Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23948 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:46 pm Post subject: What's the Best Free Anti-Virus?
AVAST have a special offer running that I thought I would share with you all. Anyone can download AVAST Internet Security for free. That's right, it’s absolutely free, forever.
On top of that, AVAST will give you 6 months of Pro protection for every new friend that you invite and they install the software.
You can download AVAST virus protection from the official site:
https://www.avast.com
Once you have it installed, look for the "Earn Rewards" area in the GUI.. From there, I'm sure you'll work it out.
What anti-virus or malware protection do you guys have running?
ArchAngle V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: v1.6 Modded: Xecuter 2.6 CE
Joined: Oct 03, 2014 Posts: 368
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:20 pm Post subject:
Like many people I use Malwarebytes ('Free') for checking downloads and regular scanning of drives to make sure nothing has sneaked past the AV protection onto their system. If it has that will usually get rid of it very effectively.
I also use good old Spybot. It has a semi-active element which apparently saved me from a couple of keyloggers that at different times had managed to get onto my PC. Malwarebytes detected them too when I did a full scan but Spybot was the first to flag them.
The warning came after the event though which was not quite what I would have hoped but the fact is my AV did not provide any warning and it did not find them even with a full system scan.
Both the above are small footprint and will work quite happily alongside an AV.
I guess this thread has a significant marketing motivation so I'll try to be careful what I say about AVAST.
I have had experience with AVAST ('Free') although not the most recent versions. Consequently I'm not qualified to talk about those or the Pro version. They still get consistently good reviews in most UK PC magazines.
IMHO the good old AVAST ('Free') version I know by and large you could get to stick to doing just the job you wanted it to do, unobtrusively. Those have always been the two most important things I've wanted from an AV. Definitions updated and then quiet, discrete, effective protection.
Problem is that AVAST's updates/new versions sometimes removed useful features, were slow to improve those things that really needed it but often added extra unnecessary ones. Over the years it became more intrusive too ie. regular pop-ups, often thinly disguised self-promotional ads.
There is point at which that becomes intolerable and if AVAST marketing department think that the promise of there being less of it in the Pro version is an incentive to upgrade they're deluding themselves.
AVAST's purchase of Piriform's once essential CCleaner tool has lead it down the same sort of path. I can't articulate just how much that has annoyed me.
Last edited by ArchAngle on Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:25 pm Post subject:
Ten years ago I used to run Avast with a monthly malwarebytes scan and a monthly super antispyware scan. A few years of running that never found a single issue. Since 2012, I haven't even thought about anti-virus on my Windows parition. Windows Defender is good enough on Windows as long as you are diligent about what you download. On Linux there is no need for anti-virus. _________________
forahobby Administrator
Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23948 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:17 pm Post subject:
dartht33bagger wrote:
Ten years ago I used to run Avast with a monthly malwarebytes scan and a monthly super antispyware scan. A few years of running that never found a single issue. Since 2012, I haven't even thought about anti-virus on my Windows parition. Windows Defender is good enough on Windows as long as you are diligent about what you download. On Linux there is no need for anti-virus.
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:37 pm Post subject:
Hey! Good to see not much has changed around here. Its exactly as I remember it. Every year or two I usually drop in to see if this site is still up and running. After Xbox Scene shutdown a few years ago this is pretty much the only site that still has information about modding the Original Xbox.
I hope all is going well for you! _________________
Xbmcmodsforxbox Moderator
Joined: Aug 13, 2018 Posts: 612 Location: United States
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:55 am Post subject:
Yea you should join the discord chat and I really like Malwarebytes a good anti virus program
Xbmcmodsforxbox Moderator
Joined: Aug 13, 2018 Posts: 612 Location: United States
Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23948 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 2:20 am Post subject:
dartht33bagger wrote:
After Xbox Scene shutdown a few years ago this is pretty much the only site that still has information about modding the Original Xbox.
XS took the money and run. He must have made at least half a million. f#&@ one guy was paying him $10k a month just for ads at one stage. Probably relaxing on a beach somewhere I'd say.
ArchAngle V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: v1.6 Modded: Xecuter 2.6 CE
Joined: Oct 03, 2014 Posts: 368
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 2:22 pm Post subject:
After XS closed there were still other good Xbox modding sites, like the fairly recently imploded ISOZone Its very active dedicated Xbox forum had a number of ex-XS regulars and occasional visits from others along with its own string of very knowledgeable Xbox modders. Some of them now contribute here too.
I was a regular XS forum visitor and contributor from 2006 onwards and, with one or two die hards, was there right up to the end even after the traffic dropped to a trickle.
It was there I learned about, first started using and suggesting SID/AID to newbies myself. I even crossed swords, in a very minor way, with Heimdall about that, particularly after he created his still highly recommended HeXEn package.
There is still a huge knowledge base for the Xbox out there it is just that it is becoming increasing isolated because of such forum closures. It will slowly be lost if it isn't gathered, archived and nurtured here.
forahobby Administrator
Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23948 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 3:21 pm Post subject:
ArchAngle wrote:
I was a regular XS forum visitor and contributor from 2006 onwards and, with one or two die hards, was there right up to the end even after the traffic dropped to a trickle.
Before XBOX-HQ, I used to run two other sites (a DreamCast site and a Satellite TV hacking website). My Xbox hacking journey began when my younger brother came to me in early 2002 with his shiny new Xbox. I was already modding PlayStation, DC and Satellite boxes etc so he asked me to mod his XBOX. I plugged it in, seen Halo and was blown away. It had to be done.
The very first site I found was a site called xboxhacker. I picked up quite a bit of info from the users there. Everyone was friendly and helpful and after several suggestions I ordered a whole bunch of mod-chips from lik-sang. (First Gen 29 wires. Enigmah-X.) I think i bought 10 first time. I must have installed all 10 chips in like 2 weeks. They went super quick.
Anyway, not long after that, probably a few days or weeks, I found xbox-scene and thought that It would be a similar experience so I signed up and headed into the forums. XS had lots of tutorials and at first seemed really really useful. Well, that was until I asked for suggestions on the best chips, places to buy and just general bios and dashboard questions..
After posting my first few threads in the forum, the only reply I received was the "use the search" feature reply over and over. I asked a few more questions and was banned. The whole experience was horrible. I received PMs and messages from the staff basically trolling me. In the end, I decided to contact Xantium (i thin it was) and I didn't even get a reply. Months later I did manage to get my account unblocked but I never used the site again.
Update: I actually did go back to promote our first version of AID and SID, but they blocked all of our links and called me a lamer for charging. Let's put it this way, if i never setup our VIP MEMBERSHIP, we would have been gone many many years ago. XS was just losing money, some of his advertisers left and came to HQ, so he was very upset. They also leaked lots of info that they really shouldn't have as well. But I'm a nice guy, i don't wish anything bad for anyone.
To cut a long story short, another friend of mine HQ member VictoriaBitter (RIP Brad) said to me, "screw these guys man, just build your own", so i did. XBOX-HQ was born. A whole heap of the HQ staff joined us from xboxs-scene.
Joined: Apr 15, 2005 Posts: 749 Location: Newcastle, Australia
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:38 pm Post subject: Re: What's the Best Free Anti-Virus?
forahobby wrote:
What anti-virus or malware protection do you guys have running?
Bitdefender _________________
ArchAngle V.I.P. Lifetime Xbox Version: v1.6 Modded: Xecuter 2.6 CE
Joined: Oct 03, 2014 Posts: 368
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:09 am Post subject:
Those comments about the unfriendliness on the XS forum are so true. I can say it now but it was without doubt the most stupidly unfriendly place for noobs. The TOS rules were Draconian and if you transgressed once, even accidentally, you were banned for two weeks and if it happened again that was it.
It took me ages to be accepted and even though I contributed in my own limited way a lot of stuff over the years my forum ID was permanently marked right up to the end with the two warning marks I was given for my accidental transgression.
What was my 'crime'? Posting a link in a thread to a page which hosted links to downloads for the then current AID version. The problem was that I wasn't using a PC, I only owned a TV set top box web browser, and it didn't display downloads because you could not download anything. I tried to explain after I was allowed back on the forum but it fell on deaf ears.
I'm glad to say I found other Xbox places like this that have or, in the case of those have gone now, had a much more welcoming feel.
dartht33bagger Moderator
Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 5408 Location: Oregon, USA
The Xbox-Scene comments mirror my experience. Sometime in early 2007 I got into Xbox modding and spent about two weeks reading everything I could about the topic. Some question came up in March that I couldn't find the answer to, so I made an account on Xbox-Scene as that was the site that came up most frequently in my research. I was immediately banned for asking whatever the question was without any way to appeal the ban.
Soon after that I migrated over here as this was the second most frequent site to show up in my research. The community here was a lot more helpful and nicer, so I stayed. From when I joined to sometime in 2010, checking this site for new threads to assist people in was the first thing I did after school. It was a really fun experience that got me into computers and peaked my interest into doing it as a career. _________________
Last edited by dartht33bagger on Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:50 am; edited 1 time in total
forahobby Administrator
Joined: May 22, 2003 Posts: 23948 Location: NSW, Australia
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
HQ Network: 10,431 | 
Guests: 2700 | 
Members: 1 
Forums 
Good to see not much has changed around here. Its exactly as I remember it. Every year or two I usually drop in to see if this site is still up and running. After Xbox Scene shutdown a few years ago this is pretty much the only site that still has information about modding the Original Xbox.
