Going Without Antivirus?

[HyBriD54 0]

Do you use any antivirus software? I don't, for various reasons:

Slows down performance

Generally expensive

Generally not very effective

... and most importantly: I don't see why I need it.

I'm using Windows Vista, and I've never had any virus problems as far as I know. Still, everyone else goes on about how important it is to have antivirus software. Do you think that not having any antivirus software on my computer is a problem?

 

(N.B. I don't really count Windows Defender as a antivirus. It's anti-spyware.)

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for free, effective, preferably efficient (i.e. doesn't use too many system resources) antivirus software?

[kplow1986 0]

actually, i doesn't use any antivirus, same as you.through my experience, if you know very detail about virus, spyware, worm and so on.Hence, you no need an antivirus software. You can feel it if there are something abnormalwith your computer like slow start up, system setting changed and many more.Even though sometime you can't identify what type of virus, mayb u also clean virus manually.if very bad condition, may consider to reinstall your windows.what i know is antivirus need much system resources because it run in your computer all the time.then your computer become slow and slower.That why i doesn't like 3rd party software, especially softwareneed many memory.

[asdftheking 1]

One thing is for sure, if you're careful and intelligent you can avoid most viruses and if you're not you can get very messed up even with an anti-virus of the highest grade.I spent years without using any antivirus and enjoyed not putting up with their many annoyances.But now I have a problem. Here in Peru - I don't know if this is the case in the states too - Flash drive viruses are rampant and there is no way for me to avoid getting them on a regular basis. And of course, my cell phone gets infected from time to time too. So I have to disinfect which I do with a free version of Panda. Nevertheless I use it as little as possible. Then I get that frustrating problem of being unable to open anything from "my computer" because in the "healing" process all my autoruns have been deleted! If you have that problem google and download "flash disinfector" with your flash drives and/or cell phone plugged in and it fixes them instantly. It is a great little batch file and I use it a lot.

Edited November 18, 2008 by asdftheking (see edit history)

[xpress 0]

Do you use any antivirus software? I don't, for various reasons:Slows down performance

Yes Of course, bacause it constantly monitor your system in background. But Antivirus saves you from lot of problems you face, and some malware can slowdown your system more than antivirus do.

Generally expensive

Not exactly. Many free antiviruses are available including AVIRA Anitivirus Personal, AVG, Avast etc.... And I recommend the free antivirus than paid antiviruses.

Generally not very effective

No. Even though there is some difference in performance, almost all antivirus software(paid and free) will provide some level of protection.

.. and most importantly: I don't see why I need it.

May be you are very selective in using softwares and visiting websites. This is one of the reasons why you're safe without antivirus. That is very nice. But antivirus is a must have for every Windows OS now a days. Because a small mistake you do can lead to big problems. Most of the websites have malware and your system will be silently infected if you visit them. And lots of viruses are spreading through pen drives(USB flash drives) and mobile phones our friends use. Connecting them to your system without antivirus is open invitation to viruses. Because once you connect them to your system those viruses will infect your system automatically without your knowledge.
And another issue is, You don't know your system is infected until you face some undesirable events happening in your system or you have an antivirus installed. Yes, its true. It was my experience. You really don't know your system is infected until you have an antivirus.

So running your system without antivirus makes your system vulnerable. So you need Antivirus.

Does anyone have any suggestions for free, effective, preferably efficient (i.e. doesn't use too many system resources) antivirus software?

I recommend AVIRA antiviurs. It is free and uses very low resources of your system. Its detection rate is also very good. And Daily updates avialable. AVG is also good free antivirus. But uses more RAM than AVIRA. Try these and chose the best one that suits your needs.
Edited November 18, 2008 by xpress (see edit history)

[liod 0]

I use free antivirus from one of PC Magazine in my country.Though it`s not the best, but it protect me from local virus and annoying worm.I`m afraid to not using any antivirus.

[truefusion 3]

I'm using Windows Vista ...

Ah, i thought you would mention Linux.

Do you think that not having any antivirus software on my computer is a problem?

It's not a problem if you disconnect the network, remove your CD-rom and, if any, DVD-rom drives, along with any Floppy drives. Oh, don't forget USB ports. Otherwise the potential for a virus or other malware problem is there.

Does anyone have any suggestions for free, effective, preferably efficient (i.e. doesn't use too many system resources) antivirus software?

Just like xpress, my experience with Avira, that is, concerning resources, has been good—the only one i can actually feel it not bogging down my old XP system (not that i still use that system). Plus, it was the only non-resource-hungry anti-virus program i've come across that offers a free edition of their anti-virus program that would actually keep track of your system in the background. Most free anti-virus programs out there only go up to mere manual scanning of files.

[tatati 0]

Thank you xpress for your recommendation, i will surely download the Avira and give it a try. My sister is a teacher and after class all her students want to get her powerpoint class on their pendrive and her computer gets infected all the time. As asdftheking pointed out, flashdrives carry a lot of viruses! I dont know where i got the folder.exe virus on my pendrive but i could remove it in Linux. My sister's computer has the ckvo.exe malware, it must be hidden in her backup somewhere, this is a fresh new winXP install and we put the kaspersky antivirus in it and it is nagging constantly because everything is infected!

[minimcmonkey 0]

If you think that you don't need one, and that it will slow down your computer, it may be worth getting an anti virus that doesn't run real time defense, and just scan every week or every month.this will not use up system resources while not scanning, and you could disable it when not scanning.Im not exactly sure which anti virus would suit this, but i know there are some out there.Its always worth having some protection - 81% or viruses come from legitimate sites which have been hacked!

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

no Antivirus program? You must really love living on the wild side, or have a lot of money to repair your computer.
Yes some do slow your system down but now a days it is worth taking that, over have picked up a virus or spywhere/malware.

If you really and honestly feel you do not need one however? my advice to you is this.

1 stay off the net.
2 if you must use the net, Only go to sites that you know are 100% clean
3 Never ever open any mail with downloads from persons you do not know or trust.

If you listen to these 3 steps you should remain clean of any bugs that would also slow down or even kill your computer.

If you think that you don't need one, and that it will slow down your computer, it may be worth getting an anti virus that doesn't run real time defense, and just scan every week or every month.this will not use up system resources while not scanning, and you could disable it when not scanning.
Im not exactly sure which anti virus would suit this, but i know there are some out there.
Its always worth having some protection - 81% or viruses come from legitimate sites which have been hacked!

and as for this thread, 81%? thought it was higher than that. and the program your thinking of is AVG, and or Bit Defender. Both will run a check of the site

[miladinoski 1]

Ehh... Sorry for not adding anything to the conversation, except the fact that I am a GNU/Linux user and I never felt the need of an antivirus for almost 2 years now!The feeling is great, and I can agree that AV software hogs up the system, especially when with low ram like I am (512 MB) - nevermind what AV software it is: Avira, AVG or other, all of them hogged up my system, so back in the old days when I used Windows I never used that kind of software, I was just precaucious and formatted the disk every 2nd month

[iFail 0]

Heh, I think the best antivirus is the user itself :)I use both Windows XP and different Linux flavours, quad-booted from one machine -- mad, isn't it? :)Anyway, for linux I installed ClamAV to use from time to time -- e.g. cleaning the USB drives before usage. For Windows, I prefer avast. Does not use up much memory, detects potentially dangerous stuff that others have failed to detect (or ignored?).So far, I had only one Windows reinstall due to viruses -- I was stupid enough to turn the "On-access protection" off. XDAnd I would encourage everyone to use the antivirus protection software, to help prevent the spread of viruses. Even in my school, the network is infected, and the tech admin does not bother to update the definitions. Some of them are 6 months old, and I was trying to avoid using those computers ever since it killed a gig worth of my own programs (backups are a must, too)

[RosenCruz 0]

i think USB worms are very dangerous than viruses lately ...so an antivirus is definitely required if you use flash drives and stuff...otherwise i can go without AV too....

[iGuest 3]

WHETHER AV IS REALLY NEEDED OR NOTGoing Without Antivirus?

That's why it's written "Prevention is better than cure". But the fact is sometimes or the other you will get some sort of illness... That's why the doctors are for...

It goes true with antivirus. I am not in a mood to add fuel to the fire of argument of whether Microsoft Corporation alias Billy is indirectly helping the Antivirus company to promote their products by desperately putting some bugs in their OS; but then again Linux are also not free from virus either (well, in true sense I have minimal idea on Linux).

I know two of my closest friends who have never used any antivirus since the day they have bought PC in their home (at least more than 6/7 years). But they have a habit of formatting their PC every fortnight...! And one of them uses recklessly going to any damn site you can think of. While the other mainly play games (in fact, that' the reason why he bought PC!) and when one game is finished through all the stages, he makes a clean format...

And inspite of having a 'bit' oldie machine than mine, the games run awesome in his system!

Fun apart; if one likes to use a free AV, my suggestion will be for AVAST over AVIRA and AVG. B'coz AVG consumes more resource (20-27%) than AVAST while on-demand scan is running, while on the other hand you probably don't get on-access protection with AVIRA. Final verdict - if you don't have a live internet connection, you can still update AVAST (well it's true for AVG also - though cumbersome) by downloading the update file from some cybercafe/friends' home/office/etc. And installing it into your system. Though  AVIRA has more detection rates in its paid version over AVAST...

Packing up... :-) 

-reply by Dr. Sougata Banerjee