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Hi Ian,
Heuristics statistics by antivirus companies are waaay over stated -
the only Apps I have come accross with Good Heuristics are NOD32
and Dr.Web and to a lesser extent F-Prot Neural Network - others
like Kaspersky who say something like 82% of new threats detected
by Heuristics which is bullshit.
Even though I'm a happy user of NOD32, and respect their heuristics,
the best heuristic detection is still our own careful practices, and
knowing what to be wary of in both specific and general terms. That
said, I wish we didn't have to spend (waste?) so much of our time
even thinking about all this stuff. Not because I think the AVs
should be so much better, but because...
Most of us, I presume, didn't get a computer so that we could spend
so much time and energy learning about and dealing with viruses and
such in the first place. I know that some people thrive on geeky
challenges, regardless of what they are, and that's fine for them
(and we can be grateful for their efforts on our behalf), but for
most of the rest of us, we'd probably be able to find plenty of other
things to do with our time - in my case, especially things away from
the computer. Though I'm very grateful for forums like these,
through which I've learned so many useful, and in fact, necessary
things over the years, I wish I never felt the need to be here at
all.
Viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, spam, etc. are, in my view, social
problems even more than they are technical annoyances; at least at
their root. Certainly, those who would purposely inflict these
annoyances upon us are suffering from social problems, and in turn,
the rest of us suffer as well.
Over these past five years that I've been online, I've become a fairly
competent amateur geek (albeit reluctantly so), so in addition to
learning about all this stuff, and constantly trying to keep up with
it all, I've become the "resident helper" for many amongst my family
and friends. I'm happy to help them sort out their problems, and
eventually, I can teach most of them to not get into so much trouble
in the first place, but again, I do this not because I especially
enjoy the particular technical challenges, but just because simply I
care about them and want to help. All this however, eats up
additional time and energies I could be spending in truly more
productive ways...both at the computer and away from it (again,
especially away from it).
Sometimes I wish my Luddite leanings would finally convince me to
pull the plug on this silly machine, but what I feel I gain from the
*good things* about being online will most likely keep me online.
Oh well, I guess I've had my little rant for the morning.
- --
Melissa
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