Is virus protection necessary yet?

Using Vista Ultimate, is it necessary for me to pick up a virus scanner yet? Or is it still safe, that there are few/no viruses for Vista yet?

 

Vista is not a revolutionary change. The same recommendations for Firewalls, Antispyware, and Antivirus apply to Vista that applied to XP and earlier. This is what I did on Vista; you may choose to do otherwise.

 

of course! it is just an major update of Windows OS, unless they start from scratch and abandoned all the compatibility issue, the old windows 95/98/2000/xp,etc. virus will be carried over to the new OS.

 

Honestly, i never run virus scanners. Watch the sites you go to, don't open silly files and just be smart

Yet to have a virus...

(except once when i knew what i was getting in to)

 

Vista does have a number of very significant security improvements over XP. Also, not all XP viruses are compatible (although some are). Still, I'd have to recommend using AV software on Vista -- especially since there are decent free ones available such as Avast.

 

Same experience here...except I have never encountered a virus at all. Zero viruses. Zero blue screens too.

 

I don't use virus protection,

but what I do is once a month, I'll install a bunch of spyware/adware/virus protection programs, do a thorough scan, then uninstall all the software. I don't like having anything that compromises the performance of my machines.

But yeah, think of it as a visit to the doctors for computers .

Never found anything bad on my drives.

 

LOL... Whaaat?! Why not just leave the programs installed, but turn off the real-time (resident) protection? Having a couple extra programs installed but not running isn't going to compromise your performance. You can still run the full scan once a month or whatever. You can use msconfig to make sure the programs don't run anything at startup, if necessary.

 

I run CCleaner like a fiend too.

 

i installed virus scanner on xp but also rarely get any virus. last year just once.

 

If you want to comprise the performance of your system you should install an deinstall a bunch of apps every month.

 

I don't use virus or antispyware programs (except defender that comes with Vista) - never had any issues whatsoever.

Know your enemy - that is my logic. Once you know how it works - it can be easily cleaned using antivirus software or just notepad, regedit, and windows explorer.
I know many people don't know their Windows yet - I recommend AV software that uses resources as little as possible. Avoid huge installation suites that check everything. More checks - your comp is slower. Full stop.

Windows firewall is good as any other free firewall you can find - it is already built in - why would you need another one? To see warnings about every single ping to your comp? No thanks.
More options perhaps? 99% of people didn't even check what Windows firewall can do. It does its job.

AV software is good. When it's needed. I don't need it now.

Antispyware is good when you are unlucky and surf pornforfree/hackz/crakz/exploits sites and click to every single thing popping up and every time it says it will install something you say OK.
Well... I know it is not always like that, but common sense and logic can keep you pretty safe. BTW defender minimized possibility to screw up your IE in Vista.

And now the reality. Windows IS NOT and WILL NEVER BE 100% safe. But you need to decide whether you want memory resident program that checks hundreds of things every second in order to say that you are clean? And it is not 100% sure? It is a valid decision to have whatever you can find and feel safe. And it is a valid decision not to have anything and still be safe enough.

I've been in computing business for over 10 years. I have seen hundreds of virus and spyware infections. Most were on business networks with Norton installed. 99% were cleaned by consulting Google, using either small exe cleaner from McAfee or notepad, regedit and Windows explorer. The latest thing was a small hidden system autorun.inf file in the disk root. It is a part of one trojan that makes a fake recycled bin (notice RECYCLED instead of RECYCLE) and runs small ctfmon.exe (valid system32 name) that makes sure that every time you click on your volume letter (D: for example) it checks all your volumes and makes a copy of itself. Both files have system permissions and you cannot delete it. Bad eh?
I took over their permissions, deleted both inf and recycled on all volumes (you need to see the system files and hidden files in Windows explorer) and then checked registry and removed Open event on volumes. It took me 20 minutes to do it for the first time in my life. All worked nice.

Then just for fun I opened notepad and made the same autorun.inf but calling a not existant exe. Now every time I click on my volume I get an error dialog box. I am sure there is no AV or Antispyware program that can fix it. And I needed only notepad to do it.

AV is an instant solution. Like instant coffee. Good, but not the real thing. This is my personal belief. I guess people only need to think a bit and build their own experience with viruses and spyware and learn how to fight it. Then you can say you are safe since you know what to do. Until then install AV and feel safe. Maybe you change your mind one day.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

I think having a REAL TIME AV is important. It's best to catch stuff before it hits. The last time Avast caught something was when I inserted an old CD-R filled with old Napster downloads(back when Napster was free). I didn't even try to drag any files yet, it just caught it as soon as I inserted the CD-R. Turns out one of the MP3 was some kind of Virus. Avast also caught a Virus when I tried to download a driver for my old tv-tuner on my Desktop. So I REALLY RECOMMEND having a REAL TIME PROTECTION.

 

Having an antivirus is a crucial part in keeping your system safe fom the harmful threats that the internet and files can throw at you. A simple harmless looking file/email attachment can have a executable virus. Be safe rather than sorry. Free antivirus scanners like AVG do not take up much resources on the computer and will be worth the protection.