If you are ordinary user, paying for antivirus is waste of money. If you are the target antivirus won't save you. 3rd party antivirus software gives you a false sense of security and makes you more prone to mistakes.
I tend to trust them more than antivirus companies.
Tavis Ormandy:
I get asked constantly what av to use. You're missing the point; av creates more problems than it solves, and we're overdue an av slammer.
Justin Schuh:
Antivirus software is "my single biggest impediment to shipping a secure browser."
Robert O'Callahan:
AV vendors are terrible, and that you should uninstall your antivirus software immediately—unless you use Microsoft's Windows Defender, which is apparently okay.
Justin Schuh:
AV products poison the software ecosystem because their invasive and poorly-implemented code makes it difficult for browser vendors and other developers to improve their own security.
