Malware Roundtable Discussion
PCTechbytes hosts an insightful discussion with some of those on the front lines of the malware fight.–PC Pitstop.
By Dave for PCTechBytes.com
This week’s PCTechBytes Roundtable deals with Malware.
I am joined by PCS, who owns a computer repair shop in Boston and Bucksfanjimj–our forums moderator. Both have a lot of experience dealing with malware.
The purpose of this roundtable was to discuss how people get infected, what types of programs we use on a daily basis to protect our computers, and general philosophy around the topic of malware prevention.
Dave@Bytes: So I think we can start by asking what everybody chooses for their antivirus. Personally, I use Microsoft Security Essentials on pretty much everything. On my Mac I use the commercial solution NOD32 by Eset.
bucksfanjimj: MSE and Malwarebytes mostly. I use to use Spybot Search and Destroy. Not sure why I stopped using it.
PCS: I just use MSE, it’s not very effective as of late but being me I don’t worry about infection. If I was ever to get one which is pretty rare I’d just get rid of it in ten minutes.
Dave@Bytes: So when you get a virus, what steps do you take to get rid of it?
PCS: My removal process changes a couple times a year.
Dave@Bytes: I believe in the philosophy of reformatting and reinstalling after an infection. I know it’s a bit extreme, but I bank and do taxes on my home computer. I feel safer wiping the drive.
PCS: Right now most can be had with TSDD killer, hitmanpro, MBAM, MSE, CCleaner, BoostSpeed. All automated.
bucksfanjimj: There is that. A lot of legit sites are now getting unknowingly infected so that legit users get these “drive by” downloads.
PCS: Drive by is where most of my customers get infected, then I’d say social media, religious sites, and then though email.
Dave@Bytes: I have a clean image I use, and just reinstall in minutes.
bucksfanjimj: It’s going to take a lot more than just staying away from questionable sites and bad habits.
PCS: Well I mean you do have to keep your software updated.
PCS: An image is handy, especially if you have your user folders on another drive–but than you have to think about files on that other drive.
bucksfanjimj: An image is something I should do. I need to do a clean install before I can do that though.
Dave@Bytes: Part of my philosophy is to make regualr backups and make it as quick and easy to reinstall as possible.
PCS: Which most average users don’t really do or don’t do often.
PCS: That’s a good habit.
bucksfanjimj: Guilty.
PCS: Back in the days of Win 95, 98, and ME a reinstall is all I would do.
This post is excerpted with the permission of PCTechBytes.com
