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64 bit anti virus progs
RazMan - 9/12/07 at 11:21 AM

I have been using Vista 64 for about a year now without any anti virus progs installed. Recently I discovered some spyware had managed to get through so I installed eTrust Pest Control which zapped it along with a few other little bugs that were lurking.

That got me thinking - should I install an anti virus prog as well? I was under the impression that 64 bit operating systems were fairly safe from virus attack but maybe the virus-writing scum are getting too clever for it.

Any thoughts guys?

MkIndy7 - 9/12/07 at 12:03 PM

There is a 64Bit Version of AVG available for free, I've been running that ever since getting Vista 64 and not had no problems.

There's still a 32bit shell to run old programs under so they probably got in through that.

Also I think there's a 32bit and 64bit version of Internet Explorer, when it normaly opens from the quick launch or a link it opens the 32bit version, you have to specificaly click on the 64bit version in the Start menu.

BenB - 9/12/07 at 12:50 PM

I remember back in the day I ran an old 286-16Mhz(! actually pretty good for a 286).... It did what I wanted (windows back then was Windows for Workgroups 3.11 if you were lucky which I was more than happy to avoid) and I didn't need a virus checker as most were 16bit and the 286 was 8 bit!!! Oh the joys of obscuriority....

It's definately worth getting a virus scanner. I seem to recall the first 64bit virus was doing the round before Windows64 came out!! (it ran on a XP32 running 64bit emulation software)...

britishtrident - 9/12/07 at 01:27 PM

Free AntiVir Personal Edition Classic is avaialbe for 64 bit Vista

http://www.free-av.com/

Neat program that dosen't hog resouces, has a nice tasteful interface is effective and FREE

stevebubs - 9/12/07 at 02:13 PM

The complexity of modern Operating Systems means a lot of modern day viruses exploit holes in software packages.

As such, it is theoretically possible for a clever virus to spread between different platforms runnning the same software (e.g. MS)

BenB - 9/12/07 at 03:17 PM

Many IT security peeps feel that the upcoming risks will now come mostly from apps rather than OSs....... Especially old apps that might not be maintained but are probably on lots of computers....

britishtrident - 9/12/07 at 07:30 PM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Many IT security peeps feel that the upcoming risks will now come mostly from apps rather than OSs....... Especially old apps that might not be maintained but are probably on lots of computers....


Yep bigest risk (apart from Internet Explorer and OutLaw Express) are trojans particularly hidden in windows freeware. Generally GPL freeware is 100% safe but most windows freeware isn't under GPL or similar license.

The windows "free" program world is pretty murky.

MikeRJ - 10/12/07 at 12:11 AM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I didn't need a virus checker as most were 16bit and the 286 was 8 bit!!! Oh the joys of obscuriority....


All the Intel PC CPUs from the 8088 to to 80286 were 16bit devices!

britishtrident - 10/12/07 at 11:44 AM

The 80286 was actually 32 bit but Intel forgot to program an operation to switch it back to 16 bit once was in 32 bit mode.

It would run Windows 286 quite happily but next to no software existed for it.

RazMan - 10/12/07 at 11:57 AM

Ah but the 80286 put my Sinclair ZX81 to shame so I had to upgrade eventually.

Thanks for all the input guys - I have now installed the free Avira which found 17 viruses on my system I am not sure how real the 'threats' were but they have been zapped now anyway.