antivirus

Updated at 5:50 p.m. PDT September 14 with explanation from The New York Times.

The New York Times' Web site is grappling with problems created by an "unauthorized advertisement," but it is unknown how the ads managed to appear on the site and whether the site had been compromised.

The rogue ad warns readers that their computer may be infected with a virus and redirects them to a site that purports to offer antivirus software, according to a note posted to the newspaper's Media & Advertising section:

Some longtime PC users have never bothered with antivirus software, see no need for such programs, and have never encountered a virus. Some of these people even use Windows.

The cold, hard reality of the computer world dictates that most of us require multiple layers of protection from malware. Last week, I described how I removed dozens of Trojans and viruses from the family PC. The free program I used, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, is intended to be used in conjunction with a real-time antivirus program. Based on several comments, this point wasn't clear in the original post.

One of the &… Read more

iAntiVirus is a free app that will scan for Mac-specific viruses and malicious software, both on your hard-drive and during real-time Web browsing. You access iAntiVirus through a menu bar icon, and the app can scan your Mac for current infections, with either a Quick Scan, a Normal Scan (longer but still relatively quick), or a Custom Scan of specific areas. You can set iAntiVirus to protect your Mac in the background (with a relatively modest resource footprint), and you can also schedule both scans and app updates every week, every day, or every other day, to make sure that … Read more

For those who run the ClamXav antivirus software for OS X, the latest public beta version (2.0.1) will launch in OS X Snow Leopard, but there are some problems that prevent it from fully functioning. These include the inability to run custom analysis of folders, and the program becoming unresponsive during usage. The developer "Mark Allan" recently responded to a forum posting, mentioning that he will soon be releasing the 2.0.2 update to the program, which should address these issues and get ClamXav running more smoothly on Snow Leopard.

Stay tuned, and hopefully ClamXav … Read more

Symantec is betting heavily that program behavior is the future battlefront of security and is making a big push in its 2010 security program lineup with a behavioral engine called Quorum.

Debuting Wednesday, both the basic Norton AntiVirus 2010 and the more robust Norton Internet Security 2010 will use Quorum, which Symantec is calling an advanced security network based both on traditional malware signatures and on reputation for both files and software.

The Quorum system uses the uniqueness of mutating malware against the threat itself, said Dan Nadir, director of product management for Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security. Multiple … Read more

Our family PC gets quite a workout. It's a five-year-old machine that runs Windows XP and is used primarily by my daughter and teenage grandson for instant messaging, e-mail, social networking, and downloading audio and video files. Since I rarely use the system, I didn't notice that its antivirus subscription had expired.

Which explains why I was a bit surprised when my grandson called when I was out of town to tell me that the PC was acting strangely. Ads appeared on the desktop as soon as Windows started and Firefox and other programs would occasionally close without … Read more

Best known for its ZoneAlarm firewall, Check Point Software also publishes two full-featured security suites. ZoneAlarm Internet Security 2010 gives users a robust firewall, antivirus and antispyware, and parental control package for $49.95, while ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 adds Web browsing protection, system tune-up tools, backup options, and antiphishing technology for three computers, which will set you back $69.95. The suite is effective, although not necessarily the best all around.

ZoneAlarm's well-known firewall is included, and after spending half a day with it on a Windows 7 computer we didn't notice any of the usability problems … Read more

Trend Micro released its 2010 security products earlier this week, with three programs offering varying levels of security and service. The comparatively barebones Trend Micro Antivirus + AntiSpyware clocks in at $40, with the basic suite Trend Micro Internet Security available for $10 more and $70 for the premium Trend Micro Internet Security Pro. They all come with a full-feature 30-day trial.

There's a lot that's new in the Pro version and some of that filters down to the other editions. Users can expect to get full Windows 7 support, auto-run disabling for USB keys, gaming, and video-watching awareness … Read more

If you're looking for a robust feature set from your security suite, and you want an affordable price, you could do worse than Trend Micro's 2010 products. Trend Micro Internet Security Pro, Trend Micro Internet Security, and the stripped-down Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware have been refreshed, with the publisher claiming significant performance enhancements to each.

Trend Micro is claiming that boot times are 20 percent faster than with the previous versions, that the programs use 40 percent less RAM, the download itself is 25 percent smaller, and that the quick scan on Windows Vista and Windows XP … Read more