- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Been using it for over 24 years and it hasn't let me down.
Defender is okay as a safety net but otherwise it's all about using your brain and not being a dipshit when you use your PC. In my case terminal autism also helps. I know how Windows executables work, what they can do and how to check what they're doing, and what tools I can use to do so. For example, I get some pirated software, comes with an installer and a keygen/crack. I check the installer, it's signed so it's clean, but the keygen/crack is the wildcard. So I whip up a VM, run it in there to see what it does and what files it changes, I then verify those and migrate only those to the host OS. Obviously common sense and good judgment comes into play when a cracked .exe/.dll comes out positive in VirusTotal. Is it lighting up like a Christmas tree from all vendors with consistent malware detections, or is it a handful of detections from lesser known AV engines that's some mix of "Generic/Keygen/PUA" threats?
Very roundabout and unorthodox way of dealing with software, I know, but it is effective. Knowing that you have files and registry keys, knowing where they all sit, knowing what Windows installers do and how you can mimic them by manually migrating aforementioned files and registry keys, that you can use Process Monitor to see what the executable is doing, then putting it all together and essentially installing something manually in a clean manner where you know what's going on is a useful skill. Also comes in handy when dealing with old games where you don't want to end up with dirty leftovers or something screwing up due to a 20 year wide discrepancy between what Windows used to behave and what it behaves now.
