AstroSkipper
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Everything posted by AstroSkipper
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Of course, Avast Antivirus 2015 is able to work offline, But that's not the point. It was never intended to work offline only. Apart from that, the number of signatures is not a measure of the quality of an antimalware programme. Who knows what Kaspersky classifies as malicious? And to be honest, it doesn't really matter. Because one can't trust a spyware programme anyway.
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Avast Antivirus 2015 has been definitely EOS for many years and EOL since November of 2023. Sorry for the bad news! Here are some official links: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=324295.0 https://blog.avast.com/virus-definition-updates-eol And here are my posts about EOL of Avast Antivirus 2015: https://msfn.org/board/topic/184730-antimalware-firewall-and-other-security-programs-for-windows-xp-working-in-2023-and-hopefully-beyond/?do=findComment&comment=1252230 https://msfn.org/board/topic/184730-antimalware-firewall-and-other-security-programs-for-windows-xp-working-in-2023-and-hopefully-beyond/?do=findComment&comment=1256268
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@Multibooter And if eScanAV 22.x does not run with your SSE only CPU, you can try the previous version eScanAV 14.x which is still available on their homepage. But one thing is clear. The air for systems with an SSE only CPU is now very thin, especially when it comes to antimalware programmes that still receive the latest virus definitions.
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As I already stated, Avast Antivirus 2015 is actually not an offline programme. And there are no more new definition updates since November of 2023. For example, eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV) still receive current definition updates. Did you try it on your SSE only computer? In the case of eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV), the definition updates can even be downloaded for offline use on a weekly base.
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Yep! I had a lot of trouble with Avast. And it is much too bloated. On the other hand, its detection rate is quite good. BTW, one can clearly see that the internet is quite forgetful, as in the case of avast! Premier 2015 10.4.2233. It is therefore always a good idea to establish an own download archive as, e.g, I have been doing this from the very first.
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@Multibooter Avast Antivirus is not a pure offline scanner. You should use a real offline scanner as, for example, eScanAV Anti-Virus Toolkit (MWAV) if it works on systems with an SSE only CPU.
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The BSI's job is not to recommend antivirus programmes , but to warn of security risks and dangers , as in the Kaspersky case. So, I can only say:
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Thank you for your test results and for trying to shed some more light on the Kaspersky issue! TBH, your test observations are not really surprising. I have to totally agree to a part of your statements as Kaspersky of course contains and hides Russian spyware which I already wrote many months ago. And that's why the BSE in Germany recommended to remove existing Kaspersky installations and to avoid this software years ago. However, I cannot agree at all with some of your other statements or assessments. The categorisation of Western and non-Western antivirus software is simply inadequate and does not accurately reflect reality. The terms Western and Eastern need to be considered in a more differentiated way. Lumping American and European software together is completely wrong, just like Russian and Japanese software. As I have already made clear in several posts, there are clear laws regarding data protection and security in the EU, for example, and especially in Germany. And this is also monitored. However, due to the NSA's thirst for knowledge and influence, I also have considerable reservations about American security software. Besides Russian "security" software the same applies to Chinese ones. In dictatorships and other non-democratically run countries, there is no data protection and security. If a German or other core European manufacturer were to incorporate spyware into a security programme, it would be the downfall of this company, as this would violate both European and national laws. And one thing is clear. This would come to light quite quickly and would have bitter consequences.
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My Browser Builds (Part 5)
AstroSkipper replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
When I said "same modules from one production series", I actually meant modules manufactured directly one after the other with consecutive serial numbers. That is best. -
My Browser Builds (Part 5)
AstroSkipper replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
I have had very good experiences with used RAM modules so far. They generally have a very long service life and very often survive mainboards, at least that was the case for me. I've had all kinds of hardware die, but never a RAM module including the ones I bought used. -
You're welcome! NirSoft tools are great. I use many of them for many, many years. Most of these tools are still XP-compatible and even get updates from time to time.
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Of course, it does. However, it's probably better to ignore such unqualified comments about the age of hardware. But I'm not that kind of person.
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I always use RunAsDate from NirSoft for this purpose.
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Thanks for your confirmation! I also thought that a time bomb had been implemented in the executable. McAfee probably wanted to prevent users from using outdated versions of Stinger. But I wanted a confirmation from others to be sure it's not related to my system only.
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Thanks for testing! However, it is quite unusual that the virus definitions of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.8 with such an old scan engine can still be updated in these days. BTW, for updating the scan engine to version 5900, you can try to use this which I found by accident: https://download.nai.com/products/licensed/engine/intel/5900/ I don't know whether this scan engine update is the right one for your installation, though. Thanks! It worked well!
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My Browser Builds (Part 5)
AstroSkipper replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
Mixing RAM modules from different manufacturers with different timings is always problematic. More like a game of chance. It is best to replace them all with same modules from one production series. That's what I did with my lady's Fujitsu notebook, built in 2010. I bought the modules second-hand a few years ago as new ones were no longer available. I completely replaced two 1 GB modules with two 4 GB ones. It worked perfectly and still works in these days. -
McAfee Stinger seems to have abandoned Windows XP in 2021. For testing purpose, I tried to open several stinger32.exe files from 2021 which are supposed to be still XP-compatible but I am always getting the following messsge: "McAfee Stinger executable has been modified and may be infected". Can anyone confirm this?
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Thanks for your interest! In the end, I couldn't figure out why the described issue occurred in one Windows XP partition but not in the other. One of the rare issues that I couldn't fix. The good thing is that I am now using a much better startup manager. So, thanks to Glarysoft for this issue!
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Of course! I am definitely not interested in collecting malicious files. I don't put that kind of filth on my disc. Thanks to good real-time protection and my online behaviour!
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You might want to think about your download behaviour. And about your choice of favourite search engine. Yandex is a very bad choice but a good one to get crap. 200 out of 1000 files flagged that's a quota of 20%. Far too much! All what I can say is .
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I already created a separate thread with the title Startup Managers under Windows XP which can be found here: https://msfn.org/board/topic/184648-startup-managers-under-windows-xp/ StartUp Organizer from MetaProducts is a commercial programme, though. Most users are not willing to buy a licence for those tools. And TBH, there are enough tools free of charge. But nevertheless, such programmes can increase system security, however, only if security features have been implemented in.
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Are you really serious? A new installation after every update? And all this effort for an ancient programme with a totally outdated AV engine? I'm losing faith.
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VPN has been discussed in different threads on MSFN but is not really a security programme and therefore rather off-topic here. Proxy settings are not necessary for using VPN, especially if you are connected directly to the internet. So what do you want to achieve with the proxy settings of a programme when it comes to VPN? And what does that have to do with this thread?
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I never had any problems when updating virus definitions via VPN.
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In the EU, there are clear laws regarding data protection and security. And this is also monitored. In dictatorships and other non-democratically run countries, there is no data protection and security. Software, especially antimalware programmes, from such countries cannot provide security for the user. They only protect their own interests.