• mansfield@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Kaspersky is just one piece of software to avoid. Others include:

    • Telegram
    • Avast AV
    • Anything from 360 Safe / Qihoo 360
    • Opera browser … now owned by above
    • Zoom
    • FileZilla / UTorrent / other PUA that bundles adware and acts essentially as a trojan
    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Add in:

      • TikTok
      • Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Threads
      • Reddit :)

      For antivirus, Microsoft’s built-in one is fine. Ideally use an OS that has better security and lower default permissions like popular Linux distros (at the very least, it’s a smaller target than Windows). I haven’t checked recently, but using Malware Bytes for occasional runs (not as active protection though) was good and is probably still good.

      But in general, use FOSS, at the very least they’ll probably not pull a Reddit and screw over their users.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Seriously. Windows Defender is an excellent piece of software, and its all you need. Paying for anything else is kinda foolish.

        If you’re on windows, you dont need anything else except maybe to install malware bytes once a month, run the scan, and uninstall it.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      7 months ago

      This just feels like a random hit list; how did you come up with it?

      Why zoom? It’s based out of San Francisco.

      I also object to the Telegram inclusion. Unless you want to include Discord, and various other server side encrypted communication apps. The founders may be Russians by birth but they have Ukrainian roots, are no longer Russian citizens, had their first company stolen from them by the Kremlin, etc. Also I always like to note, Einstein was a German by birth but he was no Nazi.

      What’s the FileZilla connection? Tim Kosse (which as far as I can tell it’s still the primary author) is a German.

        • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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          7 months ago

          I mean… That’s fair, I don’t recommend zoom, but those reasons have nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with a company that was willing to lie that they had E2EE and didn’t.

      • mansfield@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        This very partial list is based on my being in cyber security for 20 years and working a variety of incidents involving these apps. You all can do whatever you want with your computers.

        • magnusrufus@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          That you didn’t give a helpful answer makes me doubt you where as before I was interested in what you had to say.

    • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Telegram is better than WhatsApp. At least it has a decent Linux client, and all clients are open source. WhatsApp has neither.

      • SpaceMan9000@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Unless you’re constantly using secret chats all your data is stored in plain text… This is actually worse than WhatsApp

      • Suffocate9920@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Maybe better client and more features. But Russians have full access to servers and messages. They could read whatever they want. It’s a fact that proved during war that Russia started in Ukraine.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I don’t even use antivirus software anymore. Previously, every time I found a new one recommended by security experts I thought I could trust, about a year later, it turned to shit or was relieved to always having been shit. Now I just backup my stuff and vet any executable. I don’t do any serious work on my Windows install anyway, so nuking it isn’t a problem.

      • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Just don’t use it for secure comms and anything tangentially connected for what you consider “secure” matters. Simple as.

    • Apalacrypto@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Out of curiosity, why Telegram? (Im out of the loop on this one)

      As for uTorrent, I’ve got version 2.2.1 and have never allowed it to update in the last decade or however long it’s been. I think that was the last version that didn’t allow any ads or otherwise and was simply a solid p2p client at the time.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        7 months ago

        Because it’s less (because of history stored on server and use of OTR being problematic) secure than ICQ in year 2003, prone to phishing and, yes, made by people I wouldn’t trust.

      • ShadowCat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        may I ask why didn’t you just switch to qbittorrent? is there a feature that utorrent has but qbit doesn’t?

        • Apalacrypto@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Never needed to or even thought about it. uTorrent never gave me any issues and was super lightweight. Additionally, there was a fansubbed anime site I was a member of for a long time that had a limited whitelist of p2p clients last they would allow their trackers to function on. uT 2.2.1 was one of those.

          That pc seldom gets used anymore nowadays anyway, as my main pc is running OpenSuse and ktorrent does all I need it to.

    • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      There’s nothing really wrong with telegram.

      It’s just social media for people who aren’t indoctrinated by the west.