Do you use an antivirus?

[rainless]

I'm surprised by these results. I used to not use one but I certainly do now. I've gotta side with TollhouseFrank. I rarely (like once a year) get a virus, and for that one time I'm glad I already have stuff installed.

I think it's a false hope.

Like those stupid PSU calculators you see online.

It "mystifies" virus removal.

To me it's not much different than a motherboard bios that has settings to overclock your computer FOR YOU.

If you know how to do it yourself... then you don't need to BUY a program to do it for you.

If you know how to tighten a firewall, and you're familiar with how most virus infections operate... then they wind up being FAR less of a nuisance tha defragging a hard drive.

Hell... Your average virus I can get rid of in about 40 seconds or so. I have a harder time dealing with video codecs than virus infections.

And there are so many GREAT free utilities to combat infection...

But between HiJackthis and Regedit... I'm STRAIGHT.

 

[TollhouseFrank]

Once you've reached a certain level of proficiency... an anti-virus is useless.

I used to believe the same... but the thing is... those who write malware are smarter and evolve their methods faster than I can learn to detect them and remove them on my own.

Even if you trust yourself 100%, you are still human, and thus, will eventually fail and screw up. May not be today. May not be tomorrow, or next week, month, or year. But you will fail and when that day comes... if you do not have a safety net to back you up (which is all a free, very light on resources AV really is), then you will get burned.

I wish I could say making good backups is a method to save yourself... but even super-paranoid me - I have been burned by that and made TOO GOOD of backups... ended up backing up the malware which was a time-bomb laden rootkit. Once I figured that one out, I felt foolish, but did eventually get it cleaned up and a new set of backups made.

And for those that say "Linux/OSX are virus free!".... you are only fooling yourself.....

 

[SteveLord]

I use MSE. Prolly wont buy one ever again.

Note, I've never had a virus....ever. Malware, yes...in the old days. Virus, never.

 

[hafa]

I think it's a false hope.

Like those stupid PSU calculators you see online.

It "mystifies" virus removal.

To me it's not much different than a motherboard bios that has settings to overclock your computer FOR YOU.

If you know how to do it yourself... then you don't need to BUY a program to do it for you.

If you know how to tighten a firewall, and you're familiar with how most virus infections operate... then they wind up being FAR less of a nuisance tha defragging a hard drive.

Hell... Your average virus I can get rid of in about 40 seconds or so. I have a harder time dealing with video codecs than virus infections.

And there are so many GREAT free utilities to combat infection...

But between HiJackthis and Regedit... I'm STRAIGHT.

This reminds me strongly of an article in PC magazine back in 1998, where the author was criticizing those who did not install every DLL, INI and system file for every program manually. He bemoaned the adoption of installers and forecast doom due to the fact that users did not know exactly where the installers were placing the files.

With the plethora of free, effective, lightweight AV products, MSE foremost among them, available today, there's no rational reason NOT to use one. Seriously, hijack this and regedit every time you visit an unknown website? What about that poison ad on CNN, or, god forbid, overclockers.com?

Sorry, man. 40 seconds is 40 seconds too long, as I've better things to do, like write vitriolic responses to posts here Welcome to the 21st century; let the software do the work and get on with life.

 

[Insane Scyth]

I run MSE and it seems to work pretty well. I really don't understand why someone wouldn't run an anti virus software when it takes pretty much no resources on a current machine. No matter how good you are being at safe surfing and installing reputable items, you can still get a virus.

 

[wingman99]

I use MSE when I get a virus I don't know were they come from, I have been getting allot in the last two months, I never had any before and I started when the internet started.

 

[TollhouseFrank]

I run MSE and it seems to work pretty well. I really don't understand why someone wouldn't run an anti virus software when it takes pretty much no resources on a current machine. No matter how good you are being at safe surfing and installing reputable items, you can still get a virus.

It's like the seatbelt analogy I used earlier.

I've never been in a wreck (as the driver) in my life. 14+ years of driving, 90-100 miles a day at least 5 days a week.

Lots of miles. Lots of close calls (like during very bad weather we get here up in the mountains in winter). But no wrecks.

Based on my 14+ years of experience.... seatbelts are useless and do me no good and waste resources that could be better used elsewhere. (sound familiar, especially you, rainless?) However, I know from empirical evidence (and evidence like my closest friend dying in a wreck when we were both 21... i woke up that morning to get the bad news from his family) that it happens to others, and has happened to people I love and care about deeply (one of my 2 brothers has been in multiple wrecks).

Just because seatbelts (antivirus) have been useless to me because it hasn't happened to me, doesn't mean that they won't be useful when a wreck (infection of system) actually does happen.

 

[hafa]

I...Just because seatbelts (antivirus) have been useless to me because it hasn't happened to me, doesn't mean that they won't be useful when a wreck (infection of system) actually does happen.

It sounds as if you're trying to convince yourself of something here, Frank

If you drive or surf like I do, you'll want to "wear a seatbelt". No question about it...

 

[David]

NOD32 on my netbook (Win 7) and laptop (Win XP). Nothing on my home PC (Sabayon). I run ClamAV on the Linux box in the office, but only because the boss runs around with his pen drive all the time and I'd end up clearing up the mess if he got a virus and managed to spread it around.

NOD32 is pretty unobtrusive and I haven't noticed any adverse affects on performance.

 

[markp1989]

i dont run anti virus on my own machines as I spend 90% of the time using Linux.

I have used malware bytes on computers that I'm fixing for family/friends as it seems to find most things.

when i was using Windows i mostly used XP (i do have windows 7 on my laptop, but very rarely use it) and I reformatted it so often I didn't need to worry about it

I think that a lot of anti virus users use the software as an excuse to act irresponsibly, last year I was getting rid of a virus that came from running a file called "maketheinternetfaster.exe"

 

[antipesto93]

i dont run anti virus on my own machines as I spend 90% of the time using Linux.

I have used malware bytes on computers that I'm fixing for family/friends as it seems to find most things.

when i was using Windows i mostly used XP (i do have windows 7 on my laptop, but very rarely use it) and I reformatted it so often I didn't need to worry about it

5 months later lol

 

[markp1989]

5 months later lol

woops, didnt see the date of the last post dont know how i stumbled on this thread.

apologies for the necro post

 

[h055]

At first I did not, now I do. Was using AVG (Free) 9.0, now using Comodo which I think is better.

+1 for Comodo.

ESET NOD32 is the best IMO but not free.

On my Linux boxes there is no need for AV.

 

[Black C5 Z06]

I have Avira simply because it's lightweight and not intrusive AT ALL. I never do full system scans. Just scan individual folders that I download and want to be safe with.

 

[mbentley]

i've changed my anti-virus standpoint since my original post in this thread nearly a year ago. now i run microsoft security essentials on all of my windows desktop machines. i still don't have anti-virus on my windows 2008 servers but i don't do anything on them so the chance of infection is extremely low.

MSE is how anti-virus is supposed to be in my opinion. it doesn't bother me about updates, it just does them and it doesn't bog down my system like crazy. i don't really see any performance difference when using it.

 

[wagex]

every few months i will download avg free and do a scan it mostly grabs up "spy ware" that is just mostly cookies and then i uninstall it i havent had an actual virus in years (knock on wood) just gotta play it safe it has had some of my macros as "trojans" even though i made them myself lol and it doesnt like cheat engine either

but i do know if i leave avg installed it boggs my system down because it monitors everything that is running at all times even though it doesnt use any cpu it still scans every file that is opened so i just do the scan and drop it like its hot

 

[h055]

There are a million ways to get a virus.

But *I* am far more efficient than any antivirus program.

It's easy for me to tell when I have a virus and easy for me to get rid of once I notice.

I do pretty regular backups and I only frequent websites I trust. So if I *have to* go to a website I'm not familiar with, I start my virus search right after.

Once you've reached a certain level of proficiency... an anti-virus is useless.

You would be better off running your web browsers in a sand box.

 

[IgnitedX]

Is Avast really that much better than AVG Free? Seems like a majority of you guys are using that. I have AVG Free set up to automatically scan everyday at dinner time so I don't even notice it.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

woops, didnt see the date of the last post dont know how i stumbled on this thread.

apologies for the necro post

Don't apologize, necro-posting is a wonderful thing!

+1 for clamwin on Windows machines. Most of my machines run Linux, and if I'm feeling paranoid I'll put clamav on my main rig, but generally I don't.

 

[burningcpu]

AVG is more bloated than a drowning victim since version 5, and that is why most people have ditched it.