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Thread: MS to Offer Antivirus Software

  1. #11
    AO Part Timer
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    Oh good yet another program introduced by Microsoft that will proably be full of holes. I can see it now. Microsoft released a patch today for there AV software. While you are downloading updates to this new AV you are subject to attacks that allow the attacker "full control" of the pc in question.

    Or, new virus found in the wild today, it apparently infects Microsofts new AV software and effectivley disables it, the infection is followed by a message from the writter delivered via the classic blue screen of death.

    "Your AV has caused an illegal operation."

    HEHEHHE
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  2. #12
    Dead Man Walking
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    MS did have a primitive wirus scanner that shiped with one of the dos versions i think. It could have been windows 3.1 but i want to say it was dos. And if i remeber corectly it didnt work worth a damn. Why should we think the new one would be any difrent?

  3. #13
    AO Security for Non-Geeks tonybradley's Avatar
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    Playing devil's advocate to my own post- having the hordes of security-ignorant Best Buy package deal computer drones using the Windows firewall and Windows AV could be a bad thing as well.

    It would be nice that they would have some protection and that the protection could be automatically updated, but the downside is that if the products truly were not sufficient to provide real security it will provide a false sense of security.

    What we could end up with are hordes of microwave, push-button drones who THINK they are secure because they know they have some firewall and AV software installed. They won't go further to learn or do more and will believe that Big Brother (Microsoft) has got their back with the automatic updates.

    It seems that whether or not this is a good thing is semi-dependent on the overall quality of the products they bundle. It would be nice to protect the masses who just know how to use their computer like a car or a microwave, but not if that protection is half-assed and gives them a false sense of security.

    Just my $.02 in response to my other $.02 :-)

  4. #14
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    well to the computer savvy this we'll be a joke. those of us who care about security and have a distrust for some of the quality of microsoft will not buy it. (i know i will be the first on my block to decide to not own it.)

    HOWEVER... i think that this product will do exceptionally well amongst the half knowledgable and lower group of computer users. to most of these people the only thing they know is they are supposed to have some sort of av. they are not quite sure how it works, many don't even know why they need it so to them one is as good as another. but you throw a name like microsoft on it and they will scarf it up. the common thought will be "microsoft... they make my windows program... and i use there office program... they must be good and trustworthy as well... why not buy it"
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  5. #15
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    There has been an AV shiped with MS for a long time...but it hasn't been updated in 10 years...this will proably go the same road. The company they bought is unfortunate though as they made one of the few Linux based AV..in fact this companies windows AV was an after thaught and althouth they had great virus detection capabilities the user interface left a lot to be desired.

    My guess is MS bought them to
    1.) get rid of a tool that was helping Linux.
    2.) get their hands on Linux virus source code.

    But I am cynical like that.
    Who is more trustworthy then all of the gurus or Buddha’s?

  6. #16
    Master-Jedi-Pimps0r & Moderator thehorse13's Avatar
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    bballad,

    Yeah man, I also noticed that this company was one of the only places making a decent Linux AV scanner. I too, wonder what the evil empire has planned for this functionality.

    One thing they did do right is purchase an AV company instead of making some hokey tiger team at MS to go at it alone. Also, I wonder how they will integrate DAT file updates? Through WindowsUpdate? I sure hope they are better than the driver updates. So far I got two duds from their awful third party driver update section - a yamaha sound card driver and an integrated intel pro 10/100.
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  7. #17
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    You cant really blame MS for trying again. It's not just MS's fault that their software has a lot of holes.. Customers have to start taking the blame since a lot of people like convinience. Most people dont care how secure their computers are. Anyways people always want more features in their products. Which means more insecure code and more problems. But people tend to just point their fingers at companies when something goes wrong. I bet that if Apple had taken the deal offer to them in the first place by IBM. And if the Mac OS was the dominating platform people would be whining about how Mac sucks here sucks there..
    Hey if you dont like a specific software company then dont use it. If someone were to tell you to jump of a cliff would you??
    If you want your computer to be secure well then read and learn how to do it .. Instead of bitching and whining all the time... Like the majority of people do . .
    As for an MS AV hummm sounds very interesting ... Cant say you wont like it until you try it..
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  8. #18
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    Wow, it seams that Microsoft whants to expand its monopoly to other branches, if they continue getting greedy. maybe they would whant to get more in to hardware also. IMAGIN Microsoft HDD that you have to register before installing windows to gey your activation key to format your drive. And that the drive has a life expenctanci of 3 years(because almost every 3 years MS realeases a new OS)

    Just to think about that i'm getting sick

    LOL
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  9. #19
    I'm sorry to say that I do not agree with you, at least about the quality of that antivirus... I've been using it for a while now and it did work good enough for my necesities...

    I don't know what MS is going to do with it and I wonder how it will go.

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