Antimalware, firewall, and other security programs for Windows XP working in 2023 and hopefully beyond

[Vistapocalypse]

Subject: Panda Free Antivirus 

Here’s a fair review:

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/panda-free-antivirus

Edited June 27, 2023 by Vistapocalypse

[Milkinis]

proof...prooof...proooooooooof... bal bla bla... 

I don't actually use any real-time anti virus as it stays in sleep mode all day long.

and I know for a fact AVAST has always been my strongest lifeguard everytime I ve gotten infected (because I want to)

I have no need of the extra crap bundled with Panda or whatever other AV

if the visual style is nice and intuitive, if it's fast enough and trully efficient it's all good for me.

I don't need Laura or whoever sponsored guru to tell me which AV works best for me LMAO 

end of story.

 

 

[Cocodile]

4 hours ago, Vistapocalypse said:

Or maybe this ZDNET link (heaven forbid any of you nuts would simply assume I have no ulterior motives):

https://www.zdnet.com/article/panda-antivirus-mistakenly-flags-itself-as-malware-breaks-pcs/

Thank you for your interest! Unfortunately the article you provided is not officially Fact-checked, therefore can't be considered seriously when choosing such an important piece of software! These days we all need only Fact-checked information, and I provided with such. Moreover, the one you gave had been written in 2005, so it's simply not relevant anymore...

Addon: If we talk about software which is currently supported and constantly updated, we would be interested to read articles at least from this year. Thank you!

Edited June 27, 2023 by Cocodile

[Vistapocalypse]

1 hour ago, Cocodile said:

...Unfortunately the article you provided is not officially Fact-checked, therefore can't be considered seriously when choosing such an important piece of software! ....Moreover, the one you gave had been written in 2005, so it's simply not relevant anymore...

I probably shouldn’t reply to someone who is only arguing for the sake of argument, but you will no doubt be pleased to know that you are getting on my nerves. The article was written March 12, 2015 because the debacle I mentioned on the previous page occurred on March 11, 2015. I provided further links (including one from BBC News) only because you insinuated that I might be a liar:

3 hours ago, Cocodile said:

...it can be seen very bad, even may look like a pre-paid counter review done by dishonest competitors [someone who works for Kaspersky, for example...

The event was sufficiently “relevant” for me personally (I had to reinstall Windows) that I would never consider installing Panda again! If Panda was the last antivirus to support my OS, then I would get another OS! Granted, that was quite some time ago now, but old grudges die hard. I once asked AstroSkipper how long it had been since he used Norton, and he only offered some vague assurance that it had been within the last 20 years - but he gave me the “fire hose” treatment for mentioning that a “Maintenance Mode” version of Norton might still be an option for Windows XP.

In a nutshell, my disappointment with this thread is that it elevates crappy security software while denigrating more effective options. My usual recommendation has been Avast, although I suspect that Kaspersky might actually be better, and perhaps Norton (but I never once paid for an antivirus in the last 15 years, so Norton wasn’t for me). If everyone would upgrade their Windows like the U.S. government advises, the we could simply rely on Microsoft’s protection, which has actually been very good since Windows 10 came out in 2015.

[jaclaz]

6 hours ago, Cocodile said:

These days we all need only Fact-checked information, and I provided with such.

Well, you provided a link to a page on which there is a "fact-checked" stamp, an "official fact checked" certification doesn't exist (AFAIK) anywhere, very likely the good people @ cybernews.com are honest and accurate,  but it is not like that green checkmark has any actual meaning, the Authors and the Fact Checkers on that site are interchangeable[1], even if there is no such a stamp on zdnet or (say) BBC that doesn't mean that the info in them is automatically worse or less accurate.

Only for the record, cybernews.com is actually a rather mysterious site, it came out of nowhere only a few years ago, it is based in Lithuania, they have rapidly gained international popularity (and increased income):

https://rekvizitai.vz.lt/en/company/adtech_lt/

but besides the generic/boilerplate "How good we are" it seems like a normal (BTW successful) news site, ads and/or links sponsored.

The same company has also https://healthnews.com/ and https://cooltechzone.com/  this latter seemingly dedicated to VPN's.(which are also often the theme of articles on cybernews.com).

jaclaz

[1] i.e. the same person once is the Author and on another article he/she is stated a the fact-checker and viceversa

[AstroSkipper]

To all readers of my thread!

To avoid the impression that this is a Kaspersky thread , I would like to say a few words about this matter, although I find this topic tiring and sufficiently discussed by now without having received any new information about this abandoned, last version Kaspersky Free Antivirus from 2018 targeting Windows XP. All about Kaspersky has already been discussed in the old thread "Which Antiviruses are Known for a Fact to be Working on XP SP3 as of 2019?", where I was even courteous enough to provide a very rare installer for Kaspersky Free Antivirus 2019, which I had previously cleaned and thus decontaminated, but no longer works under Windows XP, as it turned out. Anyway! Here we go!

MSFN is of course internationally frequented, but it is a forum that is localised in France and therefore in Europe. France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania and many other European countries warn against the use of Kaspersky due to significant security concerns. Even more harshly, the USA classifies the products of Kaspersky, considers them dangerous and blacklists Kaspersky antivirus as a risk to national security. The related facts, announcements and links can be found very easily on the internet. But they are known to everyone after such a long time anyway. And for such a software product, I will not make any further effort and waste my time. In any case, all this cannot and must not be ignored by an open mind.

Just for clarification, I have created an internal list of security programmes, which now contains over 70 programmes. These will be presented here one by one whenever I have time to research, check and write. As always, real life comes first. Kaspersky was originally also on this internal list because I want to present all options for Windows XP. But I changed my mind about Kaspersky and removed it from my internal list. And not to get confused in this thread, here is my original post with the title "Subject: Kaspersky" once again:

On 6/24/2023 at 12:46 PM, AstroSkipper said:

Subject: Kaspersky

In Germany, the "Bundesamt für Sicherheit und Information (BSI)", in English the "Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)", had already warned against the use of anti-virus software from the Russian manufacturer Kaspersky on 15 March 2022: https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Unternehmen-und-Organisationen/Cyber-Sicherheitslage/Technische-Sicherheitshinweise-und-Warnungen/Warnungen-nach-Par-7/Archiv/FAQ-Kaspersky/faq_node.html (German website, use an online translator!). I already reported the warning from BSI months ago in the old antivirus thread. In the meanwhile, I have changed my mind and now share the official concerns about Kaspersky. Thus, I have removed Kaspersky Antivirus from my internal list and will not write an article about this programme anymore. In these times, one cannot seriously entrust the security of one's computer to such a programme due to its origin.   A more in-depth consideration at this point cannot be carried out due to our forum rules. 

Kind regards, AstroSkipper 

So, Kaspersky is history for me, and I no longer consider it an option for Windows XP. I am the creator of this thread here. I will form and fill it with contents as I see fit and can justify to myself.  Anyone, who doesn't like that, can always create their own thread and post there whatever they have to say.

Greetings from Europe, Germany, AstoSkipper

Edited June 27, 2023 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[Vistapocalypse]

1 hour ago, AstroSkipper said:

To avoid the impression that this is a Kaspersky thread

My impression is of course quite the contrary, but thank you for honestly discussing your political viewpoint.

[Milkinis]

5 hours ago, jaclaz said:

Well, you provided a link to a page on which there is a "fact-checked" stamp, an "official fact checked" certification doesn't exist (AFAIK) anywhere,

I can't believe in 2023 some people still have faith in those fake certificate stamps 

[Cocodile]

4 hours ago, Vistapocalypse said:

My impression is of course quite the contrary, but thank you for honestly discussing your political viewpoint.

He no longer considers it due to the scientific fact CVE-2019-8286, I wrote about before, clearly explained, well documented and published on the US.gov webiste, perhaps you missed it? See below,   and this has nothing to do with politics, please don't bring politics into here!

Kaspersky injects malicious java code in ones browser!

"...disclose unique Product ID by forcing victim to visit a specially crafted webpage..." More:

https://msfn.org/board/topic/184730-antimalware-firewall-and-other-security-programs-for-windows-xp-working-in-2023-and-hopefully-beyond/?do=findComment&comment=1247547

[Milkinis]

8 minutes ago, Cocodile said:

Kaspersky injects malicious java code in ones browser!

Dr. Web is also a russian made browser. 

https://news.drweb.com/show/?i=14712&lng=en

[AstroSkipper]

Here is a review of Panda Free Antivirus from November 2022, so still quite up-to-date, but in any case better than any experiences from 2015:
https://www.lifewire.com/panda-free-antivirus-review-1356582

Cheers, AstroSkipper 

Edited June 27, 2023 by AstroSkipper

[jaclaz]

Interesting vulnerability. (CVE-2019-8286).

No idea if it injects "malicious java code", but the specific vulnerability is essentially:

"IF the user accesses (possibly through a phishing link) a specially crafted website, it is possible to retrieve the Kaspersky Product ID"

CVSS v3.0 score of 4.3 is  actually a medium value (on the low side):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Vulnerability_Scoring_System

Quote

Textual severity ratings of None (0), Low (0.1-3.9), Medium (4.0-6.9), High (7.0-8.9), and Critical (9.0-10.0)

really nothing to worry about, I would expect the reasons why the product was banned by US, Germany and more[1] to be much more serious than hypothetically revealing a product ID (and thus - still in theory - allowing some sort of de-anonimization).

jaclaz

[1] BTW there are different levels of these, some countries have "only" banned its use on government computers, some have also issued warnings about it to private companies and citizens.

[Milkinis]

som

7 minutes ago, jaclaz said:

some countries have "only" banned its use on government computers, some have also issued warnings about it to private companies and citizens.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/tiktok-bans-explained-everything-you-need-to-know/

[Cocodile]

On 6/24/2023 at 5:06 PM, jaclaz said:

so I'll declare this thread an SEP and move somewhere else.

jaclaz, do you mind to tell, why a sudden change of hearts? 

It is not a provocation, nor an accusation, nor anything else, I simply want to know why jaclaz changed his mind, all of a sudden. The political/religious debate (Rule #2.b) is prohibited, but there is an exception carved out explicitly for technology topics, and a simple statement, from jaclaz would be more than enough.

No problem however, I can cope with this, if my question remains unanswered.

 

[Vistapocalypse]

39 minutes ago, AstroSkipper said:

Here is a review of Panda Free Antivirus...

But you prefer to use a 5-year-old version Malwarebytes Premium yourself, which is probably a wise decision! Panda is certainly an option, just not a very good option!

1 hour ago, Cocodile said:

He no longer considers it due to [something] I wrote about before.

One thing we know about AstroSkipper is that he doesn’t like it when people try to put words in his mouth.  I for one certainly took his geopolitical explanation at face value!