Is Anti-Virus Software Necessary???

[TheReaper]

hi all, recently i was given advice to uninstall my AV software, stay away from pron sites which i never go near, and that my system would be fine if i run spybot s&d one a week and uninstall it as it takes up resources as does AV software, my question is can you really run an online pc without constant AV software running?

 

i respect the advice i was given but thought it odd

[Guest Modulok]

if you are smart and don't visit strange websites or view strange email then you don't "need" AV or spyware programs. Don't use IE either. I have seen malware auto install on IE6 (not sure about IE7) and infect computers. (Firefox blocks the auto install).

 

Many sites, like porn sites, are a good way to get infected, but even typos can get you in trouble. (go to www.goggle.com - WITH PROTECTION OF COURSE - and you will see some strange stuff)

 

Its even better (and safer) to use Linux and browse all of the porn sites you want. Linux doesn't know what to do with those bad auto installing exes.

 

But anyone who is up on computers and security, will always recommend protection while connected to the internet. If the resource is an issue, get some more RAM or better CPU.

[CPDMF]

It's like anything else, you can get away with it for awhile but it will catch up with you at some point.

 

If you go a week, then Spybot finds something, how will you know what damage has been done..

[wevsspot]

hi all, recently i was given advice to uninstall my AV software,

 

I hope you didn't pay for this advice, and I hope it didn't come from someone who is supposedly a qualified IT or IS technician.

 

If you connect to the internet, if you share files with others via cd's, dvd's, floppies, usb device etc. or if your computer is on a local area network you NEED four things;

 

Software Firewall (hardware firewall is even better and can be used in conjunction with a good software firewall)

 

Antivirus Protection

 

Adaware SE Personal

 

Spybot Search and Destroy

 

Good versions of all of the above can be purchased, but with a little searching you can find very good (free) alternatives.

 

If you use the free versions please be kind enough to donate to those code writters and programmers that accept it.

 

And if you are looking for an exceptional Antivirus program, give AVG a try. There is a free version you can take for a spin. If you like it you can upgrade to the full paid version that includes a very good software firewall.

[boywander]

Whether that advice has any merit, depends on the AV you're running, there are free online scans as well. I use a popular lightweight free AV, no software firewall as my connection runs through a NAT router w/ firewall - brother's, as is the broadband connection - and have preventive stuff (ad blocker, windows messenger service disabled, anti-spyware, lot of diagnostic software). Not had anything serious in a year.

 

edit:

There's a really good (though near a year old) anti-malware comparison and general advice here (you can find specific removal tools like smitrem, smitfraudfix, HJT, vundofix, nolop, Cool Web Shredder etc in the forums linked here):

http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-features.htm

[red930]

And if you are looking for an exceptional Antivirus program, give AVG a try. There is a free version you can take for a spin. If you like it you can upgrade to the full paid version that includes a very good software firewall.

 

avg home is free but has no firewall iirc

[TheReaper]

it was someone on this site who offered up that advice, i didn't do it as i thought it was odd, i run full version os AVG Total Internet Security, with the AV and AS built together, software firewall active, did the omline housecall to check just in case, found nothing. it was because my system runs slow for what it is that he told me to free up resources, the main being remove AV software.

[suedenim]

AV might slow your system but most recent versions that I have come across only have a small impact.

 

I'd look at other issues rather than open the front door on your PC like Defrag your drives run CCleaner etc.

[TheReaper]

thanks, i put half of my data onto discs and deleted it from pc, defragged, ccleaner, tuneup utilities 2007 to fix all registry errors etc. still sluggish. i don't get it. there must be something wrong with my hardware.

[momoceio]

The Internet is a big dirty whore...use a condom or pay the consequences later

[ReelFiles]

AVG Free and Spybot S&D go on all my rigs, whether they go online or not. These two apps are very efficient at protecting you for negligible amounts of resources used plus they're free. Ultimately it's up to the user to make wise decisions, but even staying away from bad sites is not 100% safe.

[wevsspot]

AVG has an amazingly small footprint for everything that it does. Like ReelFiles, I put the free version on EVERY PC that I build, and then recommend that the customer consider installing the full Internet Security Version that is very reasonably priced and has an excellent software firewall included.

 

If your PC seems sluggish I highly doubt it is because of AVG. Heck, I run the full version of AVG on my travel laptop (an old Acer with 1.5ghz Intel Centrino and only 1gb of RAM) and I hardly know it's even there.