I can highly recommend using common sense and a vm
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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virtual machine for games, my pc is medium specs, dunno if I can do that. No problem with common sense, is there an answer to my question please?
Most antivirus especially the free ones are not good and are kinda malware themselves. What you can do is to not download from very sketchy sites and maybe try uploading the binary to virustotal. Maybe also check if the binary is very obfuscated
cant stress this enough. read the tos on most antiviruses, they are free for a reason.
if you are on windows, use defender, its built in and enabled by default, so no need to worry.
use virustotal to scan files you download, and run it in a vm first if you still think it might be malicious.
what if the executables are large like all games basically?
VM with gpu rendering enabled (good emulation driver or passthrough), not enough for the best performance, but you can use software like fswatch (linux only, but windows certainly has something like it too) to see if the game will change anything on your system that it shouldnt.
the best course of action for games is finding a realiably safe source for them so you don't have to do this every single time.
This. Better not install any antivirus (other than windows defender) but ANY malware just a bit more sophisticated than something from a scriptkiddie can EASILY bypass windows defender. So please just don’t download from sites where you can download free games as all of those sites I have seem have malware in all their games. And remember just because you don’t see that there is a virus in your computer most malware just hide and silently mine bitcoin or other crypto and steal your credentials to for example discord
you think even Goat websites in the megathread are unsafe?
So any script kiddie can disable windows defender inside a PC with good group policies?. Defender I prefer it hardened, that a freeware antivirus. If you really are considering a security, setup Wazuh with sysmon alerta. A PC/instance with 2gb/vcpu for 3 agents is OK.
Maybe you can run X process AS other user with less privileges than SYSTEM.
No what I am saying is that any hacker BUT a scriptkiddie can disable windows defender
Any modern security program supports whitelisting.
You don't want to have any active scanning for threats, like antivirus? If so, why?
because it affects the performance of games? For instance I play MMO and I don't need anything security software related running while I play, am I thinking wrong?
If your computer is network connected you really really need antimalware running. In theory, a game server could be exploited and controlled to inject malware into game clients ( = you playing online).
If you use a browser to access internet, there has been malware infected ads that infect your computer when you visit legitimate web sites.
If you get infected, the malware most likely won't do anything that makes you notice it. It all depends what the purpose of the malware is.
Ransomware? Then it stays hidden until it has encrypted all your files and then it pops up telling you to pay or you won't be able to use your computer.
Collecting useful passwords? Getting full access to your Steam account is nice. Got some awesome weapons and armor in the MMORPG you play? That's something they theoretically would script to be able to steal from you.
Or maybe the malware just stays hidden for now, contacting it's control center now and then to see if there is any instructions.
Malware is business. The people behind it are businessmen and you are part of what they sell.
If you have a fairly modern computer there shouldn't be that much impact on the performance.
If on Windows, Windows defender is more than enough for all of that stuff. It's very effective, although does require an internet connection or it won't do as well
Yes. But the discussion was about not running any since it killed performance.
In recent years I'm very disappointed at antivirus software. I use a paid one, but I'm careful enough to not get into trouble, and they don't alert for spyware/stalkerware and adware, but report and autodelete every single crack and keygen as their own category on the sole basis that they might be more risky.
At least it's less resource intesive, I guess. Or it just knows better when not to do scans, but that shouldn't be that difficult for defender either.
Kaspersky and Malwarebytes are the top in the market I think
I use sandboxie-plus with some games.Most of them works without problem.You can restrict net and folder access in sandboxie settings.Sometimes fitgirl repacks can be problematic.
Afaik you can only restrict write access, file reads are not restricted.