h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Anyone suggest a good product? AVG no longer supports it with version 8.5

I'm sorry, but

Windows ME? Even MS don't like admitting to this anymore, what on earth are you doing with it?

I'm pretty sureAvast works on ME (http://www.avastuk.com/home.html and look for the 'Home' edition.
It's way better than AVG anyway.

I'm not. It's for the fossils. They do a bit of email, they do a bit of net browsing, they don't really use their computer much ... I stuck some extra memory in it for them ... it works fine ...

I'd prefer they didn't go spending my future inheritance on a new computer just because the Daily Mail has told them they could contract swine flu, or be exposed to some internet porn ring if they don't keep their virus protection up to date ...

Oh and thanks for the Avast suggestion. May well update *my* Vista computer to Avast, as I'm tired of AVG deleting my downloads as soon they finish.

Which reminds me ... when the fossils finally do update, I'd like them to go straight to Windows 7 rather than the unpopular Vista; so it's just a case of hanging on a bit longer.

The other day I was sleeping on the couch when a friend phoned me up from PC World. She was buying a laptop...literally just about to hand over her credit card...and suddenly she started to wonder about all the other stuff they were trying to charge her for - like Norton and MS Office. So she asked my advice. (She asked me!!! She must've been desperate. Still - in the kingdom of the blind...)

Anyway...I said:
a) Don't spend that much, ya eejit! (She hardly knows how to turn a 'puter on. what's she going to do with a 2.4GHz processeor and 320GB HD?)
b) Ditch MS Office and download OpenOffice
c) Ditch Norton and get Zonealarm and AVG.

Only...I haven't actually tried AVG myself. Does it do the business?

I suspect I've just become her tech support.

Or Avast, even. Good?

I would suggest AVast over AVG - AVG just isn't good enough these days.

OPen Office sems to beb the choice for people who have bought Office 2007, can't stand the innovative ribbon feature, and decide to stuff MS office altogether.

HAving just got Vista and Office 2007 on my works PC I can safely say I will be sticking with Windows XP and office 2003 for the foreseeable future. And with Windows 7 using the ribbon feature even more I won't be touching that either...unless someone brings out a free roll-back add-on to bring the drop downs back.

I wouldn't exactly call myself an Office Power user but I'm not far off on somethings I do.

Well ... I've just downloaded Avast to replace AVG on my Vista machine ... and I'm already thinking of resorting to neither product ...

AVG was always pretty good although in recent upgrades it became a bit more intensive in its use of the resident shield but overall workable. Most importantly though ... it deleted everything I downloaded or tried to open ... made it impossible to download software or even just read Word and PDF documents. There are many reports of this problem all over the web with no decent solution. Downloaded Vista SP2 yesterday in the hope that it might resolve the problem, but no.

Avast meanwhile doesn't seem overly compatible with the Mozilla Thunderbird email client I am using.

So I'm currently between a rock and a hard place ... the two places you're most likely to receive a virus from (email and downloads) are a problem for the two providers I'm considering ...

there's also Clam - although surprised Avast doesn't like Mozilla - have you checked their faq and support forums? Certainly no probs with Opera and that's usually less of a priority these days than mozilla. In fact it seems to think it works fine with moz. Maybe a setup issue?

"Ditch Norton and get Zonealarm and AVG"
Gone off ZoneAlarm too. Now using Commodo which is much better *but* not for the non-techies to set up - it 'learns' stuff and for the first coupla weeks (and then everytime you install something new) it asks about it. Bit of a pain but once set up is far better than ZA. Also has its own Anti Virus software.

Actually ... appears I may have been a bit hasty complaining about Avast and Thunderbird ... config was still from my AVG days and once I changed them it seems ok. Just given it a quick test by temporarily adding the "Certification Notice" to incoming and outgoing messages; and sending to all my accounts.

As for Firewall software ... I've just gone with Windows Firewall ... how bad could that be??!?

um - that wasn't a serious question was it?

Erm ... yes

To be honest, I think most of the computer stuff out there is overblown hype ... remember Y2K and how little of a problem that actually caused ... all the stuff telling you that you need Spyware protection, I'm pretty certain that I don't really care if my online habits are being logged by some company ...

I do have antivirus and it catches about one dodgy mail per year ... I do scan everything I download ...

I don't do online banking ... I don't get caught by phishing scams ... I don't click on dodgy links in junk mail (that I still continue to receive).

I did get my credit card scammed last year after doing some online shopping but I reckon that was the person at the other end of the phone rather than any computer insecurity at my end.

I do use ZoneAlarm and PeerGuardian2 on my XP computer when I'm P2P sharing files of my friends' songs and home movies ...

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/128834/analysis_new_windows_vista_firewall_fails_on_outbound_security.html

"But as shipped, the Windows Firewall offers little outbound protection, and it's not clear how outbound protection can be configured to protect against spyware, Trojans and bots."

Course, if you have a router with hardware firewall then that's going to take a lot of the strain off anyway.

"remember Y2K and how little of a problem that actually caused ..."
Yes.
I also remember the reason *why* it caused so few problems. It was because people like me were earning lots of overtime fixing the problems! Great ain't it when a huge problem arises and those with the knowledge fix it so it doesn;t happen and then everyone says 'well that was overhyped, nothing happened!' - it was overhyped, but there was also a big problem. Just not quite as big as some were saying.

"all the stuff telling you that you need Spyware protection, I'm pretty certain that I don't really care if my online habits are being logged by some company"
But the anti spyware is there more for malicious spyware. trojans, key loggers, stuff trying to rip various details from you. You sound like your computer usage means it ain;t that much of an issue to you - fair enough.
The other problem is that the spyware and tracking stuff takes up processing power. So having a good clean out is a very good idea as it can improve startup and running speeds.

And lastly I personally object strongly to companies and people surruptitiously planting software on my computer without my permission which sends info about me back to them which they then sell on for a profit. What I do and where I browse online is my business and if it has commercial value then I should be in charge of that.

Right ... but outbound protection is a concern because? Someone could use my computer to chuck out loads of spam etc? The downside of that being that my PC and netspeeds runs slower ...

But if I'm doing regularly virus scanning with one of the big boys (e.g. Avast / AVG); and if I'm still able to P2P share (friend's songs and home movies) at my usual rate do I actually have anything to be worried about? I'm (naively?) thinking not ...

Plus my Netgear WPN824 wireless router does have *double* firewall though I've never done any configuration to it.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not playing devil's advocate or being sarcastic? I'm interested to know whether there is genuinely a problem for me. Because in the bigger picture I'm pretty certain there's not; but I'm not so blinkered as to be arrogant about it.

"I also remember the reason *why* it caused so few problems. It was because people like me were earning lots of overtime fixing the problems!"

I was there as well. I remember adding in a few lines of code to the effect ... IF YY < 80, CC = 20 else CC = 19 ... Actually we shipped that work out to India ...

But perhaps it's time to start raising a panic about the great 2080 dilemma, or even 2050 for the really shortsighted coders ...

"it was overhyped, but there was also a big problem. Just not quite as big as some were saying."

That's probably a more accurate version of the point I was making ... what did they tell us? PLanes would fall out of the sky, lift doors wouldn't open, microwave ovens wouldn't work, cars wouldn't start ... And likewise all the computer security ... there are problems, but it's not nearly as bad as it's made out to be ...

They also tell us mobile phones will cause planes fall out of the sky, make life support machines grind to a halt and set off fireballs in garage forecourts.

yeah but my point was if everyone had sat back and said 'it'll be ok' then there would have been big problems.

"or even 2050 for the really shortsighted coders ..."
Hah - there's a lotta databases that are gonna do strange things after 2050 due to the two digit windowing fix. Can't wait myself

"I was there as well. I remember adding in a few lines of code to the effect ... IF YY < 80, CC = 20 else CC = 19 ... Actually we shipped that work out to India ..."

Ah, ours was a bit more complex than that. We had to deal with date comparisons, hard coded date values, range checking etc. You are right in that the fixes weren't complicated, but there were quite a few of them and they could mess up all sorts of things.

Still, lets hope all those COBOL programmers are in crygen pods ready for 3000.

ah, if you have a double firewall on your router then you could probably ditch any local one. But I wouldn't

It sounds like your computer usage is fairly low risk so prob not too much of an issue for you.

But for others the main prob is you don't know what is out there and what it will do your computer. Botnets for one. Trojans or bots to download more malicious software to frag your computer.
If outgoing is not checked for then the fact you could infect others for whom it may be a problem.

The bigger picture is that the threats will always get more serious. By firewalling you not only protect your computer from others - you also protect others from you.

"Someone could use my computer to chuck out loads of spam etc? The downside of that being that my PC and netspeeds runs slower ..."
And that people get more spam. And that bandwidth is used up to spew this spam causing higher charges from the ISPs.

Do you have owt to worry about? Well, a nice ,little back door on your 'puter waiting for someone to come use to hide their tracks for something nefarious? Unlikely but could be pretty damn serious for you if they did.

BTW, no Virus scanner gets everything. They all miss some. And they all update at different rates. Same for spyware and adware. So ideally you should have at least 2 AV packages (not running at the same time though, that just causes conflicts) and at least 2 if not 3 spyware/adware removers.

But that is the paranoid setup. Personally I just don;t want someone else junk on my computer allowing them to see what I get up to and perhaps use my computer for their own ends without my permission.

If you are nopt quite so territorial about your computer as me (which is probably a good thing anyway ) then no reason not to take your chances.
There is genuinly a problem and it can cause you grief. But it may well not. Like i said, the netgear firewall will protecting you from a lot of junk.