Jump to content

[deXter]

Member
  • Posts

    308
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Donations

    0.00 USD 
  • Country

    India

About [deXter]

  • Birthday 03/09/1986

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://

Profile Information

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64

Recent Profile Visitors

1,675 profile views

[deXter]'s Achievements

0

Reputation

  1. Same here - I still don't use any antivirus, but would recommend Windows Defender for normal home users - it does a fairly decent job and rates favorably on av-comparatives tests. For power/heavy users however, I still recommend ESET's NOD32 due to it's scanning speed, detection rates and low resource impact. If you've got say millions of files you want to scan then stay away from Windows Defender / System Center Endpoint Protection. At work, we have a file server with 1.2 billion files and Windows Defender (SCEP) would take over 10 days to do a full scan - it seems that it doesn't store hashes of scanned files, so when you do a scheduled scan, it still scans files that haven't been touched in years, which is very inefficient. Plus it takes ages to scan archives. I could write an entire essay on how Defender/SCEP is horrible choice for a large organisation, but that's for a separate post.... +1 for Defender + MalwareBytes - great combo! However I wouldn't recommend or trust Comodo any longer, after their systems were breached and their SSL certs were compromised... See: https://bravatek.com/comodo-certificate-hack-it-gets-worse/ --- On an unrelated note, I'm surprised this topic is still active and not locked down. This is my first post here after 6 years, lol.
  2. for me not. Ms removed all important options and over simplified it so much, that the program is useless. MSE is so terrible slow and slowdown Windows too much. So, what *do* you recommend?
  3. Deep Freeze isn't indestructible. There are a few known hacks for it that still work, and I know for a fact that the author of one of the hacks still works on it and releases new versions regularly. But even if your copy of Deep Freeze remains unhacked, the problem remains that it won't stop a virus from running on your PC and spreading to other media, like USB drives or the network. Of course, when you reboot everything is back to its defaults on *your* PC, but in that session the virus could create havoc - harvest email address and mail itself to your contacts, or in a worst case scenario - log whatever you're doing and silently report it back to its creator (thus capturing your credit card numbers, bank account details, passwords etc). Then there are browser based attacks like XSS, that don't even bother infecting your PC - they would just run in your browser and you would never realize it. The browser itself might have vulnerabilities that might allow thirdparties to access your files. And don't forget Flash - probably one of the most vulnerable piece of software in your PC. Thus your PC can never be indestructible - and let's not forget two main reasons - 1) You're running Windows. 2) You're human, afterall.
  4. Avira is a good choice - it's one of the top AVs out there, regardless of being free. Take a look at the reports on av-comparatives.com for detailed info. I personally install Avira on every malware-infected PC I fix (must have installed in ~50 PCs so far) and have got good results overall.
  5. Not entirely true, there's ISO Master http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/File-managers/ISO-Master-16676.shtml Ok, so its for Linux but you could simply run a Linux distro under VirtualBox and you'd still get a free, legit solution to the ISO editing problem. Besides, Linux has quite a few handy stuff too other than ISO Master.
  6. Have you tried TeraCopy 2.2b2? http://blog.codesector.com/2010/09/14/teracopy-2-2-beta-2/ Also, I would recommend a creating a system restore point first, incase you face the same issue again. Btw, you do realise that this is a three year old thread right? o.o
  7. You can get a virus even if you don't visit "social networking" websites or download seedy stuff - for example, due to vulnerabilities in the OS (case in point: the Blaster Worm). And with Windows, you can bet there are always a couple of good undiscovered exploits.. Anyways, Microsoft has finally come out with a decent FREE AntiVirus, that's even better than AVG (according to some test sites). I've used it personally and it managed to find and remove all the malware I could throw at it. (Not that it means anything, except that it works!). Of course, it's still no Kaspersky or NOD32 but hey it works and is a pretty decent and viable option for those who don't want to pay. Pair it up with a decent freeware firewall, make sure your OS is patched regularly, practice safe computing habits and one should be decently protected against such threats.
  8. That's not true. Considering that a majority of people will go for the freeware versions of firewalls, both Outpost and Comodo are better than OA. Outpost is better than Comodo because there's no garbage in the install, no toolbars in their installer. I'm at the point where I'd pick Outpost over Comodo due to the issues that Comodo has been trying to downplay. Issuing security certificates to malicious websites for one. Another is the constant toolbars in their Firewall installer. Softpedia has removed Comodo completely due to legal threats by Comodo because Softpedia called Comodo's products adware. Their 100% Clean award means you should be able to click through an install without worry of toolbars, malware or any other garbage. That still doesn't change the fact that Comodo can protect against more threats than Outpost. Source?
  9. I'm sorry, but Outpost isn't as good as Online Armor or Comodo. http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive...nge/results.php -- I guess the problem with NOD32 is that they're very selective about adding new malware signatures to their database, because for them performance comes first - they tend to ignore the rarer ones and prefer ones that could be tweaked into the heuristics. As a result, some malware does slip by and this is what causes some people to believe that NOD32 isn't good. But it's good because the signature updates aren't bloated (like McAfee), the performance isn't degraded with each update and more importantly, it means lesser false-positives (unlike Avira). Another issue with NOD32 is that it's not that great at cleaning an already infected system/files. So if you have some infected documents, chances are NOD32 will either delete them altogether or not do a very good job at it. (Kaspersky and McAfee are quite good at disinfection). NOD32 especially has trouble with some variants of Vundo and similar malware - of course, there are other tools/methods to fix Vundo and such, but that's another reason why some people dislike NOD32.
  10. ^ Well put, Fredledingue. About this part: "Typing quickely and without mistake the full path of a file located in "My Document" Firstly, I personally keep my "My Documents" in a seperate partition and its path is F:\Docs (And I believe keeping personal data on C: isn't such a good idea anyways. ) Second, almost all the places where one would need to type the path has autocomplete, so there's hardly any need to type out the complete path. Third, there's always the %HOMEDIR% variable which redirects to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\. If one has to type in %HOMEDIR% a lot, you could always shorten it, for eg, to %H%. Similarly, other variables like %APPDATA% too simplifies life in XP.
  11. ^ If you're a programmer and would like to have direct access to I/O ports (no need to write a driver or GUI app), check out IO.DLL or TVicPort.
  12. ^ Not entirely correct. Windows XP, by default, can't be installed on PCs less than 32 MB RAM (though it can be overcome using nLite), on the other hand, it *cannot* be installed on a 486 or below. Many apps have specific hardware requirements, for example, most modern games won't run *at all* if a necessary feature isn't found in the graphics card.
  13. ^ Minimum requirements mean the minimum requirements needed to *run* the app, never mind if it runs like crap. Which is why there are various performance settings in the GUI so that you can speed it up if it's running like crap. Having shadows under the menus and a large blue-green skinned taskbar, imho, isn't important for either performance or productivity.
  14. ^ Yes. Although RAR/7z is a better option if you're using NTFS, since RAR can store file permissions and ADS (alternate data streams). You just need to know how to set the permissions. Google for cacls and setacl. In most cases, safe mode almost always works, and you can do a restore from the safe mode. If you can't get to the safe mode, then a few basic commands typed in the recovery console (like fixboot, fixmbr etc) can get the system up and running atleast till you reach the safe mode. If the system still isn't booting up (because of files that are missing/corrupted), a simple and quick repair install will fix the problem. Yes, there is a "low-level DOS" (technically, console mode). It's called WinPE and is present in form of the recovery console present on the XP Setup disk. You can either boot off the CD, or install the recovery console to the HDD. Once there, you can do all sorts of modifications/restorations. But you don't even need to do all that. You can use the native mode (remember the blue screen when chkdsk runs?) to do modification of system files. Just edit the PendingFileRenameOperations key. XP's minimum requirement is a 233 MHz processor. Although this is much higher than 98's (66 Mhz), it can in no way be considered as the "latest powerful hardware". Regarding Vista, 1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM is once again not considerd "latest". (The 1GHz barrier was broken atleast 7 years ago.) Now I haven't run XP on a 233 Mhz system, but I am at present typing this on a 10 year old AMD K6-2 PC, running fine with XP installed (tweaked fully, of course). About electricity consumption, Windows XP has better power management features. One example is that when the PC is idle, XP issues HLT instructions to the CPU. This puts CPU in a suspended mode, thus reducing heat generation and power consumption. Windows 98 doesn't have this feature, thus needing third-party programs like RAIN or CPUIdle, which do not always work that well. Also, your statement "computers can't be turned on or off easily" is a bit debatable - with XP's Hibernate feature, (and Vista's Sleep), one can startup/shutdown in less than 30 secs. XP/Vista take full advantage of the ACPI features of a modern PC. 98 on the other hand, doesn't even enable ACPI by default, and from personal experience, its ACPI support is buggy (eg: Shutting down windows doesn't always turn off the PC). With XP/Vista, it has never been more convenient to quickly turn the PC on/off. Finally, about power consumption, a standard XP system uses about 38Watts in idle state and 58W during regular usage (nowhere close to the 200W you assumed!). So yes, the consumption on a standard XP system is more compared to a 98 system, but that's because of all the extra services and the new GUI processes that are running in the background. Turn of the unnecessary services (there are many!) and configure the system to run in Best Performance mode (no visual effects), and the power consumption will drop like a ton. I'm not sure what hardware you're using, but my PIII system (450 MHz | 40GB Seagate | nVidia Riva TNT) has been constantly up since 1999, without any extra fans. I upgraded to XP in 2002 and since then I've almost never shut the PC down, except for maintanance/cleaning. I got the AMD K6-2 recently, but it's been running fine too without any extra fans. The 20 GB Seagate im using on the AMD is much older, but it too has been running nearly 24x7 and running fine too. (touchwood). Just FYI, I'm not in an air conditioned room, and the room temp here is almost always 30c (give or take a few degrees). XP SP3 isn't a rumor, its real. Not only that, they say its actually 10% faster than SP2! Btw, regarding your #SharedObjects concern (commonly called Flash Cookies), the best option is to go to the Global Storage Settings panel and disable the option “Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer”. You can also review and delete the cookies from the settings panel.
  15. One more reason you could add to the list is incompatibility. Some old mobos have this weird version of ACPI in the BIOS that causes BSODs in 2000+ OSes, as they don't allow the BIOS to access the hardware in that manner. I have one such mobo, and the only fix for it to work without crashing in XP is a costly $60 bios upgrade from eSupport. And there's no guarentee whether that upgrade has a fix for the ACPI issue. 9x on the other hand, works perfectly on this mobo.
×
×
  • Create New...