Antivirus software completely pointless?

peter_the_piper

I've seen the mess a teenager can do to the family computer by using "artistic" sites so for 99% of computer users its essential.

PROLIANT

Modern operating systems such as Microsoft Windows are designed to restrict a certain amount of malicious code from being allowed to execute, the OS kernel is constantly improved and designed to be much robust than its predecessor.

As an IT Manager it would be irresponsible for me to say "we don’t need AV software on our network" and I would not agree that computer systems should be void of such a layer of protection, many people more so the "general consumer" type computer user takes a more belt and braces approach to PC Security and companies like Symantec retail, PC world and the like cash in on this and peddle bloat-ware applications when really all that is required is a lightweight AV Application such as AVAST! Or NOD32 etc and some common sense with regard to clicking "ok" on everything that pops up on their telly.

AV is a insurance policy, a bit like life insurance, "I better take out that £10 per month life policy just in case I get hit by a bus one day" that sort of thinking.

gjchester

peter_the_piper wrote: »

I've seen the mess a teenager can do to the family computer by using "artistic" sites so for 99% of computer users its essential.

Absolutley agree with that sentiment.

I've had one virus in about 10 years, and that was easily stopped by the AV, it warned me I let it sort it out and that was it. On the otherhand I've rebuilt at least a dozen systems this year for friends and relatives who DESPITE warnings click and install anything they get offered. Even when the AV pops up a warning they still continue blindly. Usually by the time they come to me and admit to what they have done it's gone from one bit of malware to a few dozen infections as other nasties have wormed their way in.

And it's not just teenagers who look at the "artistic" sites, One friend often seems to have issues with malware when his wifes out at work. Wonder what that is... I did threaten to turn on the parental controls and only tell his wife the password last time.

Clued up IT pro's don't generaly need it, the joe public does, even if it's to protect the system from them.

Humphrey10

I've had one virus that caused a problem in 15 years of using computers without antivirus software, but every single time I've used a computer with antivirus software installed, I have problems due to the software. Making the computer really slow to start up, and slow down randomly at other times too.

So I don't use antivirus...

-TangleFoot-

closed wrote: »

A worm is a virus

Oh no it isn't!

A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program.

Like their biological namesakes, worms and viruses are very different beasts. That an anti-malware application will detect either is largely irrelevant.

kwikbreaks

I do use (free) AV but I'm inclined to agree with the poster. Over many years of using PCs I've had 2 virus infections and on neither occasion did the AV stop the infection from happening. Both came from visiting dodgy websites so I really only have myself to blame.

On neither occasion did I have any trouble recognising the infection had happened and the AV cleanup didn't work either so I restored from backup (I do take regular backups and keep my data in a separate partition.)

John_Gray

A friend I know lived sufficiently far up the bank of the River Severn that their cottage had never flooded within the memory of anyone living in the village. No need for them to spend all that money on flood insurance, you would say?

A couple of years ago came the Great Flood, and they were living in a caravan in their garden for 15 months while the ground floor of their cottage was more or less rebuilt from scratch. They were ever so grateful that they had kept up the flood insurance.

Many of the antivirus programs are FREE, so that's not even a monetary cost...

DatabaseError

I use software from various sources, so I see AV software as a useful tool just in case I'm stupid enough to click on what is obviously an unnecessary file in the distro.
Only infections I can think of that I've had are one in 1995 from an infected windows 95 boot floppy, and one maybe 4 years ago from a file I downloaded prior to AV on a new build, and I loaded the wrong file - knew as soon as I felt the 2nd mouse click what I'd done wrong

...but I still run AV

-TangleFoot-

John_Gray wrote: »

No need for them to spend all that money on flood insurance, you would say?

If anything, flood insurance has more in common with the likes of Norton Ghost than any anti-virus application. Your analogy doesn't hold water.

Marty_J

John_Gray wrote: »

No need for them to spend all that money on flood insurance, you would say?

An anti-virus attempts to prevent the problem, like building flood defences.

Backing-up is your insurance.

Many of the antivirus programs are FREE, so that's not even a monetary cost...

There is a performance hit though.