Re: [pyrnet] Virus Info (long - sorry)

[Diana Brown <nixie@mad.scientist.com>]

IMO (and I am not right about everything - just most things <lol>), the problem with free software is that it is free. 

Normally, this is great.  But free software means no support, no guarantee of updates, and no guarantee that you can find the updates if you want to.  For something as serious as virus scanning, I use McAffee - because the company is solid, they have a full-time staff devoted to nothing but discovering and making cures for viruses - up to date, a new update available every week or three, and if the virus is out there, they usually have a copy - and a cure, or a team working on one.

Another company that is big for Anti-virus is Symantec.  Many folks swear by them. I have a personal/professional prejudice against them, which I will explain only so you can see how silly it is, (otherwise it looksl ike I have SECRET KNOWLEDGE, and possibly even a REASON for it <g>).

Many years ago, a computer genius by the name of Peter Norton was an active software developer.  He developed a set of programs called Norton Utilities which had all kinds of toys designed to make a geek's life easier.  (Peter Norton is cool.  We like Peter Norton.<s>)  Well, ol' Pete got tired and sold his stuff to Symantec - and the next version of the Norton Utilities was the first version ever to be released with major bugs in it.

I realize this is common practice today, but it wasn't back then - and even if it was, things like disk utilities (items which, if they screw up, have the potential to destroy all your dat or even your hard disk) ought not to go out with serious bugs.  So, since that day, I loathe Symantec utilities and won't buy them (though I do use their PCAnywhere software and don't find anything wrong with it).

So, as you can see, my grudge against symantec shouldn't oughta affect you none.

For "free" AV software, try www.mcafee.com, www.symantec.com - both let you download a trial version of their software (usually good for 30 days) so you can see if you like it and it is worth paying for.  Talk to friends - folks who use AV software and update it regularly - and get their opinion on what they're using - there are lots more companies out there that do it - those are just two of the biggest.

Hope this helps.

Diana

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