Multibooter

I am about to change my mind about Avast Antivirus 2015, after some more experimenting. Avast Antivirus 2015 - SSE-only files The "offline" installer of Avast Antivirus 2015 (both Free and Premier) does NOT contain all required components for installing under SSE-only. During the "offline" installation under SSE-only the installer downloads 2 files, ais_gen_gui_nosse2-7e5.vpx and ais_gen_gui_nosse2_cef-7cc.vpx. If there is no internet connection, e.g. the Ethernet cable is pulled out from the computer during the installation, the "offline" installation under SSE-only will terminate with the msg "There was an error while installing the product" -> Restart computer, with Avast Antivirus 2015 NOT being installed. This has two consequences for installing Avast Antivirus 2015 the regular way under SSE-only: 1) You must have an online connection during the installation, during which Avast Antivirus 2015 constantly transmits who-knows-what to who-knows-where. I had to keep clicking continuously on firewall messages permitting outbound connections for completing the installation OK.. 2) Whenever Avast decides to remove these 2 files from their server, Avast Antivirus 2015 canNOT be installed anymore under SSE-only and the installer becomes useless trash. The compatibility with SSE-only is nowadays the only reason for installing old Avast Antivirus 2015. There exists, however, a little trick to install Avast Antivirus 2015 completely offline under SSE-only. STEP 1: Create a partition backup, Then make a 1st installation with the computer online + permit individually all outbound connections. After the installer msg window finishes displaying "Downloading ..." of the 2nd file, wait with the granting of firewall permissions. Immediately copy the 2 downloaded files ais_gen_gui_nosse2-7e5.vpx and ais_gen_gui_nosse2_cef-7cc.vpx from the \Temp\ folder of the installer to another folder on a different partition etc. Then restore the partition backup. This STEP 1 needs to be done only once, for obtaining the 2 rare files required by the installer under SSE-only. STEP 2: Disconnect the internet connection, e.g. the Ethernet cable, then re-install Avast Antivirus 2015. When the window "Question: You are installing an old version of Avast!" is displayed, the installer has finished extracting the installation source. $$$ -> copy these 2 files into the temp folder created by the installer, so that the installer will not attempt to download the missing files from the server. Avast Antivirus 2015 will then install OK, without attempting to download the 2 files. The trick with manually copying these 2 files into the \Temp\ folder during the installation also results in a software where the firewall can automatically disable outgoing connection attempts, no constant clicking when the computer is online. The nuisance part of Avast Antivirus 2015 seems to be set during the online connection of the installer With this installation trick Avast Antivirus 2015 may have become a useful tool under WinXP with SSE-only, especially for retro-computing enthusiasts who do not have my ancient version of Kaspersky.

Thanks for identifying the last SSE-only version and for the link! I am in the process of deciding on a 2nd virus-checker. I started with Avast because it has a big virus signature data base. Avast is owned by Gen Digital Inc., which also owns the Norton, LifeLock, Avira and AVG brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Digital I installed Avast Antivirus 2015 v10.4.2233 (SSE, Free, 17Sep2015) on an SSE-only Inspiron 7500 laptop, but I quickly removed it again, with a partition restore to be safe. Too much calling out to googleusercontent.com etc, nearly on every click. I then looked for the corresponding Premium version, hoping that the Premium version wouldn't contain that calling-out stuff. I couldn't find the corresponding Premium build, archive.org seems to have archived only a small corrupt file for Premium v10.4.2233, the download fails. Do you have an OK download link for it? I test-installed the preceding Premium build, Avast Antivirus 2015 v10.3.2225 (SSE, Premium, 28Jul2015) https://web.archive.org/web/20160129062513if_/http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avast_premier_antivirus_setup.exe I liked the Sandbox, which is not included in the Free version, although I have not yet compared it to other sandbox programs. I was flabberghasted when I saw the consent request of the Premium version, similar to the Free version. The screenshot below was deleted on 11Sep2024. The posting with the screenshot was archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20240911232807/https://msfn.org/board/topic/184730-antimalware-firewall-and-other-security-programs-for-windows-xp-working-in-2023-and-hopefully-beyond/page/69/ "Nearly every software product you use collects information about you. Search engines, games, everything. We do the same." The Premium version seems to have issues similar to those of the talkative Free version. I didn't see the opt-out option in the program, maybe hidden somewhere. I will not keep Avast on my main computers, you also had objections to it. As a new project, I plan to use a dedicated, offline desktop computer only for virus-checking, with both Kaspersky and a supplementary Western virus-checker.

I have my doubts about the German BSI. Their current head Claudia Plattner is a red-green political appointee, who seems to consider US interests https://www.danisch.de/blog/2023/07/07/die-seltsame-it-sicherheitsexpertise-der-neuen-bsi-chefin-claudia-plattner/ Why did she go to Tulane, couldn't she get admitted to a top university like MIT? She is not listed in the US wikipedia, only in the German wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Plattner "BSI's predecessor was the cryptographic department of Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information_Security Relying on BSI for anti-virus software recommendations?

In order to shed some more light onto the hullaballoo around Kaspersky, I have looked a little into it, here are my two cents: 1) Kaspersky Anti-Virus 18 does NOT install under SSE-only I have attempted to install 2 builds of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 18 on my SSE-only Inspiron 7500, neither of them installs under SSE-only. I initially tried to install the current build digitally signed OK 24Dec2017 and available at http://arc-products.s.kaspersky-labs.com/homeuser/kav2018/18.0.0.405abcdef/english-0.3439.0/323224f2/kav18.0.0.405en_full.exe I got the typical SSE-only err msg: "Kaspersky Anti-Virus [18.0.0.405.0.3439.0] has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." I subsequently attempted to install the earliest build of v18 which I could find, digitally signed OK 12Jul2017, and got a similar err msg: "Kaspersky Anti-Virus [18.0.0.405.0.1298.0] has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience" 2) I tried to extract both installers. Below are the extraction details from the 164MB installer of 24Dec2017: - WinRAR v5.61 (30Sep2018) extracts 95 files and 2 folders, altogether 23MB - 7-Zip v9.20 extracts 88 files and 19 folders, altogether 136MB, with differing file and folder names - 7-Zip v23.01 (20Jun2023) also extracts 88 files and 19 folders, but adds an err msg: "Warnings. There are some data after the end of the payload data" when extracting \Product\crypto_ssl.dll i.e. Kaspersky 18 uses a proprietary SFX which cannot be extracted completely with WinRAR or 7-Zip I definitely did NOT like the warning msg by 7-Zip v23. My ancient version of Kaspersky can be extracted Ok by 7-Zip v23. BTW, the above shows that 7-Zip v23 could also serve as a security tool. 3) When my ancient version of Kaspersky, updated with current signatures, scans the installer kav18.0.0.405en_full.exe, it indicates that only 2 files were scanned, i.e. that it could not look into the installer, even if WinRAR and 7-Zip could partially look into it, which is exceptional. When I subsequently virus-checked the file with Kaspersky Anti-Virus v6.0.3.837 under Windows 98, with signatures of 1Apr2014, Kaspersky COULD look it the .exe and checked 1531 objects. This led me to suspect that some files, e.g. kav18.0.0.405en_full.exe [the installer .exe of Kaspersky Anti-Virus v18], are intentionally not checked by Kaspersky. Possibly the instructions of what to check and what not to check are contained in the signature updates of my ancient version of Kaspersky. Maybe certain files are flagged as "safe", to speed up scanning, or to skip doubtful stuff? When I checked kav18.0.0.405en_full.exe under WinXP with my not-yet-updated updated ancient version of Kaspersky, a similar huge amount of objects was reported as scanned, in contrast to the just 2 objects reported as scanned after updating the signatures. This is quite a strong indication that the signature updates contain a flag to the scan engine not to look into certain files. Comparing the number of objects scanned by my ancient un-updated version vs my ancient updated version could perhaps be a very easy method of identifying Russian spyware, on the assumption, right or wrong, that Kaspersky hides Russian spyware. The 2 screenshots below were deleted on 11Sep2024. The posting with the screenshots was archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20240911232807/https://msfn.org/board/topic/184730-antimalware-firewall-and-other-security-programs-for-windows-xp-working-in-2023-and-hopefully-beyond/page/69/ 4) My two cents: current Kaspersky 18 may perhaps contain or hide Russian spyware. Kaspersky may protect Russians from Western spyware, given the relation between Eugene Kaspersky and the former KGB. By analogy, Western antivirus software may possibly hide in a potentially analogous manner Western spyware and may possibly protect Westerners from Russian spyware. A tiny number of items scanned in a container, e.g. in an installer .exe etc, may or may not be a flag for a suspicious file scanned, or for a suspicious or poor virus-checker, or for both. It would be interesting to see which containers cannot be scanned by Western antivirus software. Maybe it would be worth while moving some archived stuff into a separate category, "Suspicious - no virus flagged, but cannot look into the .exe". I have seen a lot of such files, some may be innocuous, some maybe not. Using both Western AND non-Western antivirus software seems to be useful to keep the computer clean in an era of cyber conflict. Kaspersky Anti-Virus should remain accessible, being probably the best check against WESTERN spyware. Modern Windows may or may not contain, hide or facilitate Western spyware An old SSE-only computer may be much more resilient to infections by modern spyware, modern spyware may not install or run. The detection of a particular modern spyware, however, may be disabled also in SSE-only computers by special instructions contained in signature updates, which may apply equally to Western and non-Western antivirus software. My ancient version of Kaspersky definitely does not contain spyware and is still my preferred virus-checker, even if it may not detect all Russian spyware, if any, in my downloads. Kaspersky 18 may be useful for identifying Western spyware. But using Kaspersky 18 may be risky, except on a dedicated standalone computer. I have used a lot of "maybes", these were my two cents only

Thanks! I checked the link, RunAsDate "... doesn't change the current system date and time of your computer, but it only injects the date/time that you specify into the desired application." datechanger.exe, in contrast, changes the system clock date + time until the program is loaded/run (if I remember correctly), then immediately sets it back, also runs under Win98. Old and simple Trouble in Paradise, whose runtime could be set by datechanger, is maybe the only freeware with an expiration date. RunAsDate looks quite useful for more sophisticated software, e.g. for trial versions which have a built-in expiration date, so that you cannot first-install it past that date. Thanks again for hinting to more current software!

My archive may contain 7 different builds of this rare ancient version of Kaspersky, perhaps 5 of them for servers, perhaps 2 for WinXP. For 3 of these builds, FTP links to kaspersky.ru with pw may have been commonly known. One server build of this ancient version is still available at an abandoned site of a former distributor of Kaspersky, together with corrupted trash, and is at archive.org. The server version of my ancient Kaspersky unfortunately does not install under WinXP SP3 (tested), it requires at least Win2000 server.

DateChanger v1.0 (31Oct2000) was useful for using EOL software frequently, you could include it in a desktop shortcut. It was a freeware, also runs under WinXP. It seems to be a rare file now [filename: datechanger.exe, was available still in 2014, apparently not archived by archive.org] https://web.archive.org/web/20061112060512/http://www.sharewareplaza.com:80/Date-Changer-downloads_4351.html It was useful to frequently run the EOL freeware Iomega zip/jaz tester "Trouble in Paradise v2.1b", for testing the quality of zip and jaz disks, without having to set dates manually back and forth. Perhaps it's useful for EOL McAfee Stinger.

I have just started to read the 1st page of your StartUp Manager topic and have noticed that you had an issue with Glary Soft stuff. I remember that the early versions did not contain pw-protected stuff while the later versions did. My archive is at a different location, so I cannot let you know which version was the last version without pw-protected stuff. Kaspersky flags pw-protected files. The only software with pw-protected stuff in the installer which I trust is Beyond Compare, but even then I always check whether the same files as in preceding versions are pw-protected.

It depends on what you're downloading. The great majority is correctly flagged. I would guess your downloads are safer, with a ratio of perhaps 1 out of a 1000.

It's worth it to me. The initial virus-checking flags about 200 per 1000 (adware, malware, virus, pw-protected). Of these 200 flagged per 1000, about 50 are kept as interesting. A re-check of these 800/1000 "clean" files, with a new signature e.g. 3 years later, flags maybe 3 more files per 800. An up-to-date signature is not that essential, at least for my purposes, and a re-install and signature update is made about 3 times per year, together with new major partition backups.

Thanks!

The CIA deals with non-US persons... Chitchat makes technical postings more fun. Back to the topic: It would be interesting to know what antivirus software Chinese/Hongkongese are using.

So sorry, I thought VPN was related to security, to prevent being spied upon. I have another program, StartUp Organizer, running in the background. I like it, for information. A window pops up when a program tries to do something upon the next restart. Usually this occurs during installations, but sometimes also when a service setting is changed. Would it make sense to add another list, at the beginning of your topic, for security-related programs? Or could this bloat your topic in all directions?

I am not a Russian or associated, so this is of no concern to me. There is good Russian stuff and there is bad Russian stuff, it's your personal decision to choose between good and bad. For me, for example, the Russian https://www.yandex.com is the best search engine for software, even if it couldn't find an instance of my ancient version of Kaspersky.

Thanks!

I have updated online the signatures of my ancient version of Kaspersky on my Pentium 3 SSE-only laptop and about 30mins later updated online the same ancient version of Kaspersky on an i7 desktop under WinXP. Both computers were updated separately and sequentially from the same router/IP, no problems. With my ancient version of Kaspersky there is no issue updating several computers. You can save the signature updates in a distribution folder and update any number of computers from it. I have no idea whether this would indicate "no spyware". My installed version of Kaspersky is not activated, activation would set an expiration date. A nag window comes up at every program start asking to activate. Just select 'No" and start virus-checking. My ancient version can be updated only once, then the update button is greyed out. A re-install is required for a new signature update.

Good idea. I had tried NordVPN four years ago, but I couldn't get it going under WinXP. Can you recommend a VPN which works under WinXP? My ancient version of Kaspersky has proxy settings but I doubt that they would work with the requirements of the VPN provider. I couldn't get uTorrent v3.3.2.30488 (17Jan2014) under WinXP to work with NordVPN four years ago. Re "finger-printing": ebay and paypal are good guys, they send an email message to confirm new devices, like "Desktop Pale Moon Windows XP NT 5.1" or "Windows (Palemoon 28.0)" This shows that using WinXP with compatible browsers makes us white elephants, at least without VPN.

One man's opinion. I disagree, however. No non-Western antivirus suggested. Kaspersky seems to be the only good non-Western antivirus, although I haven't tried Dr.Web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr.Web Kaspersky could be installed on a dedicated virus-checking computer, always off-line except for getting updates. No risk and no WinXP requirement.

Thanks for the hint about https://www.quad9.net Seems to be a better DNS server (is located in Switzerland) than the one by OpenVPN (by Cisco) which I have been using. I have changed the DNS settings in both my router and under WinXP to quad9 for a while, can't hurt. Perhaps improvements in connections with embargoed countries, perhaps improvements in security.

"1979" was added by you. From the context it is clear that dmiranda did not refer to the Soviet invasion of 1979, but to the American invasion of 2001. Also, in 1979 there could not have been a project "Kaspersky" in the plans in Russia, whatever that means. 1979 was the year CP/M 2.2 came out for 8-bit computers, if I remember right, no 16-bit PCs, no MS-DOS, no viruses. "November [1983]: The term "virus" is re-coined by [the American] Frederick B. Cohen in describing self-replicating computer programs". Before 1983: invented by Americans and popularized in science fiction novels by American writers, but no Russian plans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_computer_viruses_and_worms

For example? Under WinXP? Would these threats run under WinXP or under SSE-only?

Have they detected anything? False positives?

The space used by my ancient version of Kaspersky, when updated with current signatures, jumps from about 100MB to 1.2GB, with 13,000 additional files. This is an issue because it would really bloat the size of my frequent partition backups, which I have kept since about 2008. My regular partition backups, to avoid bloated backups, contain only the small ancient version of Kaspersky with about 100MB. The signature updates are stored and archived separately in a "distribution folder". The distribution folder is a nice feature because it is possible to update different computers, e.g. from the initial Pentium to i7, offline from a single signature download. Whenever my ancient version is set to effective EOL [=cannot be updated from the server anymore], one can still make a fresh install on another computer and update from this distribution folder.

Yep. I agree, except for on-demand scanning of downloads from risky sources. I would even dare to say a majority of home users advanced enough to use WinXP in 2024 do not use malware protection components running in the background under WinXP.

When I read over my old postings of 2010 below, I remembered that Kaspersky used cloaked files, i.e. invisible files containing code. Perhaps the files your father could not find/remove were cloaked files. Perhaps the cloaked files feature was added to Windows for "special" purposes. "Unfortunately the license key file is a little hard to find. According to the Wikipedia "Kaspersky antivirus software also uses techniques resembling rootkits" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit and the license key file is actually inside of a "cloaked" folder, seemingly invisible. But under Win98, in contrast to WinXP, there is an excellent tool, MS Find: When entering in field Named: key and in field Look in: \windows\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\, the license key file is displayed and can be backed up. The license key file gets deleted by KAV 6 during the next startup of the opsys where KAV 6 was installed. If KAV 6 was installed under WinXP, the license key file can probably be backed up by booting after installation into another opsys, where it should be found in I:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\" from: https://msfn.org/board/topic/149134-kaspersky-anti-virus-60/ I have installed WinXP on a FAT32 partition, not on an NTFS partition, as a security precaution, so that Win98 can look into the WinXP partition.