Is AV software really necessary?

Onesize · Oct 3, 2006

OK this is not a about a tech problem I have, its more of a discussion point. I've recently read a blog by George Ou in which he suggests anti virus software and anti spyware is unnecessary. He suggests then this software simply hogs systems and that careful use of your system is better than filling your hard disk with bloat ware.You can find the blog at http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=327. Any opinions on this? I've recently stopped using firefox and gone to opera due to vulnerability problems. Maybe the software we use to access the internet should be better designed so that we don't need add-ons.

Simon

bjgarrick · Oct 4, 2006

The ONLY way anti-virus and/or anti-spyware programs are not needed is if the computer is NOT on the internet period. If you access the internet and want to stay safe and clean, anti-virus, anti-spyware and a firewall are required. There are thousands of infections today, if you are on the internet without such protection you WILL be exposed to them.

DavidGP · Oct 4, 2006

I do manually conduct occasional scans of the hard drive for viruses and spyware and I never find any.
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Why conduct manual scans when earlier in the article ( see below quote ) he mentions AntiVirus/AntiMalware apps are useless against zero day exploits, would'nt any scan from his own words be useless in showing if he had malware or not?

The effectiveness of antivirus software is also questionable since it won’t work at all for zero-day exploits that haven’t been updated yet.
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I have never had malware/spyware or a virus in over 15yrs on the net, but do I run security apps, well yes, if you dont run them and some of the newer ones use huristics to determin malware possibles or not, many infections are known about malwares.

Yes the highlighted AVs are resource hogs as they are not just AntiVirus apps but at least 3 in 1s which do AV, Firewall, Spyware, stand alone apps fair better... but then again all of this is not NEW earth shattering news, but a regurgitation of what many experts and techies already know.

Best security against malware is as BJ mentions, not going on the net, but also from me, updating your OS, keeping a small core set of security apps installed and updated and the 90% part, surfing safely and not being click happy with email spam, popups and weary of p2p too good to be true downloads of expensive apps, films and music.

Both quotes from the blog linked in 1st post.

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Is AV software really necessary?

Onesize Private E-2

bjgarrick MajorGeeks Admin - Malware Expert

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member