7 ms·

I don't even understand why people use antivirus software. Sure, if you're on an ancient version of your OS, like Windows XP, then it might serve some purpose,

I don't even understand why people use antivirus software. Sure, if you're on an ancient version of your OS, like Windows XP, then it might serve some purpose, but assuming modern versions of these operating systems, antivirus software does more harm than good. Worried about browser extensions? Another problem is that popular antivirus software are also installing their own root certificate so they can MITM secure HTTPS connections. For example Bitdefender is able to inspect and modify your Google search result without installing a browser extension. And this is a common practice. See for example: https://blog.hboeck.de/archives/869-How-Kaspersky-makes-you-vulnerable-to-the-FREAK-attack-and-other-ways-Antivirus-software-lowers-your-HTTPS-security.html https://blog.hboeck.de/archives/869-How-Kaspersky-makes-you-...

degenerate 7y ago
If you are computer savvy, you understand the danger of opening "free_netflix.exe" from an ad you clicked, but the majority of people do not. There are still good 3rd party antivirus that stay out of the way, as an example I have been running Panda Antivirus (free edition) for a few years and often forget it's installed until I pop in an infected USB or try to open a questionable exe (such as a game mod patcher). If you have lots of click-happy family members, 3rd party antivirus is a must. Just stay away from the big names (Norton, Kaspersky, Avast, AVG, McAfee, etc). I used to run NOD32 but it started becoming a memory hog in ~2015.
- jermaustin1 7y ago
  > If you have lots of click-happy family members, 3rd party antivirus is a must. I HAD lots of click-happy family members, but as soon as I stopped fixing their computers and just formatting them, they stopped being so click happy.
  - carlhjerpe 7y ago
    I'd lie suggesting that a Linux Desktop is more secure than a Windows Desktop, but my solution with my father's just been installing a Linux distro and helping him there instead, considering there's no market to make consumer viruses for Linux. I've recently started looking at "Neverware CloudReady" (ChromeOS for regular machines), i think that'd be the perfect OS for my father, considering almost everything he does is done through the browser, but still has a few applications that needs local execution. (And they seem to support the Crostini Linux app beta thingy that Google is working so hard on for ChromeOS).
- autoexec 7y ago
  While people can avoid a lot of problems with a little common sense, infections don't just come from click happy users. Malware in ads can infect users just for browsing to a site and popular sites like CNN and yahoo have infected users in the past that way. I've managed to convince most of my family and friends to install ad-blockers but some of them still don't. I've tried to encourage the more tech savvy among them to disable javascript by default as well, but most have not.
- JetSpiegel 7y ago
  You can have your cake and it eat by installing an Ad blocker. Win win
kryogen1c 7y ago
> I don't even understand why people use antivirus software. I don't understand how you can be even the littlest bit technically literate and not know several answers to this question 1) legitimate software you normally use gets compromised. See ccleaner 2) in the IoT era, there are multiple ingress and lateral move pivot points in networks, like smart tvs 3) aside from malware, there are lots of PUPs that get bundled and eventually end up on computers 4) phishing is still a thing. Legitimate email accounts get compromised (database breaches, eg) and _people you know_ can send you viruses that look barely out of the ordinary. It happened to my users today Even if you have gateway/hardware antivirus, defense in depth is still a thing. Dont ever tell people not to have anti-virus, thats terrible advice

degenerate 7y ago

If you are computer savvy, you understand the danger of opening "free_netflix.exe" from an ad you clicked, but the majority of people do not. There are still good 3rd party antivirus that stay out of the way, as an example I have been running Panda Antivirus (free edition) for a few years and often forget it's installed until I pop in an infected USB or try to open a questionable exe (such as a game mod patcher). If you have lots of click-happy family members, 3rd party antivirus is a must. Just stay away from the big names (Norton, Kaspersky, Avast, AVG, McAfee, etc). I used to run NOD32 but it started becoming a memory hog in ~2015.

jermaustin1 7y ago
> If you have lots of click-happy family members, 3rd party antivirus is a must. I HAD lots of click-happy family members, but as soon as I stopped fixing their computers and just formatting them, they stopped being so click happy.
- carlhjerpe 7y ago
  I'd lie suggesting that a Linux Desktop is more secure than a Windows Desktop, but my solution with my father's just been installing a Linux distro and helping him there instead, considering there's no market to make consumer viruses for Linux. I've recently started looking at "Neverware CloudReady" (ChromeOS for regular machines), i think that'd be the perfect OS for my father, considering almost everything he does is done through the browser, but still has a few applications that needs local execution. (And they seem to support the Crostini Linux app beta thingy that Google is working so hard on for ChromeOS).
autoexec 7y ago
While people can avoid a lot of problems with a little common sense, infections don't just come from click happy users. Malware in ads can infect users just for browsing to a site and popular sites like CNN and yahoo have infected users in the past that way. I've managed to convince most of my family and friends to install ad-blockers but some of them still don't. I've tried to encourage the more tech savvy among them to disable javascript by default as well, but most have not.
JetSpiegel 7y ago
You can have your cake and it eat by installing an Ad blocker. Win win

kryogen1c 7y ago

> I don't even understand why people use antivirus software. I don't understand how you can be even the littlest bit technically literate and not know several answers to this question 1) legitimate software you normally use gets compromised. See ccleaner 2) in the IoT era, there are multiple ingress and lateral move pivot points in networks, like smart tvs 3) aside from malware, there are lots of PUPs that get bundled and eventually end up on computers 4) phishing is still a thing. Legitimate email accounts get compromised (database breaches, eg) and _people you know_ can send you viruses that look barely out of the ordinary. It happened to my users today Even if you have gateway/hardware antivirus, defense in depth is still a thing. Dont ever tell people not to have anti-virus, thats terrible advice