How do you folks put up with windows? Windows 7 safer? Pheh...

[iamwhatiseem]

My wife's laptop finally gave up the ghost...if it was one of my boxes I would buy a system from zareason and wait the 4-5 days till it arrives. Not the better half...so I went to Besy Buy and bought her a laptop. I really didn't want a Windows system on the network...but I want peace in the home more.
We haven't had this thing for 3 whole days yet and right off the bat it has spyware on it. Jesus Christ...3 days!! Windows 7 is safer???
Thank God I am paranoid about Windows and checked her system. Right off the bat I noticed a new icon in the system tray called "Relevant Knowledge"....wtf is this...
Sure enough it is a website tracker, knows all of the applications you have, your email accounts etc. etc. F*ckiing Winblows.
I was curious as to how it got on here. Turns out she wanted to change the desktop background, she thought she was downloading wallpaper but instead was downloading a theme...which also installed the spyware.

Goodbye *&*^@ Windows 7....she is getting LinuxMint

 

[Ringel05]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Obviously...the first thing I did was uninstall McCafee and install avast and spybot. I am more than a little surprised that neither of these stopped the program. I went to the avast forums and whalaaa...complaints from others that avast doesn't catch this apparently well known spyware.
The point is that in just 3 days the damn OS already has malware. It's not like it is a teenagers machine. I looked at her history (which is how I figured out where it came from of course) - macys, macys, JC Penney, macy's, American Eagle, macy's...and oh...what's this?..."Windows-7-themes.com"...dang it....
It is pretty bad that an average person, who is clueless about anything tech-wise, who doesn't surf porn, doesn't download games...doesn't play online casino games etc. etc...that pretty much uses a computer for recipes and shopping - has their computer taken over by spyware in just 3 days...on a box that has an updated virus program and a spyware app.
Oh...I should also mention...I installed Google Chrome and removed IE shortcuts.

P.S. - It also installed an extension within Chrome without Chrome giving any warning. If I wasn't savy...and just removed the RelKnow program - it would still have been active as a Chrome extension.

 

[Synthaholic]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just finished reading this Lifehacker article:

Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft's Security Tools Are Good Enough

Knowledge is good!

 

[iamwhatiseem]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just finished reading this Lifehacker article:

Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft's Security Tools Are Good Enough

Knowledge is good!

Well it didn't do any good here did it?
I haven't been involved with Windows security issues for over 10 years now. I can't believe it hasn't improved any. All this talk about Win 7 being secure is horseshit. 3 days and already the OS has malware.
Security has to be proactive. It has to take into consideration that the average user does not know enough to properly secure themselves. Just like in this situation - my wife thought she was simply changing her desktop background, but she was installing a theme...she doesn't know the difference.
Jesus people - this is 2012, and in 3 days a person can get malware on a multi-protected system this easily??? That is bullshit.

As I looked into this - Relevant Knowledge has been around for at least 3 years. It is a dictionary-perfect example of spyware and it still got through. I just can't believe in 2012 it is still this easy to get a Windows machine infected.

 

[oldernwiser]

The thing is, nothing catches 100% of the viruses or the drive-bys in Windows. And unless you're continually on top of the software you use, it's easy to miss security updates. I use Trend Micro's HiJack This on my Windows platforms - makes it a lot easier to catch problems that go undetected... of course, you need to be fairly knowledgeable to figure out how your machine got infected in the 1st place.

Linux has it's share of problems too, but the permissions make it tougher to install exploits to mess with system level software. It's not impossible - but the user base hasn't gotten large enough yet to make it attractive.

 

[bobcollum]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

 

[Foxfyre]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just Avast alone has done the job for us. I had both on the computer for awhile, but Avast was catching it all and so I uninstalled Malwarebytes.

I'm thinking of uninstalling Google Chrome though. I can't see that it does any better job than other search engines and I am suspecting it is doing some things I don't want done once I allowed Avast to give it free rein.

 

[Synthaholic]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just finished reading this Lifehacker article:

Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft's Security Tools Are Good Enough

Knowledge is good!

Well it didn't do any good here did it?
I haven't been involved with Windows security issues for over 10 years now. I can't believe it hasn't improved any. All this talk about Win 7 being secure is horseshit. 3 days and already the OS has malware.
Security has to be proactive. It has to take into consideration that the average user does not know enough to properly secure themselves. Just like in this situation - my wife thought she was simply changing her desktop background, but she was installing a theme...she doesn't know the difference.
Jesus people - this is 2012, and in 3 days a person can get malware on a multi-protected system this easily??? That is bullshit.

As I looked into this - Relevant Knowledge has been around for at least 3 years. It is a dictionary-perfect example of spyware and it still got through. I just can't believe in 2012 it is still this easy to get a Windows machine infected.

Not if you don't download and install it!

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

 

[iamwhatiseem]

According to PC Mag...48% of all scanned computers have active malware.

 

[Synthaholic]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

I told him that in another thread - I would bet he has malware, if not viruses.

 

[Synthaholic]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just Avast alone has done the job for us. I had both on the computer for awhile, but Avast was catching it all and so I uninstalled Malwarebytes.

I'm thinking of uninstalling Google Chrome though. I can't see that it does any better job than other search engines and I am suspecting it is doing some things I don't want done once I allowed Avast to give it free rein.

Have you ever looked at your Process tab in Windows Task Manager (CTRL+Shift+ESC) while Chrome is running? Whew!!!!

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

I told him that in another thread - I would bet he has malware, if not viruses.

Yeah - that is nuts. I don't even run Linux without protection....which is 98% safer than Windows without protection for the simple reason of course nearlly all malware doesn't work in Linux. Having said that...I don't understand why Microsoft has not merely changed permissions more like Linux where the system files are protected even at administrator access.

 

[Foxfyre]

That's what they made Avast, Malwarebytes and Firefox/Google add ons/extensions for........ so the unwashed masses can surf and download in relative safety........
Of course you knew that, right? You protected her new computer for her, right?

Just Avast alone has done the job for us. I had both on the computer for awhile, but Avast was catching it all and so I uninstalled Malwarebytes.

I'm thinking of uninstalling Google Chrome though. I can't see that it does any better job than other search engines and I am suspecting it is doing some things I don't want done once I allowed Avast to give it free rein.

Have you ever looked at your Process tab in Windows Task Manager (CTRL+Shift+ESC) while Chrome is running? Whew!!!!

So I don't know what that means, but you agree I should get rid of Chrome?

 

[bobcollum]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

Because I've been using the same laptop for going on 7 years, and after many a reinstall I know how it is from scratch, and I know when somethings not quite right.

Smooth as butter.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What sites do you people go to?

I've had this Win7 install running for well over a year, not a single problem, running smooth as butter, with no protection.

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

Because I've been using the same laptop for going on 7 years, and after many a reinstall I know how it is from scratch, and I know when somethings not quite right.

Smooth as butter.

"many a reinstall"....
Yep...smooth as butter...just re-install all the time and no problem!

 

[bobcollum]

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

Because I've been using the same laptop for going on 7 years, and after many a reinstall I know how it is from scratch, and I know when somethings not quite right.

Smooth as butter.

"many a reinstall"....
Yep...smooth as butter...just re-install all the time and no problem!

XP was a different world my friend...

 

[oldernwiser]

How do you know it is "smooth as butter"?
All kinds of malware can be on your system and everything appears normal.
This is usually the case, I would wager 90% of compromised systems are used everyday without the user having the first clue it is.

Because I've been using the same laptop for going on 7 years, and after many a reinstall I know how it is from scratch, and I know when somethings not quite right.

Smooth as butter.

"many a reinstall"....
Yep...smooth as butter...just re-install all the time and no problem!

Probably the 2nd biggest issue with Windows - it works right out of the box. But just give it some time...

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Because I've been using the same laptop for going on 7 years, and after many a reinstall I know how it is from scratch, and I know when somethings not quite right.

Smooth as butter.

"many a reinstall"....
Yep...smooth as butter...just re-install all the time and no problem!

Probably the 2nd biggest issue with Windows - it works right out of the box. But just give it some time...

It never ceases to amaze me what people have been conditioned to expect with a computer. Would someone say "smooth as butter" about their car if they had to rebuild the engine every couple years?