Weekend Open Forum: Do you keep antivirus protection running 24/7?

[Jos]

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?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/43987-weekend-open-forum-do-you-keep-antivirus-protection-running-24-7.html

 

[Guest]

I keep antivirus running 24/7 (MSE 2 atm) and scan for malware using Malwarebytes about once a month. I have not had a virus, trojan, or worm in about a decade's time. I could definitely take your route, but it's a peace-of-mind tactic that I use. Plus you never know when someone who isn't an experience computer user needs to use your computer and you allow them to... it's an extra safeguard when I cannot personally be there monitoring what is happening.

 

[bchen88c]

i usually leave microsoft security essentials on 24/7 for windows 7. i never get viruses often, but hey, it can happen. i tried norton's security suite by comcast and it made my special applications useless. my school's Sophos AV picked up a lot of viruses lately, and i hear that people have gotten the viruses copied onto their usb flash drives unwillingly, infecting them. other than that, sometimes i use ubuntu linux if i dont feel like dealing with windows

 

[St1ckM4n]

No antivirus from me. I even deleted it off parents' PC, and they are noobs. No problems on my PC.

I have downloaded Malwarebytes Antimalware, and ran it once I think (when something didn't seem right), but false alarm. It's on parents' PC for when they do occasionally get malware.

I just hate the in-your-face notifications and warnings that anti virus brings. And then to a lower extent, the resource hogging.

 

[Julio Franco]

Similar to the user stories above, I've rarely had virus occurrences and not even one critical infection in the last decade or so. In the AVG/Avira days I used to turn off real-time protection because it would impact Windows performance, but nowadays with the latest versions of MSE I just leave it on to scan and auto-update and it's been complete smooth sailing, zero performance impact and zero infections.

 

[negroplasty]

Got MSE running all the time. My rig is fast enough to not worry about the performance impact... for now at least.

 

[tw0rld]

MSE 24/7. Malwarebytes for occasional scans.

 

[Guest]

same, 1 and a half years now when i decided not to use a resource hog antivirus. no problems whatsoever. that kind of software is for a computer who has many users that cant be monitored.

-malwarebytes antimalware
-comodo fw not windows fw

 

[matrix86]

MSE running 24/7. Used to have AVG, but it really slowed down my netbook. I was running Windows 7 Ultimate on my netbook, and AVG running as well...majorly slowed it down. Dumped AVG, switched to MSE and running with not any signs of wear. I run Malwarebytes and Superantispyware once a month (overkill? probably...but that's just how I am, lol)

 

[Guest]

Same here. Plenty of hardware resources to spare. Let it keep itself up to date and scan when I'm not home.

I'm getting pretty tired of AVG needing a reboot after some updates, though.

 

[Basher]

I keep Avast running 24/7. With today's hardware and the quality of which companies are offering Free version of their paid security suites, I really see no reason why not. The performance impact of a single free antivirus program is almost negligible. I've never had a serious infection and only a few warnings in the past 10 years or so.

That being said, I also run things such as Firefox with Adblock+ and NoScript, which does most of the work keeping things out if I happen to hit an infected site. A modded MVPS HOSTS file and SpyBot immunization (which also adds some HOSTS blocking stuff) also help.

I honestly feel with my level of computer knowledge I could go without it, but have found no reason not to.

 

[treetops]

I run mine all the time. 10 Years ago on my first computer I had nothing, I did not know I needed anything. A virus or norton, what was left of the 6 month free trial that came with my pc, caused my computer to not be able to delete any old data. My computers storage filled up and eventually would not turn on. I learned my lesson. My brother didn't use anything for 4+ years and never had any serious problems go figure.

 

[Guest]

Windows 7 seems much more secure, so I dont run it continuously. However, I do a manual scan fairly regularly - with 2 or 3 different AV/spyware products. I dont think I've ever had an actual virus on this build of my PC (~18 months)

 

[Jurassic4096]

MSE 24/7. Reviews are always positive, and doesn't affect boot times. I also set it to only scan incoming files.

I used to use Avira + Spywareblaster + malwarebytes.

 

[venomblade]

Avast Internet Security on 24/7, frequent scans of malwarebytes and spybot s&d

 

[captaincranky]

I have one machine that's dedicated to go anywhere, click on anything, (within reason), internet usage. So yeah, AVG runs constantly, along with the SpyBot tea timer, and NoScript in Firefox. Thus far it's been bulllet proof.

Can you even turn AVG off? Seems like it would be more aggravation and risk than it would be worth.

I rely on this machine to save clean files, that I transfer to other computers, some of which have no security installed, but aren't connected to the web.

I. A modded MVPS HOSTS file and SpyBot immunization (which also adds some HOSTS blocking stuff) also help.

You know, I've been preaching for years the Spybot "immunization" is actually a hosts file. Since if you go to the hosts file, you'll see all the IPs that Spybot puts there. Does anybody listen? Not really.

 

[Cota]

Nod32 24/7 and didnt even feel a thing, besides the interactive firewall helps a lot. But baaack in the time when i was a noob, i used to disable Norton AV to let my PC breathe a little then i went to PC-cillin wich was the 1st time i could actually update it because it was included in the ISP modem CD.

 

[Punkid]

im also using MSE an keep it running all the time, i forget i even have an antivirus because it has no performance impact...and i havent had any infection for a really really long time

 

[veLa]

Yes.

 

[HaMsTeYr]

I've got Norton Internet Security running in the BG of my machine with hardly any performance impact, with both its Firewall and Antivirus scoring pretty high in VB100 and Av-Comparative reports.

Its like a condom. I'd rather be safe than sorry and it doesn't cost me much either, sometimes its free, so why not use it?

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

No.

 

[war59312]

I have MSE 2 installed on my computer, but I have real time protection disabled and scan once a week.

I also use MSE 2 on my parents and clients PCs, but with real time protection enabled (unless computer is too old to handle it, then I just setup to scan once a week).

Never have had a virus, spyware, etc. on my own computer. I bet most people here do not. After all everyone reading this blog is a geek.

 

[Archean]

I have been using MSE on this notebook, and my home PC but just don't see any benefit in full scans. Although at work they make us use 'Norton' whatever it is called corporate edition. As all of the computers I use have very decent specs, I haven't bothered with the idea of turning off real time protection.

 

[St1ckM4n]

I have a question.. some of you people are saying you have a good rig, so the resources taken up are minimal.

I myself have an i7 CPU and 6GB RAM... but the crucial factor is the HDD. It's still the most limiting component. And when a scan comes in.. prepare for lag..

 

[Zen]

The answer for me is no, I don't run any type of antivirus program 24/7/365! I'm using the Linux distro Ubuntu 10.10! Sure I got an antivirus program, it's called ClamTK, but it will only scan things that come from only Microsoft Windows computers, other than that I don't think I need to worry!