Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
NF, some food takes days to get through your system, especially beef, if some one went right after eating they must have a medical problem. Either that or be solidly packed from stem to stern so that the new pushes out the oldest.
That's actually true. Most Westerners are backed up just like you describe because they eat too much meat (esp. us meat & potatoes Americans). Of course, we have plenty of opportunity to eat less meat, something that we should probably not take for granted. That is in sharp contrast to how it is for people in the less developed world: their diets are mostly fruits, vegetables, and hopefully not too much starch (which is what typically is given in camps and shelters, unfortunately). Even if we ignore the obvious moral-ethical questions, the question we should still ask ourselves as Westerners is whether being so "backed-up" is even natural for our physiology?

Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
By the way what's a good anti-virus? I was using Norton but it expired. I am trying a 30 day trial of Bitdefender and my system runs a bit faster with the Norton gone.
Contrary to popular belief, virus software companies (and open source organizations) all get their virus info from pretty much the same source. Think of it as credit reporting for the virus world. What differs is how these companies use that info to build their security apps around. Norton has always struggled with a bloated software model which typically involves a lot of Apple-style GUI-candy. McAfee used to be more svelte and ugly, but is now also now living large. The most recent NKOTB is Nod Antivirus, and they do have a different, albeit not necessarily innovative approach. ClamAV and AVG are the freeware alternatives and do run lighter in RAM at the expense of some sexyness and advanced features.

What few companies want the public to think too much about is that spyware/malware, script attacks, and just about every other threat is pretty much still a virus by definition. Instead, they want the public to think of each of these threats as entirely separate concerns requiring separate and unique applications. They can sell more bloat that way and that's how we get "different tiers" of protection from such luminary companies as Norton/Symantec, which increase the "subscription" fees accordingly.

Another big secret is how every one of these companies won't block much of the spy/malware threats because of the fear of being sued. This is because the companies who generate revenue from collecting and aggregating data from every web browsing computer, claim that what they do is legit and legal, when in reality it is all a pretty shady business. To witness, virus writers and crackers piggyback on these very same technologies to do their dirty work specifically because it is such a murky mess. A few years ago there was considerable outrage because according to the DMCA, any such technology was considered illegal - it pretty much made everything from web scripts to root-kits a crime of terrorism and had companies like Sony all in a tizzy. Of course, the virus companies, the Sonys, and the data collector/aggregators got their lobbyists to change the laws so that it just didn't apply to them - you can thank your local congressman for letting that stinking turd of legalese though.

Anyhow, short of running a different OS (not really an option for most), the best way to protect yourself against threats without getting rammed by the software companies is to use open source software. Open source is generally more in tune with these issues, cares more to address them, and won't hesitate to openly discuss them. Since they also get their virus info from the same source, there's really no technical reason to pay for software that really should be free. The virus companies have so betrayed the public trust that they don't deserve your hard-earned money to provide what essentially is more lax protection than you'd find elsewhere.