OT: need for antivirus

[Azzman]

Hi all,

In the past I used antivirPE, avast and avg.
My ISP scans my incoming email before it reaches my pc.
I use 2 gecko-based browsers and KerioPF.
Never had any virus or an alert for the last 5 years.
Check my pc for spyware with adaware, spybot s&d and microsoft antispyware
once a week, never ever found anything the last 5 years either.
My online-behaviour hasn't changed much the last years.
I'm pretty low on RAM (yes I know it's cheap, but so am I),
and starting to wonder why I should use an resources consuming anti-virus
at all.
Feedback on my thoughts is much appreciated.

 

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 13 Dec 2005, Azzman wrote

Hi all,

In the past I used antivirPE, avast and avg.
My ISP scans my incoming email before it reaches my pc.
I use 2 gecko-based browsers and KerioPF.
Never had any virus or an alert for the last 5 years.
Check my pc for spyware with adaware, spybot s&d and microsoft
antispyware once a week, never ever found anything the last 5
years either. My online-behaviour hasn't changed much the last
years. I'm pretty low on RAM (yes I know it's cheap, but so am
I), and starting to wonder why I should use an resources
consuming anti-virus at all.
Feedback on my thoughts is much appreciated.

It depends on your computer usage patterns. I have a standalone
desktop, no kids, no P2P, and not a lot of leisure-surfing.

I don't see the need to run AV in the background, but I keep AVG on
the system and update it and run it about once a month along with
AdAware, SpyBot and a couple of cleaning utilities.

(I've had a virus once, six years ago -- a Word macro, in a
document I was expecting to receive from a client. Nothing since.)

So my view is that -- again depending on the way the computer's
being used -- it's not necessary to run AV as an active process,
but it's a good idea to have it on the system and to do a sweep now
and then as part of your system maintenance.

 

[Azzman]

On 13 Dec 2005, Azzman wrote
snipped some
snipped some more

So my view is that -- again depending on the way the computer's
being used -- it's not necessary to run AV as an active process,
but it's a good idea to have it on the system and to do a sweep now
and then as part of your system maintenance.

Thank you for your feedback Harvey, I'm tending to go that same route now.

 

[Steve H]

On 13 Dec 2005, Azzman wrote

So my view is that -- again depending on the way the computer's
being used -- it's not necessary to run AV as an active process,
but it's a good idea to have it on the system and to do a sweep now
and then as part of your system maintenance.

That's pretty much matches my usage patterns.

I always run a sweep of downloaded files ( via the context menu ), and
my email client ( Pegasus ) automatically scans attachments before
they're opened or saved - but I've never bothered to have AV scanning
active in the background.

Regards,

 

[ms]

Hi all,

In the past I used antivirPE, avast and avg.
My ISP scans my incoming email before it reaches my pc.
I use 2 gecko-based browsers and KerioPF.
Never had any virus or an alert for the last 5 years.
Check my pc for spyware with adaware, spybot s&d and microsoft antispyware
once a week, never ever found anything the last 5 years either.
My online-behaviour hasn't changed much the last years.
I'm pretty low on RAM (yes I know it's cheap, but so am I),
and starting to wonder why I should use an resources consuming anti-virus
at all.
Feedback on my thoughts is much appreciated.

I have a similar pattern, but plenty of free RAM. I use AntiVir
on-demand, and it recently found 3 files I've had for years that were
malware, verified online. F-Prot never flagged them.

Except fot that, had no problem with downloaded files, using reasonable
care regarding sources.

Mike Sa

 

[Azzman]

I have a similar pattern, but plenty of free RAM. I use AntiVir
on-demand, and it recently found 3 files I've had for years that were
malware, verified online. F-Prot never flagged them.

Except fot that, had no problem with downloaded files, using
reasonable care regarding sources.

Thank you for your feedback.
That's three in a row.
And as "using reasonable care" is my middlename, I've decided on just
running a complete scan every week.
Thank you all for your opinions.

 

[Mark Warner]

Hi all,

In the past I used antivirPE, avast and avg.
My ISP scans my incoming email before it reaches my pc.
I use 2 gecko-based browsers and KerioPF.
Never had any virus or an alert for the last 5 years.
Check my pc for spyware with adaware, spybot s&d and microsoft
antispyware once a week, never ever found anything the last 5 years
either.
My online-behaviour hasn't changed much the last years.
I'm pretty low on RAM (yes I know it's cheap, but so am I),
and starting to wonder why I should use an resources consuming
anti-virus at all.
Feedback on my thoughts is much appreciated.

Resident AV protection is like insurance: you hate paying for it and not
seeing any benefit, but what can happen if you *don't* have it can be
ruinous.

 

[bassbag]

Hi all,

In the past I used antivirPE, avast and avg.
My ISP scans my incoming email before it reaches my pc.
I use 2 gecko-based browsers and KerioPF.
Never had any virus or an alert for the last 5 years.
Check my pc for spyware with adaware, spybot s&d and microsoft antispyware
once a week, never ever found anything the last 5 years either.
My online-behaviour hasn't changed much the last years.
I'm pretty low on RAM (yes I know it's cheap, but so am I),
and starting to wonder why I should use an resources consuming anti-virus
at all.
Feedback on my thoughts is much appreciated.

Using a low spec machine and windows 98 ive sorta gone the other way and
prefer a good av with good adware/spyware detection , rather than use
spybot and counterspy which i find more heavy on my machine than any
av.Though by your post i guess you dont use any of the real time
functions of spybot or MS antispyware?.There is of course also the
possibility of catching a virus or malware from the cd rom or floppy
drive like playing a sony music cd
me

 

[Peter Seiler]

bassbag - 13.12.2005 20:31 :

it would be nice to add the senders name so one can read that Azzman was
the sender you reply to. THX in advance for your kind reconfiguration.