As an IT professional, I've always been aware of the need for decent anti-virus software. Not only making sure that it's installed, but keeping it up-to-date too. I have a long-term set of skills and experiences related to McAfee, but when I bought my first home PC in early 2002 I decided to go with what I then considered the joint market leader: Norton.
I've used Norton on this PC ever since, until I uninstalled it yesterday and switched to Kaspersky. Over the years I've also happily recommended it to friends and family. McAfee was a great business product (especially where the need for central administration was important), but Norton always seemed slicker and less clunky on individual PCs.
However, over the course of this month I've experienced three instances on three entirely separate PCs where Norton has comprehensively failed to identify and remove a serious and well-documented virus. The first was on my own home PC, which got infected with the CiD adware virus (also known as Lop) - its first infection in six years.
Even more surprising was that when I finally worked out what was going on, identified what I was dealing with, discovered the executable files in question and pointed Norton Anti-Virus 2007 in their direction, it told me they were entirely clean. This, despite the fact that its own website claims that it detects and removes Lop.
I wasn't very impressed with this. I decided that when my subscription runs out in May, I was going to change software. I did some research and discovered that Kaspersky seems to regularly get top marks for detection, generally falling down on user-friendliness issues. That doesn't bother me too much, as long as it finds things.
My second experience came a couple of weeks ago. My parents have bought a new laptop. It came pre-installed with a trial version of Norton Anti-Virus. The first thing I did when I got my hands on it was to ensure that it had done a complete scan of the system. It hadn't, so I set one off and it completed by reporting that the machine was clean.
However, I was suspicious. I spotted that Kaspersky offers a free online scan (it detects but doesn't repair), so I tried it out. Several hours later, I discovered that their laptop had a Trojan lurking on its hard drive. Norton hadn't spotted it. I forgot to write its name down and I don't remember what it was, but it confirmed my suspicions about Norton.
Norton is simply not good enough at finding problems. So, with my parents' 30-day trial subscription to Norton rapidly coming to an end, we uninstalled Norton and put Kaspersky onto the laptop instead. I was quite impressed. It certainly wasn't as primitive in the usability stakes as I had been expecting and the functionality was comprehensive.
Then last weekend we were at my sister-in-law's and she asked if I'd look at their computer, which was running very slowly. My niece mentioned that it kept popping up loads of websites that they hadn't clicked on. It all sounded very familiar and a few minutes later I discovered that it had the same strain of CiD/Lop that my own PC had experienced.
Its anti-virus package? Yes, you guessed it... Norton Anti-Virus. I'd recommended it to them five years previously. So, to cut a long story short, we removed the virus manually (removing registry entries, executables and - crucially - a hidden scheduled job in C:\WINDOWS\Tasks), uninstalled Norton and loaded on Kaspersky.
After that experience (four hours) and the amount of time it had taken me to remove Lop from my own PC (six hours), I decided that I wasn't going to wait until May and yesterday I went ahead with removing Norton from my own PC and replacing it with Kaspersky. At £20 per year, it's a small price compared to losing a day's worth of computer time.
Generally the process went smoothly. The Norton software takes longer to uninstall than I had been expecting. On my parents' and sister-in-law's PCs the uninstall was smooth. On mine, the Norton LiveUpdate Notice component wouldn't uninstall properly, but eventually Symantec's Norton Removal Tool did the job.
Installing Kaspersky was straightforward. In all three cases I installed Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAV), rather than the more comprehensive Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) suite. On my sister-in-law's PC, the moment it was up-and-running, it told us that Lop was trying to disable it - the virus had somehow survived our manual removal.
Having used the KAV on my own PC for a day, I'm happy with it. There have been a few teething troubles, mainly related to the fact that I'm a paranoid power-user with several other security measures in place on my PC with which KAV has conflicted. These aren't issues that are likely to be experienced by the average user.
The three biggest problems I've experienced have all been related to KAV's ability to scan encrypted SSL traffic. It manages this using certificate substitution, a process that I've not come across previously. In a nutshell, this is entirely incompatible with my Carbonite online backup service and has also caused problems in Outlook.
The Outlook issues are basically because I have configured Outlook to connect to multiple mail accounts using the most secure protocols possible. I download all of my own e-mail using POP3 SSL (port 995) rather than basic POP3 (port 110). I also connect to a client's Exchange server using Outlook's RPC over HTTP functionality.
Though in theory Kaspersky can handle this, in practice the results are flaky. Also, I've found that sites using Google Analytics also fail to load properly because of GA's use of HTTP SSL (port 443). I initially tried the "prompt for scan" setting to allow me to decide whether to scan on a per-connection basis, but this fails when I'm away from the PC.
Eventually, I've turned off checking of encrypted connections. Initially I was wary of doing this, but then I realised that Norton Anti-Virus didn't do it anyway, so I wasn't losing out on something that I'd had previously. Hopefully one day I'll be able to turn it back on again, e.g. if Kaspersky implements a whitelist feature for identifying SSL sites that I trust.
I particularly like KAV's Proactive Defense feature. This is able to spot things like one process attempting to control another. It was a bit of a pain in the first 24 hours having to "train" it in all the instances where this is legitimate (e.g. Firefox launching Java), but now it's settled down I feel more confident that future virus attacks will be highlighted.
As for the dreaded full system scan... with Norton Anti-Virus 2007 this used to take around 8 hours on my six-year-old (but well specified) desktop PC. System performance was noticeably degraded while it was running. Kaspersky Anti-Virus takes fourteen hours (less efficient, or just working much harder?) but you can barely tell it's running.
It's still early days, so I'll update this post with any significant additional experiences over the coming weeks, but the main lessons that I've learned from this experience have been:
- on three entirely separate PCs, Norton Anti-Virus 2007 and 2008 simply did not detect significant threats;
- having researched the market, Kaspersky's anti-virus solutions get consistently high scores for reliability;
- my own experience so far has demonstrated that this reputation is well-deserved;
- Norton products can't always be removed cleanly purely by using Add/Remove Programs;
- if you're a power-user of your PC (particularly where SSL solutions are in use), Kaspersky needs tweaking;
- even for a knowledgeable IT professional, removal of CiD/Lop is a very time-consuming process.
It's been an interesting month.
Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?
I am answering this QOTD in tribute to No Music Day (which, by supreme irony, occurs annually on my birthday), whose spirit - don't take music for granted, appreciate it more - I support, but whose practice I have been breaking vigorously and LOUDLY all day.
My tastes have been gloriously all over the place since I was a teenager whose record collection nestled Madonna next to Virgin Prunes. Genre really isn't that important to me - what I look for is individuality and/or authenticity. I can happily listen to formulaic pop music if it's authentically formulaic. ABBA were the masters of that particular template.
Equally, I can listen to the most ramshackle sonic mess if it sounds like nothing else, especially if there's an idea behind it. As Yoko Ono once put it: "All sounds are potentially dangerous. All sounds are potentially medicinal. All sounds are beautiful." I think of that quote when I'm listening to the emetic throb of vintage Panasonic.
At the moment I've got the new Leona Lewis album on. It's nice comfort music, a bit like a warming bowl of soup, but I don't find it very nourishing. She has a superb voice, but apart from the debut single it's all a bit characterless. In X Factor terms I'm more drawn to singers like the current season's Niki (more), whose soul shines through every note.
Sinéad O'Connor has that power. Gavin Friday has it. Kristen Hersh too. Patti Smith. Mary Margaret O'Hara. Ian Curtis. Aaliyah. Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley. Karen Dalton. Erykah Badu. John Darnielle. Jhon Balance. More recently, Win Butler has it. Joan Wasser, Alex Turner, Lesley Feist, Lupen Crook and Laura Marling also.
My most favourite musical genre would superficially appear to be some kind of folk, whether modern or trad. But it's not that simple. Really what I'm into is people who express themselves in the most honest way possible. I'm not interested in someone who wants to sound like someone else. Be your own (wo)man, however, and I'm all ears.
Right then. So I don't use Vox an enormous amount, and I probably should. I don't talk a lot about what's going on in my personal life on my main blog and this would be a decent place to do it without worrying about bloody Valleywag or whatever. But that's not the point. I thought I'd give people a quick update, just in case they were interested.
I'm not sure if anyone still reads this, but I don't update this site very often.
If often's your thing, then you can visit my blog, This Is This, which is updated daily.
Music-wise, what was the first 45, single or download you bought?
Submitted by Paddy Melt Wagon.
My first vinyl single was "Pop Muzik" by M, the first time around. From the Rumbelows in Bootle New Strand I believe!
I've spent the last two weeks alternating between periods of feverish work and just plain fever. Last week, I had two days wiped out by a stomach bug which left me totally drained. On Friday, I ended up having to abort my journey to work after waking up with a head which felt like it was stuffed with porridge.
Meanwhile, the Big Project that I've been working on - more on this at the end of the week, when I can talk about it properly - continues to crunch away my time. When I wasn't feeling sick last week, I was getting up at four or five in the morning to do a couple of hours work before I actually went in.
The thing is, I'm actually starting to feel too old to do that. When I was news editing MacUser, every other weekend would see me work on Sunday afternoon or evening, and get up at 4am on Monday morning to finish off the news editing which was due that day. Not only could I do it - I actually enjoyed it.
Now, though, it's not so easy. Getting up at that time doesn't feel anything other than a chore, and I'm glad I won't actually have to do it for too much longer.
Originally published at This Is This. You can comment here or there.
He pointed to the book and asked "What are you going to do with that?"
It seemed a stupid question, but he's a really nice guy. Odd and funny, too. He asks, out loud and serious, questions like: "Have you ever punched a horse in the face?" Or "Have you ever seen a slug that's been stung by a wasp?"
He is also fascinated by Simon Weston, who he suspects is a fraud.
Anyway, me with a book and he goes: "What are you going to do with that?"
It seemed an odd question about a book, so I said sarcastically: "I'm going to fuck it and eat it." Then: "What do you think I'm- " but his face changed.
"Like a baby fox."
"Yeah," I say. "Like Viz, right?"
Reset the counter. Rewind to tweny years ago and a cartoon strip in Viz where two boys are in the frame, one with a boy and the other saying to him: "Is that a little puppy?" The other says: "No, it's a baby fox." The first kid goes: "Oh. What are you going to do with it." The other boy's expression changes and he says: "I'm doing to fuck it and eat it."
A friend pointed it out to me and we thought it was hilarious.
Fastforward back to 000 (so retro) and back in the office. Colleague says: "I wrote that."
"That was you? That's the greatest comic strip I ever read."
He explains he sent it in and then starts to reel off submissions they didn't print. Some I can't repeat even here.
But fucking hell, yeah? I've never quoted a comic in my life and then a like-minded friend from work makes a link with me as a fifteen year old on a train, reading a joke he sent in to a magazine which was relatively unknown then.
This is going into my list of coincidences, and adding weight to my theory that everything I have ever done is catching up with me in ever converging circles, like a whirlpool. And in the middle, where the energy is stronger and everything joins up - that's me.
Originally published at This Is This. You can comment here or there.
On the bus, a woman sitting next to me dropped something. I was in a confined space, so I didn't really get a look at the falling object. But I decided it looked a safe shape - nothing in other words that could cut or burn me. The likelihood of my fellow commuters doing hotknives on the way into work seemed pretty slim.
So with the object falling and gathering pace, I knew there was no time to lost. I decided to stick my foot out. It was a round object. It hit my foot. It felt soft, because it absorbed the impact and bounced off foward.
...bounced off forward.
Listen to me. I kicked it.
Next thing I know there's a peach rolling away from me and a look of horror on the passenger's face.
I looked at her with an expression that plumbers give you while they are soaking your house, apologetic but reassuring. Kind of: "I can fix this."
It got about two feet away before I put my foot on it. Not stamping on it, you know. Heel to the floor, ball of the foot on the stem.
Her horror turned to grief. I had distain for my previous enthusiasm. I picked up her peach with a bashful gallantry. Kind of: "Here's your fruit, ma'am."
She took it with a muted thanks.
I decided that the Ninja Footsave is a young man's game.
Next time someone drops something, it's going down, and taking my good intentions with it.
Never kick the peaches of strangers.
Originally published at This Is This. You can comment here or there.
Like most uncharted subjects, I am finding that the more I discover, the more I have to find out. 3G, smartphones, battery life, Qwerty keyboard, wifi. There's too much to know.
Predictive text, polyphonic ringtones. pixel resolution. And who the fuck is Carl Zeiss?
I decided that I'm probably not going to go for one with a keyboard, since I'm rarely more than twenty feet away from a computer, although add another mile to that and that's when I normally get an idea for a post but that can't be helped.
I want a phone with a camera, so I can take pictures and stick them up here. The blog, pervert. Not here. Like I'd take pictures of me doing that and stick that up here. No - I will not do that. This is the internet, OK? It is not some place where people get their kicks looking at pictures of sexual deviants. Or videos. Or one to one porn chatrooms. No. What are you thinking? This is the internet.
Also, I can't be bothered to learn new things. I'm not getting old - I'm not OK? - It's just that I can't be shat to learn someone else's "intuitive" format. I know plenty of people (saps!) who switched from Nokia to Sony Goran Eriksson only to curse their decision later. Maybe the phones are better designed; I couldn't give a WAP - I'm sticking with what I know.
Nokia it is.
Done.
Network.
Orange - that is what I am on now. OK. Tariff? They have stupid names. Dolphin, Racoon, Monkey, Marmot or Skink? Half cashback for six months on an eighteen month contract or pay fifty quid for the phone on a twelve month deal? Or free phone and an xbox or a Nintendo wii with a standard eighteen month commitment. OK, that could be cool. But does a wii play dvds, or is that just the xbox?
Do I get the phone from work or go to a store which can get a better deal and I have to change my number? This would be a pain.
I do not know, but the longer I wait, the more I am on my crappy current deal and the more it costs me. But the sooner I choose, the more likely I am to make a bad decision.
I have become a phone bore among my friends and colleagues. I see a new phone on their desk and ask to have a look about it, mumble something about battery life and marmosets.
They usually take my picture and then show it to me, and I look at the picture and say "Hmmm - I'm not sure" before wondering off, none the fucking wiser.
Call me.
Originally published at This Is This. You can comment here or there.
Apparently he was pushing a balloon in the wind when he became locked in an invisible box. People just stood around and clapped.
Tragic.
Witnesses at the scene say his last words were
