Kaspersky Security Cloud Free AntiVirus - Still Using

In my opinion, damn near all traditional anti-virus software is over bloated nonsense.

Looking for good free antivirus

Is it safe accessing bank websites without any protection?

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Russia's Besieged Kaspersky Lab Says It's Found an NSA Spy Tool

How Kaspersky’s Software Fell Under Suspicion of Spying on America - WSJ

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...e5d_story.html


TL;DR

Russian and Chinese (possibly others) products can be used to facilitate intelligence collection. It can be software, it can be hardware...

All anti-virus software should use a crypto miner....Here’s the truth about the crypto miner that comes with Norton Antivirus - The Verge That's what anti-virus software is for, right? roll-my-freaking-eyes.

Congrats on the first post, Agent triple 6.

I have read that due to allegations of datamining Kaspersky, while still headquartered in Russia, has moved its servers and operations to Switzerland, where it operates under Swiss laws regarding security and privacy. (I do not wish to bring politics to these forums, but if you are in Russia and speak out openly against the war you can find yourself in an uncomfortable situation.)

I've used Kaspersky since they first released the free version. It has consistently scored at or near the top in detection and removal, and is very light on resources. Unfortunately it is becoming as bloated as the rest and quite draconian with popups for verifications and "log in to your account". But I've yet to find a decent replacement (all either too bloated, too resource hungry, too intrusive, or not impressive with detection/removal).

Yeah, it's like I pointed out in your other thread on how to do things absent of some "feel good" over blotted anti-virus software. You're pretty much forced to do what I do: run your browser/s in Sandboxie (you need to read about Sandboxie) and scan ALL, and I mean ALL downloads at VirusTotal. The general consensus is four hits and you toss, but it largely depends on what you have there. A game cheat/hack for example? That'll get pegged on the radar due to its process injection and other cheating mechanisms. On the other hand, that game hack could be infected by the Dev. You never know. You literally need to see the source code. Anyway, VirusTotal has a Relations page and a Behaviors page and there's a drop down for the sandboxes that were used for testing the file and in the Relations page any IP to domain grabs from the file that gets executed. I feel like a broken record on all this. I have yet to do a write up on my methods at my own website. It's just that a lot of this anti-virus software is absolute crap, and there are many YouTubers who are in the know talk about it. So at least I'm not the only one with this opinion. I may be going overboard with how I do things though, but I try to mitigate a tea bagging or pwn as best as I can...

Due note that once you upload any file to VirusTotal it's now in their possession. It states that in their ToS. I wanted to know who was looking at the files so I uploaded a perfectly harmless canary token. A canary toke, once executed just reports back the IP address and possible OS and browser used. Well, after I uploaded that canary token it wasn't long until I got IP hits from those that opened the file. A good 80% of the IP hits were from China and the rest from Russia. I kid you not. These are more than likely "research" companies or anti-virus companies, but there you go.. Doesn't mean VirusTotal is useless though. Just watch what file you're uploading. Don't scan sensitive PDFs or what ever is what I'm saying. Use ClamWin for that. ClamWin is however a MASSIVE bear for whole hard drive scanning. I tried it. LOL But it's great for individual files or folder scans. But again, this is just a traditional anti-virus, definition based scanner. so YMMV. If the malware is government sponsored malware or is extraordinary well written, good luck... Read about Blue Pill for example. For the extra paranoid there's always the Qubes OS. But it's very hardware dependent and I'd call it a major nerd esoteric thing. One of the Devs of Qubes is the same person that came up with Blue Pill. Joanna something or other.

You can use the program HashTools. Right click the file, chose hash with HashTools, chose SHA256 (this is what VirusTotal uses) and then right click that long string there (the hash) and chose the VirusTotal option. Your default browser will open (I asked this to be changed) and show you the VirusTotal result IF that file was already uploaded. If not you'll have to upload it. This would be true for very exotic files. Like files you created yourself. Stuff that's already in the wild and available of the Internet has more than likely already been scanned. And not just once but several times over again where you can see how in one time period this anti-virus engine flagged it, while at another time it didn't, etc. And that's where VirusTotal is more or less a second opinion scanner, but for me personally, it's my go-to for ALL files, and I chose if I need to nuke the file.

Anyway, if you haven't already, read the Wikipedia entry on VirusTotal. I submitted Info. to that page... So far no one has removed it. LOL! Well, there's really no reason to other than to be a prick.. and I've had that battle before at Wikipedia. VirusTotal - Wikipedia Yeah, it needs cleaning up, but I'm not in the mood. I hope someone else does.

In addition to using Sandboxie and VirusTotal, you'll want to use uBlock Origin in your browser if capable. There's a whole mass of reading on that as well, let me tell you. But anyone can use it straight away. It's just that if you want to take advantage of all of what uBlocks offers you'll need to read about it. uBlock origin for me is not so much about getting rid of Ads. It's more about mitigating malvertising via a possible infected Ad. And I like the malware domain list among some other features. For example, I can block a website from probing my Comp. via websockets. eBay does this, maybe others.

Lol, I've used Virustotal since the days a 4meg file was the largest they would accept. The curious thing is when my AV, whichever I'm using at the time, will flag something as suspicious so up to Virustotal it goes ...where the same AV says it is clean.

Have read about sandboxie but not yet tried it. Ublock, ghostery, and NoScript have long been staples in my browsers, along with DuckDuckGo and, more recently, a VPN. Tried Brave browser, great in theory but too draconian in practice; it will block websites, downloads, etc., and you have no option to override its decisions short of command line switches (which it then constantly complains about); so by the time you have regained control you've disabled enough "security" that you might as well return to Firefox, where you have control by default and it is much less of a resource hog.

A major benefit of Wiki, that it is a "public encyclopedia", is also a major drawback - anyone can create an account and then edit any article. Apparently administration only gets involved when there is major contention over people editing each others' entries. I've had completely factual, and easily verifiable, additions deleted within a week. Why? Who knows. Screw it, lol.

There's a lot I can talk about here, but I'll try to be concise if possible. As Willy Wonka once said, "strike that, reverse it."

The clairvoyance in me (call it ESP, or some crap) doesn't fully trust DuckDuckGo. Heck! Even as a kid playing Duck Duck Go with my peers I would make my smiling butt around the circle of "ducks" like a freaking cult and tap each cultist on their lice infected head: "duck, duck, duck, duck, GO!" It was then I ran and ran and ran...right back into the classroom to play with the puppets... LOL

DuckDuckGo's new TV Ad is cute... I think its their first. Here's the Dev. User yegg - Information Security Stack Exchange Interesting Stats, no? I mean, just one answer? Hmmm The family of "Stack" pisses me off anyway. LOL It's like the Reddit of Q&A mixed in with a Wikipediaesque atmosphere. I've had perfectly great questions thumbed down! Da faq?! Why allow a freaking question to be thumbed down?! Who allowed that code/feature? Answer: Millennial BS! Just like a lot of the "Millennial" code creep out there... Trying to find an option on some platform or what ever? It's four clicks or taps this way via the hamburger dropdown and their collapsible options this way. Meanwhile your four Sundays deep sideways in sht requiring an Aspirin. Mind you there's already wasted screen real estate to begin with. Ugh!

I like to use a multitude of search engines. Google, Swisscows, Startpage and SearX. Do check out SearX. You can even roll your own server. Just like with the password manager Bitwarden.

Don't ever trust a VPN. Each VPN has its own use case. No two are alike. There are big companies that own many VPNs and marketed each differently. So this or that VPN is probably owned by the same company that runs some other VPN. Today it's been part of a massive marketing campaign. Not only that, but if you're trying to stay "hidden" chances are you're not doing a good job of it, and/or just putting a big bullseye on your back. I wouldn't even trust ProtonVPN or any of its products. Though, I use them, but I know the limitations and what to expect. The key thing here is metadata. Even if you use a VPN there are TONS of metadata that leak your true identity beyond what anyone can even imagine. WebRTC, WebGL, HTML canvas fingerprinting, you name it. All encompass metadata. And that's just layer 7 of the OSI! The only way to help stay private is to blend in... and use little red herrings and what not. But this is the stuff of people on the government payroll for intelligence collection duties and what not. I'm using a VPN now, but I know its limitations, and I use it for reasons...


I used to swear by NoScript back in the day. Even donated towards the project. I considered it an awesome gate before the anti-virus when I ran anti-virus software, but not so anymore with my use of Sandboxie and other things. It's great to prevent a cross site browser take over and what not, but it can be very cumbersome and over the years I just found it to be just that even allowing base 2nd level domains by default. The other thing here about NoScript and other Webextension based add-ons is that ABE (Application Boundaries Enforcer) that was part of NoScript and was super awesome is no more due to asinine Webextension code for Firefox, Chrome, and damn near every other browser based upon Chromium. Webextension code is a massive security/privacy issue in of its self! Like I said, I'll be concise...


Brave... HAHA That browser is run by morons if you ask me. They stripped the ability to turn off updates FFS. At their little help/comments webpage, a Brave Dev has so much has said you NEED updates this and that and too bad if you want to control something on your computer. I guess fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me... Yes, updates are needed as it pertains to CVE patching and browser hardening and what not, but try forcing updates in a corporate environment... I can't even imagine if my server SAPI or OS forced updates behind my back.. LOL Stupid "Brave" asses, the lot of them, and by that I also mean Firefox et al. Though, I can at least turn off Firefox updates via the registry. Which is stupid from the jump to have to do that. Used to be via the damn browser its self. Don't get me wrong, Brave is installed on my computer, so is Firefox, Pale Moon, several portable browsers of Pale Moon, Firefox and Chrome, and I use something called Ungoogled Chromium. All have specific purposes. One thing great about Brave is the ability to use the IPFS protocol. At this time, Brave is just but one of a few browsers with that capability.

Wikipedia certainly can't be trusted. When I read things there I check the references to see what they're citing. I have downloaded all of Wikipedia to M-DISC using Wikitaxi. I plan on running some code on my download of Wikipedia to see who ranks where for most used reference sources, most used domains, and their political leanings and what not. Think of it as a dichotomy of the used references in Wikipedia entire.

I've had completely factual, and easily verifiable, additions deleted within a week. Why? Who knows. Screw it, lol.

You know what they say, you're entitled to your options, not the facts. Well, I've been told that by the usual verbal vomit mouth pieces of the Internet. (I'm looking at you asinine Anandtech). Would you believe a Mod there tried to get my personal and private information? I should have sued...Now you can see my personal Info. filed in the proceedings you low IQ bucket of rat crap!


Careful with screwing Wikipedia. If you "screw" Wikipedia enough it may spawn an offspring called a Tiki.. LOL

Tidbit: There's a Wikipedia for the intelligence community. Intellipedia - Wikipedia
Anyone can use the open source Wiki code. I've been meaning to roll my own at home from a private server accessed via ZeroTier.

If you think your Wikipedia edits and deletions are BS, have a watch of this Ted Talk about something called "AstroTurf." The FDA, tier 3 drugs, billions of dollars spent for cancer research? Yeah, that crap can 'screw its self'. I even participated in the disturbed computing project folding @ home some fifteen years ago to study protein folds for cancer research and what not. What's become of it after some 15 years? Just more therapeutics and archaic treatments. I mean, you can't make money with a cure, only treatments. Pffft, I should be smarter...

Anyway... when the world pisses you off you don't say "screw it", you piss on the world! LOL! The low IQ chimps on this rock piss me off...

Original poster here.

I have kept with Kaspersky on Windows 7 as it has up till now been low on resources and my computer use with Windows 7 does not have any passwords, credit card details, email accounts or anything that could be of use to someone with possible bad intentions.

Even with this forum I am using a Windows 10 machine to login and I did read somewhere that Kaspersky had transferred some of its servers overseas which can only be a good thing.

Incidentally Kaspersky Security Cloud Free has been superseeded with Kaspersky Antivirus. I got notified today when I was updating KSC. I let Kaspersky do an in place upgrade to the free antivirus , some of the features of KSC seem to have been removed but as I only installed it this afternoon I havn't had a chance yet to see its full capabilities.

Hi

Kaspersky still has a lot of good features even in the free version. im actually running it on my W10 machine.
Yes thier main servers i believe are now in Sweden

IF you want to move away from it then i suggest Bitdefender extremely light no addon/nags
(it was reported recently that Free was going to be discontinued --- that has changed)

My bigger question WHY cant you upgrade to 10???

torchwood said:

..... My bigger question WHY cant you upgrade to 10???

I can. But I don't want to. With every new iteration of windows MS removes more and more user options and adds more and more snoopware; By Win14 you may be allowed to change the desktop wallpaper ....and endure constant popups, "Your wallpaper has been changed, click here to restore defaults".


"Win14 has detected ThisProgram on your system, it is not approved by Micro$oft and will be uninstalled at next boot."


"Win14 cannot establish a connection to Micro$oft, your system will now shut down for security. Windows will restart when a connection has been established."


"You have not responded to text messages from Micro$oft, your copy of Windows 14 is now deactivated. Please contact a Micro$oft representative."


When Win7 is no longer viable I will retain it offline for gaming and have a Linux system for online use.

"My bigger question WHY cant you upgrade to 10???"

My own answer to this is my Windows 7 machines were made around 2008 time ,only 2GB Ram and sluggish at the best of times. I did try and update one sometime ago but the installer for Win10 mentioned that I didn't meet certain hardware requirements but I can't remember now what they were.

I do have Windows 10 machines which are faster and I normally buy my machines as a second user .So even my Windows 10 machines that originally had 7 on date from about 2012/2013