Does Anybody actually Believe in Antivirus Software????

this is my opinion on antivirus software. besides downloading warez or any attachments with viruses i don't believe anti virus software is necessarily. what i mean is they claim 500,000 viruses are created daily...who the heck has time to be making all these i really sat and thought: i used to get a lot of viruses with my old machine and mcafee, and of course mcafee would clean it right up and i would be good again..... i have never gotten a virus on my latest machine which ive had for 6 months and i use it at least 10 to 15 hrs a day on the internet for work. the first thing i did was uninstall all the crap that came with it including mcafee. its almost like a conspiracy if you think about it. what would happen if there wasnt "500,000 viruses created daily? who would that affect? thats right Mcafee, Norton, Panda and all those other companies. how could these companies protect themselves? hmmmm... i almost believe when you have antivirus software you seem to get viruses a lot more often. i think there is something going on that these companies dont want you to know. well just a random thought feel free to share your opinions

 

simple - NO! all anti-virus software have their ups and downs. i tried them all. AVG, Nortons, McAffee, the lot. some slow your computer, some install additional software, i just personally hate having anti-virus software on my computer.

i stopped using virus software for 5 years, was careful of what sites i went on and what i downloaded and i was fine, however 2 months ago the inevitable happened, and i got a virus and lost a lot of data. now i use AVG just to keep viruses away and because it doesnt slow your computer down.

 

i kinda agree although i rarely get any virus on my machine the last one i might have seen would be 8-9 months back..
i think mostly u get virus only if u visit some underground sites

 

Ghee you don't think it has anything to do with others running antivirus on server and workstation end to cut down on how many are arriving in your inbox?

I have checked many systems without virus protection, all were infested..

 

Email attachments and pirated software are not the only ways you can become infected. think about all the application you have running now, All it would take is for one of those applications to have a vulnerability and you are potentially a victim because of the thousands of other infected machines that are scanning looking for people like you who don't believe in running AV.

They say an out the box copy of xp with no firewall and no AV will become infected within 15 minutes.

 

I have to say that I appreciate anti-virus software for Windows systems. I don't use one on my linux system. No slow downs or worries bout programs leaching to my browser. I can let others use my system without having to worry about this.

I do quite abit of repairs to Windows system and the biggest problems are spyware and viruses.

Lhlalyam

 

Nod32 is a anti-virus that DOES NOT take up a lot of resources, which is why I use it.

I don't really think it is a must, but atleast use spybot search and destroy or an adware/spyware killer program, as you will get a lot from visiting websites or reviewing peoples websites.

 

I just ditched McAfee after using it for years. Why? Because it was taking up too much resources and making my whole system unstable.

What's more I've always used McAfee because I believed it found more viruses than other software. That is now something I know isn't true.

I installed AVG Virus Scanner and it picked up 10 viruses that McAfee hadn't picked up despite being updated daily.

This is the free version of AVG too, which just shows you that you don't always get what you pay for.

 

You've got to be careful, some 'viruses' are false positives, others are not true viruses and one program will detect that another will not.

All and all they do have some differences to what they will or will not detect.

 

you are very wrong... as a webmaster i browse all kind of websites and i cant even imagine surviving 1 week without a good updated antivirus software (actually i have 2 installed in my box).

i used to think like that too.. and in the past i lost some precious date because of a virus, but now i learned my lesson. an antivirus software may slow down your computer a little bit, but spywares are even worst when it comes to slowing down computers, and of course a virus will shut it down for good.

 

cerious22, frankly speaking, I've never had a reason not to trust such systems, although it is purely individual. So I think that you should try several antivirus systems and dwell on that which will suit you best.

 

I personally know what to look for and how to remove all sorts of viruses also how to encrypt my personal information so I don't worry about anti virus software as my human touch is much stronger.

 

My machine always becomes slow after being used for a short time, while the anti-virus software cannot find the reason. But I still install one. It has already become a habit.

 

I've been using Avast since 3 years and it is working Great! At first i used to have symantec on my computer but that is not at all doing its job in finding the viruses or malfunctioned applications. however, i am using the free version of Avast and i would just say it is working better than symantec (It's my experience and personal opinion).

 

Well... that actually depends on the quality of Anti-virus you are using. Some do severe analysis of your applications, whereas some do minor inspections. It also matters that which service you are using of an anti-virus.. i.e. Free / Paid ? The 'Paid' software possess more features than those of 'Free' one.

 

I can't say although I have never had any problems with my anti-virus software. It does its own scheduled scan and detects some viruses, I think that's enough.