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Ward · 05-25-05, 08:26 PM

AVs are unneeded. Even for the PC.

I've ran my systems (3 PCs, 2 laptops, 3 PDAs, a wifi router - new) for 4 years now without a virus. The trick is not to use programs or practises which exposes your setup to infection - get a software firewall installed. It will tell you immediately if anything attempts to access the net without your preconfigured permission. Chances are its something new and consequently malicious. Don't use programs with poor security records, i.e. virtually anything MS. Ditch IE for the much better alternatives, Opera and Firefox. Use an email client which doesn't parse HTML and renames executable attachments. Get a good process viewer and familiarise yourself with the running components of your system - learn to recognise newcomers and kill them at the earliest convenience. And finally, make backups!

Unbelievably - all this consumes less time, money and effort than maintaining an AV, accepting the performance hit as a result then repairing the damage when it fails.

Even if you don't agree, paying for a AV is silly - it probably spends 99.9% of its life doing nothing. When you think about it, when it does do its job, how reliably does it do it? Which run of the mill viruses, it usually works if kept up to date. But with 0-day viruses, you last line of defence, quite simply, fails.

05-25-05, 08:26 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ward Aximsite Minor League Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: England Posts: 102 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	AVs are unneeded. Even for the PC. I've ran my systems (3 PCs, 2 laptops, 3 PDAs, a wifi router - new) for 4 years now without a virus. The trick is not to use programs or practises which exposes your setup to infection - get a software firewall installed. It will tell you immediately if anything attempts to access the net without your preconfigured permission. Chances are its something new and consequently malicious. Don't use programs with poor security records, i.e. virtually anything MS. Ditch IE for the much better alternatives, Opera and Firefox. Use an email client which doesn't parse HTML and renames executable attachments. Get a good process viewer and familiarise yourself with the running components of your system - learn to recognise newcomers and kill them at the earliest convenience. And finally, make backups! Unbelievably - all this consumes less time, money and effort than maintaining an AV, accepting the performance hit as a result then repairing the damage when it fails. Even if you don't agree, paying for a AV is silly - it probably spends 99.9% of its life doing nothing. When you think about it, when it does do its job, how reliably does it do it? Which run of the mill viruses, it usually works if kept up to date. But with 0-day viruses, you last line of defence, quite simply, fails. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Ward; 05-25-05 at 08:29 PM.