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Computer viruses for me aren't very common, it's been a good few years since I've come across one when/if I've had one. It could be down to luck, down to being smart, or simply good anti-virus software. However, I really hate anti-virus software. Nearly as much as I hate viruses themselves. It's like medicine. It might help protect against something, but always seems to come with a side effect.

The side effect of anti-virus software is that it makes your computer run slow. I shouldn't forget to mention that I really hate a slow computer. Here's a list of free and payed anti-virus software I've used and have come to hate (in order of hatred):

• Norton (Symantec)
• McAfee
• AVG
• Avira
• Avast

Does anyone know of an anti-virus program without the nasty side effects? I don't mind paying, as long as it's not a silly amount of money any sane person wouldn't pay.

I hear that Microsoft Security Essentials with a weekly scan of malwarebytes works pretty well. This is what an on-site technician friend of mine uses.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
For a comparison of free vs pro; free should be enough.

I think you would like ESET NOD32. It has the smallest footprint of all of the anti-virus packages out there. I believe that some of the super-heavy anti-viruses, such as Norton, run at about 45 - 55% of the system RAM and CPU usage. Then there are the mid-ground ones, such as Kaspersky (which I use), that probably use about 18 - 24% of the system's resources. But NOD32 used about 5% for me. It is also extremely subtle and nearly invisible when it is running. In fact, that was my only problem with it and why I changed back to Kaspersky, was just because NOD32 was so quiet and invisible it made me a bit nervous. I was used to Kaspersky popping-up and reporting what it was doing probably several times a day, and I was not used to going sometimes weeks at a time without hearing anything from it.

But that may be exactly what you want. Subtle, invisible, yet strong protection with a tiny resource footprint. I did not get anything at all for the year+ that I had NOD32.

Haven't used anti-virus in years. never had a issue. Not sure how anyone gets virus's/spyware these days. i mean I know how you can get them but who really clicks or installs that stuff?

I say this but my parents get a virus weekly. Think it is from porn though.

fang wrote:I hear that Microsoft Security Essentials with a weekly scan of malwarebytes works pretty well. This is what an on-site technician friend of mine uses.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
For a comparison of free vs pro; free should be enough.

^^ This is pretty much what i do, used Nod 32 prior to this but it suddenly started to refuse to scan when it hit files for World of Tanks, and it was only a couple of weeks away from needing to be re subbed. So i switched to MSE instead.

Thanks for the info! I've downloaded the trial of NOD32, pretty good so far, reminds me of the early days of Avast when it was still good.

hallsofvallhalla wrote:Haven't used anti-virus in years. never had a issue. Not sure how anyone gets virus's/spyware these days. i mean I know how you can get them but who really clicks or installs that stuff?

I say this but my parents get a virus weekly. Think it is from porn though.

It is a common misconception that you can avoid malware by watching what you are doing. The biggest problem today are ads. Some of the largest websites in the world will make deals with whoever give the best rates, regardless of how shady they may be. And those ad companies can pay the largest rates because they have very little control of what is going on their network. Malware can be added to ad banner downloads, and it is every day. And the most worrying is that the worst malware is invisible. You can always fix your computer if you get a virus that starts slowing everything down. It will be painfully obvious it is there. But the real business of malware is in spyware and other malware for the purposes of adding you to a zombie network when your computer is idle. It is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and banner ads are at the forefront (sadly, mostly through Flash due to some of the "enhanced", unsafe operations Flash can perform). And you basically have no control over what banner ads you see, because once you see them, it is too late. And ad blockers, as most people know, don't block them all. There are some fairly simple methods of getting around them.

I would suggest at least having a free anti-virus program, or something very small footprint and invisible, like NOD32.