[nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?

David Goldfield happycatholic1211 at aol.com
Wed Jan 14 09:33:12 UTC 2015 

I'd like to weigh in on this interesting and very important discussion. 
Nicole raises a valid point here; an accessible piece of software 
doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best piece of software. Please 
don't be offended at what I'm about to say because I consider myself in 
the same camp but blind people, myself included, are really funny when 
it comes to which software we use, particularly on our Windows machines. 
We go with what works with our screen readers and not necessarily with 
the best choice. Again, when I say blind people I think of myself in 
this category. Usually, more often than not, this is out of necessity 
and not out of laziness. I remember in the early 2000's when I was 
hearing so much about Firefox but those of us using screen readers were 
forced to use Internet Explorer. Firefox may have been a cool, awesome 
browser but with blind computer users it had 100% of the market share 
because, if you're going to use Windows with a screen reader, IE was the 
only game in town at that time. In the late 1990's I remember what a 
pleasure it was to use Norton Antivirus on my Windows 98 machine as it 
was totally accessible, menu bar and all. As Norton began to morph into 
a Web page type interface, I and probably lots of other blind people 
discovered AVG, which was amazing when it came to accessibility. Not 
only did version 7.5 have standard controls and a menu bar but it even 
had the ability to redefine all of its hotkeys. I didn't actually know 
if the program was highly rated but I used it because it was highly 
accessible. Version 8 of AVG removed the ability to redefine hotkeys 
and, while the UI changed, it was still 99.9% accessible. However, as 
the program became more difficult to use with my screen reader, I and, 
from what I remember, every other blind person discovered Avast. It was, 
for the most part, fairly accessible but, at one point, a new version 
came out which I believe was version 5 and accessibility was gone. While 
they promised accessibility would return, I refused to keep using 4.7 
and promptly removed it. Now, the majority of blind people, myself 
included, seem to be gravitating toward Microsoft Security Essentials. 
At one point, the program seemed to be received favorably but it has 
failed virus tests and has gotten some very bad press. I hesitate to 
recommend it to most people. I admit I use it but I'm also a very 
cautious, security-conscious user and, between my script blockers, ad 
blocker and my own cautiousness I've never been hit with malware while 
using MSE. The point is that most of us, at least many of us, tend to 
gravitate toward pieces of software which are screen reader friendly 
rather than trying to work with the most highly-rated packages which 
might not work with JAWS, NVDA, Window-Eyes or Supernova.
This is an issue I've thought about for some time and I think that some 
proactive work and activism are in order and this is an area I'd like to 
see the NFB take the lead with. First, we as blind people need to 
collectively contact the manufacturers of software we want to use and 
let them know about the problems and accessibility issues which we are 
experiencing with their software. I try to do this when I can but I 
admit that, when it comes to security software, I'm just as guilty as 
anyone else of installing what works with my screen reader and being 
thankful that I have at least one piece of security software that 
actually talks to me. I have engaged in my own activism, however, and 
sometimes it can be effective. With the case of Malwarebytes, I 
contacted them via their online forum. Online forums are, in my opinion, 
a very useful tool to politely inform a software vendor about 
accessibility problems because your message, being in a public forum for 
everyone to see, sometimes forces them to respond because a company 
doesn't want to be seen ignoring its users. Also, it not only educates 
them about the issues you're having but it makes other people aware of 
them as well. While I'm sure I wasn't the only reason or even the main 
reason for this, MalwareBytes, while not perfect, is now reasonably 
accessible with screen readers. Was my message primarily responsible for 
this? Probably not, if I'm going to be realistic about it but it may 
have lit a bit more of a fire under the company to move on the issue.
I'd also like to see the NFB Assistive Technology Blog or AFB's Access 
world conduct usability reviews of the top security programs, such as 
AVG, Avast, MalwareBytes, AdAware, etc. Mainstream magazines conduct 
annual reviews of security software and rate them on how well they catch 
viruses, clean up an infected system, the speed of the scans, etc. We 
need to conduct similar reviews on these packages such as how keyboard 
friendly are they, accessibility of the settings dialog boxes, etc, 
providing another way of holding the companies accountable for their 
product's shortcomings and at the same time informing both them and 
potential users about products which we should use and support.
I admit that most of us, myself included, don't have the resources to 
use an isolated computer with a variety of packages to compose product 
reviews. However, what we can all do as individuals is to contact 
vendors of these packages and let them know what our issues are. You can 
do so privately or via an online forum, which is an approach I prefer to 
use for reasons I've already stated. One thing that I do is to offer my 
services to them volunteering to provide beta testing for them for the 
purpose of providing accessibility-related feedback. I hope this message 
might be of some help to those who are struggling with using an 
inaccessible or partially accessible piece of software. As I'm not a 
person who hands out lots of good-sounding advice and does nothing about 
it, I would like to offer my services if I can assist any of you in this 
endeavor.

Feel free to visit my new Web site
http://www.DavidGoldfield.info

Feel free to visit my LinkedIn profile
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-goldfield/12/929/573

Visit my blog
http://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/davidgoldfield


         David Goldfield,
        Founder and Peer Coordinator

    Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired
To learn more about the users' group, visit
http://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/updated-faqphiladelphia-computer-users-group-for-the-blind-and-visually-impaired/

On 1/13/2015 11:06 PM, Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs wrote:
> Are you also concerned about how good it is? Microsoft Security Essentials
> may be accessible, but, from my personal experience, it does not catch
> everything. Just my two cents.
>
> Nicole
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman via
> nfbcs
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 7:54 AM
> To: 'David W Bundy'; 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?
>
> Microsoft security essentials
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David W Bundy via
> nfbcs
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 7:14 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
> Subject: [nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?
>
> I have a consumer asking about the most accessible virus/malware protection
> available.  Since my expïrience is limited to what I've actually used, I
> thought I would throw it out to everyone for suggestions.
>
> David W Bundy
> West Columbia, SC
> bundy at pobox.com
> Sent from my iPhone
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