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Mcafee is on crack or I need new virus software

Tenchiro

Attention K Mart Shoppers
Jul 19, 2002
5,407
0
New England
My license for AV software just expired and Mcafee wants to sell me a new one. I check out their site and they want to charge me $69.99 (After a $20 rebate) for another years license! I can just go to Costco and get it in the box for like $30 too.

So obviously I can't stand for this kind of asshattery, anyone know a reasonably priced AV software that isn't as invasive as Mcafee or Norton?
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Tenchiro said:
My license for AV software just expired and Mcafee wants to sell me a new one. I check out their site and they want to charge me $69.99 (After a $20 rebate) for another years license! I can just go to Costco and get it in the box for like $30 too.

So obviously I can't stand for this kind of asshattery, anyone know a reasonably priced AV software that isn't as invasive as Mcafee or Norton?
1) Uninstall

2) Go to Costco

3) Re-install
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
AVG rocks. The free version rocks harder.

I like AVG so much, I actually paid for it. Support good software development.

:thumb:
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
binary visions said:
AVG rocks. The free version rocks harder.

I like AVG so much, I actually paid for it. Support good software development.

:thumb:
Hmm. I remember trying it and it not picking up some bugs that McAfee caught. That was awhile ago though.

Maybe it's better now.

I have 6 months left to my McAfee subscription, then I start the free one that came with Comcast.

:)
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
42,772
14,857
Portland, OR
AVG is great, BitDefender is also very good, as well as free (not sure if there's a windows version though). I don't pay for McAfee, but I worked there for long enough to know it is one of the more advanced as far as virus lists.
 

magimerlin

Chimp
Feb 15, 2006
28
0
Houston, Tx
I do not pay for McAfee either. I am a comcast customer so it is free for me. I was always using Norton till that ran out and then I found out that McAfee was free to comcast customers. If you are not a comcast customer and you know someone that is you can cheat (ssshhhhhh) and use there info for the registration. If I remember right you will just need there comcast email addy.(I think that was all I had to submit anyways) just use there name and your own password. here is the site to do it on.
http://us.mcafee.com/root/register.asp
hope that helps you out some.
 

Tenchiro

Attention K Mart Shoppers
Jul 19, 2002
5,407
0
New England
magimerlin said:
I do not pay for McAfee either. I am a comcast customer so it is free for me. I was always using Norton till that ran out and then I found out that McAfee was free to comcast customers. If you are not a comcast customer and you know someone that is you can cheat (ssshhhhhh) and use there info for the registration. If I remember right you will just need there comcast email addy.(I think that was all I had to submit anyways) just use there name and your own password. here is the site to do it on.
http://us.mcafee.com/root/register.asp
hope that helps you out some.
Hey I forgot about that, thanks for the reminder.

I installed AVG and will see how that goes, because I really don't like how Mcafee and Norton are such resource hogs.
 

BuddhaRoadkill

I suck at Tool
Feb 15, 2004
988
0
Chintimini Bog
Changleen said:
I've been using AVG for years and I've never had a problem.
Me2. But being a comcast guy, I tried out McAfee. It found a few things avg didn't. I'm not puter savy enough to know all the ins and outs of privacy, but I bet I got a bigger tin foil hat then you! :rofl: I use a few things and format often. Now theres a good question for ya'll ... I got several physical drives, and one set with a small [20g] partition for the OS. Where do the virii tend to live? If I format, does that kill the functionality of anything that may lay undetected on the other drives?
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
Norton just blows. The amount of resources it consumes is retarded.

BuddhaRoadkill: viruses will often propagate themselves through the rest of your file system, so you're not safe by segregating your data. If you get a virus, format your system partition, and reinstall the OS, the minute you launch (or Windows launches) an infected file off another drive or partition, it'll spread right through your system again.
 

BuddhaRoadkill

I suck at Tool
Feb 15, 2004
988
0
Chintimini Bog
Bummer. There goes the porn collection. :mumble: :rofl:

Actually, I'm a big usenet user. It's the cracks and such that give me the heebee geebees. Myth or Fact: They can be embedded anywhere and don't need an .exe? I'm worried about Splat and Skookum's jpegs. And that TPirate guy ... he's sketchy too. :oink: But seriously, I just don't seem to come across them that much. Thanks for the knowledge, btw.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,149
1,250
NC
BuddhaRoadkill said:
Myth or Fact: They can be embedded anywhere and don't need an .exe?
Partial fact :D

Certain vulnerabilities can be exploited without the use of a .exe file (that is, a downloaded executable). There have been security holes in Internet Explorer, Outlook, and other applications where someone could execute code through the use of a webpage or email.

However, these are generally patched fairly quickly. The more widespread and traditional method of distributing viruses is through user-run executable files. And they can't just be "embedded anywhere" - there may be a handful of specific ways that you can be infected without downloading something, but it's not like you have to live in constant fear. I don't know of any known holes off the top of my head that allow arbitrary code to be run without any warning, that haven't been patched yet.

You're always playing with fire a little bit when you download things like cracks or pirated software - a much higher-than-average percentage is infected. I wouldn't get too paranoid about it, though. Make sure you stay on top of your Windows Updates, and keep your virus scanner constantly up-to-date.

And, of course, backups. Burnable media (and even the drives) are so fscking cheap these days that anyone who isn't making backups is just plain lazy.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
42,772
14,857
Portland, OR
BuddhaRoadkill said:
Bummer. There goes the porn collection.
I rememer a great virus from back in my Netscape support days (like 1995?). Someone (who was very creative I must say) had taken a virus, encoded it with uuencode and placed it all over the various "adult" usenet areas. It was listed as "iloveyou.jpg" and was suposed to be a picture. If you had an encoder for uuencode that auto-decoded binaries, it would launch itself.

If I recall, it did display an image, but while it was doing that, it also did a deltree of your root file system :D