Windows users: Have YOU ever gotten a virus?

I'm wondering right now, if the main reason why Windows is so hated is because of the fact that it is very commonly targeted by malware. Not to bash Apple/Linux, but one common reason why users of these operating systems hate windows is due to their nature to get viruses.

Out of all the years that you have been using windows, have you ever encountered any viruses? Why?

Personally, out of the 12 or so years i have been using Windows, i've only encountered one virus, from downloading a bad torrent when i was 12 years old.

I use Windows and Linux at home, and OS X on the campus computers.

 

I've never gotten a virus over the past 14 years or so...my daughter picked some garbage a few years ago before she had learned not to click on stuff she's uncertain about...

On the other hand, my FIL picks a piece of malware every day...probably more than just one in all fairness...

 

Yes the worst case was at work, I clicked on an "enticing" link and soon the help desk was flooded with calls about missing files from one of the shared drives. It had to be shutdown eventually & restored. Most embarrassing part was I worked in desktop support at the time.
~~~ I am moving toward Linux only for the aforementioned reasons.
On average MSE finds about 1 per month on my win 7 machine & I am fairly careful when surfing.

 

Ever? Yes. Recently? No.

Back in the g(l)ory days of Windows XP, I definitely got a couple, but mainly due to torrenting/downloading stupid things like OP mentioned. After maybe SP3 and definitely after going to 7, I haven't gotten anything, though I'd probably attribute that to smarter browsing than anything else.

Other Windows-using members of my family still get occasional malware, but it's still getting way fewer and further between.

 

Same here. Last one I got was back in 1999 thanks to an infected floppy disk that was working its way around our dorm at the time. The most recent attack that got into my household was when my then-fiance. Ended up having to wipe the drive because of it. She's been much more careful ever since. My folks have had lots of trouble in the past, but they've gotten better over the years. I finally convinced them to transition out of Windows XP. I put an SSD and Windows 8.1 onto my dad's aging MSI Core2Duo laptop, and it's like a brand new machine. Would that I could do the same for their desktop, but one thing at a time.

 

True viruses, I think a couple on windows back when I ran M.E., a couple recent ones in OSX. as for malware in general ( hijackers, trojans, scareware etc. ) I have had it on both windows and Mac, and 95% of the time it is from bad customer files that I forget to check and is my own darn fault. cant say much for Linux distro's as I have never actually used one

 

I've never gotten anything serious - mostly adware (like pop up windows and toolbars) and possibly a keylogger (once, and it may have been a false positive). Then again I run with manual firewall rules and an antivirus that mostly stops said adware.

 

I have in my Windows life (which dates back to Windows 3.0) had a few viruses. Nothing serious. I had one of the nefarious ones back in the early 2000's that I destroyed, but still did a reformat and reinstall just to be safe.

 

About a year ago ransomware from the kids but it was easily defeated.......

 

Nothing too serious, ransomware in 2005, and something else in 2009. Both were the result of me being stupid (unpatched software or from files that I should have been careful about), both were easily removed within less than day. I've been virus free since then.

Now I just assume that anything that isn't coming from me is a potential threat and take precautions accordingly. If there is a file I really am unsure about, I have an older laptop that it will go through for scanning first and only I'm certain it's safe it will go to my main work machines. Some grad student infected the lab computers before and back then, I was very wary of files coming from those computers. The computers have since been cleaned, but I am still careful with anything coming from the labs.

 

I myself have only gotten a virus one time as far as I can remember; I've been using Windows machines for a bit over 15 years, if I recall correctly.

 

I did get some viruses from torrent files. It still happens sometimes, I manage to avoid infection by scanning all the files downloaded via BitTorrent network with an AV scanner before running any executables.

 

Definitely when I was younger and less experienced with computers I would get viruses more. It definitely is very dependent on your computer security maintenance and just overall how you take care of it. Having a solid anti-virus/anti-malware and running scans semi-frequently can definitely help; it's also important to practice smart browsing when on the internet (obviously)

 

I did once, when Microsoft deactivated my OS (illegal copy). They gave me 65 viruses and 2 Trojans. I never used another illegal copy of Windows ever again.

 

NIS 2013 has caught a few virus's before they installed mostly watered down trojans.

3Fees

 

I did the same thing once...but man, 65 viruses

 

I have had one virus ever that I can remember and it was many years ago. I had just installed an antivirus software program for some unknown reason and it found a TON of stuff. But otherwise, I haven't had any. I still run virus software today, these days Kaspersky, and I never get anything that I've ever been alerted to.

 

IKR. The repair is much more expensive than the OS itself.

 

Never had a virus (or any form of malware) on any of my Windows computers (XP through 7) whatsoever. Of course, never had any on my Linux machines/VMs either.

Funny enough, one of the first things to happen to me when I created a OSX ML VM was that I was given a drive-by malware install. Had to start over from scratch and be very careful how I used Safari on that VM from then on.

 

I have downloaded a lot of viruses over the years. But anything I don't trust I run in Sandboxie, that boxes it in pretty well. Plus run a good antivirus, not Defender, keep programs up to date, etc. So no real infections.