Advice Request Is antivirus software necessary in 2020?

[ChoiceVoice]

if you’re sensible and careful enough about what you do online, only visiting legitimate websites, official software stores, and policing the links you click on with a suitable degree of vigilance, you probably won’t encounter any malware anyway.

“an engineer at a security firm discovered that advertisements on YouTube served by Google’s ad network delivered malware to visitor’s computers. … That virus was designed to break into consumers’ bank accounts and transfer funds to cybercriminals,”

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/20/beware-of-malicious-ads-that-can-harm-computers-without-a-click.html

Several major news sites are hosting ads infected with devastating computer viruses

News sites including BBC, MSN and the New York Times have been affected by "malvertising."

www.businessinsider.com

60 Percent of Organizations are Infected With Malware Through Web Browsing, According to Latest Research Sponsored by Light Point Security

/PRNewswire/ -- Light Point Security, the pioneer of Browser Isolation, today announced the results of a study investigating challenges faced by enterprise...

www.prnewswire.com

 

[Dhruv2193]

I also agree some basic protection is required

 

[TairikuOkami]

In other words, AV is a car seat belt

Seat belts at high speed can cause more serious injury or even a death, so they are not recommended, the same applies to a vulnerable AV with SYSTEM rights. Under normal conditions it is out question, whether it should be used or not, but in some cases, it might pose more trouble than it is worth.

 

[Cortex]

I would think most members on this forum could use a PC without any AV & remain uninfected - As many I can't remember the last time I had any malware at large on any PC I've had - However: There are so many happy clickers around in the world & as I work with some an AV is certainly needed for them - You have won three trillion pounds click here, & they do - Look 200 years younger free trial, click here & they do - The list is endless ...

 

[Kermit80]

and then you can get caught by lateral movements. Whenever you're in a company business network or at a lan party. I've seen servers administered by experienced people, not used to browse or read mails, being infected by miners and other sort of things.

 

[sepik]

Hello,
In my opinion, it's necessary, for not-so-tech savvy ppl. Some security suites are really "family friendly", just install it and it takes cares of the rest. So called "autopilot" mode. No complicated pop-ups etc. F-Secure Safe is especially good for that purpose. Trend Micro beta 2021 does even have a "survey" when you start it first time, where you can easily setup parental controls, protected folders etc in easy way.

Kind regards,
-sepik

 

[imuade]

Seat belts at high speed can cause more serious injury or even a death, so they are not recommended

Are you serious about this statement???

Seat Belts | NHTSA

Seatbelts significantly increases your chance of survival during a crash. Seatbelts are the safest choice drivers & passengers can make while driving.

www.nhtsa.gov

 

[Andy Ful]

I never get infected. Not because I use an antivirus, but because I never encounter malware, despite spending many hours online and often visiting lots of random websites. Because of this, I could ditch my antivirus and use no other security software (not even Windows Defender) and most likely never get infected.
...

Ha, ha. It is not a perfect conclusion. I usually use seat-belts when driving and never had a car accident. So I could conclude that I do not need them. But, there are many such people and some of them still are the victims of traffic accidents in some moment of their lives.
Anyway, the lucky man (lucky until dead) can skip the AV.

 

[Andy Ful]

• The year is 2020.
• 1/3 of the world inhabitants still live in the mud.
• At least 1/4 of the world inhabitants still live without electricity and/or clean accessible water.
• There are still witch doctors in the world.
• Voodoo spells, snake oil, trinket medicine and mutilation medicine remain rampant throughout the world.
• "Developed" and up and coming societies do not teach the basics of our digital society to prepare their populations for the era.
• Digital device usage does not equate to knowledge nor understanding.
• In the world today there is probably in-excess of 100 TB of digital storage devoted only to "What is best AV ?"
• Stupidity is the first world pandemic; into the world came humans and they brought stupidity with them... and the smart people asked for millennia "What are we to do ?"

That was a nice apocalyptic post.
I would like to add another one: In the year 2020 the death events caused by COVID-19 are similar to the death events caused normally at the same time period (half of the year) by traffic accidents. Furthermore, most people do not fear both computer viruses and traffic accidents. Soon, they will not fear COVID-19 too - I can see it around me when I am walking down the street.

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

Hey, I think a good AV becomes more & more necessary as time goes by.

 

[Thales]

for Avarage Joe it is necessary.
Very experienced user could live without it but if it is light + install and forget AV then better to have than not.

 

[sepik]

Seems that Scandinavian ppl cares a lot about personal computer security. Not a lot infected computers/botnets there. If you check several "threat maps" you'll see where most the botnet/infected systems comes from.

 

[Thales]

A

Seems that Scandinavian ppl cares a lot about personal computer security. Not a lot infected computers/botnets there. If you check several "threat maps" you'll see where most the botnet/infected systems comes from.

Actually they use the least illegal software probably that's why. Malwares came from crack, keylogger and warez sites mostly.

 

[Andy Ful]

Seems that Scandinavian ppl cares a lot about personal computer security. Not a lot infected computers/botnets there. If you check several "threat maps" you'll see where most the botnet/infected systems comes from.

In such a country, you have more chances to be uninfected without AV.
The same is true for driving without seat-belts in the country where most drivers drive carefully. But, this does not work if one is a dangerous driver himself.

 

[sepik]

A


Actually they use the least illegal software probably that's why. Malwares came from crack, keylogger and warez sites mostly.

Yes, this is actually true and its of course, about a culture here in Finland and Scandinavia. Always pay for a legit softwares, be honest etc.

 

[Ink]

However: There are so many happy clickers around in the world & as I work with some an AV is certainly needed for them - You have won three trillion pounds click here, & they do - Look 200 years younger free trial, click here & they do - The list is endless ...

Adware is a huge problem. Even with trusted freeware programs, any person can get it, on any device; Windows, Android and Mac.

 

[sepik]

Yes, on my testing laptop, even i've disabled push notifications, still Auslogics Boostpeed installed and it promote offers time to time. I understand it somehow, to offer other softwares of the same company. Some of their softwares are actually usefull. But their marketing strategy is strong, and they focus to ppl, that aren't not so tech savvy. Like 300% boost your PC! advertising. Someones, actually many will then buy their products. Which actually makes your computer slower.

 

[mlnevese]

I'm quite a safe browser but even I hit evil redirections or links sometimes. In the last year Adguard alone blocked 20 sites in my computer for suspicious links.

 

[sepik]

Yeah, sometimes i feel like screaming(Deep Purple) when using windows and linux together
Kind regards,
-sepil

 

[struppigel]

I only see a few use cases were you don't need any AV.
Those that come in my mind:

1. Computer is never connected to the Internet and usually doesn't share any files with any other system
2. Computer has an OS that is not well supported by AV programs (I don't mean outdated OS like Win XP, in that case you have entirely different problems)
3. Computer is used to run and analyse malware (in that case it should preferably not be connected to the internet as well)

I do wonder about people saying they are smart enough to never get infected. How do you know that you never get infected if you don't have an AV to tell you about the infection? Infections are not always noticable. You might go on for years with an infection on a system. If an AV is installed, it will eventually find it, even if it slipped through initially.

I think most people overestimate themselves.