Don
Running as a standard user account (non admin) is the best protection you can give yourself.
Along with Windows Updates running regularly.
Along with Windows Updates running regularly.
Not used anitivirus for about 5 years never had virus (srs)
- Thread starter woofercooker
- Start date
Trudat. The web browser is the frontline.
Did you make a note of what it found?
It's certain in the top 5. A standard user account mitigates a lot of exploits and keeps malware isolated.
Light weight AVs take far less then extra 30 seconds(few seconds in general).
Most modern AVs are cloud based for DAT updates so you don't need to update them since they are always up to date.
Even just browsing you can get hijacked or malware etc,plenty of sites get compromised all the time.
End of the day modern free or paid AVs are another layer of added security so no reason in my books not to use one,sure you can make excuses and have reasons why you don't need one but fact is the Internet is not 100% safe.
Yes it's your call but there are valid reasons why having an AV is a wise precaution/added layer of some protection.
Linux you can probably get away without an AV due to the robust design of its security,but Windows I would not take the chance even with a wise user like myself.
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Soldato
Unfortunately works in principal but not in practice. Even in a domain environment, where every user is a standard one, those pesky viruses mange to install them self and infect PC, despite us also using Mcafee anti virus on our machine...
+1 to this. 1 admin user account that only gets logged into when software doesn't install using the run as option and other standard accounts for normal use.
Being a techie I get a lot of people ask me "so which is the best antivirus?". My response is usually:
1. Common sense - Visit dodgy sites you'll get dodgy things on your computer (I know this isn't 100% true but its a good guideline)
2. Running a non admin account
3. avast/mse
I find it a bit silly that computer setups create an admin account by default, the way I would have designed it would be to ask for a default admin password then ask for a username and password for a new user account (which would be a standard account).
I didn't claim that it prevents infection. You should have a look at AppLocker, if you aren't already using it.
But in a domain environment you can use WDS/MDT/SCCM to reimage a computer, you can have it up and running within 30 mins (depending on the amount of data you need to backup)
E: My response is going off topic a bit here
Associate
A troll would have a great time with you, you're as sensitive as a 12 year old girl 
At no point have I claimed to be smart, simply stating I have had zero issues without AV over the years, hope you can sleep tonight mate
Zombie PC? Umm okay.. heres where I step off
At no point have I claimed to be smart, simply stating I have had zero issues without AV over the years, hope you can sleep tonight mate
Zombie PC? Umm okay.. heres where I step off
Any PC even super high spec PCs can be slowed down by AV at times, its part of the reason I split my gaming and other stuff between different systems and don't browse the internet, etc. from the gaming PC which has no active AV at all.
There are games for instance where doing certain things causes new files to be loaded which sometimes causes AV to kick in cause a 2-3 second pause which is far from desirable in the middle of fast paced action.
There are games for instance where doing certain things causes new files to be loaded which sometimes causes AV to kick in cause a 2-3 second pause which is far from desirable in the middle of fast paced action.
I think it depends on the game and especially AV you use,I game with AV enabled all the time even in fast paced online FPS games,never had any issues with slow downs etc...
Soldato
Running without AV today isn't like it was 10-15 years ago. Modern operating systems are a lot more hardened and network connectivity more sophisticated these days. That's not to say it's recommended, however.
You should view not having malware issues in the last 5 years as "wow, progress" rather than frame it as a problem with antivirus software. All of the different security components work together.
You should view not having malware issues in the last 5 years as "wow, progress" rather than frame it as a problem with antivirus software. All of the different security components work together.
Soldato
If i was the OP i would seriously think about doing a Malware scan at the very least
Soldato
Just for self knowledge, how does a standard account rather than an admin account help? Ta
Well the proper hidden Admin account in later Windows and not hidden in older Windows would give full control to do anything, where as a standard user account would not.
That is why it was made so Admin account was not enabled by default and UAC built in.
That is why it was made so Admin account was not enabled by default and UAC built in.
Man of Honour
I just run as an admin user on my machine. Just don't be a plonker even at your weakest moment and everything is fine. Most of us here did fine back in the day when AV software was nowhere near as lightweight or as effective and we will continue to do fine today and tomorrow.