Is antivirus necessary?

"Eric C" <carlsen.eric.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in news:1140037595.224178.238720
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> First of all, I am not a troll. I have what I think is a legitimate
> question. I tried to search for this, but couldn't come up with the
> answer.
>
> My security suit takes up a lot of resources on my machine (ZoneAlarms
> Internet Security 6). So, I got to thinking. I can use the Windows XP
> firewall (seems to be much less resource intensive) to protect from
> inbound attacks. Plus, my email service goes through at least two
> levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
> much do I really need antivirus protection? At the very least, do I
> need antivirus protection that runs in memory, or can I just scan files
> manually as needed? There are online scanners that I can pass a file to
> for testing. I am a net savy user, I don't go running random exe's.
> Again, I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, just looking to get
> some more performance.

FWIW I've been running without a firewall or real-time AV for years without
a single incident. I do regular virus/spyware scans (nothing ever found) and
am the sole user of the computer. I do keep my OS up to date as well as all
applications that I use. I rarely download anything and never open
unsolicited attachments.
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

"Eric C" <carlsen.eric RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1140037595.224178.238720@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> First of all, I am not a troll. I have what I think is a legitimate
> question. I tried to search for this, but couldn't come up with the
> answer.
>
> My security suit takes up a lot of resources on my machine (ZoneAlarms
> Internet Security 6). So, I got to thinking. I can use the Windows XP
> firewall (seems to be much less resource intensive) to protect from
> inbound attacks. Plus, my email service goes through at least two
> levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
> much do I really need antivirus protection? At the very least, do I
> need antivirus protection that runs in memory, or can I just scan files
> manually as needed? There are online scanners that I can pass a file to
> for testing. I am a net savy user, I don't go running random exe's.
> Again, I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, just looking to get
> some more performance.
>


Eric, I don't use an antivirus on my PC, but that is a bit of a lie,
I do this, every 4 months or so I will install AVG free on my pc and do a
full scan (comes up no virus's 98% of the time(usually in a TEMP or my
recycle bin for the 2%)

then I uninstall the antivirus, but keep this in mind, I remove virus and
spyware etc, for a living, (yea my full-time job).

also I use Firefox, browse very carefully and don't open E-mail attachments
(even from friends unless I know what they are sending).
Stay off the Porn sites and no "free" music downloads, or free screensavers,
etc, well you get the point... Oh, and you need a firewall, (zone alarm
free)

did I miss anything?
Mich...
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

On 15 Feb 2006 13:06:35 -0800, "Eric C" <carlsen.eric DeleteThis @gmail.com>
wrote:

>First of all, I am not a troll. I have what I think is a legitimate
>question. I tried to search for this, but couldn't come up with the
>answer.
>
>My security suit takes up a lot of resources on my machine (ZoneAlarms
>Internet Security 6). So, I got to thinking. I can use the Windows XP
>firewall (seems to be much less resource intensive) to protect from
>inbound attacks. Plus, my email service goes through at least two
>levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
>much do I really need antivirus protection? At the very least, do I
>need antivirus protection that runs in memory, or can I just scan files
>manually as needed? There are online scanners that I can pass a file to
>for testing. I am a net savy user, I don't go running random exe's.
>Again, I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, just looking to get
>some more performance.
>

Eric,

I installed an MP3 player program once, of which a component so
hogged resources I had to turn my Trend Micro PC-cillin off for some
weeks while I found out what was causing the problem.

I never had a single problem in this time. I was operating without a
router firewall over a dial-up service using Win98SE. However, I don't
use IE (except on trusted sites where Firefox won't work) and I'm very
careful about email attachments. I don't visit porn sites etc.

Currently I'm behing a router firewall on broadband, and my Trend
Micro PC-cillin never reports finding anything. I have other machines
on this router which I operate without a resident Anti-Virus program.
I occasionally check them using the Trend Micro free on-line AV
service. I never find anything.

I should add Spybot and AdAware are always finding stuff. I run them
every week.

I don't actually know why I keep up my Trend Micro PC-cillin
subscription.

I think the ISP's these days are pretty well filtering out all the
email viruses plus most of the spam email.

Ross

(To get email address ROT 13)
ebff_qnyl DeleteThis @lnubb.pbz
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

You all bring up some excellent points. I definitely don't visit pron
sites, filesharing, or do any of those things. I use Firefox, but I
know that that is not foolproof either.

I will also definitely keep my firewall running. When we first had our
internet connection put in I was at work. I told my wife to call me
right after it was on so that I could show her how to start the
firewall. While we were on the phone the machine suddenly rebooted, we
had caught something nasty. I think there was some major outbreak at
the time, but that was pretty fast.

Does anyone have recommendations for anti-virus software that isn't so
bloated or slow?
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

Art <null.TakeThisOut@zilch.com> wrote in
news:utd7v11e080b402depttm6jle1rm3ch8n0@4ax.com:

> On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 21:52:43 GMT, Fuzzy Logic
><bob.TakeThisOut@arc.ab.caREMOVETHIS> wrote:
>
>>FWIW I've been running without a firewall or real-time AV for years
>>without a single incident. I do regular virus/spyware scans (nothing
>>ever found) and am the sole user of the computer. I do keep my OS up to
>>date as well as all applications that I use. I rarely download anything
>>and never open unsolicited attachments.
>
> So as not to dangerously mislead some people, you should mention that
> you disabled services and made sure all internet ports are closed.
> Right?

The system I was referring to is my home computer which is still running
Windows 98SE so that's not necessary:-)

My work machine is XP Pro and I have disabled all but required services and
use the firewall supplied with the OS. I do a lot more downloading on this
machine so I run a real-time AV scanner on it.
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

"Eric C" <carlsen.eric.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1140098766.289816.103180@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> You all bring up some excellent points. I definitely don't visit pron
> sites, filesharing, or do any of those things. I use Firefox, but I
> know that that is not foolproof either.
>
> I will also definitely keep my firewall running. When we first had our
> internet connection put in I was at work. I told my wife to call me
> right after it was on so that I could show her how to start the
> firewall. While we were on the phone the machine suddenly rebooted, we
> had caught something nasty. I think there was some major outbreak at
> the time, but that was pretty fast.
>
> Does anyone have recommendations for anti-virus software that isn't so
> bloated or slow?
>
Try Avast Free,Avg Free or Antivir..if it doesn't work out uninstall
them.They aren't as big as system hogs as what you were using.
But as far as Virus scans go Kaspersky or Nod32 are the best.and don't use
alot of recources as say Norton,F-secure, Zone or Mcrapee do.Ciao RH710
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

Mich wrote:

> "Eric C" <carlsen.eric.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1140037595.224178.238720@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
>>levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
>>much do I really need antivirus protection? At the very least, do I
>>need antivirus protection that runs in memory, or can I just scan files
>>manually as needed? There are online scanners that I can pass a file to
>>for testing. I am a net savy user, I don't go running random exe's.
>>Again, I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, just looking to get
>>some more performance.
>
> did I miss anything?

Yeah, Mich. Both of you. What OS are you using? Securing a FAT32 OS is
not the same as securing an NTFS/XP box. And particularly with
broadband, using an NAT/SPI/VPN Router solves a lot of problems.

Ron
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

Ron Lopshire wrote:

>
> Yeah, Mich. Both of you. What OS are you using? Securing a FAT32 OS is
> not the same as securing an NTFS/XP box. And particularly with
> broadband, using an NAT/SPI/VPN Router solves a lot of problems.
>
> Ron

Yeah, just picked up a Check Point Safe@Office 500W 5 user UTM
Appliance. Includes Gateway AV, remote access VPN and an extremely
customizable SPI firewall and IDS. Definitely several steps ahead of my
old Netgear.
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

"Ron Lopshire" <notron RemoveThis @ovbl.org> wrote in message
news:dt5qnc024q@enews1.newsguy.com...
> Mich wrote:
>
> > "Eric C" <carlsen.eric RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:1140037595.224178.238720@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >
> >>levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
> >>much do I really need antivirus protection? At the very least, do I
> >>need antivirus protection that runs in memory, or can I just scan files
> >>manually as needed? There are online scanners that I can pass a file to
> >>for testing. I am a net savy user, I don't go running random exe's.
> >>Again, I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, just looking to get
> >>some more performance.
> >
> > did I miss anything?
>
> Yeah, Mich. Both of you. What OS are you using? Securing a FAT32 OS is
> not the same as securing an NTFS/XP box. And particularly with
> broadband, using an NAT/SPI/VPN Router solves a lot of problems.
>
> Ron

LOL I just assume everybody is behind some kind of hardware
firewall,
as a matter of fact I just had a customer that got infected while
downloading SP2 and now the service pack won't install,
I'm going back Tue to scan and then install SP2 from DOS prompt to avoid
anything that might be running in windows,

Mich...
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary? 

Eric C wrote:
> First of all, I am not a troll. I have what I think is a legitimate
> question. I tried to search for this, but couldn't come up with the
> answer.
>
> My security suit takes up a lot of resources on my machine (ZoneAlarms
> Internet Security 6). So, I got to thinking.

That resource sink *is* ZoneAlarm 6 sending data to ZoneHome
(the pefect trojan horse). check Alt.Privacy ;]]



> I can use the Windows XP
> firewall (seems to be much less resource intensive) to protect from
> inbound attacks. Plus, my email service goes through at least two
> levels of filtering (forwarded address). I guess my question is...how
> much do I really need antivirus protection?

No you don't need AV protection... It's a bullshit PC tax for
addicts ;]]

Join me and Rob Rosenberger and just say "NO" to AV! *grin*


4Q
 >> Stay informed about: Is antivirus necessary?