My at@t online protection always downloads update modules when I start my computer.?

Question

and so it takes a long time just to get to my home-page. Is there a way to control this ?

Answer 1

Its doing what it was designed to do.

Its getting its updates and making sure it can protect your computer from the potential outside attacks AND trying to protect you from innocent mistakes by not letting you get started before its completed the update process and confirmed you are protected.

You can probably turn that off, but then you can't expect to be protected anymore - you would be using the computer before updates have been applied. In that time frame, you can indeed get a virus or trojan or whatever. This is why most reliable and reputable vendors start up with the system itself rather than staring as a user logs on interactively - reason being that the computer is running whether someone is logged on or not... and thus needs protection whether the user is thinking about it or not.

You can look at it only in regard to convenience, but to do so is to ignore the purpose of the security software you use. You can't expect it to do its job if you subvert the methods it uses to provide the security.

Do you want to actually BE secure or do you simply want the feeling of security (even when you in reality ARE NOT secure)?

Security is a trade off of convenience - zero sum game so to speak. To achieve security, you have to deal with a level of inconvenience. It may suck, but that's reality. :)

On the other hand, there are limits to the tradeoff. Is the wait time until you can get to your homepage measured in 10s of minutes? If so, that's a bad design on the security software's part - that's an unreasonable trade off. However, if its say a 30 second wait, think about the lost time you are risking if you turn it off and end up loosing all your data due to an infection that corrupts everything you have.

Perhaps you keep your personal financial records on your computer. What if that 30 second time lapse is all it takes to get access to your credit card numbers, social security number, account balances, etc.,... You can't be sure one way or the other so why risk it - after all, there is no way to really quantify the value of that data. Perhaps there are pictures of your children and the address of where they attend school. How do you quantify that in terms of seconds you have to wait to get to your homepage?

What's worth more to you - really think about that for a moment before you make changes - is 30 seconds at startup worth the risk? I would say not. Is ten minutes worth the risk? I would think not, but I would solve the problem by replacing the software with something faster rather than subverting the function of my current software.

Think of a lock on a door. If you don't actually lock it, its useless. If you lock your door, but leave the windows wide open, the door lock is still useless. Still, its human nature to feel safe when we think about the fact that we have a lock on our door.

There is a show on discovery channel where former burglars break into peoples houses with the owners permission to show the difference between perceived security and actual security. Its called "It Takes A Thief". Check it out and think of it as an analogy for computer security - quite useful when you see the shock on the people's faces. They all think they are secure and then find out in a matter of seconds how much they have deluded themselves.

You may not like what I have to say - it may not give you a simple solution you are looking for. BUT, its the truth. Don't say you were not warned if something bad happens.

So..... make sure you read the source material - it applies to your situation in one way or another -THEN ask your question.

If you answer 'No, I don't want to disable my security software' or 'I am looking into different security software.' Great. If you answer 'I don't care, just get out of my way (which implies) give me a false sense of security.'. Ok, then you need to give more details and you need to acknowledge the FACT that YOU (not anyone else) are making a choice (IE - you are accepting responsibility) where the consequences are YOUR'S alone to deal with - regardless of how minor OR serious they turn out to be in the long run.... those consequences not necessarily being noticeable right away - they may take years specifically so you don't connect a decision made now with the effects 5 years from now. :)

Answer 2

because that when the program detects an internet connection, also its is trying to stay updated. just looking in the program setting in here you can change how and when it updates.