Can a virus check be a virus?

[onesea]

First off I am thinking McAfee

There are Removal tools and Even a Wiki on how to remove it...

Which I shall quote "Removing McAfee can prove to be difficult, and may require more work than uninstalling your average program."

I have removed Malicious unwanted software more easily than it is to Remove McAfee.

http://www.wikihow.com/Uninstall-McAfee-Security-Center

Plus to my mind McAfee prays on the week minded by bringing up big flash ups saying your secure or that you have cookies on your computer or that it blocked a cookie etc etc etc

Presently I am using Windows Defender as it is the quietest Virus check I can find (I know its not the best), I used to use AVG then it started becoming memory/popup heavy...

Other Software that falls into the same category:

Norton Anti Virus is no better,

HP Epson and other "essential" printer software,

BT Software on PC or Phone / Tablet,

Skype is Marginal but handy, It also wants to set your browser to Bing as search engine when you install watch for the tick box

Facebook Apps rather than in browser,

Adobe Acrobat Reader essential but what a PITA Always updating and producing Nag Screens,

Oh and half the pre-installed Manufactures software that comes on phones and laptops....

Other than that my new laptop is fine

Actually its a double grumble as my misses was complaining her laptop was going slow and she needed a new one.... She had a new printer so followed the instructions and installed the HP suite, she had installed the BT rubbish she had woken up a couple of pre-installed games packs. Quick run of CCLeaner and Malware anti bites uninstall all the junk -

Oh my computers like new!

Still had to explain to my misses you do not a software suite for your: phone, memory stick, printer, modem. They all want to give you this memory hogging stuff but all you need is the relevant driver and they tend to work better without that shit....

Or am I on my own in this rant?

[Arwen]

Technically no, legit anti virus programs are not viruses.

What you are describing is bloatware.

And yes, nearly everything that comes on a standard build pc from any of the main manufactures is full of bloatware.

Typically what I do is if my pc is running slow, download and install SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes Make sure you don't install the toolbars (Google and Yahoo if I remember right) that come with them.

Run them a couple of times, with a reboot inbetween.

Then uninstall them when done.

I build my own pc's and always install a fresh OS on my laptops so I don't get bloatware in the first place.

[Mr Fro]

Handy stuff Arwen - my lappy is all but dead so I'll give this a punt.

[RantMachine]

I'm always suspicious that McAfee routinely "finds" viruses that never actually existed to scare people into paying for a continued subscription. Keep telling my parents to stop paying for it but they don't listen

[Arwen]

I've never paid for Anti Virus. Before Windows defender came along I used to use AVG, but that has become very resource hungry now so I simply do without. I do not however, have kids and non IT literate folk using my own pcs so that probably helps in reducing infections

I've thankfully never had a serious infection in the 15 years or so that I've had my pcs.

Work however is a whole other ball game!

 

Handy stuff Arwen - my lappy is all but dead so I'll give this a punt.

 

If your laptop is a few years old and going slow, another useful little tool is CleanUp!

It will delete all the useless temp files that accumulate over the years from general usage. Saves you time from manually deleting them yourself.

[klingelton]

My inlaws give their annual £35 to mcaffee as well. but still manage to get infected routinely with viruses. I've pointed out that there are free versions of antivirus software - but they'd rather pay. They also regularly pay for a bloke to come out and fix their pc - which I've told them i will do for nothing. I really don't mind doing it. They regularly purchase new pcs because their old one has slowed down - despite them only word processing, net browsing and email. mother in law uses her ipad now for all of these things.

I've been on mac since 2012 and really havn't looked back. I dual boot on my imac into windows still for playing some games - but I much prefer osx. 3 years and i havn't needed to reinstall either my macbook or my imac, it was a quarterly thing with pc (granted im sure newer iterations of windows are much better than win 7 or before).

[RantMachine]

They also regularly pay for a bloke to come out and fix their pc

 

Oh god this My parents do this all the damn time for the simplest stuff.

[soll]

malware bytes is a life saver.

people who dont understand software or how evil the internet can be get caught out all the time..

windows 10 has a great gaping whole in it when using google, its been reported and as part of the insider group, they are concerned.

malware bytes, microsoft security essentials are all you need with windows 7 and 8

Avast is a pain in the ass like McAfee and Norton.

[onesea]

Technically no, legit anti virus programs are not viruses.

 

Bloatware Viruses its stuff I don't want on my computer so I cannot see the difference

Thanks for the tips I will try again on both computers, keep the advice coming.

I am trying to get away from tech/ computers so not really intrested in building my own although a clean operating system install I know to be a very nice thing (did it to a couple of phones once).

Yup and have to agree the elder generation are the worst for giving money for stuff on computers that you really do not need to spend... They love the big warnings etc the money must be worth spending don't you know!

[Arwen]

Technically no, legit anti virus programs are not viruses.

 

Bloatware Viruses its stuff I don't want on my computer so I cannot see the difference

Thanks for the tips I will try again on both computers, keep the advice coming.

I am trying to get away from tech/ computers so not really intrested in building my own although a clean operating system install I know to be a very nice thing (did it to a couple of phones once).

Yup and have to agree the elder generation are the worst for giving money for stuff on computers that you really do not need to spend... They love the big warnings etc the money must be worth spending don't you know!

 

I do IT support for a living so feel free to ask for advice. The difference between Bloatware and viruses is simple.

Bloatware = an annoyance at most.

Virus = ranges from annoyance to ID theft and/or fraud. Or in the case of Stuxnet, destroying centrifuges used to enrich uranium. (It is very interesting to look into if you are into that kinda thing....)

Viruses are much more harmful than bloatware

[Guest]

Excellent advice from Arwen - many thanks.

[KrisValentine]

I would say get away from windows, move to linux or a variant of (umbutu etc), this will give you more control over your environment, speeds up old pcs very well. You can even play windows games when using Wine.

If you want a quiet anti vi/malware program for windows I'd suggest getting spybot (search and destroy), easy to use and works well, also get yourself TinyWall firewall - another quiet and useful tool.

But there is nothing like a clean quiet linux system, loads of good tools built by non bloaty - companies, and it is also a good way to get into programing and making your own apps, Learn C or php - you wouldn't what you can make for yourself.