kelley Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I am cleaning up the ol' PC today and got thinking about this, I've never owned a computer with antivirus installed on it. Am I the only one? Part of me says to install it just to be safe, but another part says you haven't needed it yet so why jinx a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary P Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 No, I don't have one installed either, never have, just kinda let my stuff hang out there in the wind. I guess I'm kinda the same way, in that I haven't been burned (yet) so I don't feel the need to change anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan FB Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 No, I haven't had one installed on a personal desktop in a while. I heavily firewall everything, and pay attention to what's going on and what I run. I've tried a number of antivirus programs (free ones like AVG or Avast, and ones installed on other's computers, installed by default on laptops, etc.) and all of them are terrible. Most of them insist on nagging you, constantly bogging resources down, slowing down startup, constantly accessing disk, setting up their own local rogue mail servers and intercepting all incoming/outgoing email (and since their rogue mail servers suck, they introduce all kinds of bugs), setting up their own inferior software firewall solutions, do all sorts of things without asking you, and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted January 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Good to see I'm not the only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reeldeal Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I only use one because a computer once had issues, i'm not really sure how it got on there but i do know that if a firewall was in place it would have caught it. now that you mention it i'm kinda wondering why i have my antivirus software...ah well doesn't hurt to keep it running in case i suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Haven't had a piece of anti-virus software installed in over three years. I run a regular scan on Trend Micro's site to make sure all is well and any virus I have caught were easily removed with a few registry fixes or what not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I have one installed, but I don't get much use out of it. Having a firewall really compensates for a lot of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I always have one installed. A long time ago on my second computer i got a virus and i wouldnt recommend anyone having to go through it like I had to. Get a antivirus and dont look back. capt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Add me to the list. I don't do antivirus software or software firewalls. I just don't want any more crap running in the background. Antivirus marketing reminds me of the war on terror; however as that may delve into political speak I will refrain from explaining that statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Please tell me you at least have a hardware firewall, Camp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 If a router is considered a hardware firewall then Ok i have one. Otherwise no firewalls, no anti virus. No real fear that what I lose I can't instantly replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 No antivirus here or at work. I also use Trend Micro's online AV for the occasional scan, but between not using IE or Outlook and having a hardware firewall, I have not had a major virus issue. On a side note, I just cleaned one of my coworkers PC's with Trend Micro's online AV who did have an AV program installed. 3300 instances of one trojan found on his C drive. Apparently he was opening up and running every attachment emailed to him even after I told him not too. :bh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I havent had anti-virus software installed for the longest time, mainly due to the amount of system resources it required. I do run hardware and software firewalls though. But, just the other day, I installed McAfee Anti-Virus and found a couple of "low-priority" trojan horses on my computer. Maybe I should have installed this a while back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Please tell me you at least have a hardware firewall, Camp? Just a router. Wireless at that...I'm asking for someone to cause me pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckondo Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I ran my PC's without an AV until the time when "sasser" hit. Since then I have used the Free version of AVG with no issues. I wouldn't even consider putting Norton "anything" on my computer. Norton is just as bad as a virus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberwoo Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 You guys complaining about these programs taking up resources do know you have the option to close these programs right? Its not a big deal at all. In fact before I play any games on my computer I usually close my ZoneAlarm firewall, any adware progs, avg anti virus, and anything else that is loaded during a windows bootup. Its not that difficult people. I run my anti spy and avg virus detector progs at least once a week. In fact just last night AVG found a virus that had worked itself into windows via some dll files. Anyway if you are like me and do alot of file transfering, web browsing, etc than it is common sense to at the very least be running a firewall and using a basic free anti virus prog every now and then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Its not that difficult people. It's not a matter of difficulty, I just see zero need to have it installed. I run a firewall of course to make sure I can keep an eye on any access happening but a good online scan has proven to be a solid in terms of detecting any virus for me. Considering in the past three years I've removed maybe 3-4 viruses,(and all of them very low level threats at that) I have yet to see a compelling reason to bother installing anything. I try to do almost yearly/bi-yearly reinstalls of windows to keep things running fresh and I'm far more concerned with the ridiculous amount of spyware out there that can cause a helluva alot more damage and trouble then your typical trojan. Anyway if you are like me and do alot of file transfering, web browsing, etc than it is common sense to at the very least be running a firewall and using a basic free anti virus prog every now and then. I do. I run several of them in fact and all are online scans that have proven to be dependable and don't require the installation of a program. Now I think the use of a firewall program and several spyware/malware/adware detection programs are an utter necessity these days. Hardware firewalls are definitely preferrable. If a router is considered a hardware firewall then Ok i have one. Depends. Most routers do use NAT, but it's not a substitute for a good full-on firewall IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I have a Mac-only household, so viruses really aren't a big concern. We do have a firewall running on the router, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrik Draven Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I'm behind Linksys's BEFSX41 router with advanced packet inspection. Still, a firewall doesn't stop a virus from coming in on an email attachment. A friend of mine had trojans on his system and, his pc was damn near brought to it's knees, performance wise, due to others taking all his resources and bandwidth. Needless to say, I'm taking the better safe than sorry route. Get a nasty virus and, you might think differently. Still, just last week, AVG found the Newdot.net crap on my pc. I told AVG just to erase it and....VOILA!!!! I completely lost all my internet capabilities. :mad: Seems that Newdot will wipe out your entire tcp/ip stack if you delete it incorrectly. So, I had to find a little program online, with my other pc, that gets downloaded and rebuilds your stack. Works great now. I'm thinking about dumping McAfee and going with PC-cillin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Trend Micro's PC-cillin is something no PC user should be without. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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