Does anyone NOT use an anti-virus program?

GraemeUK said:
So what happens if you visit a seemingly safe site with injected malicious code which installs a keylogger on your pc without your knowledge?
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sites can't install dodgy crap by themselves. you have to consent.
 
GraemeUK said:
So what happens if you visit a seemingly safe site with injected malicious code which installs a keylogger on your pc without your knowledge?
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Antispyware software detects keyloggers. However since almost all my ports are blocked the keylogger can't send out any data, rendering it useless.
 
Energize said:
No antivirus program here, firewall on the router blocks all ports inbound and outbound so no need to worry about trojans turning my computer into a bot. In the unlikely even of me downloading a file from a suspicious website called virus.zip, then opening it and running the exe file, it then damaging the os, I can simply restore everything in about 5 mins using an image.
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You have the HTTP port open, which is more than enough :p
 
I have said it before and I will say it again, most people who go without some AV protection are sodding retards.

You are now part of the problem, if you dont protect your PC and your attitude, is "meh I can re-install if I need to" then I am talking about you.

There is a fairly high chance your PC is part of a bot net, which is currently sending out spam, hosting viruses, or being used in some major DDOS attack.

Wake up and smell the coffee, if you want the internet to be a safe place it is up to you the user to do your bit, protect yourself and thats one more machine the bad boys cant infect.

I know this wont make you change, but stop being so ******* selfish and think about the knock on affects of your "i'm too cool for AV software" lifestyle.
 
The_KiD said:
There is a fairly high chance your PC is part of a bot net, which is currently sending out spam, hosting viruses, or being used in some major DDOS attack.

Wake up and smell the coffee, if you want the internet to be a safe place it is up to you the user to do your bit, protect yourself and thats one more machine the bad boys cant infect.

I know this wont make you change, but stop being so ******* selfish and think about the knock on affects of your "i'm too cool for AV software" lifestyle.
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Do you work for the AV companies or something - because that is exactly the kind of gloom and doom propaganda they come out with.

First of all having AV software does not completely protect you from the threats you speak of. Do you really think a free AV software is going to detect all the threats of a commercial product? Then do you really think that the commercial product is able to protect you 100% of the time?

GraemeUK. Some protection is worse than no protection because you have no idea what protection the software is offering and I find that people who use AV software tend to be complacent.

The_Kid, I have seen many users machines that have AV software but is still riddled with spyware and trojans. Personally i would say that the people who completely rely on AV software to protect them against trojans and becoming part of a bot not are the ones responsible for most of the spam on the net, not those people who don't have AV software because they are clued up on exactly how little it protects them.

Its nothing to do with being too cool for AV software. I would rather invest my time and money in a decent linux firewall. And believe you me, this protects you and the internet from my stupidity far more than any AV software ever will.
 
It's surprising the amount of people that run Windows but don't use AV protection, having worked for an ISP, part of my job was to contact users whose virus infected machines were causing issues to other users.

Most of the people I spoke to didn't understand why it was such a serious issue. I suspended many user accounts!

What I can't quite understand is how people running Windows can say I don't run anything but I've never had a virus... how can you be sure?
 
First read my post properly then respond.


"some" people not all people I said.

Who said anything about "FREE AV being as good as paid for AV"? not me.

Who said anything about relying on it 100% to protect you? no me.

I said that having it is a good idea and should be done by most people, people not protected are part of the problem.

Read then respond, read then respond!

And no I dont work for an AV company but I have worked in IT for 11 years and have looked after end users for a large portion of that and would say the problems caused by viruses and malware are more common than any other single problem I have seen.

I would also say the potential damage they can do is worse than any other problem I have come accross.

I am also a member of several security related affiliations and have spent more time looking in to botnets, rootkits, blue pills, spyware, adware and viruses to know that if everyone put on some AV and kept it up to date, the problem of botnets wouldnt be anywhere near as rife as it is at the moment.
 
The_KiD said:
First read my post properly then respond.

Who said anything about "FREE AV being as good as paid for AV"? not me.

Who said anything about relying on it 100% to protect you? no me.
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I never said you did say those things, those points were raised entirely by myself so stop trying to patronise me by claiming I never read your post. I expect you to be adult enough for me to raise my own points.

The_KiD said:
I said that having it is a good idea and should be done by most people, people not protected are part of the problem.

Read then respond, read then respond!
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People "partially" protected are part of the problem as well. As are those who have up to date AV software and yet are still infected. Thanks for the background in your IT skills, but was it really called for? And what are you on about "you have spent more time" looking at rootkits, etc.
 
No AV here at home or at work.

Ive never ever had a virii on my home PC, which is Server 2003 SP2, but Im not sure if this should really make it more immune than XP.

I find most AV programs highly irritating, and would NEVER enable real time scanning.

Infact, I lie, ive just remembered, I have Kaspersky Server edition to right click and quick scan anything that I think may be suspect. (cant remember the last time I ran it though it was so long ago).
 
The_KiD said:
I have said it before and I will say it again, most people who go without some AV protection are sodding retards.
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i'm glad you only said most..... :p

You are now part of the problem, if you dont protect your PC and your attitude, is "meh I can re-install if I need to" then I am talking about you.

There is a fairly high chance your PC is part of a bot net, which is currently sending out spam, hosting viruses, or being used in some major DDOS attack.

Wake up and smell the coffee, if you want the internet to be a safe place it is up to you the user to do your bit, protect yourself and thats one more machine the bad boys cant infect.

I know this wont make you change, but stop being so ******* selfish and think about the knock on affects of your "i'm too cool for AV software" lifestyle.
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i can't even be bothered to reply to that. just lol. :D
 
The_KiD said:
I have said it before and I will say it again, most people who go without some AV protection are sodding retards.

You are now part of the problem, if you dont protect your PC and your attitude, is "meh I can re-install if I need to" then I am talking about you.

There is a fairly high chance your PC is part of a bot net, which is currently sending out spam, hosting viruses, or being used in some major DDOS attack.

Wake up and smell the coffee, if you want the internet to be a safe place it is up to you the user to do your bit, protect yourself and thats one more machine the bad boys cant infect.

I know this wont make you change, but stop being so ******* selfish and think about the knock on affects of your "i'm too cool for AV software" lifestyle.
Click to expand...

I would agree with you that for most ordinary users, some good, regularly updated anti-virus software is a good thing to have as most users wouldn't know any other way of protecting themselves. I do have to take issue however with the implication that anyone who doesn't install bucket-loads of AV, Anti-ad, anti-malware and firewall software is a crazy self-obsessed cyber-terrorist that is responsible for the downfall of half the western hemispheres IT infrastructure.

I do not use email on my home pc (no need to, work is fine) so no danger there. I only install reputable software, my online banking requires a non-keyboard entered password to access and I don't keep personal info on my hard drive. Why the hell am I being classed as selfish for not being totally and utterly paranoid. It's nothing to do with being "cool" it's just a case that I see no real value in installing anti-virus software any more than I see value in installing MS Office.
 
My work has given me a client of Symantec Corp Edition (I think?).

Anyway, its rather nice, just runs in the background and does its job admirably. Low memory usage in comparison to their standard Norton antivirus.
 
I dont install AV software on my machine as I know what website are likely to give me viruses (and hence avoid them/act very carefully when I'm on them), know what to look for when I execute files (that I have just downloaded) such as a long pause then an error ... indicates that a virus has been loaded and then an error thrown to distract me.

I've never had a virus and when I have got one, I knew straight away from the symtoms above and quickly removed it using online AV scans.
 
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