# Using 'AVG TuneUP' with Chrome?



## mosaix (Dec 30, 2015)

_It has emerged that a popular tool meant to ward off malware contained a flaw that put millions of people's personal data at risk._

AVG's Web TuneUp put millions of Chrome users at risk - BBC News

_...earlier this month Google's security team spotted that it was overriding safety features built into the search firm's Chrome browser._

Be careful out there...


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 30, 2015)

Most anti-malware / Anti-virus cause more problems than they solve:
False positives, breaking your system.
Never spot new threats.

For a Browser, install of "Noscript" and learning how to use it is best.
Generally, education and not simply clicking on stuff is best.

This news is no surprise at all. 100% of computer I have cleaned malware and root kits off, actually had AV SW (Antivirus Software), in some cases "up to date". People deliberately install stupid tool bars, don't untick malvertising sw included by Oracle and Adobe or Source Forge, or add "codecs" from wrong sites.

Also DOWNLOAD pdfs. NEVER view in Browser. Only use Media players / Flash on known safe sites.

It's not just a "Windows" problem
Linux (Redhat / Debian / Mint / Suse / Ubuntu), Android, iOS, OS X, BSD, etc all depend on the USER being educated.


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 30, 2015)

If you DO use AV SW:
1) It's mostly no use for Internet, so your computer isn't slowed down, set it to only scan on demand, and scan downloads and emails.
2) Use Noscript and only whitelist FULL domain urls (addresses inc the bit infront of main domain). Leave 3rd party domains on a website blocked, adverts and trackers are often subverted to serve malware. Google Ads have served malware.
3) Set Flash to only play on demand and only whitelist known safe sites.
4) Download podcasts and PDF, never display/ play in browser.
5) Always use a firewall router (thus for 3G Mobile ensure your phone if a tethered modem implements a firewall, never ever use a 3G mobile USB dongle direct, get a 3G router/firewall (some are mouse sized). Not all 3G WiFi points are firewalls. Never use a cable modem direct if it has no firewall/router built in (usually only one ethernet port and/or USB, if it's got WiFi and four ethernet ports it probably has a firewall).
6) Never enable uPNP on a router/firewall, or put anything other than a game console in DMZ. Note that built in "firewall" in windows might as well be disabled, it's useless.
7) Disable services on your computer you don't need Example here for Windows (though XP, most applies to Vista, Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10). There are equivalent things to disable on Linux and Mac OS X.
8) Disable remote content in email
9) if you MUST use MS Internet Explorer and / or Outlook, disable Active X.
10) In windows File explorer turn on "show file extensions". Learn which are executable.
11) Never open unexpected email attachments.
12) Never click on links on unexpected emails, even if from a known email address (malware steals people's email address books etc and masquerades as email from someone you know, the email addresses could be stolen from a 3rd party as people use CC instead of BCC, giving away your email to everyone they email) 

If you DON'T use A.V., then do all of 2 to 12 anyway!


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## SilentRoamer (Dec 30, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Most anti-malware / Anti-virus cause more problems than they solve:
> False positives, breaking your system.
> Never spot new threats.
> 
> ...



Oh you expect the average click happy Windows user to know how to do this!?  The main problem here are user habits, people just don't like to change the way that they work. I know plenty of people who Google the pages they want to get to rather than using Shortcuts or Favourite bars - that's actually pretty common behaviour and funny to watch.

I always feel Antivirus applications are less about prevention nowadays and more about temporary fixes - especially for home users. Often people get so infected their machine are beyond repair (for them at least) - this is of course mostly Windows users. Most of the time Windows is cleanable.

Corporate malware is different because it tends to be a lot more pro-active and a lot more fine tuned. Although in corporate environments the network AV managament is only a small part in overall system security it is still very important. The worst sorts of stuff I am seeing at the moment are the Encryption malwares because without a good backup you are literally screwed, people ask a lot about "can't you decrypt the data" and I think "sure give me some supercomputers and a deadline the day after the end of the universe." The reason the encryption malware is a pain is because since Cryptolocker there has been such a slew of variants - the newest ones don't encrypt the primary drive of the machine they are on just all other drives they can see, which is fun and games.

Anyway I rambled.


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 30, 2015)

SilentRoamer said:


> Oh you expect the average click happy Windows user to know how to do this!?


They need to learn, because AV is false confidence.



SilentRoamer said:


> The worst sorts of stuff I am seeing at the moment are the Encryption malwares because without a good backup you are literally screwed


And AV doesn't protect, because most time due to "Social Engineering" the user installs the malware.
Yes, the one malware you usually can't "clean". Though Root Kits are a pain to remove.

Silent Runners and Gmer are good tools for Windows Professional. It seems to be pretty disastrous if Linux, or Mac OS X is pawned as other than a clean backup, I personally don't know of tools as good as Silent Runners to say analyse the system init scripts and X init scripts on Linux. Perhaps one needs a snapshot backup of those parts before any install. With Web / Internet live servers the risk seems to be malicious CGI or PHP scripts installed in some directory with wrong permissions silently serving email and malware without interfering with the "legitimate" activity of the server or hosting. I've have one real infection (an extra rogue PHP script on a Zen shop) and one false positive in 20 years of using hosting.


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## Ray McCarthy (Dec 30, 2015)

SilentRoamer said:


> I know plenty of people who Google the pages they want to get to rather than using Shortcuts or Favourite bars - that's actually pretty common behaviour and funny to watch.


It's pretty annoying that Google panders to this and now assumes you want to use them as a bookmark service, so rankings are false. Stuff you ALREADY visited and don't want to know about on a real search comes near the top! People too then think their own website is as "visible" to everyone else when in fact it might be on 10th page for everyone else.

It's totally trivial to learn to use and organise bookmarks!

Mozilla and others don't help by messing up the address bar. I have mine ONLY showing history and search turned off. I don't want a guess if I type in a mistake. I want server not found!


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