Unfortunately, I have to post again.
SectorNine50, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings on the matter. You must have known you are an exception to the rule. Otherwise you would not have qualified your "I don't use AV" with a long explanation of how you get away without using AV. For the vast majority of people in the world and on the Internet, educated or uneducated, you must have known that you were not a normal sample with regards to AV use.
A) Never hurt my feelings, I don't care if someone disagrees, just stop posting like you are the authority on the matter. Post your opinion, feel free to debate, but my god man, don't say "you are wrong" when I, and others have evidence that it is not as ridiculous as it sounds!
B) I do not think I am an exception to any rule. Like I said, my personal belief is that people have been lulled into the false security of anti-virus programs being secure all the time every time. This is what gets people into trouble more than anything! I cannot count how many times I've had someone come to me with a virus saying "I thought my anti-virus would catch it if it were bad." However, it does only take once for people to understand that anti-virus isn't invulnerable, so I suppose that is the learning curve.
That said, you brought it up. Fair enough. Why? Bragging, providing an alternative view, whatever... they're all valid and I won't look down on ya for posting about it. However, implying it's the route to go for normal Internet users is wrong.
Bragging? No. Alternative view, absolutely. The bolded is another "authoritative" statement, watch out for those.
Unless you're going to preface it with "Now, if you can restrict how and where you go on the Internet, go without a number of things you may be used to, if you can operate a machine with total discipline, I have an alternative that might work" then you are the one that has not taken into account others' experiences and knowledge.
And I quote:
"Surf smart, don't download CRAP (toolbars, etc.), pay attention to what program installers are doing (if there is a checkbox, read what it's doing, more often than not it's trying to install something else), and most importantly, don't install something unless it's from a credible source (opening .exe's from co-worker and/or family e-mails are not considered a credible source). Actually good rule of thumb: don't open executable that come in e-mails."
I fully well can appreciate your knowledge and expertise, as well as Skuzzy's (note, he's made a similar claim). However, if Skuzzy came out and said "you all shouldn't use AV. It's a waste. Just don't do anything, stop doing this, disable that, etc" I would have chimed in on him just as easily as I did on you. It's nothing personal, you're just wrong with regards to how most of the world uses and abuses the Internet.
Never once did I say
you should stop. I said
I decided that it was a waste. If you really want to nit-pick into what I said, this is the one time I used the word "you":
"A good browser (Firefox is my preference) and perhaps spybot search and destroy are the only two things you should ever need (I don't even have spybot installed anymore)."
Could have been:
"A good browser (Firefox is my preference) and perhaps spybot search and destroy are the only two things
I ever need (I don't even have spybot installed anymore)."
For most people it would be highly advisable to have a good AV software. REGARDLESS of how they operate. For the few that can operate without, more power to them. They are not the majority, nor are they typical.
I do not mean to cast doubts upon your ability or expertise. Your advise, nonetheless, is still bad for most people on this forum.
The bold is how you could have responded first.
The italics are how you actually responded. No one person's idea is bad, lay down information, let people decide for themselves.
When you reply to an opinion like this:
That's just the wrong approach to take. There are a number of VERY good AV programs out there. Leaving yourself open won't help. It's a fact of computing life these days.
I would avoid Symantec.... It's the same rubbish as Norton. Won't stop a stiff fart in the wind, let alone most viruses.
Avast or Eset. One of those. Your choice.
People will get pissed.
