Emm

Idiot here.

Until 2 weeks ago, I didn't have a feckin scooby !

Day by day I have slowly dredged up more and more information and I now understand a tiny bit.

I was under the impression that I didn't have a firewall on my pc, although I now know that I have one with the windows package, (that I initially thought was quite poor, but now understand that as I have updated with service pack 2, is quite reasonable).

I have been using Spybot for years, and didn't realise that this was AV software. I thought it was just doing half the job because it didn't have an 'active guard' as you call it. I honestly thought that AV software was a defence against viruses gaining access to your pc, rather than getting rid of them once they had already arrived.

So to clarify, although I was completely ignorant in PC safety, I may have stumbled/bumbled my way to reasonable results by accident .

Thanks for all your help.

retired_shel227

Nope, it's still crap. Download a proper firewall (like Zone Alarm, or Filseclab) - they allow you to set up much better permissions, on outgoing AND incoming connections.

Spybot isn't an anti-virus program, it's an anti-spyware program. There's a big difference.

Decent AV software is exactly this - a defence against viruses. It should scan all files you download or receive in an email, and recognise viruses in them before they get a chance to execute. You shouldn't have to schedule a regular scan if you're careful about the places you visit online, have AV software that has an "active guard" facility, and a decent firewall.

Emm

Damn , arev they free ?

Ballacks , don't blind me with jargon. For my intents and purposes, they are the same, (I do know what you mean though). I have been bulking everything together as a virus for ease. Thanks anyway :thup:.

Mmmmmm. That's what I originally thought but now......... . FM is more important to me than the protection of my old pc. I also don't want to pay for my AV software. If I am goint to have to turn the 'active guard' off to ensure the stability of my FM save-game, then is there any benefit in it for me ?

retired_sandra

I completely missed it.

retired_dvrsecuritylab

ZoneAlarm is :thup: You can buy a fuller featured version, but that's not necessary.

You don't need to turn it off. I never do and haven't had any problems. Even if you did you can always turn it back on again once you've finished playing FM - no new virus will slip through unless (a) you're downloading stuff while playing FM which somehow self-executes on completion (don't know if this is possible) (b) your firewall somehow lets someone hack into your machine and 'buries' a virus on your system. Again, if you've set up your firewall correctly you shouldn't need to worry. ZoneAlarm has a nice feature which even protects against this - a lock internet activity button, which completely stops all internet traffic.

I have a feeling it was exactly as you described it - your AV scan started automatically (which is a different part of the AV suite from the Active Guard) and through a freakish occurence clashed with something when FM tried to save.

Just switch off the AVG autoscanning function (as described by Nobby ) and do them manually when you're ready and you should be fine. Dont worry about the Active Guard (called Resident Shield in AVG iirc) - leave it on, because unless FM tries to run a virus during a save it won't trigger the guard.

retired_dvrsecuritylab

Excuse the double post...

You might also want to turn off the automatic update function on AVG too, as this probably also accesses temp files during updating (not sure, but better safe...)

Right click on the AVG tool tray icon, click 'Launch AVG Test Centre', click 'Service' on the menu bar and select 'Schedule Daily Update' and untick the 'Periodically check for Internet Updates'.

If you forget to update AVG for more than 24 hours (iirc), the tool tray icon will turn grey to let you know it's out of date.

retired_shel227

Filseclab is completely free as well, with the benefit that it doesn't get into conflict with my video card in the same way as PCCillin's firewall seems to (causing the video output to disappear for no apparent reason, random shutdowns, and lots of black screens )