Where is Your Antivirus Made? - Comments Page 1

Thank You
I use Norton. I do not & never did trust any Anti-Virus programs that has any ties (design, manufacture, distribution, ownership) with certain countries, which I will not list.
This is one area that we need Government (USA) control, regulation, testing, standards, responsibility etc.
Each program should be scrutinzed, review, tested & graded.
All programs, regardless, should be allowed to be sold, but must have a Govm't testing grade attached to it. Like the USDa, CR, UWL etc. Like buying fresh meat.

I will continue to avoid security products (and most software in general) that are made in totalitarian countries. Their financial incentive to be righteous in their actions could very easily be trumped by their desire to remain alive. It is true that other companies could be blackmailed. But, you have to be able to control many people within a company to hide malicious code. Keeping them all quieter is easier when the government is holding a gun to their head vs financial blackmail. BTW, I initially downloaded Kingsoft office software, but deleted it when I found out it was a Chinese company. THE USA is far from perfect, but watergate and Snowden have shown us that their are limitations to our governmental powers.

Avast, Maties!!!!!!!!!! I see pirates, pirate films. AARRRRRRRRRRRHHHH rated.

Interesting article and gives me pause. It's not important to me where the antivirus product comes from. I agree with you, if it is submitted for independent testing it can most likely be trusted. If not, be suspicious. If the product is not submitted it could also mean the effectiveness of it is dubious.

Yes, I thing the facts in this article are probably absolutely quite true and i have often
wondered myself wheather to put total faith in many things dealing with the internet and updates
as well. I even on ocassion get hit to update
something or notices that my computer runs slow and to have some company run a scan to find the
problem,but considering my computer is old and need registry worked on but does ok and will tend to the other things when the right time comes..

I was surprised that brand name anti-virus software came from some countries that we may not get along with all that well, but I guess it doesn't matter that much as long as the software does what it is supposed to. Like you, I am running Avast and follow your recommendations. I am sure if you knew of anything bad about Avast or any other software, you would surely let your audience know ASAP. Thanks for your service.

Help! PC Matic is........ American.

Sounds a little different when someone says it about one's own country.

Jon

My favorite, and a consistent high scorer in AV tests is F-Secure, headquartered in Finland.

Bob, excellent article!!!

I have known, this information for a long time, now. At first, I thought ... What??? Then, I realized, that the foreign countries were getting the virus information, faster than we were in the USA.

I first started with AVG, used the FREE version, for years. Then, it just became too bloated. I had tried Avast! and decided to try it, again. I was so pleased with Avast!, because, the Avast! FREE version, was the only Anti-Virus program, that had Anti-Root Kits, as part of the FREE version!!!

Two years ago, I decided to purchase the Avast! Internet Security paid program. I got an excellent deal, for 3 PC's for 3 years!!! Bottom line, I was only paying about $10 per year, for each PC. I am an Avast! supporter. I trust the company and their product. I also, have Avast! on my mobile phone, it is an Android and anyone, who doesn't have an Anti-Virus program, on their Android mobile phone ... Is asking for trouble!!!

In the beginning, the earliest programs where for Spyware! Then Malware was added, to the Spyware programs. Then, Viruses, Trojan Horses, Worms and so forth, were coming in your Emails ... You HAD to have an Anti-Virus, just for your own protection!!! Now, all of those baddies are on the Internet and can be part of a download, a website, a social media place ... Literally, just anywhere on the Internet. If, you want your Desktop or Laptop to function properly, you NEED to have an Anti-Virus program, installed on your computer ... It's that simple!!!

Was surprised to see AVAST was made in the Czech Republic. They do Indians for tech support. Even told me my computer was slow because MBAM and Ccleaner was the cause. Wanted to clean my computer up for $170+. Not sure if I want to continue using AVAST if this is the way they operate.

Another great thought-provoking article!
To reword 2 of your statements regarding "Who Can You Trust?", I would like to complicate matters with the following >> "we have no assurances..." even when "...the source code is available for scrutiny"!

Just a note, Avast currently has a nasty bug causing extreme constant disk activity to a FEW folks. Those in the Avast forum can't seem to get an answer as to when it will be fixed.

There are various "stop the bug" but no assurance it will not restart. It can burn the rated number of writes of an SSD pretty fast.

Just watch for constant disk activity. I really like Avast Free but keep checking my HDD activity so check it didn't go south again.

Reference:

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=167422.0

While I am currently using Norton on our various computers, I have used Avast!, AVG, and others in the past, and still recommend to my associates who want a free AV program. (For a while, some of these programs were the only choice for "legacy" operating systems.)

I never encountered any hints that these programs--no matter where they were created--behaved unethically, nor would I have any qualms about using the highly rated ones in the future.

Just because a company is outside the United States does not make it untrustworthy.

I'm not much concerned where it's made so long as it works. I'm more concerned about where the tech support is located. That's why I use PC Matic. When I had a problem, I contacted tech support right here in the good old USA and spoke to someone that had English as their first language.

WORLD TRADE BALANCE has me more concerned, and let's lot forget who holds most of our debt - China and they will soon be the number one economic power in the world. They tend to operate with a different moral and cultural code. I try to stay free - and my ISP provides a USofA program, and I also use a couple of others to catch false +/-.

Country of Origin: if it passes an independent test it MAY be OK. There are so many places and ways to hide malware in an anti-mal-software program I doubt any country other than perhaps the Soviet Union (did I just show my age?) has the ability the store the gig-a-microsecond flow of data, so I doubt that on the surface there is little to worry about. Backdoors for DOS may be everywhere. I doubt China is collecting information, on INDIVIDUALS, but remember it only takes a few thousand computers to initiate a DOS attack. That's how I think when I'm paranoid.

When I am not Paranoid, I think: who better to build anti-virus software than those who are among the top masters of hacking and software in general -- without evil intent. Then the world goes back to peace and quiet where we can start to trust each other again. Peace Out! -- Doc --

Dear Bob,
Thank you very much for a very informative article. I had no idea that some anti-virus software comes from foreign countries. I am usually clueless about such things, which is why I am so grateful to you for keeping me informed. Since I use Webroot and am very satisfied with it, I was relieved to note that it is based in the U.S. I am just not interested in getting something as important as anti-virus software from a foreign country.
Thanks much.

Daniel's comment caught my attention, Bob. AskBob has previously listed Kingsoft, now known as WPS, as an acceptable freeware substitute for Microsoft Office. I noticed when I examined it that it comes from China, and, as Daniel mentioned, I was concerned about whether I should be suspicious that it might harbor backdoors or spyware. Since you listed it as acceptable, and after checking it out as well as I could independently on my own, I decided to try it. So far, I am well-satisfied with it, and at least up to now have no reason, in terms of spyware found by my antispyware software at least, to think it may be 'reporting back' from my computer to its Chinese makers

Interesting and very informative article. I always research any software, before I download it. A smart consumer is an informed consumer.

I use ESET. If I didn't use ESET, I'd use Kaspersky.

Kaspersky has been keeping users safe for nearly 20 years. Now that I have proof of the half-truths and fabrications that Bloomberg passes off as news, I will never trust anything they publish ever again.

Sheesh.

Thank you for this very interesting article. I use BitDefender and was actually surprised that it was Romanian. But, having said that, BitDefender is highly recommended and has been tested so I believe that it can be trusted about as much as anything can be trusted in todays world.