Antivirus software completely pointless?

-TangleFoot-

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

Viruses have changed in the last few years.

That's probably true, but it doesn't make the original point any less valid; malware covers a wide variety of nasties, not just viruses. That's why we have firewalls, anti-virus, anti-rootkit, anti-trojan, anti-spyware, host intrusion detection/prevention, pop-up blockers, ad filters and the like. That they often come bundled in a single package is neither here nor there.

As always the weakest link in the chain is the end-user, which is why some kind of protection is usually warranted. The precise nature of that protection is what's currently being disputed.

Helen00

I run Norton 360 and have just had a virus, Norton charged me £69.99 to get rid of my virus, from there online remote control service. Now I know they cannot keep up with every new virus, but I thought the point of having protection was that I would be protected!!! To have to be charged was just adding salt to the wound!

kwikbreaks

I agree. The clue is in the name Anti Virus - it should prevent the virus from being installed. My own AV (I think it was AVG at the time) didn't stop infection and on neither occasion my machine was infected did I click anything to bypass a warning.

I would go so far as to say that the products should simply block access and give no override option. Of course false positives are the reason they don't - I can't use Avira because it thinks something I've been using for years contains a virus which no other AV sees and if it is a virus it is very benign as there are no ill effects either.

I run Avast now and it does sometimes warn me about dodgy (presumably hacked) sites but whether or not they really are dodgy I don't know as just the other day the paid-for Kaspersy was giving false warnings about an online bank.

pineapple

In 15 years of solid daily use, I've had only a couple of 'drive by' attacks - both of which were picked up by the antivirus before they did any damage.
Nowadays, there are some excellent free antivirus and antispy products. In my opinion, with a decent browser (like Firefox) and careful browsing habits, this is all you need. That and maybe an occasional free online scan.

tomsolomon

RobTang wrote: »

I think the OP is focusing too much on semantics, its like saying pencils are pointless because we have ink pens now.

Lol....
Pencils and pens are pointless, when I can just type something up quicker and neater on my pc, my handwriting is atrocious, and then print it all out with my contact details already in there, and a letter head, and all the bells and whistles, with just a few clicks of the mouse....;)

As regards to the Virus threat, in all honesty there realy is no threat. As has been said here before, most of the malicious software, that's around now, is not there to move your mouse around and other weird stuff.
Most of the free anti virus software I have seen only deals with the latter, and not the nasty stuff, unless you pay a premium.
I have had great success with anti malware software, it picks up much more of the junk than any free anti virus software ever could....

I'm not recommending people just go and remove their AV, I'm just stating my personal experience.

gjchester

tomsolomon wrote: »

I'm not recommending people just go and remove their AV, I'm just stating my personal experience.

Tha'ts fine, I can see where you are comng from, and as I said if you know what you are doing (as you seem to) great.

However (and this is shown by the number of "Help I have a virus posts" in the forum) I maintain that the general public can and do click blindly on anything they get offered, be it a pop up offering something, a fake pop up telling them they have a virus, or a postcard from a friend by email. All are know in the trade to be almost guaranteed to be malware, but not by the public. Norton may be expensive and used to be a resource hog, but as the other option is trip to the "Tech guys" at PC world, or a IT Pro, it's a good idea to have something. It's pretty hand holding stuff to use Norton, but it's at the level most computer users need.

As has also been said it's also invaluable on a family PC where mum and dad do home banking and payments, whereas the teenage sun is happly surfing for pron whenever he can,

Computers are cheap £300, gets you a system, but very, very few people are ever happy to have to shell out more for protection on top, and then get upset when it can be a £50 repair bill for something they did and won't admit. It's only once they lose some important data do people ever think of backing up data.

closed

tomsolomon wrote: »

As regards to the Virus threat, in all honesty there realy is no threat.

In all honesty, you are mistaken.

Strider590

People right now are paranoid about internet security and virus protection.

AV companies are cashing in on this media assisted paranoia by giving you pretty boxes that tell you that your fully protected from XYZ and cripple your computers speed as a side effect.

Additional to the above, when people have antivirus protection and the PC is running really slow they just assume the PC is too old and needs replacing, this feeds the new PC market, which in turn feeds the need for more antivirus software.

It's really very simple.

Of course AV does stop most virus infections, especially with gullible people who just click on everything they see. But ask yourself this.... who makes most of the Virus's?

gjchester

closed wrote: »

In all honesty, you are mistaken.

No he's not, however he know what he's doing, and can work out any issues. IT Pro's generally don't get viruses as they know the risks and what to look out for. I've not seen more than one for 10 or so years on my PC.

Joe Public can not and will happily click on OK to any box that pops up regardless of the risk, as they think it's a good idea.

closed

Pro's use virus scanners, one's that don't either don't know the risks, or are reckless.

Any site, any flash drive, any network share, any hard disk, can get infected, it is naive to think that knowledge or experience is sufficient protection.