[R-pkg-devel] Internet security software?

[Joris Meys]

Hi Spencer,

I've abandoned Bitdefender for the reason you give: it gave me too much trouble with false positives and seemingly random blocking of all kinds of tools at one point. But the reason is not Bitdefender in itself. It worked perfectly fine until the updates came for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. Somehow these patches messed with the workings of Bitdefender, leading to the problems you describe. As Windows 7 is no longer maintained, these problems won't be solved.

So first of all, you should abandon Windows 7. Even if it would work fine, it's a huge security risk. No point in having an antivirus if you run an OS that's no longer maintained. Either move to Windows 10 or change for a Linux distro (Ubuntu is imho the one Windows users find most easy to adapt to. Your mileage may vary).

As for antivirus, I'm now using Kaspersky and am liking it so far (2 years now). I find it less intrusive than Bitdefender as well, even though I had no complaints in the past. 

Kind regards
Joris

--
Joris Meys
Statistical consultant

Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling
Ghent University
Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
------------------------------

Disclaimer : http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php


________________________________________
From: R-package-devel <r-package-devel-bounces using r-project.org> on behalf of Spencer Graves <spencer.graves using effectivedefense.org>
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 10:49 PM
To: List r-package-devel
Subject: [R-pkg-devel] Internet security software?

Hello, All:


       What antivirus / internet security software do you use and
recommend?


       I've used Bitdefender for years.  However, I've been encountering
an increasing number of problems with software I've used for years.
Some of my problems disappear when I turn off parts of Bitdefender.
However, I've been unable to use RStudio on my Windows 7 computer since
early last November.  Also, when I turn off certain features of
Bitdefender, "R CMD build sos" (with sos cloned from
"https://github.com/sbgraves237/sos") completes in a few minutes.  With
Bitdefender configured normally, "R CMD build sos" stops without warning
on "* creating vignettes".  I've left it for days like that without it
moving beyond that point.  No error message but also no progress.


       Rather than doing a web search for alternative internet security
software, I thought I'd ask you all:  If some of you have had similar
problems with other antivirus / internet security software, I think I'd
be more likely to hear it from you than from a web search.  Some of my
problems may not be due to Bitdefender, but I know that some are, and
Bitdefender tech support answers the phone but fails to fix these problems.


       Thanks,
       Spencer Graves

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