return to windows emotional support group

[bad medicine]

I need one. I havent used Windows more than 5 times since I got Mint 3 years ago. I'm taking a GIS class and will need to use my W7 boot to run ArcGis. On the bright side being enrolled in school got me a brand new shiny MS Office 2016 for free, although I'm not sure if that's really a plus in the long run. We'll see. So far Word just aggravates me in different ways than Libre aggravates me. I can't say they are better or worse aggravations.

But what about all the other crap, like ya know, malware? I'm 3 years behind where I was, and I was probably 2 years behind when I left lol. Most AV programs drive me twice as insane as Windows. Right now I'm just using Defender and praying a lot, but seeing as I'm not religious I probably can't expect much help from the gods.

[AZgl1800]

Honestly?

I would just let Defender take care of you.
I am using Avast on my Win7 PC, and getting very aggravated with the constant "in your face" Renew Now!!!
Buy Now!!!!
Upgrade Now!!!

I am using Avast simply because Defender is no longer being updated by MicroSloth for Win7

I have used all of the other Anti-varmintWare and Avast seems to be the best of the group, and the least obtrusive, but not much.

For the small amount of time you will be online during school, I would not worry about malware.
you will be staying away from general surfing, and a good Firewall will handle just about everything trying to poke into your PC.

you obviously won't be clicking on links that suggest you "are not protected, install this to be sure"


FWIW,
My Win7 Pro desktop has been online 24/7/365 since 2007 and it has not once suffered an attack from the varmints...... ( it has an app called "AlwaySync" that backs up any changes in my c:\data folder.... I never, ever, store anything in "My Documents", that is super dangerous.

all it is used for is storing data, the annual use of TurboTax, and browsing the occasional forum that I read.
never used for general sleuthing, never for following links. Linux is safer for doing that.

[Schultz]

I liked to reference this site when I was using Windows: https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/r ... mber-2018/.

[DAMIEN1307]

hi bad medicine...the 2 best solutions that i can recommend to you, (i will list below)...the first one is "bitdefender", its just great in windows OSs.

bitdefender does not get in your face at all for any reason and just works and is much better than windows defender. (Configure the few settings that are there)

the second one is "malwarebytes"...this little sucker when you run a manual scan when you think necessary, shows you everything that might have infected you, (make sure that you configure everything from its settings panel),(also make sure that that "pups", meaning "Potentially Unwanted Programs"), (i also shutdown their "automatic" stuff since that will cease after the full version trial and revert to free version thereafter), are looked at before you delete anything as YOU may not consider them unwanted...this should be adequate for your needs while "forced" to run windows...DAMIEN

https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

[redlined]

hi bad medicine!

windows and security in the same sentence send shudders up the spine, lol... Other than good browsing habits and related hygiene I reduced windows protection to two apps:
Binisoft Windows Firewall Control (WFC) that I paid some small amount years back to unlock all features, but think it is all free now since Malwarebytes bought them last year. It is a bit bloated, based on .NET, but is the best firewall I found- it is really just a simple interface for windows built in firewall but some awesome feature adds and makes for rule management ease.

The other program I trust and use is MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) and have been since they beta-tested initial release and was a first offer lifetime license purchaser- which they honored years later when I went back to using MBAM and could no longer register (they dropped lifetime license long before).

Anyways, the free version is still excellent (simply reduced features) (going back now to look and see they only offer a very crippled version of clean infections only freeware once 14 days have passed to demo full/premium version. I would still consider it the best product for the buck in the realm of proactive Malware protection over Anti-virus/trojan/ransomware/exploit/etc, as it is best all in one approach in the field I found. and the premium license may fit in the budget for your forced windows time with the peace of mind it can provide alone

Everything else paled in comparison and I tried literally everything I could find made for securing windows over the years to end up with those two simple progs to reduce my greatest concerns.

[AZgl1800]

I liked to reference this site when I was using Windows: https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/r ... mber-2018/.

Interesting to note, that Microsoft had the "Highest False Positives" but scored the best in protection for November at 100%

in previous tests from that website, I have noticed the 'best' to float around from time to time.
glad you brought that website back up to the top.

I too, go straight to MalwareBytes when looking at a new PC, that is the first thing I do.

[redlined]

Honestly?

I would just let Defender take care of you.
I am using Avast on my Win7 PC, and getting very aggravated with the constant "in your face" Renew Now!!!
Buy Now!!!!
Upgrade Now!!!

I am using Avast simply because Defender is no longer being updated by MicroSloth for Win7

side note, OP mentioned win7 was OS used to run the software required, so free avast or other from av-comparitives list may be best if the $40 for 1/yr 1/PC MBAM license is too steep, although I'd pay simply for the peace of mind I get from mbam.

[rene]

I am using Avast simply because Defender is no longer being updated by MicroSloth for Win7

You made me check a Windows 7 system I keep around for some legacy gaming and that's not actually true, as long as you are referring to definition updates: a new update came in even today (now at 1.283.1728.0).

Do note however that on (Vista and) Windows 7 Windows defender is only anti-malware, not anti-virus. Also, that even on Windows 7 you don't in fact need an anti-virus program if you have half a brain --- which clearly implies using Windows 7 as a secondary system at best in the first place, not using an administrator account for normal use and not using Internet Explorer, period.

If OP must, Microsoft Security Essentials is a perfectly adequate free anti-virus solution on Windows 7. Note that installing it will disable Defender, and enable automatic updates if you are now updating manually; set it back after install.

[Portreve]

I'm taking a GIS class

• The United States of America is not quite half of one continent which is not the center of the world;
• Africa is a continent, not a country. It's also really, really big.
• The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure, and that is why those living in the Andes mountains have generationally developed different physical attributes (lung and heart capacities, etc.)
• There is only one singular, though wide-spread, global ocean, and its average temperature is increasing.
• In South America the is a gravitational anomaly which locally impacts the Van Allen belts.
• Antarctica is the home of Linux.
• Germany, a country formed through the merger of many little kingdoms and nations, is home to some of the finest beer money can buy.
• The Sahara Desert contains enough and that it would cover northern Africa.
• The answer to question #23 on the final exam is not "C".
• The skyline of New York City is also a study in the geology of the land upon which it sits.
• Canada is bigger, and it is on top. If this were prison, we'd be their...
• The Mediterranean Sea is also known in German as "das Mittelmeer".

[DAMIEN1307]

hi portreve...its not the "width"...its not the "size"...its how "aggrandized" you can make it all rise...in other words, its not how big you are physically, its how much "power" you are able to project...all one needs to do is read "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli...i read it nightly...its on my bed stand...DAMIEN

[rambo919]

Personally with free versions avast is the only option, the others are either inadequate or too awkward.... though avast has gotten extra awkward of late. I never bother with AV scores any more, they focus on the wrong things and rarely (if at all) criticize the most common design flaws..... essentially they are puff pieces. Whatever you choose expect to be treated like a child..... defender seems the worst offender there though.

I myself have settled on my main PC for eset internet security, it's light and the only real annoyance is having to set manual exclusions for false positives it deems "incredibly deeply dangerous".

In general there is no point these days to not having a full AV+Firewall set, windows firewall has a basically useless interface and does not always block both directions. Funny thing though, these idiots are allergic to properly working together, I have had some PC's that can handle avast and zonealarm only and others that can handle avast and comodo only.

[bad medicine]

Whoa lots of responses.

-Its on online class, so i will be online quite a bit and the GIS work will presumably require me to be online too.

-sea levels arent rising, the North American craton is sinking under the weight of all the books I've read since 1970 that i refuse to sell or give away

-when I last used Windows regularly 3 years ago I was on XP and Malwarebytes had become a major PIA. I don't remember why, I just remember it had
changed. Maybe it has changed back again in the last 3 years? I was using Comodo AV, which wasn't too awful. I have used Zone Alarm free quite a bit.
I was hoping these would remain memories of my past and not become visions of my future

-I definitely don't want to pay. I'm an old broke student.

-I might hurt myself if Avast is half as annoying as it sounds. I had nightmares last night about talking popops shouting "Avast ye, unprotected scurvy matey!
Buy me full version or walk ze plank!"

-I was wondering about MSE, since Defender is not an AV on W7. Maybe I'll give it a try. I feel uncomfortable with the notion that Microsoft is the solution
when Microsoft is the problem. But maybe it is the best solution.

[rene]

But maybe it is the best solution.

Well, no, best solution is as indicated not installing any anti-virus nonsense, nor infected wiggling-nudies screensavers and through mentioned non-administrator account keeping potentially passing-by children from doing same/similar... but other than that MSE is fine.

[bad medicine]

But maybe it is the best solution.

Well, no, best solution is as indicated not installing any anti-virus nonsense, nor infected wiggling-nudies screensavers and through mentioned non-administrator account keeping potentially passing-by children from doing same/similar... but other than that MSE is fine.

Whats the benefit if I run as non-admin versus admin, since I'm the only one using the computer and I'm (presumably) going to say no to sketchy requests to change my system?

[rene]

There is an advantage in the sense of you being alerted to something wanting/needing privileges by the UAC prompt popping up requesting such instead of said something just going ahead without you necessarily being aware of its privileged state. But, yes, the main advantage lies in keeping for example children from installing all sorts of crap; if that's not an issue for you you only have to decide whether or not you're the kind of person for which sentence 1 makes sense.

In case you'd like to downgrade your account to non-administrator: you can of course just add another administrator user before downgrading yourself but what I personally do is enable the already built-in Administrator account, a (very) privileged account you should view as akin to the root account on Linux:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows ... ows-vista/

If up to now your own account was the only one this does immediately gain you an additional login step; if you want to restore auto-login of your own account:

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-log- ... matically/

[bad medicine]

There is an advantage in the sense of you being alerted to something wanting/needing privileges by the UAC prompt popping up requesting such instead of said something just going ahead without you necessarily being aware of its privileged state. But, yes, the main advantage lies in keeping for example children from installing all sorts of crap; if that's not an issue for you you only have to decide whether or not you're the kind of person for which sentence 1 makes sense.

In case you'd like to downgrade your account to non-administrator: you can of course just add another administrator user before downgrading yourself but what I personally do is enable the already built-in Administrator account, a (very) privileged account you should view as akin to the root account on Linux:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows ... ows-vista/

If up to now your own account was the only one this does immediately gain you an additional login step; if you want to restore auto-login of your own account:

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-log- ... matically/

But I'm already warned by popup when a program wants to make changes.

[Schultz]

Re firewalls: The best firewall I ever used with Windows is "Private Firewall." It apparently is no longer maintained, but I still use it on my wife's Windows computer and also my son's. You can still find it here if you want to check it out.

[rene]

But I'm already warned by popup when a program wants to make changes.

Yes, even though a standard user account gets a few more; I'm not a Windows-expert (nor -user, really) but I believe some Microsoft basic utilities such as regedit will not trigger the warning pop-up for administrator users; not going to check currently but there was a difference there. The biggest difference is however the fact that an administrator gets only the pop-up warning whereas a standard user needs to provide a password to allow things to go forward. Given the frequency with which Windows users have to click away confirmation pop-ups to get anything done one could find the difference to be welcome respite even in single-user situations -- but clearly it's again for the most part useful in situations where you are defending against child(-like) incompetence of potential other users; also note that this for a laptop can include most anyone when you're grabbing a cup of coffee...

Feel free to keep using an administrator account if third-party access is definitively not an issue for you; a standard user account gains some additional security even in that context but not a lot indeed. Other things are more important: don't use Internet Explorer (although admittedly when needing Microsoft Office it'll probably still get used behind the scenes by its applications) and try to forego Flash, Java, Microsoft Silverlight, ...

What it all does in the end boil down to is that someone not wanting viruses should simply not install any: if you're halfway competent you can do so without help of an anti-virus program even on Windows 7 and if you don't trust yourself, MSE will do fine. You should not forget that e.g. Avast has products to sell; it's not going to tell you that even without it you are on a non-intensively used, secondary computer with a non-incompetent user extremely unlikely to ever be in fact hit by an actual, not just conceptual security issue. Yet, you are.

[Grayfox]

I may be a crazy reckless freak but I do not run an anti malware on my windows PC and have not had any issues in over 3 years.

I just follow a strict regiment where I do not click on random links, I download software from the publishers site, I do not torrent from torrent sites, I run a strict pop up blocker settings, have videos that are set to click to play, no longer have Java or Flash installed for web browsers plug ins(I do have java installed for Ripbot), I update my PC, I have disabled IE due to it being a security hole.

I am clueless when it comes to linux but I repaired windows PCs at a computer store, I fixed way too many OEM PCs with the all too common, malware even with anti malware installed.

Watch the "PC Security Channel" on youtube.
The guy works for an Antimalware company and reviews all anti malware products using malware he has collected to test how the detection rates are for these programs.

Windows Defender often fails poorly.

[rene]

The guy works for an Antimalware company and [ ... ]

I repeat. You should not forget that [ ... ] (see up).