Having antivirus protection has become a fact of life for most computer users, as it's certainly not uncommon to hear of massive botnets recruiting infected PCs for spamming operations or Trojans that steal or damage your information. But it's also true that with a little experience recognizing the nefarious from innocuous and practicing safe browsing habits one can navigate the web in peace with minimal security in place.
For a while now I've been using my main computer without active antivirus protection and only scan files rarely if I'm suspicious of something. It's not for everyone – certainly not work environments or anyone likely to fall prey for tricks that a mildly experienced computer user would spot. You might even say it's a bit reckless.
But given our tech-savvy audience we think it's a fair question to ask – and actually revisit, since we've touched on this topic before: do you keep an antivirus program running on your computer at all times? If so, what do you use? If not, have you had any issues you've had to regret not having active antivirus protection on your machine?