Do you think anti virus companies make viruses so that we will use their product?
149655
Back in the day it was always rumored that McAfee did this and it's persisted as an unban legend since then. 90% of all bugs you see today are not true viruses but rather worms based on known exploits and in my opinion if the Antivirus companies were actually writting viruses then the virus code would be much better.
305229
The makers of malware do not always have their purposes clear. There are some (who usually make worms, keyloggers, and trojans) that have intent to steal useful data, others (viruses and the like) which seem to only have intent to destroy data. It's usually very difficult to detect the creators of these things because of the propogation. If the creator of a worm walks up to an internet cafe, emails someone the worm, and just waits, eventually the worm will propogate by itself and you have an extremely difficult to trace situation.
40552
Anti-virus softwares prevent your computer from receiving malicious scripts made by programming softwares, otherwise known as viruses. These viruses can do many things that can either be just a plain nuisance or something that can seriously damage your computer. I suggest not going without an Anti-virus software; if you can find any software that's legit, then use it. I personally like McAfee Anti-virus, because you receive updates quite often whenever you're connected, and can actively stop Trojan Horse viruses and other malicious programs from executing on your computer. Plus, the interface isn't intimidating for a first timer.
284155
I do PC repair for a living and I would so no.  I see a lot of computers with the yahoo! anti virus have a lot.  On the other hand, suceptibility to viruses/spyware has a lot to do with surfing habits.  The most infected systems visit a lot of porn sites and/or do a lot of filesharing and/or online gambling.  If one avoids these things, you can keep a pretty clean system.  If you're interested in a decent free anti-spyware / anti-virus program, check the links below.  I recommend bit-defender and ad-aware.
16391
*BZZZTT* and your ALL out!  That's incorrect.  \n\nViruses are NOT inherently evil.  They are just programs that work viraly.  They may self replicate, although that sort of goes into the worm catagory.  I'm assuming your talking about malicous computer viruses.  And judging by your earlier post "How do I become a hacker" I'm guessing you want to impress everyone and write a virus.  It'll never happen.\nGo home!
501520
Dudes!  That's not correct.\n\nA virus is a self replicating piece of code that tries to send itself to other peoples computers.  It does not have to do anything other than that.  They are not always malicious, but most do something to make their presence known.  This could range from deleting all your files, to simply displaying a pop up.  Spammers make a lot of viruses that secretly turn your machine into mass emailers.  You never see anything on the screen and they don't pop up anything.  You just notice your machine running a little slower than usual.\n\nSpyware does not self replicate.  You get it by visiting web sites, like this one, that put stuff like cookies on your computer.  The cookies are used to track your browsing habits.  There are other spyware programs as well that can be installed from any kind of active code in a web site.  Most primary cookies are harmless, but third party cookies are the ones to watch out for.  They are almost always spyware.
15413
I doubt it. people write viruses to cause maximum trouble, and with so few macs that's not as good a medium as Windows. Plus lastest Mac's system is based in Linux/Unix, which is less susceptible to viruses.
228578
Here is my ideal Anti-virus :\n\nAn Anti-virus program which is sized as much as your power point presentation files, needs no yearly subscription, and that protects mobile phones, PDAs, iPods, PCs, Linux boxes and Macs not only from known viruses but also from future epidemics of trojans and other malware that is yet to be invented.\n\nBelieve it or not, this unique Antivirus has been invented already!!\nThis new Anti-virus technology "Rudra" unlike the existing  signature-based╝ technology utilizes  a different approach to identify digital intrusions ie. heuristic approach that is based on a set of loose rules and probabilities to identify malicious code and which is in turn based on key preventive feature which takes a snapshot of the device to be protected in complete detail before any infection has occurred and then continues to monitor and scan the system for any suspect changes thereby protecting from known viruses and from any unknown malicious codes (malware) including trojans, worms, spyware and keyloggers.\n\nThis feature eliminates the need to be continously updated. Also this technology requires system to be totally free of virus before installing this program \n\nFor details about this Antivirus technology, see the source links-
864867
yes, but beware of viruses
1071650
They help enourmously, however you do need spyware and viral protection product so have added this below in case you have missed out on some.\n\nSince the questions you have asked is similar to a lot that appear on answers, I have prepared this to aid you. Topics covered are: Anti virus, Anti spyware, Browsers, e-mail, Word processors, Database, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Drawings and Photo manipulations. All programmes described are free to use, some even for commercial use.\n\nAntiviral.\nAVG free. Excellent protection available from: http://www.Grisoft.com\n\nDon't use two antiviral products together as they may be incompatible. If your Antiviral trial has run out, then remove product from your computer and get the AVG installed.\n\nAntispyware\nEssential products are: Adaware SE from: http://www.lavasoft.com \n Spybot SD  from: Download.com or similar, Tucows etc\n Spywareblaster   “          “                 “          “\n Windows Defender - from Microsoft downloads.\n\nOffice Applications\nOpen Office has an extremely good free to use and distribute product at http://www.openoffice.org\n\nIt contains programmes fully functional in Word-processing, Database, Spreadsheets, Drawing and Presentation. It looks and feels like Microsoft Office and can even make PDF's\n\nPhoto-manipulations\nFor ease of use and management of your photo files try Kodak easyshare software or Picasso.\n\nFor advanced and fully functional photographic manipulation gimp2 is very similar to Photoshop and is available from http://gimp.org\n\nBrowsers and E-mail programmes.\nCan recommend Firefox for browsing and has many safety features installed and is self updating and for a general e-mail programme, Thunderbird is very good. Go to:\n\n http://www.mozilla.com/products/\n\nFun and helpful programmes\nHave a look at Calendar Magic, it has lots of Scientific, Geometry, Factor and Expression calculators as well as Global distances, Sun and Moon Data, a Pregnancy Calculator, Time Data and Alarm clocks as well as an extremely comprehensive range of Calendars in about 27 different formats from Afghanistan to Vietnamese, including Chinese and Hindu.\n\nC Cleaner.http://www.ccleaner.com/\nThis will tell you a lot about what is on your computer, such as running programmes,cookies, History, settings etc. and will help you clean up and remove unwanted items. Be careful how you use it as it is a very powerful programme and you should read the help index before you do anything with it.\n\nHope this information is of help to you and others.
885929
yes go to EBAY  you can buy cracked version of  Symantec antivirus. everyone will let you buy from there  they sell cracked software on EBAY
35836
I think the "possible-virus" is just a warning that there may be a possible virus. (email?)  I don't think that is the name.  In any event, anti-virus software should clean all viruses you might have.
667339
yes but after virus scan your comp
926769
Yes. A virus can replicate itself. Run a virus scan and delete all virus thru there.
1055391
Not to my knowlage you can do the free virse scans off the websites and do it that way.  All anti-virus companys are pretty much the same.  Do not load more then one virse scanner on your computer because they will start to fight each other and make your computer run slow.
584644
It's virtually impossible to make a computer that can't get a virus.  However, it might be possible to do that if everything but personal files and the like are on ROM, not EPROM, but pure, hard coded ROM.  That way, nothing can be changed but files, and any virus would be incapable of making lasting affects, unless there's a way it can damage hardware.  If this computer you're referring too is like that, I probably wouldn't buy it if I was a multi-billionaire, except as maybe an oddity, and you couldn't update software except removing some part or so that has the outdated software and put the replacements in.  There _MIGHT_ be another way or so to be almost as virus proof, but I don't know if it's worth betting on.  Routers, to my knowledge, use firewalls to protect, and firewalls protecting an IP network from stuff on the Internet can probably be worked around by using unblocked ports or the like, for example.  I'm not a hacker though, I don't know everything.  Where can I find out more about this computer?
967146
1 your at risk for viruses ect\n2 theres always a chance they will