Computer Anti-Virus Question, Need Advice/Insight

711 Views 12 Replies 4 Participants Last post by squeky, Jul 22, 2008

Grim Reaper

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2008

I am currently running Windows XP Home, anti-virus ("a-v" hereafter) programs are AVG, SpyBot, and Malwarebyte's anti-malware. With all of this I keep picking up something called "Microsoft Windows Security Center Antivirus Override" which is apparently spyware and is caught only when I run SpyBot (don't worry, I just took it out ... again ... hope whoever is spying is enjoying the board ...) .
Have any of you encountered this PITB, which seems to do nothing more than slow down your system as it spies ? Any suggestions as to better a-v software ? These have worked great for me for a long time and are updated daily on my system and I am surprised that this problem keeps cropping up.
Suggestions, gentlemen ?

Save

1 - 13 of 13 Posts

Grim Reaper

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jul 21, 2008

:roll: OK, I apparently had a "blonde moment" here and didn't think to google the problem until after I posted. Here's what I found; maybe it will help anyone else getting this message:

Hello,

Since the Detections Update from July 25, 2005, Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 has been detecting Security Risks (renamed to "Windows Security Center" on July 30) associated with Microsoft Security Center Registry changes. This is neither a false positive nor a bug. It is just an information.
Spybot-S&D only wants to bring to your attention that "someone" disabled one or more notifications in the Windows Security Center, e.g. the notifications that your virus protection is not active or not up-to-date. If you changed the settings yourself you can safely tell Spybot-S&D to exclude those detections from further scans.
In order to do so please right-click each in turn, then click "exclude this detection from future scans". That way, should any other part of security center settings change, Spybot-S&D will still detect those.
The same is true if you have another security solution installed (like McAfee Security Center or Norton Internet Security). These programs do also disable the Windows Security Center in order to take care of things themselves.
The reason why the changes are flagged by Spybot-S&D is that there are also malware programs that disable the notifications so the user doesn't take note of his security tools not being effective.

Some more information is also available in our forum:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=87

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

So, apparently since I just recently told Windows that I had my own a-v program, an answer which it apparently did not like, it decided to continue to annoy me concerning same ... and it isn't spyware but rather a MS Windows annoyance.
Sorry for not finding out before the post, but maybe it will help someone else. :neutral: :smile:

Save

nalioth

· #3 · Jul 21, 2008

Windows sucks.

You will never have control of a windows box.

Ever.

Save

squeky

· #4 · Jul 21, 2008

Nevermind my post below, re-read your 2nd post. Well, I'll leave it here anyway....

Your anti-virus didn't catch it because....wait for it......it wasn't a virus. The free a-v programs want you to upgrade to spyware protection. Be smart with your surfing, stick to reputable porn and pirate sites, use Firefox, don't use Outlook/Outlook Express--just be cautious and this won't happen again. If you want to be extra sure, create a user account for yourself and use it all the time and only escalate your privileges when you need to (exactly the model Linux/Unix and Mac uses for users). Run your spyware programs on a fairly regular basis if you don't trust yourself not to catch something. It's all about how familiar you are with XP--I haven't caught anything with XP in a loooong time.

nalioth - ANY OS can be pwned. Linux boxes get rootkitted, it's not unheard of. I've switched to XP for desktop, Linux for servers (used to run Linux desktop, wasn't worth it to me).

Save

nalioth

· #5 · Jul 22, 2008

squeky said:
nalioth - ANY OS can be pwned. Linux boxes get rootkitted, it's not unheard of. I've switched to XP for desktop, Linux for servers (used to run Linux desktop, wasn't worth it to me).

You are correct. ANY OS can be 'pwnd'. The BIG difference is, linux/unix/OS X start out in a secure state and the user has to disable that security either through ignorance or by being socially engineered.

Windows installs with it's legs wide open and a sign on it's rump inviting tasty hot action . . . .

. . . . . and that's just the tip of that iceberg.

Save

squeky

· #6 · Jul 22, 2008

nalioth said:
squeky said:

Windows installs with it's legs wide open and a sign on it's rump inviting tasty hot action . . . .
. . . . . and that's just the tip of that iceberg.

Click to expand...

Nice visual, and indeed it is correct. A Windows box directly connected to the 'net gets pwned in 4 minutes (on average). But it's user-friendly, right?

I'm not disagreeing, just saying all this Windows bashing is not *totally* deserved. Just mostly so....

Save

nalioth

· #7 · Jul 22, 2008

This is a fresh article I just found:

http://www.linux.com/feature/141546

It's quite interesting, and may shed some light on the current discussion.

Save

Grim Reaper

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 22, 2008

That IS interesting.I've always hated Windows but it is the only OS I have ever used (outside of DOS ... yes, I admit that I actually used to know DOS ... no, I wasn't with Noah on the ark ...) extensively. I've heard alot about Linux, but have never had the chance to go hands-on with it. Suggestions ?

Save

squeky

· #9 · Jul 22, 2008

Grim Reaper said:
That IS interesting.I've always hated Windows but it is the only OS I have ever used (outside of DOS ... yes, I admit that I actually used to know DOS ... no, I wasn't with Noah on the ark ...) extensively. I've heard alot about Linux, but have never had the chance to go hands-on with it. Suggestions ?

Ubuntu desktop CD. It has the Wubi installer that lets you install it just like any other Windows program.

Save

nalioth

· #10 · Jul 22, 2008

Grim Reaper said:
That IS interesting.I've always hated Windows but it is the only OS I have ever used (outside of DOS ... yes, I admit that I actually used to know DOS ... no, I wasn't with Noah on the ark ...) extensively. I've heard alot about Linux, but have never had the chance to go hands-on with it. Suggestions ?

Ubuntu comes on a dual-purpose CD, or an iso image.

You can run it as a 'live CD' and see how it works without installing , or you can install it on your hardware.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

squeky said:
Ubuntu desktop CD. It has the Wubi installer that lets you install it just like any other Windows program.

I'd avoid the Wubi installer. Linux runs best from it's own partition (we're trying to get away from Windows, right?)

The Wubi is a very new technology and has been known to eat data . . .

Save

TheBulge

· #11 · Jul 22, 2008

On a side note..one program that worked well for me was Lavasoft. It actually finds the registry keys of the spyware. The spyware will never go away until you delete the registry keys its imbedded in...you may think that you have deleted it,however,once you restart your computer or update it,it will update itself through the registry key and become active again...a little lesson learned awhile back. :wink:

Save

Grim Reaper

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 22, 2008

Thanks for the URL& for the Lavasoft recommendations: I'll check 'em both out. :dance:

Save

squeky

· #13 · Jul 22, 2008

Double post

Save

1 - 13 of 13 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month