Is antivirus software that important?

[notahopeinhell]

My late reply:
McAfee has gotten MUCH better over the recent, oh, two years. I used it for a while from my ISP, however, I eventually switched back to Avast since Avast has a much more advanced extended configuration that I can go through and set up.

In my opinion:
If you are a skilled computer user who knows how to recognize "bad" websites ridden with viruses, and if you only download from trusted sources AND you have a program in your browser that shows you when a site has had bad user feedback, go ahead and skip out on Antivirus.

If you are a new computer user, or have been using them but you arent extremely skilled with them, for the sake of reducing possible problems that may occur with viruses, keep Antivirus installed on your computer.

I keep Antivirus installed and updated on my computer for two major reasons:
My extremely large email inbox, and the fact that I am often connected to the schools network, and I use their network resources.

Software such as Sandboxie and other virtualization only go so far. Viruses can jump that "wall" if they are well programmed to completely infect all of your memory, even if its partitioned memory, some viruses can "get through"
Be afraid, be very afraid.

I was interested in a couple of your commments there can you explain how to recognise bad websites (or does that come from experience) and also which browser programmes show bad feedback from sites please?

[notahopeinhell]

Vista is extremely secure, however, its not worth upgrading for if you currently have XP. If you get a Vista computer, keep Vista, if you get an XP computer, keep XP...

You should keep XP updated, and change the default update installation time to a time where your computer is actually on. By default, its set to 3:00AM....

And, about SP3, I would recommend getting it if you do not have an HP or Compaq computer. HP/Compaq is not really all too well compatible.
SP3 is just part of keeping things updated as they should be.

Hi,

I tried to update XP from the Microsoft site last year but it says it's not a genuine version (I bought the kit from a friend a couple of years ago) so can't do much about it really.

Can you explain what you mean by default update installation time and how I would go about changing it please? What effect does that have?

Thanks for the reply by the way. 

[Zylstra]

If you have FireFox, check out WOT.
http://www.mywot.com/

If you have Internet Explorer, check out McAfee Site Advisor:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff.html

Both are free.

Recognizing if a site is bad:
Does it have excessive advertisements?
Most "bad" sites contain really flashy ads, however, there are good ones that do as well.
Popups on the page? Video ads? Its seldom that you find video ads on good websites anymore, most webmasters have stopped using those methods simply because of how intrusive they are.
Is the site "crappy" looking? Often, scam sites and virus sites are "thrown together" rather quickly with little to no effort actually put into them. Now, granted, this is purely based off aesthetics, and there are a TON of "good" websites out there that look horrible, but, combined with some of the above warnings, it could point to something not so great...

It really just requires a trained eye, and comes with a lot of experience.
Just looking can not prove everything though. Some sites are very well disguised, but, on the other hand, a lot are not.

[Zylstra]

<snip>

Hi,
I tried to update XP from the Microsoft site last year but it says it's not a genuine version (I bought the kit from a friend a couple of years ago) so can't do much about it really.

Can you explain what you mean by default update installation time and how I would go about changing it please? What effect does that have?

Thanks for the reply by the way. 

Being as you dont have a genuine copy of Windows XP, updates might not really happen very often. This is a security risk. Contact your friend and find out of the disc is valid, and if another copy of it is being used elsewhere. If there isnt another copy, call Microsoft and validate Windows.
Important updates might not be obtained without this step, and that makes a flaw in your security.

To set up update times:
Go to the Start Menu> Control Panel> "Windows Updates"
Its self explanatory from there. Set the time to a time when your computer is on, but that it wont bug you very much if it asks you to restart your computer. You can always go to "Restart Later" when prompted.
I have my updates at 6:00PM, since I am usually through my email inbox by then, and not usually working on anything important.

[notahopeinhell]

Hi. I have Mozilla is Firefox the e-mail version of Outlook Express which is what I currently use?

Sorry for being a bit dim but I am learning as I go along!!

Edit : Just checked and realised e-mail version is Thunderbird!!!

[Broni]

I have Avast and AVG running together

Very bad idea.

[Broni]

Regarding McAfee. It seems to be much less intrusive, than Norton, causing less problems with everyday computer operation, but it's level of protection appears to be really low.

As for not using AV, because you're experienced computer user, I'll give you an example from my own experience.
I consider myself pretty computer savvy, but surely enough, I'm not mistake free.
Some time ago, I was reinstalling Win 2K on my old computer, and....I made a grave mistake.
I was doing reinstall with the computer hooked up to the net.
By the time, I reinstalled Windows, and put firewall on, I had couple of trojans already dancing around my computer.
I found out quickly enough only because my AV warned me about it.
If I didn't have any AV installed, how soon would I know?
Surely, I'd probably notice at some point, that my computer behaves little bit strange, but by that time all kind of bad things could have happened to my machine.

That was the only time in my 20+ years of operating computers, when I got infected.

[notahopeinhell]

I have Avast and AVG running together

Very bad idea.

Can you clarify why running two together is a problem and which of the two would you keep using?

Thanks.

[Broni]

Running two AV programs, or two firewalls is calling for conflict, sooner, or later.
Since AVG 8.0 has been having issues over, and over, I'd go for Avast.

[reddevilggg]

I was interested in a couple of your commments there can you explain how to recognise bad websites (or does that come from experience) and also which browser programmes show bad feedback from sites please?

I've been using McAfee Site Advisor for quite a while and you can add it on to Firefox.

You can find it here http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff.html

[Geek-9pm]

Windows XP can network in safe mode. This can give more security in some cases. Ironically, one company recommends that their anti-virus not be run in Safe Mode, but that was the only way I could find a bad infection.

[BC_Programmer]

Am I the only one whose only had to deal with "self infection"- IE, running a *ahem* keygen....

I don't think I've ever spontaneously picked up infections. On the other hand, I surely would if I connected directly to my modem instead of through my hardware firewalled Router.

[Zylstra]

I've always found myself a bit of a skeptic when it comes to virus protection for one major reason:
The only viruses I have ever gotten was when I was about 12 years old, and I didnt know better. Those viruses, which mainly came through floppy disks my cousin and I shared, didnt even do anything. They just sat there on the system, never truly infecting anything. They were the viruses that just kind of got on, and stayed there.

Since I first downloaded Avast Antivirus, and learned how viruses actually worked, I havent ever had one since, except for once in an email, which was detected by Avast, however, the attachment was probably never fully downloaded (only a file signature, I suspect), and it never caused problems.
I still keep Avast, I dont have it scan every file, just anything that can be executed, and I do keep anything related to the network scanned on high.

[patio]

Self infection is the absolute best way to learn about how to protect a machine...

[Zylstra]

Self infection is the absolute best way to learn about how to protect a machine...

Downloading Kazaa now...