[nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?

Nancy Coffman nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com
Fri Jan 16 13:39:57 UTC 2015 

One thing we can all do is write letters to the editors of these magazines. I don't think one writer can know everything. I think we can write articles that put excess ability in the forefront. Most people don't even know that it is a word beyond ramps and elevators.

Nancy Coffman
Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 7:16 PM, Gary Wunder via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I think it is worth a try. Perhaps our computer science division ought to
> start this ball rolling.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David Goldfield
> via nfbcs
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 12:03 PM
> To: gwunder at earthlink.net; 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?
> 
> Gary,
> You raise an interesting question. It would be useful and quite wonderful if
> magazines such as Cnet, PC World, etc. evaluated accessibility along with
> the other usability-related sections in their reviews. However, in order for
> them to adequately perform this task the reviewer would need to be
> well-versed with today's group of screen readers and screen enlargers. Can
> we expect these reviewers to know JAWS, Window-Eyes and MAGic the way they
> know Excel, Word and Powerpoint. I honestly doubt it. However, perhaps we
> need to talk about how people like us can assist them in their reviews as
> it's users like us who are the experts. Apple has gotten a great deal of
> attention in the mainstream press due to their commitment to accessibility.
> With Windows products, accessibility becomes the subject of an occasional
> "how do the blind use a computer" piece. I'm not sure what the answer is but
> I think that engaging in a dialog with some of these publishers would be a
> good first step.
> 
> David Goldfield,
> 
>      Founder and Peer Coordinator,
> Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired
> 
> Feel free to visit my new Web site
> http://www.DavidGoldfield.info/
> 
> Gary Wunder wrote:
>> Hello, David. I think you have dispensed a few pieces of advice that 
>> are really good, and I'm sure that you do more than just preach about the
> issue.
>> I wonder if it might be a good idea to write to the mainstream 
>> computer magazines that do these reviews and suggest that they add 
>> accessibility as an important criteria in their evaluations.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David 
>> Goldfield via nfbcs
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 3:33 AM
>> To: Nicole Torcolini; NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] most accessible virus/malware protection?
>> 
>> 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
>> -compu ter-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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