25% of PC Users Disable Antivirus Software

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A new survey says that one in four people disable antivirus software because it bogs down their PC. Really? I had no idea that many people even used (insert least favorite AV maker here). :D

“The scary take-away from this survey is that 25 percent of the respondents admitted to just turning off their security products because they feel that it hurt the performance of the machine,” said Avira’s Sorin Mustaca. “That’s not a good idea because such a practice leaves the computer totally exposed to the even simplest of viruses, allowing the bad guys to include it in a botnet used to distribute malware and phishing.”
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people who run Windows computers without AV should be banned from the internet. Those who have it and disable it should be shot in the kneecaps.
 
dgingeri said:
people who run Windows computers without AV should be banned from the internet. Those who have it and disable it should be shot in the kneecaps.
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no, cause then i wont have enough work cleaning infected pcs :D
 
Steve said:
because it bogs down their PC
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When their shiny new barely adequate $199 special Dell comes pre-installed with Norton Security bundle or *shudder* McAffee, they're right.

Sadly we'll have a round of anti-trust lawsuits if M$ starts to include Security Essentials with Windows.
 
I used to run AV software for a years until I realized that I had never needed it and that maintaining it was an utter PITA. Now I just go without and don't get stuff from places I don't trust :)
 
Elledan said:
I used to run AV software for a years until I realized that I had never needed it and that maintaining it was an utter PITA. Now I just go without and don't get stuff from places I don't trust :)
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I really hope none of those places you trust get compromised.
 
Wish they'd all start off with ESET on the darn things... would make a lot of gamers and tech people like me very happy...

So far, it's the best AV I'e found resource-wise and at actually stopping stuff.. I've tried others, but it works so well, and I've been called out on tech calls to remove Norton.

My experience with McAfee has been little better than with Norton, so...

AVG has been "ok" but I don't use it... Panda is seemingly good, just big and trend is also. We use kaspersky at work, and it works, but when the PCs come on in the morning, pople sit there while it updates for more than 5 minutes occasionally. and it takes up the whole darn CPU time.

If you have a better one than ESET, let me know, but I suspect that very few people will PM me about this with a better alternative... if anyone.
 
Elledan said:
I used to run AV software for a years until I realized that I had never needed it and that maintaining it was an utter PITA. Now I just go without and don't get stuff from places I don't trust :)
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you are aware that you can get infected through banner ads on trusted sites, right? I had several PCs at my old job that got infected when looking through their hotmail. the banner ad came up and when they moused over it, it used a flash vulnerability to infect the system with fake AV. After I removed the fake AV, I found bot programs on every one of those systems as well.

In addition, there are vulnerabilities in Windows, especially Windows XP, where they can get infected with bots just by being attached to the internet, and with no interaction from the user.

Botnets are the biggest bane of the Internet. They are run by the worst of the bad guys: spammer, scammers, general thieves. These people are the most dispicable, deplorable, pathetic people on the planet. They think they're smart, but they don't realize the depth of their stupidity in harming everyone else for their own profit. they don't realize that they could be so much more, and live so much better lives, and be so much happier, if they'd just cooperate with everyone else to make a better life for everyone. Instead, they just destroy and steal, ruining everything for everyone else and making life that much more miserable for everyone else. Life sucks because of these types of people. It is these people we need removed from the internet most of all.
 
Elledan said:
I used to run AV software for a years until I realized that I had never needed it and that maintaining it was an utter PITA. Now I just go without and don't get stuff from places I don't trust :)
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You mean places like Goggle?

"DoubleClick, the Google-owned ad technology, has been distributing malware in an online ad served through a number of websites, according to the security researcher who says he discovered the attack.

The malware infects users who visit a page where an infected banner ad is displayed. It’s installed as a drive-by download, meaning that users don’t have to click on the ad to be infected, they just have to visit a website when the ad appears on the page."
 
Haven't run AV software in the longest time. Run as a limited user when I don't need to install something and have Firefox loaded with noscript/ad block.

The wife's computer on the other hand...
 
on my oldest computer, i run symantec antivirus corporate.

it's unobtrusive, and doesn't bog down shit.

half assed symantec protection is better than no protection. At least it wards of chlamydia and gono.
 
I don't run anything on my computer. I do run it on my girlfriends computer though... she goes to wierd sites.
 
With FireFox equipped with Script Blocker I think you are safer then say.... having any browser with antivirus software equipped. Since using ScriptBlocker I have never had an alert on my machine. Shit even google scans websites for viruses now..... you know that big red window that pops telling you that its a bad idea to continue. :D
 
Oh and forgot to add......... my bosses always buy these licenses of Norton, McAfee, Kapersky to name a few...... I cant tell you how many times they have come running to me begging and pleading for me to help them uninstall that fake security essentials and other crap from clicking on random links across the web. Uhm hey yeah idiots..... don't watch porn on computers that are essential to our small business.
 
Cantroy said:
Wish they'd all start off with ESET on the darn things... would make a lot of gamers and tech people like me very happy...

So far, it's the best AV I'e found resource-wise and at actually stopping stuff.. I've tried others, but it works so well, and I've been called out on tech calls to remove Norton.

My experience with McAfee has been little better than with Norton, so...

AVG has been "ok" but I don't use it... Panda is seemingly good, just big and trend is also. We use kaspersky at work, and it works, but when the PCs come on in the morning, pople sit there while it updates for more than 5 minutes occasionally. and it takes up the whole darn CPU time.

If you have a better one than ESET, let me know, but I suspect that very few people will PM me about this with a better alternative... if anyone.
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Microsoft Security Essentials.
 
ninjaturtle said:
I really wish MSE would be included w/ Windows.
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I use MSE at home, but one of the systems got hit last week with a virus & fake AV software that disabled MSE. Due to it's growing market share, it appears that MSE is increasingly being targeted.

I cleaned out most of the virus, but there was one piece that several different AV scanners couldn't find and it would kill MSE each time it tried to start. Determined it was a compromised dll that was hooked into a legitimate process, but couldn't find which DLL it was. Finally, I retried one of the malware scanners and their most receint update caught it.
 
I run the free version of Norton 360 from Comcast, does a better job than Zone Alarm for blocking, and I like to have something else besides just MSE to check the system with, so far no problems, better than the previous bloat that Symantec has given us.
 
dgingeri said:
people who run Windows computers without AV should be banned from the internet. Those who have it and disable it should be shot in the kneecaps.
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I disable it and never get virus's. So i dont know wtf your talking about.
 
dgingeri said:
people who run Windows computers without AV should be banned from the internet. Those who have it and disable it should be shot in the kneecaps.
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People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
 
aaronspink said:
People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
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QFT.
 
I havent installed an anti virus in about half a decade now. At most, once a year I get one of those malicious java scripts that installs the fake anti virus thing. A simple scan with malware bytes clears that up in about 2 minutes.
 
nutzo said:
I use MSE at home, but one of the systems got hit last week with a virus & fake AV software that disabled MSE. Due to it's growing market share, it appears that MSE is increasingly being targeted.

I cleaned out most of the virus, but there was one piece that several different AV scanners couldn't find and it would kill MSE each time it tried to start. Determined it was a compromised dll that was hooked into a legitimate process, but couldn't find which DLL it was. Finally, I retried one of the malware scanners and their most receint update caught it.
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Those showed up on my computer too. Immediately hit restart, AND RESTART O-N-L-Y, when anything wanky pops up and you're safe. It's when you start clicking buttons to try and make it go away that you get in trouble.
 
aaronspink said:
People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
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Suggest you tune into Security Now on TWIT network.
 
Not sure what they're like now but I blame a lot of this on the horrible versions of McAfee and Norton from the late Windows XP era. I'd rather have malware than those pieces of trash.
However MSE has been terrific for me. I'm smart enough not to do anything TOO stupid and it takes care of the rest without killing my computer in the process. Plus, daily updates linked to Windows Update = awesome.
 
aaronspink said:
People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
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Well then I hope someone brings over an infected flashdrive for you to put some files on for them.
 
Nova8 said:
I havent installed an anti virus in about half a decade now. At most, once a year I get one of those malicious java scripts that installs the fake anti virus thing. A simple scan with malware bytes clears that up in about 2 minutes.
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If you at least do a scan a few times a month, they you are probably safe,

But anyone who doesn't run AV software, or doesn't run regular scans, doesn;t really know if they are infected.

That's like a drug addict saying they dont have aids because they've never been tested for it.
 
dgingeri said:
you are aware that you can get infected through banner ads on trusted sites, right? I had several PCs at my old job that got infected when looking through their hotmail. the banner ad came up and when they moused over it, it used a flash vulnerability to infect the system with fake AV. After I removed the fake AV, I found bot programs on every one of those systems as well.
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Ads? There are ads on the internet? Weird. Never seen one.

And Flash? People still use that?
 
I use McAfee Enterprise and it hasn't failed me yet. Daily automatic updates and doesn't seem to affect system resources....and it was free through work.
 
AV software slows down a computer? It might be time to upgrade that Pentium III.
The latest MSE even lets you dial in how much processor % you want it to use.
 
randomdean100 said:
Well then I hope someone brings over an infected flashdrive for you to put some files on for them.
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Like I'd like some idiot plug in a flash drive to my computer. Besides, my network is faster than that. Things like flash drives at this point should never be shared between computers.
 
lord_emperor said:
When their shiny new barely adequate $199 special Dell comes pre-installed with Norton Security bundle or *shudder* McAffee, they're right. Sadly we'll have a round of anti-trust lawsuits if MS starts to include Security Essentials with Windows.
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MSE is not quite as lean and mean as its reputation might suggest. On older machines, it can, in fact, be hideously resource-intensive. Even on newer machines, with reasonably fast hardware, its impact can sometimes be noticeable. Suffice it to say that a very large number of consumers are likely using very old machines (machines we would laugh at) and simply cannot afford the performance hit of a resident anti-virus.

Realistically, though, with UAC up and by exercising caution, they're pretty secure. Is an anti-virus absolutely essential given the current state of Windows? No.
 
aaronspink said:
People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
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Bzzzzt incorrect. Clearly you are not as smart as you think. You're the kind we are talking about.
 
On my gaming and htpc I don't use antivirus at all. I haven't had antivirus software installed for many many years now.
Although I do goto housecall.antivirus.com every month and run their free scan just incase.

If you think you need antivirus installed on your personal computer then you need to stop going to porn sites and stop downloading non-verfied software. Also stop reading [H]ard.
Also, adblock and noscript takes care of most browser related things.

If you are smart, keep windows updated, use adblock+noscript, then you don't need antivirus. You have to be an idiot to allow yourself to get a virus/trojan/worm/etc.
 
aaronspink said:
People who get viruses should be banned. I haven't EVER had a computer virus. And I DO NOT run AV software on my machines. Idiots get viruses, smart people do not. Its not like these things are magical and get appear. You have to let them in or install them yourselves.
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+1
Finally someone here who thinks like me on this subject.
 
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