Any need for virus scanners anymore?

PMKeates

PMKeates

PMKeates

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I was just thinking.. is there any need for virus scanners anymore?

I have been running Windows proverbially naked for over a year without a hitch. I think I had more problems when I did run a scanner, and I have no intention to install any scanners in the near future.

I do dabble in the slightly less safe parts of the Internet, and just using a bit of common sense I have avoided everything.

So, yeah. Don't bother with virus scanners. Think of the CPU cycles I've saved in a year!
 
Well, of course you can be as careful as you can then go visit some main stream website or someother way and you've got sometime. What ever you do, noscript ... theres always a way in. I agree anti-virus seems a bit of a killer, but you could always just do like one scan a month.

Also theres a lot of undeteced ones out there.

I run it, just cause got a 3 year Kaspersky licence for free.
 
Well..it's a matter of a simple choice really. You weigh the options and your priorities. Do you have important data that you want to protect? What chance is there that your personal security would be compromised if you -did- pick something up?

I should ask out of curiosity..how sure are you that you havent picked something up in your time on the computer? The best viruses and hacks are the ones you never know happened..
 
Alex74 said:
I should ask out of curiosity..how sure are you that you havent picked something up in your time on the computer? The best viruses and hacks are the ones you never know happened..
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Good point, how do you know you've avoided everything if you don't have a virus program?
 
Computer security is all about layers. Limited admin rights, firewalls, antivirus, software patching, not running services and open ports you don't need and common sense are all layers. If you skip out the antivirus, then maybe the other precautions will save you, but then again maybe not.

People tend to think antivirus is either a total cure-all or a total waste of time. Personally I think antivirus is an important tool in keeping malware off your computer. Plus, these days computers are so powerful the antivirus software goes practically unnoticed when its not scanning.
 
theheyes said:
Computer security is all about layers. Limited admin rights, firewalls, antivirus, software patching, not running services and open ports you don't need and common sense are all layers. If you skip out the antivirus, then maybe the other precautions will save you, but then again maybe not.

People tend to think antivirus is either a total cure-all or a total waste of time. Personally I think antivirus is an important tool in keeping malware off your computer. Plus, these days computers are so powerful the antivirus software goes practically unnoticed when its not scanning.
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Exactly, there's loads you could do that would pretty much render AV not needed, but it would hamper the functionality a little :)

A good well locked down desktop coupled with some kind of controls on what hits the pc network wise (i.e. behind a firewall etc) will stop most nasties.

I didn't want to stick AV on my netbook, and whilst it's locked down nicely the fact it touches a lot of 'foriegn' networks means it's probably wise to have it on there!
 
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Of course there is. Programs like Avast, NOD32 and KaperskyAV (not the Security Suite) use virtually no resources, unless they're scanning.

And as pointed up above, AV programs aren't floorless - you need good security policies - shutdown unwanted services, use a decent firewall to lock down ports - one of my fundamentals is using a router with NAT - this saves A LOT!
 
I haven't had a realtime scanner on my main desktop PC for years although I do manually scan potentially dodgy downloads. I use Opera, Admuncher, Comodo Firewall, and Winpatrol.

I recently uninstalled Avira from my laptop while troubleshooting random occasional bluescreen/reboots and the problem has gone. It seemed to bloat up with the new version 9 too. I probably won't replace it with anything either.

You cannot underestimate the naiveté of the casual PC user. Whichever way you look at it, most malware infestations have been instigated by user activity. Sadly, for the foreseeable future there will be a big market for virus scanners/security suites.
 
And if you're really anal use windows software restriction policies, they do an amazing job of stopping the nasties when coupled with good file and folder perms :)
 
Its the "just in case" factor.

You would not remove the Air Bag from a car as you know you would be careful, its just in case you have a crash. Same goes for a AntiVirus.

You never know whats out there... ;)
 
I was just thinking.. is there any need for virus scanners anymore?
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Umm yes, I work just looking after AV and I see hundreds of machines infected everyday...And it’s not always prevented through just been careful. I dont think anyone who has had real life experience working in IT would post a question like this.
 
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