antivirus

Kaspersky was the centre of the news after information revealed the Russian government was using it to target US Federal government employees into stealing vital information. According to a report by NewYork times, the Russian government used the program search computers across the world with the hope of finding information on American intelligence programs.

When the Russian hackers know that their activities online was being monitored by the Israeli intelligence, they stopped the hacking attempt. The Russians used the popular anti-virus program, Kaspersky for the hacking. Kaspersky is used by around 40million people, including American government agencies.

                        

NYT reported that the hacker succeeded in using the program to steal classified NSA documents from an employee who had the anti-virus program installed in his home. 

Kaspersky detected that the Israeli intrusion into their network in mid-2015, and conducted an investigation that was later released to the public by the Kaspersky antirus company. 

Though not knowing who might have hacked into the network to launch the attack to finding American military intelligence, Kaspersky as a company had previously seen a same pattern of attack in 2010 by a US-Israeli coalition.

The attack dubbed "Duqu" was used to attack the Iran Natanz nuclear facility, and destroy fifth of Iran centrifuges. 

Kaspersky noticed similar pattern of the coalition, and said this seems like a country did that from the coalition, therefore dubbing the new attack"Duqu 2.0."

According to Kaspersky, Israeli hackers are well known for infiltrating systems, stealing passwords, erasing emails and documents and also taking screenshots using different sophisticated tools.

Kaspersky lab denied the report of its cooperation with Russian hackers, the lab said;

Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber espionage efforts. The company then added "respectfully requests any relevant, verifiable information that would enable the company to begin an investigation at the earliest opportunity"

Israeli officials later spoke to the NSA that the Russian government was using the anti-virus to spy on US citizens and also stealing information from federal government employees. They said they had detected this during the time they hacked into the Kaspersky network, but won't say the magnitude of information that was stolen. 

The Israeli agency then showed evidence of their espionage with documents findings and screenshots it took during the time of the espionage on Kaspersky network.

While the NSA had been briefed by the Israeli on their findings about Russia hacking, only last September did the Department of Homeland Security order all federal executive branch agencies to remove Kaspersky on their devices within 90 days. 

This is a list of some Anti-virus softwares I tried in the past week, and I am going to share with you which is nice and which one gave me headache and the one I am using and why.

My Story

I am one of those believed that Anti-virus at this recent times is just a waste of my computer space and another software that slows down the performance of your computer. But to be safe, I decided to stick with the default windows installed Anti-virus, which is the Windows Defender. I had a virus attack which led me to try different anti-virus program. This is my honest review of each of the programs :)

Windows Defender : This is a very nice software that seats at your computer and you won't even know it is there. Which means the performance of your computer will be very maintained. Since I started using Windows defender, I never see it in my taskbar or see any prompt of Virus it had quarantined.

To be sincere, Windows defender if it was a living person, i will say it is an oxygen thief. It will only appear when it needs to update itself and that is it, this software right here is a complete joke...hahha....yeah i said...whoops, oh boy, i feel good.

                                        

                                   

                                                                                       Windows defender interface

Norton 360 : It all looks good to be sincere . It scanned my computer for 2 days straight, wheew....What happened to intelligent scanning and a more faster...common Norton. And seriously the computer came back way faster "after 2 days"..BRUH. I tweeted about this event because I can see my computer running better than i thought after those scans and of course some virus lurking around the system were all quarantined, Bravo.

But later, you feel your computer so slow because it decided to use half of the system resources. Norton + Google chrome=death of the computer. It is like expecting Westham FC to win the UEFA Champions league...ooouccchhhh.. You will have to wait 10-15 Sec for your normal program to come up...haizzz...i removed it as am not a patient dog, I only want the fat bone asap

                          

                                                             Norton Setting Interface

Avast Antivirus : Though I don't have much trust about this program, i think keeping my computer faster in continuation of what Norton did won't be a bad idea. So I am not looking for the best, just something to guard what was already done from reoccurring. Some features which am not sure I like is the "Avast Is Now Updated" sound it makes after every update. But I later get used to it as i believe it is a swag from Avast and it is what has  been there for as long as I know Avast.

                                            

Just so you know why i said I don't trust Avast. I abandoned the program when my 2 computers that I used with Avast had the same virus and both were running Avast and it won't detect the virus on my computer even after it already changed some program names and some files won't open. Also my computer CD-ROM will open just on it's own while I am working. So that is the reason for my first line.

The reason i removed avast after a day or two was that it affected the sound system on my computer.My sound started having issues like a clicky-wacky sound even when the whole video finished buffering. This affected all video/audio played on my computer.

I checked the whole computer and I checked Google, I noticed a lot of users had complained about this issue for a long time and it looks like Avast won't fix it. I am a music person which means either my music stops or Avast gone. I chooses the latter...

                                     

                                                                                                     Avast User Interface

Bit Defender Total Security : This is the only antivirus i had trusted and will continue to trust for a long time. Woe betide that virus that thinks he is a boss on your computer when you install Bitdefender. It is just so powerful... I had a good laugh when I was operating my computer and that all of a sudden a virus got it way around a webpage I was visiting, few minutes later, Bit defender was going for its routine scan/search ( This scan don't affect performance at all). So it got hold of the virus/malware and that was it. Bitdefender is a robust antivirus and no wonder it keeps getting best antivirus for 3-4 years straight.

Bitdefender was so perfect for me. The only issue I had was that it won't work with my Blue stacks program. I had a lot of thoughts on whether to remove it or let it stay as my anti-virus, but Blue stack is a program i use everyday for my android development, projects and manage other projects. Bitdefender was perfect, it quarantined some files that Norton had missed and was running fine..

                     

Eset : This is where the search ends, Eset Nod32 was another very good antivirus and this is where the search ends. I was not a fan of Eset initially because i thought it looks too easy to protect me from the stuffs I do on the internet, but it seems to have stand the test of time. It had blocked spam webpages, fought and conquered a lot of Virus and I think I can leave my computer at the mercy of ESET NOD32. It redefines my views, now i know simple is way better. It does not use unnecessary disk space. but it stays at alert and detect computer infection unlike windows defender.

At the moment, i give it to ESET NOD32. my computer is working fine, no voice cracks or blocking of some programs. Everything works perfectly..

 

So which anti virus are you using and do you think it is worth the cash?

Share your views below.

A Malware is a program created by attackers(hackers) to disrupt information, intercept sensitive information to gain access to a computer or  many computers in a network if they are connected. A malware can be inside your system for so long without you knowing and the best antivirus might not see it, giving you the confidence that you are  100% safe  offline or when you are on the internet. Sometimes the Anti-virus software on your system can't detect and quarantine this Malware alone because they can be in form of a script, code or even a program downloaded on the internet.

 

I use one of the best antivirus myself, my antivirus company received the best anti-virus company, 2011,2012,and 2013...you can check Google to check the best Antivirus for this 3 years consecutively, and this same Anti-Virus software is always on the first or second of Anti-virus list reviews...but that never meant i was not recently attacked by Malware even after scanning through my system and the log said i am as clean as the whistle...

 

So i downloaded a new software application that specializes in Malware scans and quarantines to help tracked down Malware or adware as my recent computer operation is getting on my nerves, and lo and behold, i had 200  Malware having fun on my system..though the scanning was a long one, but it was worth the wait...

The name of the Malware Application is called MALWAREBYTES

 

 So while you trusting your recent Anti-virus application, take a look at Malwarebytes to download their free Malware application that will help you clean up your system better, this is just to help your current Av System, that doesn't mean your Av is not 100% working..its working, but a third party software wont be too bad....

Hope you can get rid of your Malwares easily with this free Malware application...

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