Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware.
9
votes
2answers
16k views
How serious is InstallIQ?
Background:
Recently I've seen hits for InstallIQ a "potentially unwanted application" from ESET. From what I can find it seems like this is an installer wrapper that asks people to install other ...
-8
votes
1answer
72 views
Can a cracked antivrus software do the job?
Some of my friends say that their cracked antivirus software updates regularly, and does the job as same as a legitimate software would do. Is this possible? How do they bypass the activation key ...
3
votes
2answers
91 views
Can a firewall tamper with email attachments?
I am using Thunderbird as an email client for managing my different email accounts. Yesterday my friend sent me an email with a PDF attachment. Today when I tried to open the attachment I get the ...
-6
votes
3answers
77 views
Best Security Software [closed]
I have used Norton and McAfee in the past and found them to slow my computers and ware down the parts very fast. I am looking for a solid virus program which will keep hackers out and not slow down my ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Why Adobe is recommending McAfee security scan during flash player installation?
Why is Adobe recommending a McAfee security scan during the installation of flash player?
5
votes
4answers
324 views
How can Antivirus differentiate between a Trojan and a normal remote desktop application software?
RAT (Remote Access Tool, e.g. Sub7) are considered malicious by Antivirus software. How can it distinguish between such patches and a client application for commercial software like NetSupport ...
2
votes
2answers
112 views
Is interpreted malware easier to detect than compiled malware?
Is compiled code more of a security risk than interpreted code? I'm under the impression that it is due to the fact that compiled code can hide malicious code from malware scans.
-2
votes
1answer
81 views
Why isn't AV software configured to recognize installed program vulnerabilities?
Background (not necessary to read):
I've used a few different major AV programs day-to-day over the years, and not one has ever informed me I was running code with known vulnerabilities.
Not only ...
7
votes
1answer
288 views
How do anti-virus apps for Android work?
There seems to be a lot of anti-virus apps for Android. On a desktop or server an anti-virus must run with super-user privileges, however I am pretty sure these mobile anti-viruses are running as an ...
2
votes
4answers
1k views
Is it ok to use computer while scanning for viruses?
Should one refrain from using the computer while a virus scan is in progress? Are there certain things that are ok and others not? For example is it ok to use a web browser while a scan is in ...
2
votes
3answers
459 views
To what extent is FREE 3rd party antivirus software better than Windows 8 defender (if any)?
As someone who is not in a position to currently purchase an antivirus suite, I would like to know if having a free Avira or Avast or similar program is worth the overall system performance drop (I ...
2
votes
4answers
101 views
What is nuke it from orbit? [duplicate]
I was reading this
Windows 2003 Enterprise infected by Conficker; post-infection problems continue
And they talk about nuking it from orbit (which apparently means wiping out the system and starting ...
0
votes
4answers
340 views
Antivirus Engine based MD5 or SHA1 hash?
I'm trying to understand more about MD5 and SHA1 hashes algorithms and their behavior in serious security software(found this but not helped me more).
Why does ClamAV use additional scanning ...
2
votes
1answer
336 views
Should I install an antivirus on my mobile phone?
Is it advisable to install an antivirus for a mobile? I have recently purchased Note 2. Not too sure of how heavy application usage would I indulge into. But I would like to know if for safety ...
17
votes
6answers
450 views
How to deal with a person who gets easily fooled by internet and mail scams?
alternative title: How to deal with a person who has gotten paranoid and doesn't want to go online anymore?
A person, who has over the years been scammed many times, by bad spam/fraud emails, and ...
3
votes
2answers
141 views
Why some antiviruses detect viruses and some not?
I am curious why some anti-viruses detect viruses and some do not. From what I found online, antiviruses parse the binary files and check the sequence of code which is malicious(exists in virus ...
0
votes
2answers
125 views
How isolated are 2 operating systems on 1 harddisk?
Lets say I have 2 windows dual booting on the same harddrive (windws 7), How isolated are they?
I am thinking that there should be up to date antiviruses software on both Windows, and they should be ...
12
votes
8answers
882 views
Are signature based antivirus or antimalware effective?
Are signature based antivirus or antimalware solutions effective? Has the battle been lost against the ever increasing amount of malware, particularly rootkits, that are in the wild?
26
votes
2answers
966 views
How do antiviruses scan for thousands of malware signatures in a short time?
Most antiviruses have hundreds of thousands or even millions of malware signatures and yet they scan many files in a reasonable short time with high detection rates. Even real-time scanners doesn't ...
2
votes
6answers
358 views
Why do some antivirus programs find infections that others miss?
I have Avast Free antivirus on my Windows 7 PC and yesterday I used Bit Defender quick scan addons, which spotted a virus. In rechecking with Avast, it didn't pick it up.
In scanning my system with ...
1
vote
6answers
397 views
How should I select which antivirus software to install on my new laptop?
I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I have bought a new laptop with no antivirus installed. I'm wondering how to choose an appropriate antivirus software to install.
16
votes
3answers
535 views
Are older viruses removed from virus definition files?
Antivirus software receives constant updates in the form of virus definition files, containing the patterns used to identify viruses. It is a feature present on most (if not all) major AV for at least ...
4
votes
6answers
401 views
How can I tell whether this computer is part of a botnet?
One of the computers that I manage (in the family, not business) has a weird set of files in its boot: bash.exe, curl.exe, uname.exe, sed.exe, rm.exe, tail.exe, cut.exe, awk.exe, cat.exe, chmod.exe, ...
3
votes
1answer
234 views
Where can a virus or other malware “hide” on common PC and Mac hardware?
I'm looking for a detailed list of locations that viruses can "hide" in modern hardware even after a reboot.
Some things that come to mind include
Boot BIOS/Firmware
CPU Microcode
Connected PCI ...
0
votes
2answers
524 views
Anyone out there using Umbrella from OpenDNS? What exactly is it?
I'm still looking for a centrally-managed AV/malware management system and I've been testing out both Panda and Webroot (due to their 'cloud-based' structure that doesn't require a server for me to ...
1
vote
2answers
163 views
Is Webroot's Business Endpoint Security up to snuff for mobile workforce?
I'm in a small software company and getting ready to begin supporting 7 remote sales guys out on the road. They all have recent ultrabooks and most of the tools they will be using are in in the ...
2
votes
1answer
249 views
How does one test AV against zero-day malware?
Lately, I've read several articles about anti-malware software and one thing caught my eye - ability to detect zero-day attacks.
In short - how does anti-malware / anti-virus industry test their own ...
7
votes
1answer
401 views
Have any viruses leveraging the GPU been discovered in the wild? What is the mitigation?
This news article from 2010 discusses how a GPU can be used by a virus to avoid detection by common anti-malware/anti-virus software. The idea is to obfuscate the virus payload and leverage the GPU's ...
1
vote
4answers
283 views
Are malicious scripts in batch files detected by antiviruses?
we have many scripts in shared folders in our IT Department.
Are malicious scripts in batch files detected by antiviruses?
2
votes
4answers
313 views
Can I safely trust my Anti-virus protection?
Recently when I was trying to install a software which didn't happen to be from reputed sources, my anti-virus popped up a warning saying:
XYZ-antivirus blocked you from visiting an infected ...
3
votes
5answers
701 views
How can I know if my PC is getting infected?
I have installed an antivirus, but as no antivirus is perfect, what can I do to diagnose if my PC is getting infected?
For example, keeping a close eye on what programs and tasks run when I turn my ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
How should I select an antimalware solution?
As I prepare to reinstall the software on my machine, I am currently reevaluating my choice of anti-malware software for home use. What factors should I be considering? How reputable are AV-test and ...
0
votes
1answer
190 views
What are the leading cloud-based anti-malware software according to indepedant reviews [closed]
I used to have prevx (2 year paid license) in addition to my regular antivirus.
In those 2 years, prevx haven't updated even once. So, I am assuming its not really maintained so I waited for the 2 ...
0
votes
3answers
88 views
Does AV software protect web applications (Twitter, Facebook, etc) from attacks? (CSRF, etc)
Is it correct to say that AV software focuses on downloaded executables and locally malicious activity, and it doesn't actively scan HTTP/S content for web based attacks such as CSRF, XSS, phishing ...
2
votes
3answers
84 views
How to tell what viruses are covered by your anti-virus software
One of our corporate twitter accounts recently started sending out DMs to its followers. Looking at the content of these it seems we'd become infected with Troj/Mdrop-EML.
All computers on our ...
1
vote
4answers
372 views
Is it necessary to scan users' file uploads by antivirus?
Web application allows users to upload files. Is it necessary to scan those files by antivirus?
I'd want to hear answer in two scenarios:
Type of file isn't checked when uploading. They are stored ...
3
votes
1answer
262 views
How antivirus companies create virus defnitions for new outbreaks
This question quite amazes me. I dont understand how antivirus companies get info about the latest viruses. have they installed some kind of filters to monitor the internet traffic ?
Or they are ...
12
votes
4answers
599 views
How is a worm different from a virus?
In spite of various online articles, I'm a bit unclear on the distinction between a "worm" and a "virus".
Two related questions--
Is there a useful and clear distinction here or no? If so, what is ...
48
votes
10answers
4k views
How do you explain the necessity of “nuke it from orbit” to management and users?
When a machine has been infected with malware, most of us here immediately identify the appropriate action as "nuke it from orbit" - i.e. wipe the system and start over. Unfortunately, this is often ...
-2
votes
5answers
1k views
Will antivirus detect all keyloggers?
Our company schedules Security Training courses for our personnel.
In order for us to test them, we develop code such as keyloggers which we email to our personnel to detect stupid personnel, and of ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
does Avast SafeZone actually make a difference?
SafeZone is a feature in Avast Anti-Virus which is like a virtual machine that only has a web broswer. The benifit of this is that it can't be infected with spyware and isn't suseptible to keylogers. ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Is there a website or free downloadable program to identify and remove malware from an ISO file?
Is there a website or free downloadable program that allows a user to identify and remove multiple types of malware from an ISO file?
0
votes
0answers
97 views
Are there any antivirus appliances capable of scanning USB, DVD media? [closed]
I've heard that there are appliances/systems that can scan different media types (cards, USB, DVD, etc) using multiple AV engines (10+ engines).
Does anyone now of such a product? Logically I ...
8
votes
6answers
855 views
Whats the probability of a personal computer being hacked?
For a normal computer user following these practices:
Have an up to date anti-virus with a firewall installed (Norton).
Do not install cracked software.
Do not open suspicious links or download ...
2
votes
3answers
786 views
Do I have a virus on my hosted site?
A few weeks ago I hired an outsourcer from India to build for me a very simple PHP site.
I bought PHP hosting and a domain name, and I gave him all the credentials together with the specification of ...
0
votes
2answers
176 views
How could an AV detect a virus that has a chance of not decrypting itself?
If I understand this correctly there is a chance the virus may not decrypt itself at all. How could an AV catch this?
In some cases, the decryptor may start with a header whose intent is
not ...
-4
votes
1answer
208 views
What are the technial and programming requirements for writing a stealth keylogger? [closed]
I'm planning to write/code one such stealth keylogger that would bypass detection by a certain antivirus. (I don't want to name the vendor as I know how good Google queries are against StackExchange ...
18
votes
4answers
1k views
Are anti-virus companies companies regularly committing software piracy?
As Mikko Hypponen highlighted in a recent tweet, anti-Virus companies collect and store both samples of malicious software and samples of legitimate software:
This got me to thinking, what ...
14
votes
5answers
823 views
Why would a virus writer bother to check to see if a machine is infected before infecting it?
I was looking at the tripartite structure of a virus, and it seems to check to see if a computer is infected before infecting it with the virus. Would this be an attempt to use files that are already ...
1
vote
2answers
160 views
AV inserting email header logic
I want to write a small PHP emailing class to be able to send HTML emails. My problem is that in the receiving email an antivirus will insert a header which sometimes simply breaks the entire email.
...
