First post. Just found out about portable apps and I love it.
I was wondering if 99% of viruses come from the internet,(obviously an overstatement by me)if browsing the web with firefox portable if you are protecting yourself from viruses, etc from installing themselves on your pc. If you your are browsing the web with firefox portable and you do stumble on a Trojan, will it install itself on the pc or the usb drive?
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As soon as you stick your USB into a PC, it becomes a part of the PC. Without a PC, a USB stick is pretty useless(xcespt for carrying data ;-)). So the virus/trojan/malware/whatever will almost surely infect the host PC.
Hope you like it here as much as we do!:lol:
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
uhm...I think what he's referring to is malware that is designed to infect a USB stick. When browsing, would the malware first infect the PC, and then the stick (which is easily stopped with a good antivirus program already running on the PC) or would it just initially infect the stick, which would then infect any PC you plug it into (which most antivirus programs won't stop)? I know that some antivirus programs do specifically protect the stick, but there are usually issues with them (i.e. Avast) I know ClamWin is a nice portable AV file scanner, but I don't believe it actively scans the PC for stuff as it comes in, as Avast seems to. Any comments/info would be appreciated.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
what I was wonder/hoping, is that the virus/Trojan would be contained to the usb drive and not affect the pc.
As I understand it, most malware designed to infect a stick is also designed to infect every computer the stick is plugged into. That is why you want a good antivirus already on the PC checking sticks that are plugged in, and a good antivirus on the stick checking everything that goes on the stick. unfortunately, there are few AV that do the latter that are portable. I don't believe ClamWin does this, and Avast has issues that it needs to solve.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
ClamWin only scans your (or someone else's) files if you run it manually. It has no function to automatically check stuff (like on/off USB traffic or in-/outgoing internet traffic).
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
If you're talking about Avast for U3, then it is NOT adequate protection for working from a flash drive.
The ONLY full protection for a PC is to have solid antivirus installed and running on that PC. Period. End of story.
When a flash drive is plugged in, it is a part of that PC. Viruses can then go either way. And that's the way it is on every portable platform.
That said, Firefox in and of itself is much more secure than Internet Explorer. So, as long as you're using the latest version, then it won't be auto-installing spyware or malware.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for correcting me, I think. And yes, I was referring to Avast for U3, which as I said has "issues." I was working off the basis that the PC itself would be kept clean by a good antivirus already on it. Thing is, as I understand it, both Norton and McAfee do NOT protect programs running from a USB stick from being infected through web interfacing. In other words, most AV do not seem to protect the stick if the infection occurs through a portable app. That is why I made reference to Avast. The idea they seem to have is to plug that particular hole. I think that once the major companies get their act together, and plug it themselves, Avast will be just a memory. I'm guessing that the reason they haven't yet is because it would make the AV slow the computer significantly.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
Actually, USB drive or not, it's all the same to any antivirus installed locally. A program is a program is a program. It scans them as they are launched and monitors downloads if they're smart.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Oh...me thinks I need to reinstall my local antivirus then
. Norton isn't scanning properly. GRRRRR, I hate Norton. Anybody got anything that does a better job?
Also, out of curiosity since we're on the subject, what's your opinion on this: My college doesn't have any antivirus installed on the PCs themselves. They have something on the network that checks everything that comes in over the internet and everything that is sent from computer to computer. I don't believe this would protect adequately, but what's your take? USB sticks are extremely popular here, but as far as I know, I'm just about the only one who uses portable apps and realizes the danger of stuff spreading that way.
Is there any way to run an antivirus that runs actively without admin rights?
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
Actually, viruses been infecting PC's sense the days of tape. Any media that can be used to access a system can be used to spread or infect another system even if that device is wireless. I use bluetooth to connect my portable device and transfer files.
Best practice for firewalls or antivirus is to be installed at the lowest level just as close to the kennel as possible, at lest, before the desktop is loaded or any network. So running a antivirus program from your USB stick would be smart for scanning files, but useless for detecting virus activity.
As for the network, a virus would infect a PC, but would be stopped from infecting the network. They may also have something installed on the PC, but at a low level where you wont see it.
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Did you know that the entire operating system use to fit on a 5 1/4" floppy disk!
I asked the guys who set up and "maintain" the computers/network. They don't have anything on the individual computers to save the time and money. If a virus starts spreading via USB sticks, I think they'll end up spending more time and money than they ever wanted. That's one reason I wanted a portable AV that did active scanning. Even if I can't stop it or clean it up, at least I'd hopefully know when it would occur and save myself at least some time and money trying to clean up computers it'd spread to.
Timothy Forster
Timothy Forster
Then running a scan of your USB would be a good practice before using it on your home PC. I'm not a big fan of Norton, but it did work some what. After playing with the portable ClamWin, I installed the full version on my PC and so far I like it. It does load low, even lower then my firewall so it is scanning everything coming through it. When I get some time I may test it against a running bug, it did find my dormant bugs.
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Did you know that the entire operating system use to fit on a 5 1/4" floppy disk!