"I don't need anti virus software", says user.

[wallijonn]

I wonder how many of you guys without anti-virus software are email relays or zombies?

http://antivirus.about.com/od/whatis...a/zombiepc.htm :

Various studies have demonstrated that any vulnerable system can be compromised within as little as 5 minutes online.

Your machine could be part of a DOS attack zombie army. How about being a SPAM zombie? :

http://www.crt.net.au/etopics/zombies.htm :

With nearly 85 percent of all email now estimated to be some kind of Spam or another it is believed that at a minimum, at least two-thirds of all spam is sent via hijacked zombie systems. That said however, many believe the real figure is probably much closer to 90 percent.

How about being a Phisher zombie: http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159627 :

the number of sites being hosted on what appear to be compromised PCs has risen to more than 50 per cent.

Do you really want to be part of a botnet? http://zine.dal.net/previousissues/issue22/botnet.php

So next time you double click on grandma's singing and dancing birthday email, or you open up that racey email joke, or you download a game crack, music file, or visit any website which may even remotely have anything to do with sex, movie cracks, etc., you might be being enlisted into an army without your knowledge.

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Please don't tell me you don't need anti-virus software...

The numbers say you do.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason why your system starts to slow down isn't because of all the programs on your machine - maybe it's because of all the viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware.

Maybe the reason why your internet bandwidth is being sucked is because you're a zombie or bot.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11...frame_exploit/ :

"The interesting part here is the usage of the new IFRAME vulnerability, for which Microsoft still has no patch out. We urge users either to go with Windows XP with SP2 or to upgrade their Internet Explorer to any other browser,"

Your IP address could have been harvested: http://www.theregister.com/2004/12/2...fun_and_games/ :

Due to the dynamic nature of the network, in that machines would have been logging in and out throughout the day as they were booted up and shut down by their legitimate users, we estimate that the total number of infected machines was at least 30,000 and probably more during the lifetime of this particular botnet.

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[Deer Slayer]

Originally Posted by wallijonn

I wonder how many of you guys without anti-virus software are email relays or zombies?

http://antivirus.about.com/od/whatis...a/zombiepc.htm :

Your machine could be part of a DOS attack zombie army. How about being a SPAM zombie? :

http://www.crt.net.au/etopics/zombies.htm :


How about being a Phisher zombie: http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159627 :


Do you really want to be part of a botnet? http://zine.dal.net/previousissues/issue22/botnet.php

So next time you double click on grandma's singing and dancing birthday email, or you open up that racey email joke, or you download a game crack, music file, or visit any website which may even remotely have anything to do with sex, movie cracks, etc., you might be being enlisted into an army without your knowledge.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Please don't tell me you don't need anti-virus software...

The numbers say you do.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason why your system starts to slow down isn't because of all the programs on your machine - maybe it's because of all the viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware.

Maybe the reason why your internet bandwidth is being sucked is because you're a zombie or bot.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11...frame_exploit/ :


Your IP address could have been harvested: http://www.theregister.com/2004/12/2...fun_and_games/ :




.

Ok, I wouldn't tell that average moron to run without antivirus software, but if you can keep your puter virus free without it, so be it. You'd have to be a moron to let your computer infected that badly, I see it all the time. Those people I tell to install antivirus software, but for myself I don't need it to keep my puter clean. Why do people assume that my computer is infected and part of some botnet or spam relay system. I know every running process on my puter right now, and what it does. I also know what every piece of software run at startup does, and if I see something out of the ordinary, I'm on top of it. Usually it's some lame program that insists on hiding in the system tray for no reason. Sure, the average doofis needs antivirus software, but I don't, and I'm not about to install it any time soon. There are a lot of people that do this same thing, and I say more power to them. The problem is antivirus software has replaced good old fashioned common sense, god forbid you should actually keep track of what your computer is doing yourself.

[wallijonn]

Deer Slayer,

The problem isn't you. You're technically savvy. The problem is 'Joe User', the moms and pops, the teenagers, the grand mas and grand pas out there who are not technically savvy enough to keep themselves safe.

Just because you know better than to double click an email attachment with a .vbs extension doesn't mean that everyone else does. Just because you can resist the temptation to open up a 'sexy' email doesn't mean that everyone can. Just because you do not open up a SPAM mail doesn't mean that other people don't.

Just because you keep your system updated doesn't mean everyone does. I know people who don't want to install SP2 out of fear of what it can do to their system.

Chances are that the type of people who do get infected aren't visiting tech forums, much less abxzone.

[surfandcross]

Originally Posted by wallijonn

May I suggest Bart's PE?

I have use in the past ERD Commander when just came out and now WinPE when I need it.. ill have a look @ Bart's PE, looks interesting from what I just saw on the website.