ErikAlbert

I downloaded AVAST myself, the installation was perfect without any troubles. I ran a full scan and it took 15 minutes, but it didn't detect anything, which is normal on my computer. Here you can read what the organisation av-comparatives, thinks about this scanner. http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report26.pdf

You can also create a folder under "My Documents", which is dedicated to downloadings. My downloadings are always stored in the same folder without navigating to that folder. I did this only one time and Windows seems to remember it.

I don't believe in Linux as a safer solution on long term. Linux is safer at this moment, but that won't last forever. Linux is getting more and more popular in the world and will become an interesting target for malware-writers. Once Linux is a target, Linux will become a second Windows. It already happened, if you read this : Linux malware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In fact Linux is even more dangerous, because every Linux-user thinks that nothing can hurt him and that's why malware will survive longer on a Linux-computer than on a Windows-computer. If Linux was used by 85% of the world, it would be just as vulnerable as Windows. If you think that Linux will stop malware-writers, than you must be naïve. Firefox was in the beginning the safest browser in the world and nobody could stand a bad word about Firefox and there were many arguments why Firefox was safe, just like Linux. Nowadays Firefox must be patched regularly to cover its security holes and to keep it safe, just because Firefox became too popular and a beautiful target for malware-writers. Firefox isn't the safest browser anymore, Opera is now the safest one. The same will happen to Linux. History always repeats itself, but nobody seems to learn from the past. I prefer to defend the most attacked operating system in the world and to learn how to do it.

Anti-Executable will kill these .EXE-files immediately in my winXP-system, while my reboot will undo any change on my partition-C and that will be the end of this miserable Clippo-worm and I won't even notice it.

I was never pleasantly surprised by any Windows. I used win2000pro and then winXPpro, I didn't see any remarkable difference. Besides I don't work with Windows, I work with my Application softwares and security softwares to protect Windows all the time, because Microsoft fails to do it. So surprise me with the major improvements of Windows Se7en, I'm curious and I can't do anything with speed, that's not a function, I need functionality and possibilities.

I also turned OFF every automatic update in each software, including Windows Update. I prefer to update myself and I don't like to be interrupted either. I'm the boss, not all these softwares, including malware. I don't allow any change in my system, good or bad. That's why my computer is working properly day in, day out

@Jelly Bean, I have indeed two internal harddisks and one external harddisk to backup both "C" en "D". So I'm ready to survive any disaster-scenario like a disk-crash or a killvirus-attack. :)

Did you try this already ? 1. Click Start 2. Click Set Program Access and Defaults 3. There are alot of options for all kinds of programs Maybe you can install Mozilla Thunderbird and setup a Yahoo account and make Thunderbird as your default email program. Outlook Express is out-of-date and belongs in a museum.

What does it mean in telegram-style ? Partition-C = Windows + Third Party softwares and their settings, but no data. Partition-D = all data-files, like documents, spreadsheets, bookmarks, emails+addressbook, everything you don't want to lose. I've done this a longtime ago and it has nothing but additional advantages, I never had before. What bothers me the most is that some users are AGAINST this separation, it's nonsense, unneccesary, ... they even claim that it makes Windows instable, but they never tell why. Did I really miss something as a newbie years ago or are all these comments nonsense ?

You didn't install Windows 7 properly, so there is no other way than re-installing Windows 7 again. You can't fool around with an operating system, that's not the same as installing any other software. You are learning it the hard way, that's what's happening.

My recovery-system is so strong, that things can't be broken, so I don't need these tools anymore. I just don't allow any good or bad change in my system, without my approval. So called good changes can mess with your system too, even Windows Update.

I don't like Operating System or any other software in another language than English. My first language is Dutch, but I hate Windows or any other software in Dutch. I just can't work with them, I'm completely lost when I have to help my brother with his Dutch Windows. I can't find anything and these translations are most of the time ridiculous. Dutch isn't a language for computers, only English sounds good. :)

The same here, I regret buying PerfectDisk, it never changed anything and it never will. Defragging is a waste of time IMO. The only little problem I have with your post is : I don't see any housewife capable of doing a safe editing in the Windows Registry, unless they are knowledgeable enough, but these housewives are an exception. :)

Thanks for the welcome RandyL, Goku and Dalo Harkin, A pleasant surprise at the right moment :)

Using a safe browser has never been an issue for me. I like Mozilla Firefox because I don't like the others and it doesn't matter to me if it safe or not. That's why I keep Firefox. Internet browsers are not security softwares, they are tools to surf on the internet, nothing more than that. If you want a safe internet browser do this : 1. Protect your browser by not allowing any change in the software of that browser. This way your browser will always work properly. 2. Put your browser in a sandbox by installing a software like Sandboxie. Any object that is installed by your actions on the internet (clicking, downloads, whatever...) will be stored in a sandbox and will be isolated from the rest of your system. This way it can't hurt your system. That's all and you can do this with any internet browser, safe or not. If you want absolutely a safe browser, use Opera or any other not popular browser, but that is a bad solution on long term. In the end every browser will become unsafe, it's just a matter of time.

I tested CCleaner + RegistryBooster, which is advertised in many computer-forums, including this forum. The test-environment was a pure WinXPpro, based on the original Windows Installation CD, which has never been online and was activated by phone, in other words malware-free.No Third Party software were installed, except CCleaner or RegistryBooster. I was wondering, what CCleaner and RegistryBooster would do in such a virginal Windows environment with a clean Windows Registry, that has never been used. 1. CCleaner reported 10 registry-errors. 2. RegistryBooster reported 55 registry-errors. If I would have tested more registry-cleaners, they all would have reported a different number of registry-errors because they are created by different programmers. So every programmer seems to have his own opinion about which registries are good or wrong. Which programmer am I going to trust : CCleaner or RegistryBooster ? Why does a registry-cleaner reports innocent registries as so called errors anyway ? There is nothing wrong with these 10 or 55 registries, so they don't need to be removed. Will my computer run faster after removing 55 innocent ? No and it never will. Any software that needs Windows Registry has direct access to the registries it needs and it doesn't matter how many registries there are, 1,000 or 200,000, it doesn't make any difference because there is no sequential reading involved. Why are users using registry-cleaners ? The main cause is "Windows Add/Remove Programs", which uses the uninstall program of each software to remove itself. The truth is that no software is able to uninstall itself completely, how ridiciulous this may sound and it is indeed ridiculous. After installing/uninstalling any software your partition-C has still leftovers in Registry and folders. The more you install/uninstall software, the more dirty your harddisk becomes. An average user doesn't know the location of these leftovers, so he starts using cleaning/registry-softwares to clean the garbage. Unfortunately some registry-cleaners are so aggressive, they might damage your system. So Windows Add/Remove Programs + cleaning softwares + registry-cleaners was a problem, at least to me. I couldn't trust any of these softwares, it wasn't safe and it was incomplete. Even the popular CCleaner was on my blacklist, because CCleaner doesn't clean everything. I needed a much safer and better solution and it had to be very simple. First I re-installed Windows and all my legal Third Party softwares from scratch. I gave Windows and each software its settings, but I never used them. So each software was in a pure and unused state and that was very important. I created an image with my Image Backup software and stored on my external harddisk. I installed FirstDefense-ISR and freezed my partition-C, which also creates a "Freeze Storage" = clean partition-C. Each time I reboot FirstDefense-ISR replaces my dirty partition-C with a clean partition-C, before Windows even starts. Each time I test a new software and I want to get rid of it, I reboot and I have my clean partition-C back, without using Windows Add/Remove Programs, cleaning- and registry-softwares. Less softwares required, less work, a natural/safe and thorough cleaning and a simple reboot to clean the mess. Softwares like Norton and Nero, which are very hard to uninstall completely are not a problem anymore and that counts for every software in the world. I can't do any better than this, it's close to perfect. :)

The trouble is nobody believes me, when I'm telling this to other users. They call me a "troll" and tell me to keep my mouth shut. That's OK with me, let them waste their time on running scanners, HijackThis logs. Making a mess of their computer by installing/uninstalling softwares. I can install all Norton softwares on my computer and remove them without a trace. Try that with a classical installed computer.

Dear Goku, Thanks for the additional information. The funny thing is, that I know these softwares already and they are really good. I'm not using DeepFreeze or Returnil, I use FirstDefense-ISR (FD). Unfortunately FD isn't available anymore and the development has been stopped, because it wasn't a commercial success. The maintaince and support however continues, nevertheless I keep on using it. FD is the king of all "Immediate System Recovery"-softwares and you can do alot more with it than DeepFreeze and Returnil. FD's frozen snapshot = DeepFreeze or Returnil Virtual System, but a frozen snapshot is just an additional function of FD. Nevertheless, you mentioned the best alternatives for FD and one day I have to drop FD and then I have to use one of them. I can use FD for many years, because it's compatible with "Windows 7". I also use the payed version of "Sandboxie" (SB) to put Internet Explorer and Firefox in a sandbox and to protect my partition-D (data), while I'm surfing on the internet. A sandbox collects every object, that is caused by my actions on the internet : clicking, downloading, whatever and once in the sandbox it can't hurt the rest of my system, at least that's the theory. Sandboxie was nothing in the beginning, not userfriendly and full of bugs, but Ronen Tzur, a very hardworking programmer continued to improve it and the lastest versions are much better. On top of that I use Anti-Executable (AE), which whitelists first every executable on my computer. After that any other executable is killed immediately without even asking "Yes" or "No", it's always "No". AE recognizes more than 80 executables of several programming languages (EXE,MSI,DLL,SRN,OCX,...). AE doesn't allow any change in whitelisted executables and has a quintuple control. Once I unzipped a .zip-file, which contained executables, AE killed them immediately before my eyes. That's what I call security. My assumption is that the combination FD + AE + SB are the main reason, why I still don't have viruses in my boot-sector/MBR. I don't use any scanners anymore during the last 5 years and I still have to find the first scanner, that beats my system, they don't find any malware, except false positives, which I verified. Also my HijackThis Log was checked by specialized malware-removers in a Malware Forum and they couldn't find anything either. I never spend anytime on malware and it's seems to work during 5 years already. I can run any scanner right now, I know the results already : no malware found. I'm glad you mentioned all these softwares, which proves my choices were right 5 years ago. During the last 5 years, I have a trouble-free system, that cleans and repairs itself automatically during EACH reboot in 2 minutes. I remove every known and unknown malware on my computer during the same reboot. My computer became a paradise and I'm enjoying it every day, you have no idea how much time I save. :)

Dear Goku, I'm relieved to hear there is at least something else than AV-scanners. I will look into the BIOS and check it without doing anything unless I know what I'm doing. And yes, I would like to know about the more advanced forms of protection against boot-sector-viruses, if possible and I will be very careful. Staying out of trouble is my best talent. I have already a good security, but I missed that one and I don't know much about it either. So any information about this subject is welcome. At least, I will have some tips, to continue my research. Thank you in advance.

All existing AV/AS/AT/...-scanners are based on blacklists, which means 1. they never remove known viruses, that aren't listed on their blacklist. 2. they never remove unknown viruses. 3. they only remove known viruses, that are listed on their blacklist. So in 2 cases of 3, any existing AV-scanner fails to do its job. I can't give such an important job, like protecting the boot-sector, to an incomplete AV-scanner. That's the same as welcoming boot-sector-viruses. There must be a much better solution after so many years of fighting against viruses. Are you sure your knowledge is up-to-date ?

Hello, Is Boot-sector the same as MBR or is it something else ? It doesn't really matter, but it's very confusing to me. Everybody knows that the boot-sector can be infected by viruses. Is it possible to protect the boot-sector against viruses without using AV-scanners ? For example : Is it possible to replace a (infected) boot-sector with a valid boot-sector BEFORE reboot or at any other time automatically ? Is there some DOS-command that fixes an infected boot-sector during each reboot ? Is there some software that is specialized in protecting the boot-sector against viruses ? Is encrypting a boot-sector possible ? I'm just guessing. What is really possible ? Thanks in advance.

I'm Erik (62). I live in Belgium-Antwerp and my first language is Dutch, I'm able to express myself in English as long it's about computers. I have practical experience with computers (PC), but my theoretical knowledge is rather poor, just enough to keep my computer running. I'm certainly not good in solving computer-problems, but I'm very good in preventing computer-problems and that keeps my computer out of trouble every day. :)