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The disadvantages of cloud based scanning
My fellow blogger Kurt has written a post about the benefits of scanning in the cloud. While I mostly agree with it, there are some disadvantages which also needs mentioning: The need to be always connected – how will such a system deal with the disconnected scenario? As much as we are used to being…
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Will Morro continue to innovate?
Rich Mogull thinks that Morro (the free AV from Microsoft) will lead more innovation. However I think that the issue is not so clear-cut: Morro will be forced to innovate like any AV vendor due to the external pressures of the extensive user base of existing AV solutions, changing threats/attacks, and continued pressure from third…
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The first rule of computer security is
You don’t talk about computer security. No, that’s not it, but it sure seems like many people adopt that attitude. Getting back to the subject, I want to talk about the first of the 10 Immutable Laws of Security: If a bad guy can run (persuade you to run) his program on your computer, it’s…
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Free AV from Microsoft
It seems like Microsoft is dropping their OneCare product line and repackaging it as “Morro”, a free consumer AV product. I read the news on Graham Cluley’s blog. What does this mean? This will of course eat from the pie of other vendors offering free products (AVG, Avira and Avast!). It will also get more…
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Opinions about whitelisting
I was reading the piece entitled White Listing – The End of Antivirus??? by the “Director of Technical Education”. Now it would be fairly easy to do ad-hominem attack against him, I will stick to the technical details of the post: First, it gives the argument that one of the approaches whitelisting companies use is…
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Anti Malware Testing Guidelines
Via the ESET blog: the guidelines for testing Anti-Malware products were published by AMTSO (the Anti Malware Testing Standards Organization). Go and read them if you are so inclined (each of them consists of only 5 pages – you have to give them props for brevity – although maybe they just wanted to avoid being…
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Popular ideas about AV
There was a recent posting on Slashdot asking what reliable, free AV software is out there? It is very interesting to read the comments, since this is a geeky audience. If they get things wrong, what chance does the large population have of getting things right? Also, these are the people most likely to act…
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Antivirus survey
Via the Sunbelt blog: Marco Giorgini, a grad student, has been working on his thesis on consumer perceptions of antivirus software. Take the survey if you are so inclined. The interesting aspect of it is that it wants to gauge the motives behind the user’s decision to buy a certain product. More information can be…
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Installing Avast
Besides AVG, Avast! is the other free AV out there, so I’ve created a tutorial about installing it too. I don’t have as long experience as with AVG, so feedback is welcome and I’ll update this guide when I receive it. The premise is: you are installing this for a friend / relative / family…
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Installing AVG 8
The premise of this tutorial is that you wish to install AVG for home use (because the free license covers only that) at a friend, relative, parent, etc, and the person who you are installing it for is not a power user. In fact these two posts (Installing AVG and Installing Avast) are an extension…