Re: Recommend a good free anti-virus utility

From: Bob (spam_at_spamcop.com)
Date: 05/27/05 

Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 10:43:21 GMT

On Fri, 27 May 2005 09:18:35 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"
<cquirkenews@nospam.mvps.org> wrote:

>You need better tools than ChkDsk too, and you don't have them unless
>you are prepared to chuck out NTFS. Else you have a problem - should
>you backup before ChkDsk "fixes" detectable damaged files into
>undetectable damaged files, or after, or both?

I had a corrupt disk that would not make a hardware backup so I ran
CHKDSK on it. It claimed to fix some things including bad clusters in
the pagefile, etc. But it was still corrupt. Although I had an earlier
backup, I preferred to use the system on the corrupt disk. I ended up
making a clone disk with it using Acronis True Disk 8 - apparently the
cloning process cleaned up the corruption because the new clone worked
just fine.

>Then you'd have to find something approaching a full-breadth av
>scanner. You might pay hundereds of dollars for a year of Avast on
>Bart, or you'd have to settle for weak-breadth scanners such as McAfee
>Stinger, Trend SysClean and similar killers of subsets of available
>malware from Avast, AVG etc. Of these, SysClean is the broadest, but
>it is slow, doesn't show results as it goes, and reporting is hell.

Since I subscribe to RoadRunner cable service, I am using Computer
Associates eTrust AV. I have no way to know how effective it is other
than believe the recommendations of others.

>If it's NTFS and you have to do everything twice (ChkDsk to evaluate,
>ChkDsk /F if safe; multiple partial-breadth av scans) then a single
>day may not be enough clock time. If on FATxx, it's faster.

I am upgrading my removable hard disk bay from the old ATA66 unit I
bought years ago to a new ATA133 unit by Kingwin (KF-23). My son uses
one with his 250 GB HD and he has had no problems. He leaves the drive
in all the time and the SMART-reported temperature is 36C, which is
cool enough (WD claims an operating range of 5 - 55C). Once I get that
installed I can talk to the new faster drives in which case I will
make clones of the boot disk for long term storage. Right after I make
such a clone I will run NTBackup in incremental mode to clear all the
archive bits. Then I will run it every night in differential mode. I
will lay the backup off onto a small removable HD in the tray.

Therefore I have two backups - one in hardware and one in software.

>Yes, there's a lot of optimism in there, and I'd expect those measures
>to cut down the mean time between infection to once in X years, rather
>than (worst-case, i.e. pre-SP2 XP duhfault install) 10 minutes to
>Lovesan. But the mean thing about "mean time" is that it's
>indeterminate; the average may be 5 years, but your particular
>experiential sample may be two weeks.

I have never had a virus infection. I have had a couple adverts like
Aureate, but Kerio blocked them. I even have the official aureate
remover from the people who make aureate.

>The main optimism is that tools running from within the infected
>installation can taxi off the runway and get airborne while active
>malware sits up there in the clouds and allows this to happen.
Kerio monitors every application that attempts to set up a network
socket. If I haven't pre-approved, Kerio fusses.

>call in tech assistance when things go wrong.

I AM the tech assistance.

>XP is simply not built with data recovery of the regaining of
>ownership from malware in mind - no-one has thought that far.

I run Win2K. 

-- 
Map of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
http://home.houston.rr.com/rkba/vrwc.html
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English, thank an American soldier.

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