Solve : Lack of malware.?

1.	Solve : Lack of malware.?
Answer» Windows XP Pro Corporate Edition. Since early December 2009 as a trial I have been running various pc's, generally old stock, without the use of any malware protection, no anti-virus or third-party firewall and with the internal firewall turned off. The pc's are connected to the internet via a rather slow dial-up service. Regular scans have never detected malware of any kind although I had expected visitations from the common parasites. Could it be that the Corporate Edition of XP has some special built-in protection?Absolutely NOT. I use the same O/S on an XP machine SP3.It is my principal machine.I always have Avira free running (and updated). Within the past week i downloaded and installed Malwarebytes free ran a scan and there were 265 "items" detected. Now to be fair probably 90% of them were i suspect cookies (as they were not automatically ticked for removal--which i did anyway) but there were a very significant number of trojans. If i were in your shoes i would change your status on the computer to install/run an Anti Virus program (only one) and just for curiosity i would download Malwarebytes and run a scan. If it does find bad things i would then recommend running a scan on a regular basis. The "corporate " edition of XP is no DIFFERENT than the regular issue only in the licensing part.truenorth Quote from: truenorth on May 21, 2012, 05:03:57 PM Absolutely NOT...... If i were in your shoes i would change your status on the computer to install/run an Anti Virus program (only one) and just for curiosity i would download Malwarebytes and run a scan. If it does find bad things i would then recommend running a scan on a regular basis. The "corporate " edition of XP is no different than the regular issue only in the licensing part.truenorth Malwarebytes is updated/run regularly, the only things it has ever reported as malicious software are the two PUN entries identifying the registry entries for the Security Center due to there being no antivirus and firewall running. Why the MBAM folks decided to call these malicious is beyond my understanding. Interestingly if I install XP Home or non-corporate XP Pro and run them without protection, infections are a CERTAINTY. It was also my understanding that the only change in the Corporate editions was the licensing. FYI the hardware currently in use (1) An AOpen mobo which shows a bios banner stating that the system is Y2K compliant, Celeron processor 734 MHz and 512Mb ram and (2) an elderly Compaq Evo N1020v laptop P4 processor 2.00GHz and just 224Mb ram. Thanks for your input.Malwarebytes is not a full-fledged anti-virus. You don't generally get "visitations" from a virus online unless you're visiting somewhere or downloading something that is risky. They can also come through email attachments, flash DRIVES, etc. However, people sometimes inadvertently open things they shouldn't or visit a bad site by mistyping the URL or this or that. It happens. If there isn't anything important on the computer, you might be ok. I still wouldn't recommend it. Surfing the net without AV or Firewall is kind of like tossing your parachute out of the plane first, then trying to catch up to it as you fall. While it might be a cool stunt, done enough TIMES will likely end up in you not catching the parachute. I'd bet that if you installed a full AV program (like Avast!) and ran a full scan of your system, it will find threats that MBAM missed. It doesn't matter what version of Windows you're running, running without AV, infections are a certainty. Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM You don't generally get "visitations" from a virus online unless you're visiting somewhere or downloading something that is risky. That I might try... Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM I'd bet that if you installed a full AV program (like Avast!) and ran a full scan of your system, it will find threats that MBAM missed. Installed & updated AVG, scan found no infections. Ditto with TREND Micro's Housecall. Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM It doesn't matter what version of Windows you're running, running without AV, infections are a certainty. I look forward to being infected but wonder how long it will take! As stated, running bare is just a trial. Thanks for your comments quaxo.Not sure why one would look forward to being infected... However i can list 5 or 8 sites that will happen with even on a drive by if testing your apps is what you're after...Dusty: Quote I look forward to being infected but wonder how long it will take! Patio: Quote Not sure why one would look forward to being infected... ...to be continued.

Answer»

Windows XP Pro Corporate Edition.

Since early December 2009 as a trial I have been running various pc's, generally old stock, without the use of any malware protection, no anti-virus or third-party firewall and with the internal firewall turned off. The pc's are connected to the internet via a rather slow dial-up service.

Regular scans have never detected malware of any kind although I had expected visitations from the common parasites. Could it be that the Corporate Edition of XP has some special built-in protection?Absolutely NOT. I use the same O/S on an XP machine SP3.It is my principal machine.I always have Avira free running (and updated). Within the past week i downloaded and installed Malwarebytes free ran a scan and there were 265 "items" detected. Now to be fair probably 90% of them were i suspect cookies (as they were not automatically ticked for removal--which i did anyway) but there were a very significant number of trojans. If i were in your shoes i would change your status on the computer to install/run an Anti Virus program (only one) and just for curiosity i would download Malwarebytes and run a scan. If it does find bad things i would then recommend running a scan on a regular basis. The "corporate " edition of XP is no DIFFERENT than the regular issue only in the licensing part.truenorth Quote from: truenorth on May 21, 2012, 05:03:57 PM

Absolutely NOT...... If i were in your shoes i would change your status on the computer to install/run an Anti Virus program (only one) and just for curiosity i would download Malwarebytes and run a scan. If it does find bad things i would then recommend running a scan on a regular basis. The "corporate " edition of XP is no different than the regular issue only in the licensing part.truenorth

Malwarebytes is updated/run regularly, the only things it has ever reported as malicious software are the two PUN entries identifying the registry entries for the Security Center due to there being no antivirus and firewall running. Why the MBAM folks decided to call these malicious is beyond my understanding.

Interestingly if I install XP Home or non-corporate XP Pro and run them without protection, infections are a CERTAINTY.

It was also my understanding that the only change in the Corporate editions was the licensing.

FYI the hardware currently in use (1) An AOpen mobo which shows a bios banner stating that the system is Y2K compliant, Celeron processor 734 MHz and 512Mb ram and (2) an elderly Compaq Evo N1020v laptop P4 processor 2.00GHz and just 224Mb ram.

Thanks for your input.Malwarebytes is not a full-fledged anti-virus.

You don't generally get "visitations" from a virus online unless you're visiting somewhere or downloading something that is risky. They can also come through email attachments, flash DRIVES, etc.

However, people sometimes inadvertently open things they shouldn't or visit a bad site by mistyping the URL or this or that. It happens. If there isn't anything important on the computer, you might be ok. I still wouldn't recommend it.

Surfing the net without AV or Firewall is kind of like tossing your parachute out of the plane first, then trying to catch up to it as you fall. While it might be a cool stunt, done enough TIMES will likely end up in you not catching the parachute.

I'd bet that if you installed a full AV program (like Avast!) and ran a full scan of your system, it will find threats that MBAM missed.

It doesn't matter what version of Windows you're running, running without AV, infections are a certainty. Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM

You don't generally get "visitations" from a virus online unless you're visiting somewhere or downloading something that is risky.

That I might try...

Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM

I'd bet that if you installed a full AV program (like Avast!) and ran a full scan of your system, it will find threats that MBAM missed.

Installed & updated AVG, scan found no infections. Ditto with TREND Micro's Housecall.

Quote from: quaxo on May 22, 2012, 01:00:33 AM

It doesn't matter what version of Windows you're running, running without AV, infections are a certainty.

I look forward to being infected but wonder how long it will take! As stated, running bare is just a trial.

Thanks for your comments quaxo.Not sure why one would look forward to being infected...
However i can list 5 or 8 sites that will happen with even on a drive by if testing your apps is what you're after...Dusty:
Quote

I look forward to being infected but wonder how long it will take!

Patio:
Quote

Not sure why one would look forward to being infected...

...to be continued.

Solve : Lack of malware.?

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