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Comment from Wolf on 2011-04-06

2011-04-06T21:06:47Z

I have noticed a lot of companies have slim installers for installing the programs, these are really just links to the online installer. I suggest hunting for the full installer on the creators website and download it and then scan it and reboot to Safe Mode and install that way. Leo, what do you think of this?

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Comment from Russ on 2011-04-05

2011-04-06T04:02:29Z

As Mike mentioned, I too found that when I wanted to install a program the infamous 'turn your anti-virus off' message appears. I too, decided to not use avg and and a couple of others because you could never find an 'off' button. I am using mse also, one, because it comes highly recommended and its free, and two, its very user friendly and you can turn it off if needed. I have never installed in safe mode... Leo, any comments on our observations?

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Comment from Wolf on 2011-04-05

2011-04-05T19:29:17Z

I always install programs in Safe Mode. Saying this I will say that is the best way I have found to do a safe install, because even the installed program is not running in Safe Mode after it has been installed. Once installed, I restart and let the computer start up normally. Avast is then running along with MalWareBytes and Super AntiSpyware. Since I started doing it this way I have had several programs that would have not been caught if I had installed in Normal Mode. If I have no problems running the program, or none of my security programs popup anything on it I then install it on my other computers.

Also I scan the installer before I install it with Avast, MalWareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware. One hit and I check for a false/positive. If it is a legitimate hit, then I delete the installer and scan my system with all my scanners.

I am running Windows XP Home with no Service Packs or Microsoft updates. I st behind a hardware and software firewall and Avast scans websites before Firefox opens them. I do nightly scans with several system based programs and a weekly online scan from several online scanners like Panda and Karpursky(sp).

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Comment from Mike on 2011-04-05

2011-04-05T18:58:41Z

For a long time, I used AVG for anti-virus protection. Then, one of their upgrades was buggy, so I uninstalled it and switched to Avira. However, it did not permit on/off switching. The only way to turn it off was to entirely uninstall the program. I tried a couple other A/V programs that had the same issue. Going back to (further upgraded) AVG, I saw they adopted the same feature; no way to selectively turn it off without uninstalling it. So I gave up on all of them. Fortunately, I've been using MSE with no problems and it's been highly recommended, as well. And I CAN turn it off if the need should ever arise.

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Comment from Cesar on 2008-05-18

2008-05-18T14:47:10Z

U can't disconnect from the internet if U R downloading from a provider's internet page. If U R putting it onto your desktop, aren't U already at risk?

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Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2008-04-07

2008-04-07T17:51:59Z

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

"Seconds to infection" typically applies more towards your
firewall, and specifically on an unpatched machine. That
means that if your machine is NOT up-to-date on Windows
patches, AND you are not behind a firewall, your machine
will be infected in seconds. Even if you are up-to-date new
threats are always arriving, and a firewall will block any
that are network-accessed based.

It is typically quite safe to disable your anti-virus for
the duration of an installation, as long as a) you don't do
something else during the install (like surf the net,
download files, and so on), and b) you turn it back on when
the installation is done.

Leo

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Comment from Margherita on 2008-04-07

2008-04-07T09:57:18Z

I experienced major problems with Norton Anti Virus that came with my laptop by default and had an extrememly hard time getting it off my pc... I couldn't even connect to our network because of it. Couldn't install certain programs... I got to a point where I couldn't browse the net, but still be able to chat on Skype. Someone in our IT department told me that Norton is a virus in itself. Luckily my friend helped me to find an uninstall tool to get it off my system and I have now resorted to AVG which proves to be more stable. (I'm running Vista.)

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Comment from John E on 2008-04-07

2008-04-07T09:02:32Z

Please don't disable your A/V software, anti-spyware and firewall unless you have disconnected your computer from the internet first! It may only take seconds for a 'bot to discover an unprotected machine and compromise it - and you'd never know.

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Comment from Mary on 2008-04-06

2008-04-06T16:43:19Z

Jeanne - If you have Adobe Reader 8.x you might want to look through this Adobe KB article and the manual steps to uninstall:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb400769&sliceId=1

Brian - As I understand things, when you're randomly surfing the net or visiting unknown sites, your risks for malware increase tremendously. But if you're downloading from a known site or installing something from a disk, it's pretty safe to temporarily disable your AV, firewall, etc. I also seem to recall reading that downloads should first be saved to the desktop, then run an AV scan, and finally, if the scan is clean to install the program to hard drive.

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Comment from Brian on 2008-04-06

2008-04-06T15:17:50Z

What bugs the hell out of me is that I,m always hearing that it only takes seconds to have your computer infected because you don,t have anti-virus stuff set up. If you disable your anti-virus are you not looking for problems?

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Comment from Jeanne on 2008-04-05

2008-04-05T18:40:41Z

I've been in the group that ignores the warnings to disable AV and AS. However, we do have a totally nonfunctional (and as it turns out non-removable) version of Adobe reader, and I wonder if it's the dreaded "something that looks like a "successful" install that doesn't really work."

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Comment from Mary on 2008-04-05

2008-04-05T09:20:54Z

It doesn't take all that long to temporarily disable the AV, AS and firewall. I've personally experienced corrupted installs because of my AV or firewall. Guess I'm always the 10th person or not a part of the vast majority.

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Comment from Chris on 2008-04-02

2008-04-02T22:27:19Z

Same situtation when installers tell you close close other programs before continuing. The vast majority of the time it is completely unnecessary.

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Comment from Dan Ullman on 2008-04-02

2008-04-02T20:52:34Z

Actually, most programs that create installations include that warning on their page templates. 9 times out of 10 it can be ignored. I use two different installation packages and have for years. Both had the warning but neither I nor my customers ever noticed it. Someone finally did and, since it wasn't necessary, I removed it.

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