Are anti-virus programs a real necessity?

[chaky]

Please read these to sources of information:

Antivirus software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (issues of concern)

http://www.semiologic.com/2005/02/24...o-help-at-all/



What do you think?

Of course for the average and uninformed user a AV is kind of the gadget that will stop you from speeding, but for those who are informed, sensible and adopt the common sense approach when accessing the www, are these kind of products really needed?

If needed is a real-time protection really required?

I am asking this because in all this time I used computers (around 10 years) I never caught a single virus. Of course I had issues in the past but they were more spyware related, and for these different applications are needed (specific antispyware programs).

Cheers

[Osiris]

Originally Posted by chaky

Please read these to sources of information:

Antivirus software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (issues of concern)

http://www.semiologic.com/2005/02/24...o-help-at-all/



What do you think? yes

Of course for the average and uninformed user a AV is kind of the gadget that will stop you from speeding, but for those who are informed, sensible and adopt the common sense approach when accessing the www, are these kind of products really needed?

If needed is a real-time protection really required? yes

I am asking this because in all this time I used computers (around 10 years) I never caught a single virus. Of course I had issues in the past but they were more spyware related, and for these different applications are needed (specific antispyware programs).

Cheers

[4-Ever-Euphemistic]

Well dude,listen up.

Some systems,mostly XP and pro requires fulltime protection as they are more
vulnerable to trojans, virusus & co.

Its far too risky,when using the internet with a XP or pro system it is bound
to occur,at one place or the other one will end up with a virus.

Talking from experience here.

However W2k (win2000) is one system,where you could surf every site posible,but it just doesnt catch it.

Better safe then sorry,donchya think?

[atomic tofu]

yes....

plain and simple...why?
I once worked at a place and sold video games, pc software etc...
we would get betas to test....and freebies...
there have been cases of betas shipped with viruses/trojans...
there have been cases of retail copies shipped with viruses/trojans...

and for the record...virii if you will

[BlueHeaven]

If your smart about your surfing, download, email and IM habbits, you can avoid catching something most of the time.

But it only takes that one miss-click on a shaddy AD, active-x or video codec install and you might be in for a world of hurt and hassle. No one likes spending 4 or 5 hours removing a piece of spyware, trojan or virus.

But even with an anti-virus program running, there's still the chance that it won't catch it. So as always, backup vital data reguarly and have that OS just to format and re-install

[Trotter]

Being online without an antivirus is the same as having an orgy of unprotected sex with every gutter hooker in New York. You might not catch anything, but the odds are way heavy in the other direction.

I don't go online without SOMETHING, even if it were only a freebie.

[vernong1992]

Originally Posted by Trotter

Being online without an antivirus is the same as having an orgy of unprotected sex with every gutter hooker in New York. You might not catch anything, but the odds are way heavy in the other direction.

I don't go online without SOMETHING, even if it were only a freebie.

LOL best analogy ever!!

but its true.. ur a giant noob if you go on the internet with no Protecton...

[yosa]

Lol, I realy like the hooker analagy as well. I have recomended severall antivirus apps to friends and familly. The most notable would come into my dads home cp, he uses this computer for work. I dont visit to much, but dispite my advise, I catch a lot of mallware, and virus like addware, oh yeah and vruses.

Its a lot of stress knowing my family is at risk, I tend to there home pc everytime I am there to there disgruntlement.

[macdawg]

"ur a giant noob if you go on the internet with no Protecton..."

many people say just the opposite

I disable real time protection for performance reasons, faster boot time, surfing speed, lower memory usage, etc.

I rarely randomly surf the web and don't DL attachments in emails ever, usually visit the same 10 or so tech or sport sites. If I download anything I can right click on the file and scan it with AVG free, and or A Squared, so if I'm ever in doubt about something I DL I'll scan it with those.

I'll regularly scan with AVG or an online scan, a squared and spybot, and run hijackthis. I also use autoruns and a registry program to check for any weird new registry entries.

By keeping windows updated at all times and good online habits I haven't had a virus on my own machine in years.

[raverx3m]

ive been able to get away with just a firewall and shortcuts to C: win32, dir, temp folder,and windows directory
firewall blocks most of it
and now the firefox does a great job ( i even tested it on porn sites and some crack download pages) waay better than IE

jsut for comparisson i tried to go to some porn and IE gets banged by like second page i visit and firefox havent got one yet

lol funny but my old pc was so slow that i was able to delete the trojans before they even get a chance to do anything

i get spyware once in a while( about once every 4 weeks) and so far i was able to get rid of it relaively painless either manually or with a tool i download onlne.

what workd best for me: firewall spybot panda online scan, desktop shortcuts

also theres a tool that makes a copy of msconfig.exe,taskmgr.exe, and regedit to ustom directory in case they get hijacked

i think my favorite is spybot tho since its free lol