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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:36 pm 
 

The IT guys who looked at the computer after the virus hit said it was "on life support".  

I'm thinking Norton would be a good fit.  I just do not like paying for it.

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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:42 pm 
 

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:As a former IT guy, let me urge you to do yourself a favor and buy your anti-virus/malware software!


I can understand your point of view, but as a current IT guy, I am of the opinion that you dont have to pay for good software.  I have used AVG Free for years and have never once gotten a computer virus, malware or rootkit.  I've used Symantec products and found them to be mostly inadequate.  I got hit with a redirector about 6 or 7 years ago when I was using Norton AV.  Talk about a pain in the ass.  Norton 360, IMO is an absolute nightmare.  Not only is it a resource hog but as far as viruses and malware are concerned, I have always thought that it did a pretty average job.  Although I will say that I thought Norton's Internet Security suite was pretty spiffy.  And the corporate versions of Symantec's products are great as long as you dont expect them to deal with any tough bugs.  Fantastic for making sure that all of the computers on your network are up to date though (as long as you know what you are doing).  I will be honest when I say I dont know all that much about McAfee products other than uninstalling them.  Every company I've ever worked for ended up getting rid of McAfee for Symantec, Kaspersky, or Panda.  I usually started working for them just as they were switching software but the people I worked with hated it.

I've worked with and known people with other companies that were crazy about Kaspersky and Trend Micro products.  I usually see very high reviews for both products.

I guess my point is, just because its free doesnt mean it can't do the job.

By the way Martin, if you do decide to purchase something, check out ads before you do.  You can usually purchase an antivirus and internet security application for next to nothing.  Fry's will usually have something on sale and at the same time the manufacturer will offer a mail in rebate.  I picked up Norton Internet Security and Antivirus a few years back for $20.  It was normally $90 or $100 for the package and they had it on sale for $60.  There was also a mail in rebate for $40.  :D


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:29 pm 
 

Prufrock wrote:The IT guys who looked at the computer after the virus hit said it was "on life support".  

I'm thinking Norton would be a good fit.  I just do not like paying for it.

martin


Even after the most disastrous virus, worst case you can always start over with an operating system reload, so I'm assuming it was an older PC and when they said that they meant the hardware was on the verge of breaking down.

Like I said, I've use McAfee (in a fairly high security network corporate environment, a casino) and both McAfee and Norton at home and been fairly pleased with both. Norton does seem less resource intensive, or at least less obtrusive to the end user, as FoulFoot pointed out.

If you have a broadband Internet connection, check their website to see if you're entitled to the software for free through them. I get mine from Comcast with my service at no extra charge (other than the steadily increasing cable bill, LOL).


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:32 pm 
 

Kingofpain89 wrote:
I can understand your point of view, but as a current IT guy, I am of the opinion that you dont have to pay for good software.  I have used AVG Free for years and have never once gotten a computer virus, malware or rootkit.  I've used Symantec products and found them to be mostly inadequate.  I got hit with a redirector about 6 or 7 years ago when I was using Norton AV.  Talk about a pain in the ass.  Norton 360, IMO is an absolute nightmare.  Not only is it a resource hog but as far as viruses and malware are concerned, I have always thought that it did a pretty average job.  Although I will say that I thought Norton's Internet Security suite was pretty spiffy.  And the corporate versions of Symantec's products are great as long as you dont expect them to deal with any tough bugs.  Fantastic for making sure that all of the computers on your network are up to date though (as long as you know what you are doing).  I will be honest when I say I dont know all that much about McAfee products other than uninstalling them.  Every company I've ever worked for ended up getting rid of McAfee for Symantec, Kaspersky, or Panda.  I usually started working for them just as they were switching software but the people I worked with hated it.

I've worked with and known people with other companies that were crazy about Kaspersky and Trend Micro products.  I usually see very high reviews for both products.

I guess my point is, just because its free doesnt mean it can't do the job.

By the way Martin, if you do decide to purchase something, check out ads before you do.  You can usually purchase an antivirus and internet security application for next to nothing.  Fry's will usually have something on sale and at the same time the manufacturer will offer a mail in rebate.  I picked up Norton Internet Security and Antivirus a few years back for $20.  It was normally $90 or $100 for the package and they had it on sale for $60.  There was also a mail in rebate for $40.  :D


Sounds like you have more extensive and varied experience with this sort of thing than I do, so I defer to your judgment. The (one) operation I worked for was mid-sized, and I was an overburdened "Systems Manager" in a shop of 5, not including our do-nothing Director (which in practice meant I was a Systems Analyst, SysAdmin, Database Administrator, Network Admin, and PC tech all wrapped into one seriously stressed out puppy), so using something free would've been attractive, but having outside tech support to call upon was more important--which I assume the free packages don't provide.


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:23 pm 
 

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:
Sounds like you have more extensive and varied experience with this sort of thing than I do, so I defer to your judgment. The (one) operation I worked for was mid-sized, and I was an overburdened "Systems Manager" in a shop of 5, not including our do-nothing Director (which in practice meant I was a Systems Analyst, SysAdmin, Database Administrator, Network Admin, and PC tech all wrapped into one seriously stressed out puppy), so using something free would've been attractive, but having outside tech support to call upon was more important--which I assume the free packages don't provide.


For a corporate environment I completely agree with you.  Symantec's enterprise software is second to none if you are handling hundreds or thousands of customers.  And I dont mean just antivirus protection.  Their backup and recovery solutions are very good too.  I havent had the need to work with their technical support people much but I guess it is as varied as anyone else, especially in this case.

One company I worked for several years ago (multinational hotelier, several thousand employees) got hit by a real nasty virus just as I was moving on to a new employer (no I didnt do it).  Apparently one of the hotel employees brought a computer from home to work and plugged it into the network.  There was a virus on it and within minutes had infected every computer (including servers) in the hotel and had started to spread to other sites.  In doing so it completely used up all the available bandwidth (I dont have all the specifics here, just basically what was happening) so the help desk people couldnt connect to any of the computers to troubleshoot.  The technician that was responsible for making sure that all of the servers (and thus workstations) had up to date definitions had been slacking off (yes, he was fired).  After a couple of days, the IT staff realized that they couldnt keep up with the virus so they contacted Symantec's support line for assistance.  Since the company paid for "platinum" support (or whatever it was called), they sent a representative to the corporate office to assist.  After a couple more days, his final solution was to reimage all of the workstations and servers.

From what a friend of mine (that still worked there) told me, they had to shut down traffic on the WAN line of every hotel that was infected (20 or so) and send a 3rd party tech to each site to clean all infected computers.  Took them weeks to implement and I cant imagine how many millions of dollars they lost because of it.


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:41 pm 
 

OUCH.

We had a few much less dire company-wide virus crises while I was there, though exciting in their own way :). My favorite (most memorable, anyway) was the one PC on the network stuck in a closet in the Food & Beverage department of the Hotel/Casino, which had been there so long that the entire IT department had forgotten it existed. Needless to say, it wasn't getting it's McAfee updated (I forget whether it was because we hadn't set gone with the enterprise version, and had individual installs, but I think that was it), and somehow caught a virus (don't remember which, but it was relatively minor), which it kept pushing out to everything else on network, causing minor havoc until we finally tracked it down with an IP scanner and a lot of sneaker-net work. We had a static IP scheme (yeah, don't ask  :roll: , not my call), which since I kept good records actually helped us narrow down the offending computer. Good times.


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:45 pm 
 

MetamorphosisSigma wrote: As a former IT guy, let me urge you to do yourself a favor and buy your anti-virus/malware software! In this day and age it's imperative that you not so much as plug in your ethernet cable or wireless USB thingamajig before installing it. Surfing the Internet without protection is like going on a weekend whoring trip to Bangkok without condoms. Norton and McAfee are both good, so long as you keep the virus definitions updated (just schedule it to happen automatically). I've used both, and never had a problem. If you look at the event reports they can generate, it'll give you the shivers.

Are you sure your old PC fell prey to a virus? If so, it's probably salvageable.


Well, I am not and never have been an IT Guy.

BUT I have used both McAffee and Norton (including 360) on both home computers and professional office computers and I hate them BOTH with a passion!

Never again....


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:34 pm 
 

Hi,

slightly OT. but my wife bought a backup device by a company called Clickfree a little while ago.

Now it IS more expensive than just buying an ordinary backup device, but the software on this thing does all your backup automatically.

You just plug it in once a week (or more if thats your bag) and off it goes.

Not a big thing if youre IT literate, but if you arent its quite useful.

Cheers,
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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:14 pm 
 

lawrenson wrote:Hi,

slightly OT. but my wife bought a backup device by a company called Clickfree a little while ago.

Now it IS more expensive than just buying an ordinary backup device, but the software on this thing does all your backup automatically.

You just plug it in once a week (or more if thats your bag) and off it goes.

Not a big thing if youre IT literate, but if you arent its quite useful.

Cheers,
Malc


$100 - $125 (just what I saw with a quick search) for a 1TB external hard drive that backs up everything for you without installing any software on your computer.  That's a pretty decent price if you ask me.  Especially nice for business people who are out of the office a lot.  They even have wireless versions.


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Post Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:30 pm 
 

(The security freak in me says) These kinds of USB devices are the reason one needs to lock down PCs tight as a button. Imagine how much data could be stolen.

That is a good price, though.


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:31 am 
 

Firefox + NoScript = SafePr0n     8)


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 11:25 am 
 

Gnat the Beggar wrote:
Well, I am not and never have been an IT Guy.

BUT I have used both McAffee and Norton (including 360) on both home computers and professional office computers and I hate them BOTH with a passion!

Never again....


Norton is just about as bad as a virus :evil:   It just never goes away.  Same as McAffee, they just do not uninstall even after a blanking out the hard drive.  I use a freebee now, it seams to work OK


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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:08 am 
 

I'll be hanging out in the chat the rest of the evening (Thursday night), check in if you are going to be there to register for games after midnight!

Mike B.


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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:00 am 
 

Badmike wrote:I'll be hanging out in the chat the rest of the evening (Thursday night), check in if you are going to be there to register for games after midnight!

Mike B.


Sorry Mike, I fell asleep around 10.  8O
But I just registered and got my events anyway (except your B1 event). Did get into Leadjunkie's game though and I am pumped for that!


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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:28 am 
 

My B1 B/X event was the first one filled.  Don't think I'm gratified yet mystified by that one!

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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:16 am 
 

Stop being so humble, Mike. You are a damn good DM; your games are fun, fast-paced and never fail to disappoint. Period. :)

I'm also registered for Bill's tournament and am really looking forward to seeing him in the DM's chair after the tales told about his games last year. ;)

With so many great sessions to choose from, it was difficult deciding which games to try.  This con will be awesome. :)


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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 1:26 pm 
 

smarmy1 wrote:Stop being so humble, Mike. You are a damn good DM; your games are fun, fast-paced and never fail to disappoint. Period. :)


Agree with this.
Mikes games are a lot of fun.
I am dissapointed that I did not stay up late enough last night to sign up for his game at the con...
Had no idea it would be filled so quickly...  8O

But I am very glad I came to the Acaeum and found Mike and his tabletop games.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to play for too long of late, but I am looking forward to our next session.
Hopefully that will be soon....  :wink:


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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:37 pm 
 

Gnat the Beggar wrote:
Agree with this.
Mikes games are a lot of fun.
I am dissapointed that I did not stay up late enough last night to sign up for his game at the con...
Had no idea it would be filled so quickly...  8O

But I am very glad I came to the Acaeum and found Mike and his tabletop games.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to play for too long of late, but I am looking forward to our next session.
Hopefully that will be soon....  :wink:


Thanks for the kind words guys. Ryan I hope I can make your son's first NTRPG con a memorable experience (Yeh, I'm DMing shirt off this year).....

John, since neither you, nor King, Chris, Tim or Rob signed up for my game, we'll be playtesting it in the next few weekends....!

I only wish at times like this I could split into two people, the guy helping Doug put on the con, and some guy signing up for a game every session.  There is just far too much greatness there every year! Besides Garycon, what con could you finish up having had Erol Otus, Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, and Rob Kuntz DM you?  

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