feeling it.

Scary thing: No one's saying anything about it.

I am a little suspicious.

We know back doors have existed since the first nor gate was developed.

Now, with all of the stuff going on in Washington DC, we suddenly have an avalanche of errors, mistakes and Oh my god moments.

I wonder if there is a connection.

Should be interesting. There could be lots and lots of violations of the Constitution ... by government agencies.

If this is the reason ... then the companies are trying to put a brave face on the fact that they have sold out their customers ... for decades.

I see lots of legal wrangling ahead.

P

a reply to: AlienView

The companies involved need to remain commercially viable while also tracking a moving target. Their code-base has to keep evolving and changing too as they don't have the time and resources to remove all exploits from their own code.

The proprietary and 'secret' nature of their code means that if not fully examined, legacy components with severe impact can remain hidden in the code for years until someone finds the exploit. Consider what happened with Symantec SEP in 2016 when it was revealed that it had legacy code leftover from Windows 95 and that installing their 'protection' made a PC with a modern operating system more vulnerable than having no 3rd party protection at all.

I think that the latest anti-malware products are generally quite good but they do carry code that is redundant for modern operating systems and all code has some sort of performance impact.

In this day and age where free anti-malware offers nearly as much protection as the most expensive, and where modern hardware and OS's have a certain level of resistance built in, I am at a loss to recommend any one solution (or any combination) over another.

Security is not something that you buy off a shelf. By this, I mean that you can have the best AV and then do something stupid (like disabling it because some software won't do what you want) and the money you paid is wasted.

- Have good backups (not just one to the same media).
- Use your device wisely.
- Stay informed and try and mitigate new exploits as they occur.
- Decide what is important that you must use the device for, and try and limit use to just those things if at all possible.

Maybe AI is getting bored?

I have only had good luck with one, and that is Vipre.

I have had bad results with Avast, AVG and especially kaspersky.

a reply to: AlienView

I've used Kaspersky for over a year and it's been good. It's the smoothest and least intrusive security app I've ever had. By 'intrusive,' I mean it runs along without causing lags and it performs scans automatically that have no noticeable effect on performance.

Very affordable on Amazon. Comes out as Top 3 best internet suites every year.

I have the malwarebytes free and run it now and then as a form of double-entry bookkeeping.

Not had any malware in many years apart from a brief browser hijacker 2-3 years ago.

a reply to: Kandinsky

what kind of memory does it use up?

Vipre is running at 14.000 k on task mngr on my laptop

a reply to: Mandroid7

Currently 0.1mb/s on the disk and says 0.1% CPU

Not just computers they can now hack you keyless remote for your car and open it its like all their toys are being compromised

originally posted by: khnum
Not just computers they can now hack you keyless remote for your car and open it its like all their toys are being compromised

That´s kind of old and not even "hacking" is needed.
A russian buddy showed me something when the Samsung S4 was the new sh*t.
You could order a kind of an antenna to put it into the S4 (invisible from outsides). And with the software you got with the antenna, you just had to walk to the next supermarket´s parking place and to wait for the next user of "super-secure" keyless remote. You just needed to be 5 or 10 m around the signal, to catch and save it, when the (old? xD) car owner locked his car with that silly stuff, and went shopping.

Then you just opened the car with the saved signal and... xD

He showed me that when we were in jail, open prison(not really jail), for some weeks. Where the whole system was keyless remote. For every room(because "inmates" often lost or destroyed their keys to their rooms, not only geniuses in "jail" xD). That means for the offices of the "prison guards", the justice officials too. Where the computers are located that store the offences of the "inmates"(like coming back late from the weekend holidays at home). We were thinking about ordering that antenna thing and put an a$$hole(ex siemens brass hat) to real prison, by changing his data... xD

For sure we didn´t, but we could have done it, if we really wanted it.

originally posted by: AlienView
Within the last three days two top rated security software programs have malfunctioned.

Yesterday [or the day before] Malwarebytes gave an update that crashed it and caused high and disabling CPU usage all over - Hundreds of users were

writing in to find out what was going on - They finally fixed it - The easy way to fix it personally was to uninstall and reinstall it.

They said it was a mistake

A mistake from one ot the leading malware security firms - Hard to believe.


Malwarebytes premium I pay for - But I use a free anti-virus; Was using Avast- today they kept prompting me to try 'system speedup' - supposedly a
a cleaning tool.

So I did - And it erased all of my bookmarks for the last month

I immediaely uninstalled it as the 'restore point' apparently wasn't availabbe for the free users - The cynic in me tells me that was the whole
idea to force purchase of a pay for version.

I uninstalled Avast completely and decided to try ZoneAlarm free version as it has been arounded for many years.

Is ZoneAlarm free still recommended?

And what about the other software malfunctions - Coincidence or are hackers causing it ???

Avast, Malwarebytes, Kaspersky all had issues the last few months as to vulnerabilities... Some disguised, and some requesting you to update.

Check around on P. C. com.. Wired.com..etc....everything these days has been or is capable of being corrupted/corruption.

a reply to: pheonix358

Indeed... those back doors were likely done with the best, "patriotic" intentions ...forgetting that power changes hands and some day it is inevitable that "evil" would get it, and since computers rapidly grew and are now intricately entwined with the world, someone with the correct info could do most anything.

Scary stuff and quite a corner to be backed into.

Humans... sigh.

originally posted by: Baddogma
a reply to: pheonix358

Indeed... those back doors were likely done with the best, "patriotic" intentions ...forgetting that power changes hands and some day it is inevitable that "evil" would get it, and since computers rapidly grew and are now intricately entwined with the world, someone with the correct info could do most anything.

Scary stuff and quite a corner to be backed into.

Humans... sigh.

Companies such as Malwarebytes [highly rated, at least until now] are supposed to be finding those backdoors and blocking
them - That's what you pay for when you buy the premium version which monitors your system continuouslay.

Up untill now I had no complaints - And using back-up scanners have rarely found Malware that got past Malwarebytes
premium.

Malwarebytes claims that it was a mistake - Of courese they would not admit it if it was indeed a new super hacker
who broke through.

Maybe, just maybe, the hacker wanted a job - causes their system to crash, offers the solution, and gets hired.

Accuse my sci-fi imagination - But it's a sci-fi world

a reply to: AlienView

Thought I might chime in on this one.

Computer security, as stated in other replies, is a constantly changing monster. Most people have the mindset of "This antivirus should keep me safe!". That couldn't be farther from the truth.

As chr0naut rightfully stated earlier:
- Have good backups (not just one to the same media).
- Use your device wisely.
- Stay informed and try and mitigate new exploits as they occur.
- Decide what is important that you must use the device for, and try and limit use to just those things if at all possible.

You will NEVER be 100% secure. There is ALWAYS a way to get in. A good defense is usually "Defense-in-Depth"
-You start out with an updated OS. (Please patch to current... please)
-Make sure you have some type of antivirus (either 3rd party or Microsoft's own, which is actually damn good)
-Make sure your routing device(s) are up to date, patched, and properly configured
-Create User accounts and use those. Leave the Administrator account alone... it's too powerful for you, any admin will agree.
-Create good passwords and stay away from personal info as user information.
-Keep ALL programs you use up to date. (Chrome, outlook, adobe, etc)
-Don't click links. Google them. See if they are valid. Then browse to them.
-Don't open ANY email unless you are expecting it. Especially attachments. Send a text or call the person to verify.
-If you aren't using something, uninstall it.
-Look into a Virtual Machine setup. This can be a little more advanced, but a great solution.
-See your network/computers as if they were already hacked. This will prevent you from putting sensitive info on it.
-If it is so sensitive that you are worried about it, then it probably doesn't need to be on the internet.

These are only some of the things you can do to defend your network. I could keep going on, trust me.
The biggest take away is that if you keep doing these things and someone finds a way onto your computer/server, they will have to keep bypassing every hoop you make them jump through. The idea is to create so much work to get to your things that it's not worth their time. The best of the best will get through, but due to that last bullet I wrote, the goodies aren't even there at the end.

And here is a kicker....
Check out all the Anti-Virus companies. Where are they from? Are there some from other countries? If so, look up that countries laws. That neato anti-virus could easily be controlled by said government if they so wished. Your computer inherently trusts that antivirus you installed. You might want to know what "COULD" happen if things went t!ts up.

a reply to: pointman1921

Check out all the Anti-Virus companies. Where are they from? Are there some from other countries? If so, look up that countries laws. That neato anti-virus could easily be controlled by said government if they so wished. Your computer inherently trusts that antivirus you installed. You might want to know what "COULD" happen if things went t!ts up.

The biggies are Russian, Chinese and American. We all know for fact that Uncle Sam stores as much of our metadata as possible. We suspect the Russians do something similar on a smaller scale. We expect the Chinese are doing the same thing too.

In such a heavily surveilled online world, it seems almost redundant to worry who own the big-name security applications. Better to assume they do and focus on their reported ability to protect us from criminal activities. It's all we've got...