Virus Warnings

a note about any virus warnings.
User avatar
ArtF
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 4586
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 6:14 am
Contact:

Virus Warnings

Post by ArtF »

Hi All:

  Just a note on virus warnings. There seems to be a spike in the number of scanners triggering sporadically on Gearotics site or on its download as suspicious. Researching this always seems to point to "Gearotic"" being too close to "Erotic" for the scanners. As of yet, Ive had no reports of any virus's being found in any of Gearotics downloads in 5 years, but please notify me if such a thing occurs. ( Or post here. ). Many scanners are no longer just looking at files and such but are using heuristic means such as names and words to make such determinations.. such is the world we live in. :)

Thx
Art
User avatar
Mooselake
Old Timer
Posts: 522
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:21 pm
Location: Mooselake Manor

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Mooselake »

So they don't like gear porn?  What good are they?

Extra warnings prove that your aftermarket virus scanner must be good since it's catching things.  I abandoned them (Norton, AVS, McAfee, etc.) some time ago after reading multiple reviews that said that the one included with M$, while missing some different virii than the paid/freebee aftermarket scanners (and sometimes catching ones they didn't) was more than good enough for just about everybody.  Just don't click on all that stuff that shows up in your inbox, even if it's cute kittens, and never click a link on FacePlant.

Then again, the whole virus scanner (i.e. looking for signatures) has never been as good as looking for virus behavior anyway.  A number of the modern virii "mutate" so their signatures aren't consistent, and your more likely to catch the more amateur stuff than the "good" ones.

Kirk
DanL
Old Timer
Posts: 362
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:35 pm

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by DanL »

The more popular a virus scanner is, it increases the chances of being hit, more hacker trying to get through.

The less known it is the safer it is, you just have to make sure your password's have nothing in common with you as in if you like dragons don't have dragon in your password Have goat instead.
User avatar
ArtF
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 4586
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 6:14 am
Contact:

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by ArtF »

 
I tend to use only the Windows scanner in Win7 for my development system , but Im very carefull of viruses and scan
frequently to be sure I dont pass on a cold. I do get letters from folks obviously worried about contracting something
from rubbing elbows with software named so erotically, and I do find it a bit annoying, but each vendor tends to say
"Send us a signature on every version." which just isnt possible with how fast the programs morph.

    So if anyone is real concerned thay may ask here if anyone has had any bad experiences, or how to turn off their
antivirus temporarily for an install. The latest missive spoke of Windows claiming the program was rarely downloaded
and therefore was suspicious. Seems a small reason to deny a download.. and I suppose with only a few thousand users
Gearotic isnt what Mach3 was, but I would've thought that was traffic enough for tolerance. :)

  Better to mention it all though, so people peeking in dont think we're a security hotline scam. :)

  While Im on the topic, one user also asked why the new website isnt pushed more, and I agree so Ive made
it bold in the main page for the crosslink. We arent intending to switch anytime soon to be solely
on the second site, but much of that is for administrative reasons. Bob HAS done a great job showing the
various things Gearotic does on the new site, and continues to try to keep up to my rather eclectic
method of development. There are many hints on that second site to show what can be done and how.

  Soon, I will slow down on the additions and begin the long job of completing the half finished bits
and fixing up older interfaces.. Windows has changed a lot since the beginning of this never ending
project..and you need to do a spring-summer cleaning every few years..

Art




   
JustinO
Old Timer
Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:13 pm

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by JustinO »

Heh. My employer's services wouldn't let gearotic.com through the layers of "protection". I put in a trouble ticket and slowly discovered that no one at my firm knew how the network security worked, and that no one working for their security providers knew how it worked. There were multiple onsite visits and escalations, and multiple declarations of "we fixed it", but no, they didn't. They tried to close the ticket "quietly" without resolution a couple times and I innocently reopened it. I finally had to consciously let it go. I was working from home in the evening or on my smartphone.

This will probably fix itself as technology changes.

Not sure how you have your site set up, but I've had sites where I could have more than one domain pointing to the same content -- you could have a "short term fix" domain for people who are having trouble with their security.

--Justin
User avatar
ArtF
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 4586
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 6:14 am
Contact:

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by ArtF »

Justin:
Gear2Motion.com leads there, but its tripped Erotic warnings due to content. :)

Art
JustinO
Old Timer
Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:13 pm

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by JustinO »

Seems like there should be a Filtering Industry false positive reporting process -- a clearing house sort of thing. My employer's IT could not even figure out where the filtering was happening.

There is probably an internet protocol for returning data about filtered content that is being disregarded.

I hope they fix things before it gets worse.

--Justin
Stojan
Old Timer
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 3:23 am

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Stojan »

If you use flash or java anything it will generally raise a false positive with many of the alleged virus scanners. The issue is the way they tackle possible virus and Trojan injections, also a lot of the so called network specialists and developers of virus/trojan software have a SeaGull mentality, lets just ban and peck the hell out of everything.

I can tell you that the new website doesn't trigger anything with Bitdefender or Malwarebytes which are middle of the road virus/trojan/nasty website monitors that I have used for many years, one of the reasons for using those particular programs is because of the false positives I used to get with other applications. The only other program I use is Mailwasher Pro which reads mail server side so nasties never get a lookin on my pc.

The biggest cause for Virus injections or Trojan injects into your system is YOU the user and that ever quick trigger finger that has to press accept or enter before reading the fine print :P..

For those not dependant on the will of others you can simply exclude a website or program from being monitored. All good virus scanners should allow you to do this.
It is a good habit to do that as par for course, most virus scanners monitor everything that is going on particularly things that access the network and the ever growing cloud network.
In their zeal to monitor everything whilst sending bits of data back to home base, they also cause your system to slow down and your programs to every so often inexplicably crash.

All programs that I have and purchased I put in a trust list, no slowdowns no crashes. That way when your running Gearotic or any other program that you use they are not fighting for resources from your cpu memory gfx card etc etc etc etc.

I've had a lifetimes experience fighting network specialists to stop banning websites that sell suntan lotions and lip balm.

One other issue which is reasonably current last few years at least is the way cookies are stored on your system, if you notice how clever google and other sites are at reading and obtaining information as to where you have been and putting appropriate adds up and you wonder how the hell did they know that. They get all that information from your cookie jar.

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE NEW WEBSITE!!!!!!! keep it coming..
User avatar
ArtF
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 4586
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 6:14 am
Contact:

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by ArtF »

>>ABSOLUTEL Y LOVE THE NEW WEBSITE!!!!!!! keep it coming..

  Thx Stojan, Thats Bob's work and I too think he's done great work..

Art
Waneu
Old Timer
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:16 am

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Waneu »

Hi
To install your demo version I have to disable Norton antivirus because its convinced a Trojan gen.8 is in the mix. Then the next time I turn the computer on Norton removes said Trojan and Gearotic in the process.
I'm thinking that gearotic will do what I want, but before I shell out the bucks I want a program I can count on. No I'm not getting rid of Norton.
Thanks
Walt
User avatar
ArtF
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 4586
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 6:14 am
Contact:

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by ArtF »

Hi Walt:

  You may want to ask Norton why the error. Here is a site that will scan a file with dozens of scanners,
https://www.virustotal.com/ , and even with this multiscan, no virus's or problems are found in Gearotics setup.
Most have found that telling Norton to ignore Gearotic works fine to get it installed.

Art
User avatar
Mooselake
Old Timer
Posts: 522
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:21 pm
Location: Mooselake Manor

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Mooselake »

Somewhere in the settings you should be able to tell Norton to ignore specific files, for just this type of problem.  Remember after market virus scanners need to find things to get you to keep renewing them, so they tend to have a lot of false positives.

Norton isn't showing up in the recent reviews I've seen, perhaps it's loosing it's user base.  Wasn't there a recent incident where it was deleting system files, or was that another aftermarket scanner?

Back when Peter Norton had something to do with the product (remember the Norton SI?) they were pretty good.  Since he sold out to Symantec and became an art (small a, not Art..) connoisseur Norton branded products have been going downhill.  Perhaps it's time to look around?

After many years of buying virus scanners (I was the security guy, plus the chief dishwasher and coffee maker, for a regional ISP back in the dial-up days) I just use the one that comes with M$ WinDoze.&nbsp; More than good enough if you stay off the suspicious web sites and don't (like my part-time boss<sigh>) click on all those email links.&nbsp; Really, FedEx delivery problems when we never send anything by FedEx?&nbsp; Even catches most of what the boss clicks on; MalwareBytes scanner gets the rest.

Kirk
Stojan
Old Timer
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 3:23 am

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Stojan »

Not meaning to be mean here but Nortons Virus scanner nobody should be using that any more. Its very bloated it slows you system and its not a very good virus scanner any more.

I used to use Nortons for many years until they started adding all the glitter, I have used a few others and have found that Bitdefender is an excellent choice being using it last 4 years has a very low incidence of false positives its intuitive to use not top heavy on your cpu. The other thing that I run on my system is Malwarebytes which checks the system for trojans, things that your virus package is not really set up to check for, well they do check for them but the primary goal is virus.

Nortons used to be the go to product now its just a me 2 product.

The thing that NO virus checker can beat or account for is that TRIGGER FINGER you know the itch, whats this do, yup I have to press the button, I know I shouldn't but I'm going to do it anyways, DAM no free IPAD just a trip to reformatting your hard drive.

Avagreatday all!!!
User avatar
Mooselake
Old Timer
Posts: 522
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:21 pm
Location: Mooselake Manor

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by Mooselake »

I'm more partial to those millions from Nigeria they'll transfer in to my bank account for safekeeping while giving me a cut&nbsp; ;)

I run the free version of Malwarebytes in scanner mode, how often depends on how likely the user is to have an itchy clicky finger.

Just read that being a non-admin windows user will catch 95% of the troublesome stuff.&nbsp; It's a pain for updates, but sounds like it's almost as good as a virus scanner, and might even be better than the current Norton.&nbsp; Guess W10's incessant asking for admin permissions would work as well if you actually check who wants it.

Kirk
DanL
Old Timer
Posts: 362
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:35 pm

Re: Virus Warnings

Post by DanL »

Nortons Virus scanner absolutely kill fusion360, a simple thing like doing a save takes minutes if you're running Norton. And it hates gearotic i had to remove Norton just to install some programs.
I will never get that program again
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests