[GUIDE] Maintaining a healthy Windows system

[Nighthawk-F117]

Any chance the max message length could be upped to 15000, I've got a few additions to make - but they don't fit as it is.

 

[Johnny]

AVG ?? - Sorry about the negativity, but, AVG is garbage. It fails the EICAR test.

What is EICAR ??

Antivirus software detects viruses based on signature definitions, i.e. known strings of code with a specific algorithm employed to create the individual definitions.

EICAR is a non-viral string of code that most antivirus software have included in their signature definition files.

EICAR allows users to check whether their antivirus software is running.

For example, if you try to open EICAR.COM, if your realtime protection feature is enabled the antivirus software should generate an alert.

You can also manually scan EICAR to test your manual (on-demand) scanner.

How do I create EICAR?

An EICAR test file can be easily created using any text editor, i.e. Notepad. Copy and paste the following line into a blank Notepad file:

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

Next, save this file as EICAR.COM. It is now ready for testing. In fact, if your active protection was working properly, the simple act of saving the file should have triggered an alert.

I tested this with Norton, Symantec, McAfee, Avast, and AVG. AVG is the only one to fail. I would stay away from AVG.

Also, I agree, Perfect disk is the best defragger and CCleaner are the best to use for disk cleanup. You can select in the ccleaner functions what to delete and not delete .. on first install, everything except autocomplete is checked .. With these two utilities I was able to get rid of the useless system mechanic ..

 

[j79zlr]

First off, AVG detects the eicar test virus on my PC running AVG pro, and my laptop running AVG 7 Free. AVG is not crap, Norton is crap, McAfee is crap. The only AV apps I will run are AVG, Avast, or Kaspersky. I've just seen McAfee miss damn near everything, and I've seen NAV do the same. Symantec's Corp. AV is pretty good, but NAV since 2003 has been horrible. I can install AVG on an infected system and guarantee it will find trojans NAV has missed. I've also seen NAV just up and disable itself with no warning, and the only way to get it fixed is by reinstalling it, and this is on PC's that had no viruses on them. I have installed AVG on countless systems with great success, and happy clients. BTW, AVG is both ICSA and VirusBulletin 100% certified. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archives/tests.xml?200502 If you notice, McAfee fails and AVG passes, I also find it interesting that they haven't tested NAV, [only Symantec AV or the corporate NAV] since November of 2001.

[EDIT]I missed the windows and office update sections, you should probably put them at the top, not the bottom, as it is one of the most important things to do. I would also add to make sure you AV program is updated, since alot of PC's come with 30-90 day trial versions. I see alot of users who think they have an AV, but their subscription ran out months ago.[/EDIT]

 

[Johnny]

I said NAV, That is what I meant by norton .. with the default settings on AVG the test failed. For it to work it should have deleted the files or gave a message stating that it was there. It did neither .. So, I am missing something. But the way I feel is that if the test is not going to past with default setting then it fails .. I will try it again and see what I can come up with. But I will not adjust settings to get it to work. It should work with the default settings.

oh, I should mention that it was the free one that I did this test with, not the pro one ..

Also, I did not say I like norton or symantec, that is the oposite. I hate both of them, I have never ran a program that uses so many resources in my life. Also, they like to take over your system and are a pain to remove ..

 

[Perris Calderon]

avg has been a MUCH better av then norton on every single system I've had the chance to exchange one for the other.

 

[Johnny]

The maiin thign about ti though is the real time monitoring perris. I didn't see that it was active. I'll get back to y'all when I run the test again ..

 

[Nighthawk-F117]

Personally, I dislike AVG. But, it's free. And from what I've heard, it's the best free one. If the max message length is increased, I'd edit the message with some more AV scanners.
Also, I use Symantec Client Security - which includes NAV 9. I think NAV 9 is the best.

 

[j79zlr]

The maiin thign about ti though is the real time monitoring perris. I didn't see that it was active. I'll get back to y'all when I run the test again ..

The difference between AVG and Norton as far as real time scanning goes, is NAV constantly scans the filesystem whereas AVG's resident shield only monitors files being executed. This is why NAV bogs systems down, and is especially bad for high traffic servers.

 

[Steevo]

I have AVG on a few computers, and like J79zlr I have put it on alot of clients PC's and it works great.


So People don't like it as it will not pick up a harmless text file? Or it looks at a known harmless test file and ignores it?


I use NAV 02' at home, I like it for the real time scanning but it isn't needed.




If you save the X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H* as a text file it ignores it, untill you change it to a *.com file. THe McCrappy deletes it.

File Found; Elicar Test File


Bla bla bla, still doesn't prove that Mccrappy could pick up a REAL virus. What if the virus didn't have the correct extension? And if there were a batch file to change the extension on the next re-boot? Then execute a file? Would you be better off with NAV, AVG, McCrappy, etc.... ?

 

[Steevo]

????????

 

[Johnny]

is that from you scanning the desktop steevo, or from you having to turn on realtime protection ?? Also, is that the free one or pro one ?

As a note, I like Avast the best out of all of them.

 

[Steevo]

Free.


The file being accessed.

 

[Nighthawk-F117]

Ok, I've just done a massive update.
Enjoy.

 

[zeke_mo]

Ok, I've just done a massive update.
Enjoy.

Did you just add the black viper link? I posted it today I guess a mod can delete it link

Its a great site, and it really does help with speed. I am always shutting down services when I goto friends houses, and they always comment on how much better their computer feels

 

[Nighthawk-F117]

Did you just add the black viper link? I posted it today I guess a mod can delete it link

Its a great site, and it really does help with speed. I am always shutting down services when I goto friends houses, and they always comment on how much better their computer feels

No..., it was already there.

 

[Johnny]

Free.


The file being accessed.

I like it better with write protection. If you have it just as read, you can have a virus on your system for a while before you know it's there .. As for real time protection, avast has it and it don't use nearly as many resources as norton or mcafee ..

 

[Perris Calderon]

johnny, I just installed avast free on my 64 bit server.

anything I should look to do besides the default settings?...also, how do I get that rediculous ball in the tray to stop spinning?

 

[Johnny]

you don't have to do anything with avast perris, the default setting are good enough. If you want to though you can open up the protection options and change settings there. I put all mine on high. The ball spinning is telling you that it is working when it spins it means that it is reading something .. You might have to play around with web shield a little, I found that I was unable to go to my router set up page if it was set to high ..

The thing with avast! free is that it don't have schedule scans, and it don't have auto settings for what to do when a virus is found. It will stop scanning when it finds one and won't continue until you tell it what to do with it .. But the update process is automatic .. it's a good antivirus .. Another thing, you can merge the two taskbar icons, just right click on the left icon and select "merge icons".

 

[Johnny]

O.k I put AVG back in,, I tried the test a couple of diff ways. I named the file EICAR.txt and it didn't do anything. I name it EICAR.COM and it found it as a virus. It found it from the read attribute as stated above. I guess I will say AVG passed. I will also state that I dislike the read only attribute. I would like to see a write attribute also, then it would have picked it up as soon as I named it .. it also shows how much this program pays attention to text files, then a text files is probably the most harmless file.

 

[Toastermax]

Wow , you guys really seem to like PerfectDisk, it is nice and works very well much better than the more famous Diskkeeper but in my humble opinion, i prefer O&O's product Defrag 6.5. Its fast, very thorough and defragmented a drive that PerfectDisk said was fine.

As for anti-virus apps, there are many to choose from and we all have our favorites. For a free product, i prefer the Avast, i used it on my main system and it seemed to run slower than my complete Norton Systemworks suite but after installing it on many others pcs, i really like its speed and its ability to detect what McAfee and Norton missed.
In terms of a anti-virus that you buy, the best in my humble opinion is NOD32. Try it, its amazing and fast and finds everything, also many trojans and malware. Kaspersky is the only other product that compares. Check out the reviews at the testing sites and you will see that others share my view. NOD32 is very effective.

Firewalls, Sygate works wonders. But at the very least you must have a router setup. A software firewall is just a add-on in my opinion to a router or a true hardware firewall. For novices and my parents , i used Sygate.