Geek Squad and Viruses

[Andara Bledin]

Yeah, those ones that keep you away from the antivirus sites are a real pain. Sometimes you have to set up a sneaker net to get the stuff you need to get them gone.

One thing a lot of people seem to get confused is the anti-virus/anti-spyware/firewall triune. You need a single firewall, no more, no less. You need a single anti-virus program, no more, no less. You don't actually need any of the anti-spyware programs, but they can make things easier, and many people find that having two to four of them seems to give the best results.

What really makes it confusing is that there are so many suites out there that have components for more than one of those. I may break down and figure out how to go back to having my Norton firewall with the AOL Active Virus Protection because my current firewall is just not very useful.

^-.-^

[LostMyMind]

For a firewall I would suggest Comodo Firewall. It's free and does everything a firewall supposed to do. Plus it not a memory hog like Norton.

[ditchdj]

Personally I've found that, when push comes to shove, simply backing up all your crap on another drive and then reinstalling your OS works just fine.

When you buy your next computer, just make damn good and sure you get a restore disc, especially if you get one that's got Vista since I hear that they're basically rigged so that you can't just install XP with an XP installation disc.

Cost: $0
Problem: Solved!

[JustADude]

For a firewall I would suggest Comodo Firewall. It's free and does everything a firewall supposed to do. Plus it not a memory hog like Norton.

Been working like a charm for me. It's easy to configure, once you realize that the rules list is sorted by number for priority, so your 'allow' rules have to come before the pre-configured 'deny anything NOT on this list' rule.

[technical.angel]

I was pretty non-commital about this, until I talked to one of the parents of our incoming students. Best Buy was being really pushy about what she needed, that XP would be obsolete really soon, that the only way she could get XP on a Dell was to get a referb. I straightened her out, and in short, gave her a list of what she needed when she bought the computer.

When she went to buy the computer, she says they pretty much said that if she didn't buy a virus scan that they would install, her extended warranty would be invalid.

If we, the helpdesk of the school, removed the virus scan, her extended warranty would be invalid.

I had to call Best Buy's warranty center to convince her that uninstalling the AV wouldn't invalidate her warranty.

So, yeah, after all that, I could see them trying to push a fake viral removal on you.

[draggar]

My PC trio:

Ad-Aware (free)
SpyBot (free)
AVG (Free antivirus)

Windows firewall and hardware firewall in my router seem to be doing it for me for a firewall.

As for pressured upselling, I see it all the time. Customers are forced to take add-on packs that they do not want so the sales rep and manager get comission on it and then they tell the customer that they have to call it in to get it canceled. I do not like this strategy one bit.

[earl colby pottinger]

Inside view

What went wrong with Geek Squad

http://consumerist.com/consumer/the-...unt-257108.php

[cpux]

Heh, I saw that article last night and just came here to post it.

[Will-Mun]

What went wrong with Geek Squad

http://consumerist.com/consumer/the-...unt-257108.php

MAN it was hard to read that. I'm sorry to say, but that was no writter. He knew HOW to write, but it was really dry, and it seemed like he WANTED to write an artical, and instead started to write a short story.

But anyway... I don't think I have to worry about stolen things. I don't keep any.... personal photos (god why would I?)

And my porn would scare them away.

I mean! I don't have any porn!

[SuperDan]

And my porn would scare them away.

I mean! I don't have any porn!

"It's not called bestiality, it's called inter-species erotica."

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, it's zoophilia. Beastiality is just wrong.

And it's when you add in the guro that you start really scaring people....

^-.-^

[Will-Mun]

Well actually... Zoophilia is the deep emotional and or sexual attraction to a non-human animal.

Beastiality (actually Bestiality), is simply sex.


So most pornography of that nature, I would assume can ALWAYS be classified as beastiality (Inter-Species Erotica ) but also COULD be considered Zoophilia if the person is, well, you know, actually attracted to animals.

This went to a weird place.... Don't ask me how I know all this!

But yeah, Guro is definitely... an odd one. But...to each their own?

[CaptainJaneway]

If you want a good firewall, Zone Alarm is pretty good. The free one does the job but if you get the pro it has a firewall plus antispyware and email scanning.

If you want to protect yourself from webpages hijacking your browser this program is great to have. It is called spywareblaster. You will also find on this site a program called spywareguard 2.2. it is a neat program that prevents a bho from taking over your browser and it will let you know if something tries to take over your homepage.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/index.html

Currently my set up is zone alarm pro(firewall), linksys router (hardware firewall), spybot, aol spyware cleaner, adaware, spywareblaster and the avg rootkit cleaner (run that once in a while) and norton antivirus. Can never be too careful.

Basically what you need is a condom for your pc.