Do antivirus software developers create viruses?

Very good observation; most antivirus companies never release updates on the weekend. Personally I think they're too lazy and that we're not getting our money's worth. I would also like to point out that having AV companies create viruses would be like helping the hackers; the key to any good piece of antivirus software is a well written heuristics routine which is what software like AVG AntiVirus and Norton AntiVirus use to catch known or in some cases even new in the wild viruses. If you want my personal advice go to sf.net or sourceforge.net and download ClamAV; it's free and it has done a great job of protecting my Mac; it even finds stuff Norton or McAfee might not ever find (in fact numerous people on Apple's Discussions forums praise ClamXav for this). If you need proof just go to the site I mentioned, search for ClamAV and read the excellent articles that are praising it for being better than even some commercial AV software. Make sure that your antivirus vendor also has a recourse for you to submit virus samples which they may not yet have definitions for. Which leads me to how do I submit a virus which I know I've detected once but does not exist in any known AV virus database? In fact strangely it was that ancient MSAV that detected the virus for me. Is there any way for me to send in MSAV's virus definition/heuristics data for it?

Yes, of course there is a way, an easy way. My Anti Virus company www.eset.com (Nod32 anti virus program) has told me to do it in the following manner. And it has worked twice for me.

Zip the infected file. Password protect the zipped file. Send the zipped file off by e mail to your AV Company as an attachment, telling them that the zipped attachment is infected and giving them the password.

If you do not zip the file and password protect it, it will of course be detected by the various anti-virus parsing agents along the message route and will be deleted, never to arrive at its destination.

Your advice to be sure that your AV company offers to examine virus samples is very good advice. One reason I moved from Norton AV, Norton didn't offer this; another reason is that Norton would never answer any of my requests for support. You need both of these services from your anti virus supplier. The third reason is that you need PROMPT service. When you have a virus you need help fast.

melking

Why would you need to send a sample of a known virus to an AV company in order to have it removed? Norton now and then will ask for it, but they do indeed have a place in their quarantine section for just such a purpose,and it's rare that they will ask.
My understanding of the process was, this is a monitoring device for Norton to keep track of distribution of various viruses.
Norton (and most other AV programs I've seen) don't need a virus sample to tell you how to get rid of it, the help section does just that, if needed, and it's very good; very thorough, even showing you where in the registry to look, etc etc.
Most importantly, the entire purpose of an AV program is to REMOVE the virus, not merely tell you you have one.

AVG at least does release updates on weekends and holidays -- and sometimes more than one update per day. Even for their free product. That's one reason I find assurance using their product.

I think there are enough real viruses written and modified that anti-virus writers have enough to do without being part time criminals.

I've never met a programmer worth his salt who didn't have ideas on how to improve the systems they work on, if and when, they find themselves with some spare time.

Volunteer firemen occasionally have been convicted of arson, and there's some merrit to the saying "never say never". So it may imprudent to claim that no anti-virus programmer ever has written one or none ever will. I remember a relative who suddenly engaged in bizarre and very out of character behavior - before he died of a brain tumor.

The world has so many REAL problems worth worrying about: non-sustainable policies are rapidly leading to ecological disaster; incompentent, ignorant and childish political leaders; etc., etc. Why waste time worrying about events of very low priority or probability, instead of doing something about real, critical problems before it's too late?

There have been times when NAV has run updates daily for a week when something large was floating around...and if four years they have never, as long as my definitions are up to date, let a virus slip past the front door. McAfee misses maybe one in fifty, and honey, that's all you need. If I was running McAfee alone I'd be in serious trouble.

I believe that Good and reputable Anti- virus software makers will not create viruses.

With attrition rates being what they are in the software Industry it wont be long before a disgruntled employee or an upright employee's sense of integrity forces him/her to go public with the knowledge that his/her erstwhile employers are the creators of both the virus and the anti virus!!!!

This sort of dishonest practices can be boldly practised in small outfits were the stakeholder is also the sole ''worker''

Renrah

I'm not saying CNET is going to give the folks at Gallup sleepless nights, but this isn't a bad poll at all. You have to admit that you don't have to be a hardcore conspiracy theorist to wonder whether folks who make their money off viruses aren't quietly applauding *at the very least* everytime a new bagel virus appears.

Along with insurance companies, security system manufacturers and providers, etc, AVS companies make their money when things go bad. I'm not necessarily saying that their highly paid boys in suits are gathering behind closed doors to plan the next virus release. But it only takes one of their vested engineers with the know how and need of a kitchen remodeling or accelerated retirement to write a bit o' code...

Just logical.

Would it really surprise you if they had a cure for cancer, and the drug companies used their huge might and money to buy it up and sit on it? The oil companies love to do that with progress on cleaner technologies... In the end, many, many people don't care about the future, well-being, or lives of fellow men and women, they just see the almighty dollar.

In the risk of going off on a tangent and making this be completely off-topic - whether the "cure for cancer" thing is true or not, the drug companies go way too far for their fees... I was faced with taking pills one time that cost $10 a pill! People with major diseases can end up paying $20,000 a year for medicine alone! IMO, there ought to be a law. I don't care if we're a capitalisitc nation and that's a move towards socialism... there still ought to be a law.

Sorry for the rant, needed to vent.

I have some suspicions that AV firms may invent viruses, because I did an online scan which found two alleged viruses that Norton 2005 did not find. Also F-Secure finds fault with the autorun from my network installation, while Norton and AVG do not. Norton, on the other hand, keeps finding Trojans of similar type but slightly different spec, but the other progs don't. They have also just recently found a sasser exploit, said it couldn't be removed, told me to go to their website, and download the removal tool, which I did, but it said I didn't have the sasser anyway. So I don't know what to believe. I have used Norton for years, with no special problems, and it almost never finds anything until the recent sasser. I don't like to impugn a good company, but if an unscrupulous company wanted to increase its business, or persuade customers to update to a newer version, one way to do it would be to invent invasions which may not even exist, and/or find viruses on an online scan. Who would know? I am on broadband, and have the XP firewall plus the ISP's firewall, but if you lock all that down, you can't do anything on the net, and various windows don't open, or pictures show, all of which is a bigger aggravation than the slight possibility of a virus or Trojan or worm. Plus I am on a USB 2 network of two computers, and some firewalls do not make it easy to share or even set up a network, so I have ditched Zone Alarm. Currently, I have Norton on my host, and AVG on the client, just in case anything gets through the network.

I think that you proved that one of the two programs interfered with the other.

I have one of the mentioned products, and I have never had a bit of trouble. I have had 2 virus attacks in 6 years, and I was able to take care of both of them within a short amount of time by following the instructions given by the company.

Do not run more than one anti-virus application at the same time. They will fight one another, since they work in real time. This is standard wisdom. I'm surprised you've never been told this.

People have done many unethical things to improve business. This could easily be happening without us knowing.

Microsoft Developes halfassed apps right, & why?
"Hello, Microsoft support line, $3.99 a minute."

People who use Apple, Linux or other OSes are generally more computer savvy. Anyone can use Windows - at least until it crashes with adware, spyware & viruses. People using the other OSes not only know more about how to set-up and protect a computer, but would also detect when something was wrong much quicker. Windows likes to keep all the inner workings a secret from the end user, making it much easier for attackers to hide what they are doing.

Viruses being treason? I dunno... but I think death is a little extreme. In this world where child molesters walk free to kill and molest again, Martha Stewart gets more time on a leg bracelet, and pot smokers can get more time in jail than a rapist (since when is 5 years enough for a rapist? Good Lord, castrate 'em...), where would we be if we put someone to death for writing code?