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Tearing Apart a Hard-Sell Anti-Virus Ad
climenole writes "I came across an email sent by a security vendor, reminding me, no urging me with the liver-transplant sort of urgency, to renew my subscription to their product, lest my pixels perish. I spent a minute or two staring at the email, thinking about all the poor souls out there who do not have the comfort of being a geek and who may actually take the advertisement seriously." That led to this insightful deconstruction of these over-the-top ads, the kind that make it hard to keep straight the malware makers and the anti-malware makers.
Friend of mine has the most annoying product ever. Whenever it updates itself, it plays a recording of a voice saying "virus database updated". So we'll just be sitting there and hear that. Since a well-functioning anti-virus just does its thing without bugging the user for the most part, the ones that are for profit have to make themselves loudly obvious and play up the threat level (not to imply there isn't one of course).
I'm not convinced anti-viruses are any better than snake oil, really. Some like Norton are basically viri themselves, slowing your system to a crawl, and all they can do is look for fingerprints of known viri. Sure they can occasionally be bandaids on a sucking chest wound, but the main key to windows security is to not expect it, stay updated, avoid IE, and not run random programs strangers email you. Sure there might be a 0 day in your browser or mail client that causes something like a picture to execute code, but those aren't the main uses.
*gets off rantbox*
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
You seem to use the exact same hyperbole that you claim is so harmful. This is a needless article that is preaching to the choir.
Seriously, there are blatant scams advertised and you write an article about a product emphasizing its need.
Right up there with those assholes at Domain Registry of America.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
It's not any more ethically wrong than anything else. The REAL problem are those "YOU HAVE A VIRUS CLICK HERE" fake-windows webpages. Even if you know better sometimes finding a way out can be tricky because the fuckers have started opening "OK" boxes over where you'd normally click to close the window.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
do you wish to assert that your dying young is not going to have some sort of social cost I have to pick up?
I question the dimbulb argument. I have a very nice IQ. No doubt I am a dimbulb here and there anyway. But tobacco has often been a big issue in my life. And I come out of an era where tobacco company out and out lies are well established. I wonder how I should process your remarks.
Lastly your argument would also support giving out smack on the street corner. Somehow, I suspect that you would find making that argument inconvenient.