Do I really need an antivirus program?

Hi everyone,

I want some of your opinions on this one...

I've had Norton Antivirus for about 3 years now, and in the beginning, it caught a couple viruses. For the past couple years, with the combination of Norton Personal Firewall, I haven't experienced even ONE virus. However, I do encounter the occasional spyware file, which adaware finds, but norton does not.

I just reformatted my hard drive, and I only installed Norton Personal Firewall, Adaware SE Personal, and Windows Defender. Of course windows security keeps bugging me to install an antivirus program, but I have noticed startup times 100% shorter and programs loading quicker without being interrupted by the antivirus scanning everything.

Now, realistically, do I really need antivirus software or are the programs I listed enough to protect my computer?


I do a lot online like chatting, downloading files (not filesharing or bittorrent), and some online games, so maybe that would influence my decision?

 

Any antivirus is better than no antivirus. I'd rather my programs start up a micro second slower than having to worry about being infected by a virus. Have been a McAfee user for eons and am more than satisfied.

 

i would recommend anti-virus software. There are some great free packages such as AVG anti virus which i dont find slows my notebook down at all.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

 

yep...AVG free is the best (after AntiVir) but i have both running without slowing down my system

 

AVG is free and works well. It doesn't hurt to try and no more money to Symantec.

 

My Uni gives us McAfee Virus Scan Enterprise, and I got norton internet security free with my new system. They both slow my sysyem down by loads, so i'm thinking to changing to a free packages, like AVG. But: if the program scans every file before it can be accessed, how can it fail to slow my system down? Also, if I have a hardware firewall on my router, do I need a software one as well, or can do away with that?

 

Hi,
I've been using AVAST antivirus its very good and uses up very little system resources. It has regular updates and offers a lot of protection, like p2p, hotmail, network, standard... etc

Best of all its FREE!!!!

Ive also installed it on several computers at work (around 8-10) and ive had no problems what so ever, and no system slow down as a result.

I've tried norton before, but it uses up far too much system resources.

So go for avast, thats my opinion.

 

do not use AVG... yeah it does not suck memory that much like others but it does not erase or clean virused files like mcafee...

so i am saying.. use MCAFEE ... great software! the firewall is great and you can even trace to where port attacks and other hacking activities done to your machine...

 

If you chat, download files, or play online games, you definitely need anti-virus protection. Even if you just use your computer for email, you would need anti-virus protection. Think about all the email attachments you get. Unless your computer is a stand-alone system, with absolutely no file sharing between any other system, you need anti-virus protection.

Just my two cents.

 

I'm all in agreement with this The "delay" in startup is better than the delay you suffer when a virus gets into the system and you having to reformat and restore lost crucial data.

Also, be sure to see if your ISP also offers free or discounted anti-virus protection.

 

I've just gone from AVG to Avast and have to say I think Avast is better. I've got AntiVir too and have heard this has better "on demand" scanning than the aforementioned brands, whereas they have better resident scanning, but I haven't installed it yet.

 

Yes, you do.

Read http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=61129

 

Slightly off-target question - do I really need a software firewall if there is a firewall built into my router?

 

Load AVG like previous recomended.

Stay away from Symantic NAV and others. Symantic Products require 2-3 times the resources (ram), really slows a machine down. The only good thing they currently have is Ghost and they bought a company for that.

If you want to run with out AV use a HOST file control to keep you from the bad sites. Here is a link for it, they also have a auto updater to keep it upto date. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I use this, it will even keep cookies from being set.

 

A hardware firewall is more than sufficient as far as protection, but it never hurts to have a software firewall also.

 

If you want to control what's leaving your system., then the answer is yes. Otherwise, a hardware firewall is much better than a software firewall. I haven't run a software firewall since I've had a router.

 

Alright I guess Ill try out AVG.

When I was talking about slowing down my system, it would take maybe 4 minutes instead of 45 seconds to load the system, yes that much more time.

 

i have used AVG for a long time now with out any virus trouble at all

 

I need to buy AVG? I downloaded the version from their website but it wont let me install without a license key.

 

You know, I used to think that I don't need an Antivirus program. And for quite a while, I lived happily with Windows Defender and safe IE settings.

But then, after a painstaking problem search, I found out that the reason for the recent restarts and crashes on my new computer was in fact a virus that was on my old computer and got transferred with the backup. (There's a separate thread on this painful experience).

In any case, I then downloaded an antivirus, did the search, and found out that the Worm had spread across all computers on my network. So, I'll add my 2 cents, don't know if we've reached a dollar yet, but Antivirus is more than a marketing scheme (at least in practical terms ).

 

I don't use any antivirus. And similar to KimizChamp I decided to have Windows Firewall, Defender and that is it. I might download and install AV programs only if I suspect the virus has infected my comp. Defender gives me that info. I go to Control Panel, and check Software Explorers. Then I check Task manager processes. I also check Services under Computer Management console. I used to have very negative experience with most of the AV programs in terms of slowing down and useless performance when the sh.. hits the fan.
If it comes - I will know. I will find it. And I will kill it. I guess 10 years of experience count for something.
But on the other hand, I guess you must know a lot about Windows in order to manually get rid of the pest, so AV and Antispyware may be very good choice these days for normal use. I just want to point that even with the best AV today you are defenceless from so called kernel malware. Google for "Red Pill" and "Blue Pill".

In fact my latest battle against one pest was getting rid of the Norton Antivirus that practically couldn't be removed from my friend's system. It was obviously malfunctioning, and was slowing the work, did the huge Internet traffic and actually acted like a virus. After an hour and "normal" uninstallation, around 100 registry deletes, 3 Windows service removings, safe mode folder permission overtaking, deleting hundreds of hidden system files and 3 restarts (including booting without the explorer.exe shell) I finally killed the beast, but I admit some parts of it are still lying on the battlefield.

Please don't take my experience in a negative way - I just feel safe enough my way.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

For those of you who really don't want to install an Antivirus application on your computer I'd at least ask you to use a free online virus checker once and awhile (say once every month). They don't have you install anything permanent and still offer decent protection. Here's a list of a few:

• Trend Micro - Housecall
• Panda - Activescan
• BitDefender - Scan Online

 

Is that similar to PeerGuardian 2?

 

I don't use antivirus. It's been like this for almost 2.5 years in my laptop or my desktop. I don't do stupid stuff like openning unknown e-mails ( Gmail does a great job in filtering unwanted e-mails though, or go to worm/spyware heaven website like cracks/serial number websites either, well at least since I knew about bittorrent . No virus hit my systems in the last 3 years, well only 1 that i downloaded but it was a file that shows you how to create viruses . deleted it after a while though couldn't figure out how to but it was fun, it didn't cause any trouble to my system. I install antivirus program every once in a while and run a full system scan after updating it just to make sure everythign is OK, then Restore my system to a point prior to installing that antivirus, thats the only time I enable System restore though . I usually install kaspersky, AVG, or PANDA.. etc and run one of em once in a month.

A friend of mine broguht his desktop that I installed AVG on few months ago, a virus hit his system and he can't start it up anymore, but he is usually kind a guy who open any e-mail although I've warned him number of times not to but he did it anyway and got screwed. Panda found that virus though

 

Yes. I would at least recommend an online scan or using a freebie such as AVG which does a pretty good job (slow and not that accurate but free)

Mcafee in my experience is fast and very accurate norton is 'good" but mcafee is excellent. Kaspersky is also excellent. And bitdefender.

 

No, you do not need AntiVirus software...unless you value your data and your hardware and other people's data and hardare.

AntiVirus software is not just about protecting yourself....it is also about protecting others. You may not get infected by a virus, but you might pass one on.

Bottom line....good e-citisenship demands AV software.

 

Maybe you do Maybe you don't ;p