Msg: Re: Malware in Jumbo U2 version 120

Flash,

I had a few tech things I wanted to ask you about (probably off-list). Now I just need to recall what they were and write them down. From this post, I'd be curious about a laundry list for those re-routed to Local Host items . . . even though it may take dynamite to move me beyond Win 7. (If 8 has this stuff going on, 10 will likely be even worse.)

At the moment, I'm getting rather annoyed at some of the things Avast & Google are flagging as BAD sites, and making me jump through continuous hoops to go there. These sites get a warning rating of 2 out of 54 @ Virustotal. I think this is totally bogus. One of the sites is devoted to video tech, which I've been visiting for years, but neither of them am I willing to do without. Even in the unlikely event that these sites were in fact seriously compromised, I would not let that stop me. If necessary, I would go there via eCS, which is immune to essentially all malware. Or, it is always possible to browse there from a Linux Live CD, with the boot HDD unplugged, and then there is NOT ANYTHING in the universe that some malefactor could do to you. As long as I could still read the discussions, and perhaps download a program to a thumbdrive, everything would be peachy keen.

Jordan

From: Paul Breeze
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 6:37 AM
Subject: Re: Malware in Jumbo U2 version 120

I use Avast which allows you to chose which shields you want to load. I
use only the mail and internet shields so there is not internal
monitoring. Seems to work pretty well without the internal load imposed
by most AV software. You can configure for manual updates too.

Paul

On 22/10/2014 08:33, Flash wrote:
> Y'all,
>
> I've said this before but I'll say it again because maybe someone missed
> it the first time round. On-board AV software is like closing the door
> after the horse has bolted. If you NEED AV software, you have already
> committed several cardinal sins.
>
> Not only do AV programs often falsely flag legitimate programs, they
> slow down your CPU and chat up your network. I recently purchased a new
> Toshiba/Windows 8.1 wh/had McAffee pre-installed; goodness gracious,
> McAffee was sending a TCP keep-alive out the wire every few seconds!
> Automatic AV updates were the first thing I blocked on my external
> firewall (Windows on-board firewall is useless, IMO, as it does not
> filter out Windows' own garbage). I promptly uninstalled McAffee. Peace
> and quiet now.
>
> BTW automatic Windows (8.1) updates are extraordinarily difficult to
> shut down. I know, there is place in the Windows settings where you can
> ostensibly turn it off--it still sends miles and miles of encrypted
> (TLS) packets off to microsoft and downloads something or other. I noted
> at least 10 web servers Win8.1 was contacting frequently despite
> automatic updates being switched off; these servers have now been
> re-routed as local host (e.g., 127.0.0.1 msftncsi.com in the "host" file).
>
>
>
>