How many times have you have been infected in the last 5 years?

[Dave Russo]

None in last 5 years, but? I have had to restore I would say 3 times in that period which may have been malware related just not sure

 

[simmerskool]

The result shows what I've always known, it's almost impossible to be infected, only if you really want to, using pirated things or going after fake pages, if you browse you know you will never be infected, regardless of whether you use a security program or not , people are paranoid using 3 or more security programs on a system, waste of time and money, you will never need it all, just safe browsing, using multiple security programs only hinders your computer's performance..Big companies do need antivirus protection, common users will never be targets for digital criminals

A big corporate lawfirm unknowingly emailed me the ILOVEYOU virus circa 2000. I think some occupations get targeted more than others? That's the last time I know my pc was infected.

 

[Minimalist]

For the most part I agree with you, but nearly 20 years ago I got hit by the MS Blaster worm, and I wasn't even browsing the Internet or downloading cracks, pirated software, keygens or the like. In fact, I had just re-installed Windows XP SP1 and the worm hit within minutes of the completed install. XP's firewall was not enabled by default, and I didn't yet have a router. My PC was only sitting behind my ISP's cable modem. At the time my knowledge of pc security was limited to not much more than antivirus and Windows firewall, the latter of which I hadn't got to enabling yet before the worm hit.

I think utilizing additional security measures is mostly about addressing potential avenues of attack - of which there are many in Windows - rather than about being paranoid, and we know that basic antivirus can't be counted on to handle this.

I've had similar problem with Sasser worm. Luckily MS enabled FW by default with XP Sp2.
Well, I learned to use "shutdown -a" command and used Norton's disinfection tool to help friends with same problem. That was last time I had to clean up a bunch of systems in a week or so.

 

[wat0114]

Well, I learned to use "shutdown -a" command and used Norton's disinfection tool to help friends with same problem.

In my case I re-installed XP because I didn't know any other way to clean an infected device, and I didn't know about image backup & restores either

 

[TedCruz]

The question is simple. One can include several Antiviruses and the number of infections for each Antivirus. Please notice in the post when the infection was caused by turning off the AV protection.
I tried to make a Poll, but could not include the choices with different possible numbers.

I had COVID in February besides that it was minor colds.

 

[ForgottenSeer 95367]

You won't find many active members that have been infected, except for those that are infected by choice.

 

[colin.p]

Never even got the "sniffles" on any of my computers in all the years of sailing the Black Pearl of torrents.

 

[Chuck57]

Three times, long ago when the Internet was young, and I was much younger as well. All 3 infections were due to my ignorance and stupidity. Mostly I think stupidity. Someone turned me on to pirated software. I gathered quite a selection but lost it all when I had to reformat and reinstall Windows - a couple of times. I don't remember whether that was Windows 3.11 or Win 95.

 

[ichito]

Never in last 5 years, and actually I don't remember when in last 10 years. It's related to my 4 machines - XP, Vista, Win 7, Win 8.1. All of them are/were protected by basic combo - SpyShelter FW and Shadow Defender.