The hardest part of talking about computer security is getting everyone to agree on the nature of the problem. It’s especially frustrating when you’re trying to weigh the pros and cons of different strategies with someone whose view of the PC security landscape is outdated and inaccurate.
Case in point: What’s the best way to deal with malicious software on PCs and Macs?
You can’t answer that question—you can’t even start talking about it—until you know how malware gets installed in the first place. And there’s where the disconnect begins.
Judging from the reactions to my recent posts on OS X and malware, the Mac community has a pretty consistent collective understanding of how computer security works. Their worldview is based on opinions that might have been close to the mark in 2004 or 2005 but are just plain wrong in 2011.
They think, incorrectly, that Windows is inherently insecure. They assume, with no support, that large numbers of PC users are infected every year just by visiting websites or opening e-mails. And they believe, sincerely but also incorrectly, that OS X is inherently secure and that they are basically immune as long as they avoid doing stupid things.
Here’s the reality, for PCs and Macs:
1. The traditional labels for malware categories—viruses, worms, Trojans, and so on—aren’t nearly as meaningful as they were 10 years ago.
[b]2. If you install security updates regularly, your risk of being affected by a drive-by download is virtually zero.[/b]
3. A very small number of malware families account for virtually all malware infections.
4. The overwhelming majority of malware is installed by the victim, who is fooled by social engineering.
Really nothing new or earth shattering. Most of us have been saying this for a very long time.
There is however always someone who runs into a new peace of Malware for which there isn’t yet
any defense and that poor sucker will get infected no matter how careful and up to date all of his
programs and security defenses may be.
There is no such thing as a perfect anti virus program. The infection always comes first the protection always comes second.
Maybe the more knowledgeable computer users have been saying that but that is by far the minority of computer users. Most posters who come here with problems are clueless, otherwise they wouldn’t have the problems that caused them to come here to begin with.
The universe of computers users is mostly populated by the clueless and lazy when it comes to points #2 and #4. That is a fact. Why do these these types of articles keep reappearing every so often? In the hopes that the ignorant masses will learn something and act upon what they learn.
Freely admit not up to it, but could you please tell me when my defs are up to date and scans clean, why spam emails are going from my pc and how I can stop them and ensure a clean pc.
Well this really isn’t the topic to discus that (individual issue rather than this general information, so you can start your own new topic in the viruses and worms forum, http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=4.0 and we will try and help.
When you do this give some information about your system; avast version free/pro/ais 6.0.1125, etc. your OS, firewall, any other security applications. Also can you tell us how you know spam emails are going from your system ?
