Running my PC without an antivirus?

[inf1nity]

Did a fresh install of Windows last week. Being on a slow internet connection, i haven't downloaded any antivirus yet. The only web sites i've been going to Anandtech forums, duckduckgo and google. Also visited 4chan a few times. Is it okay to take the risk or will i find myself re-installing soon..?

 

[Ketchup]

Viruses depend on browsing habits as much as anything, so the best answer is probably "we don't know." Browsers like Firefox and Chrome alert you if there is an active infection on a particular site. There is also a nasty ah heck going around to all kinds of sites. We were talking about it a couple weeks ago in Computer Help when it showed up on the Disney site.

I don't run antivirus on my virtual machines, because it seems to really slow those down. BUT, I have a backup image of each, so an infection is no big deal.

I haven't had a virus on a machine in quite a while, but that doesn't stop me from having MSE installed on each host machine, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Kaido]

At the very least, grab MSE.

 

[Ketchup]

At the very least, grab MSE.

(Just don't tell berryracer we suggested it.)

 

[sm625]

If you dont install the latest windows updates, something will find you. It is amazing how quick they find you.

I had that crap appear on one of my systems before it even finished doing updates. All I did was go to google and type in nvidia and then go to nvidia for a driver. That's all I did and somehow got infected by sysguard.

 

[balloonshark]

I hope you updated Windows. I just reinstalled Windows 8 this week and there were around 50 updates.

One of the first things I install in Windows is Sandboxie. I run all of my internet facing apps in a sandbox. There is a 30 day trial and then it changes to the free version. The download if very small. The program isn't for everyone but the protection is very good. Once you understand how it works it is hard to surf without it.

If you download anything from the net under 20MB you can upload it to virustotal.com before you run it on your machine. The file will be scanned by over 40 different scanners.

 

[Mushkins]

Lets put it this way: Your average AV client download is less than 50MB. A full round of windows updates after a reinstall is close to 350MB.

Just download some AV, its worth it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Why take the chance; Unless you are using your system personally 7/24; you could have downloaded and installed while asleep.

 

[Zargon]

atleast get an adblocker since thats where most malware seems to come from

I havent had antivirus on my laptop since January when I upgraded to windows 8 form vista


only had to system restore once, and that was after loaning it to my wife and MIL

 

[Mushkins]

atleast get an adblocker since thats where most malware seems to come from

I havent had antivirus on my laptop since January when I upgraded to windows 8 form vista


only had to system restore once, and that was after loaning it to my wife and MIL

To be fair, MSE is baked in to windows 8 now. This is not a bad thing

 

[taq8ojh]

As long as people use brain, don't go to warez sites, and don't disable Windows Update, there's no reason to install antivirus software whasoever.

 

[Berryracer]

(Just don't tell berryracer we suggested it.)

Did you think i'll miss this? heck now! let meh in! :ninja:

Seriously guys! stop recommending that piece of crap to people. I wouldn't even call it an antivirus it's an illusionary effect of having an antivirus. Might as well not install it or use a proper free solution such as AVG Antivirus or avast! Free Antivirus those are light years better, just look at these charts, nuff. said MSE's results are down at the bottom, it sucks at everything, protection and repair so either run a decent AV or dont run anything and have the risk of some virus silently submitting your passwords and files to some remote server and you wouldn't even know it. at this day and age with so many online threats and many decent AVs both free and paid, I wouldn't risk running without an AV even though I dont go to dodgy sites and have AdBlock Plus, do not track meh, etc. addons on my browser:

 

[Berryracer]

To be fair, MSE is baked in to windows 8 now. This is not a bad thing

That is the worst thing that happened. People *think* they have an AV when all they have is a wanna be AV that doesn't even come close to any free or paid AV out there in terms of detection, protection, or repair.

One time, My sister told me she keeps getting popups messages that she has a virus (she had MSE 4.2 installed) so I checked the message, it was MSE detecting a wireless internet password key viewer as a virus. well false positive, but still, I wanted to get rid of that annowing message and she doesn't use that wireless key viewer anyway it was among the collection of my software suite, so I told MSE to delete the threat... it worked a little bit in the background then the message was gone! Good right? WRONG! the message from MSE kept showing up every min or so...it wasn't even able to delete a small false positive EXE for the love of god! MSE is the champion of the worst AV in the planet

 

[nk215]

If you use sandboxie then you can live w/o anti virus for a while. Also use dropmyrights w/ your browser to be on a safer side.

 

[Ketchup]

Did you think i'll miss this? heck now! let meh in! :ninja:

Seriously guys! stop recommending that piece of crap to people.

Piece of advice break: Some day you will come to a point in your life when you realize that everyone else isn't wrong. Until that day occurs, everyone is probably going to keep treating you like you're 15.

 

[Hugh Jass]

(Just don't tell berryracer we suggested it.)

Heh heh. :biggrin:

Did you think i'll miss this? heck now! let meh in! :ninja:

Seriously guys! stop recommending that piece of crap to people.

Piece of advice break: Some day you will come to a point in your life when you realize that everyone else isn't wrong. Until that day occurs, everyone is probably going to keep treating you like you're 15.

My fellow Palmetto Stater bringing the truth.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Folks need to just ignore berryracer's "advice"...seriously.

 

[pyonir]

Folks need to just ignore berryracer's "advice"...seriously.

People should utilize their ignore list. Works great. :ninja:

 

[Berryracer]

I don't bring the advice from the top of my head. I gave j00 the proof from a respected virus testing lab. The ch0!c3 is now yours if you want to listen to meh or not. Enjoy your virus full life with MSE

 

[RossMAN]

I love MSE

 

[Soundmanred]

Folks need to just ignore berryracer's "advice"...seriously.

Yup

 

[denis280]

this is What.http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2337275

 

[inf1nity]

so i DLed MSE i was wondering it was only 10MB but after installing i realized it doesn't come with virus definitions wtf are these guys dumb? So this means that if i have to format my pc after a month or so because of some problem i'll have to DL the definitions again? and if i want to install it on multiple computers then i have to DL the defs for each PC...??

Looks like i'm gonna go get my old faithful avast...

 

[nemesismk2]

I like MSE because it's a light AV unlike Bitdefender 2013 which was a major resource hog.

 

[pandemonium]

Are you the only person using the PC? If so, don't bother. Keep any active scans off, and run a Malwarebytes scan every month or so when you can allow the downtime.

MSE isn't bad. Whatever you do, don't bother with paying for AV software. Been there, done that. Complete waste of money IMO.