Most antivirus software does not work and if you pay anything at
all it is over priced. Microsoft came out with a patch for this on the
18 of last month. So where was the need for AV software. One
needs a good firewall. People bring computers to me all the time
that are infected and I have never been able to get rid of a virus
with AV software. Most of them come from kaaza type programs.
Just my .02 worth.
I do agree that the majority of viruses can be prevented by taking sensible
precautions with e-mail, peer-to-peer download programs etc, but most people
do not take these precautions and I cannot agree with the blanket statement
that most AV software does not work. As for being overpriced, well that
depends upon the value to you of your machine. If you don't mind being
without your machine for a period of time and potentially losing information
in the case of a serious viral infection, then the software is overpriced.
If the use of your machine and the integrity of your data is important to
you then that does change things.
AV software is however only of any use if kept constantly up to date, which
is why I only ever recommend variants which auto-update without need for
user intervention and which do so regularly. Many of the personal machines
that I maintain for people locally have been saved from viruses by their AV
software. Others, with no AV software or with out of date AV software have
been wrecked by viruses.
Getting rid of a virus with the AV software once a machine is infected is
often more difficult, particularly in this day and age when the virus
writers have learned to target the AV software as part of their payload. Not
a feature of all viruses of course, but far from uncommon and so when I do
have to repair infected machines I also do so manually first, followed by a
thorough scan using up to date AV.
If a home PC owner takes the time to get good advice then they should be
told to take steps to secure their machine, regularly use Windows Update,
configure a personal Firewall and (in my opinion at least) install good
Anti-Virus software. There is of course no guarantee that they will heed
this advice though.
Basically we all have different opinions, as we should, but I tend to
recommend AV software as sadly these days you need to take every precaution
you can. Missing any one thing out leaves you vulnerable. Working in a
corporate support environment, I do regard desktop AV protection as the
absolute last line of defense, but sadly I do still find it necessary.
Build 2526 is a really old build, before SP1.
The PC is not well maintained.
Most definitely agreed.
