Quite many years ago (like over 15 years ago, back when I was using Windows98 and later WindowsXP) I wasn't very keen on installing and running anti-virus software on my Windows system. Sure, it was nice to have at least some such software which I could perhaps run once in a while to check the system, but I didn't want it running constantly in the background, hogging resources for no good reason. Back in the 90's most anti-virus software was of the kind which you just ran when you wanted, and it would scan the system, and then end. It wouldn't be running constantly in the background. I started detesting the trend of anti-virus software installing themselves in the system and starting themselves at system start-up, and constantly running in the background. It felt too intrusive, and too resource-consuming.
I never got any virus or malware problem. The classical basic safety measures applied quite well: Avoid browsing questionable websites, never install anything from dubious sources, don't use a local email program and instead always read emails remotely... That kind of stuff. It served me well, and I never got any sort of malware infection.
That's true to this day. Luckily I still haven't got any such infection. However, I have changed my mind with regards to the role of anti-virus software.
Actual "classic" computer viruses are actually somewhat of a rarity nowadays. Sure, there still are some of them in the wild. However, they aren't the biggest threat nowadays.
The biggest, and most damaging, threats nowadays are the type of malware that install themselves into the system and do all kinds of nasty stuff, all the way from the most "innocuous" (relatively speaking) but annoying adware that shows adverts or other kinds of messages, on web pages that shouldn't be there, to backdoor software that opens security holes in the system so that hackers can easily connect to your computer and do whatever they want in it (such as using it as a spam server or a DDoS node), all the way up to ransomware which will encrypt your hard drive and demand monetary payment to have it unencrypted. Especially the last case may be especially nasty in that if it gets to do that, there's seldom any way of reversing the encryption, and your only option is to reformat your hard drive completely and re-install Windows from scratch. Even if you don't keep anything of any value in your computer, just the fact that you need to wipe the hard drive and re-install everything can be a huge nuisance and waste of time. It could literally take days to get your system back to about what it was before.
The best anti-virus software out there will protect Windows from this kind of software quite well. Perhaps not absolutely 100% perfectly (because when it comes to computer systems, basically nothing can be protected with 100% certainty), but extremely well nevertheless. Some of these anti-virus software have preventive measures that will stop eg. ransomware from being able to do anything to your system, even if the anti-virus software has no knowledge of that particular ransomware program.
Nowadays it's a risk to surf the internet, or even just be connected to the internet, even if you follow the good old practices (ie. don't browse questionable websites, etc.) You never know when some webpage out there, which might look legit, will try to do something to your system by abusing a security hole in your web browser. You never know if Windows itself may have some kind of security hole that hackers and malware can abuse.
Even the best anti-virus software out there might not be able to protect the system with absolute perfection, from all current and future threats, but even if they "only" protect from 99% of them, that's much better than from none at all.
So yeah, I'll gladly have a good anti-virus program running in the background. It adds a layer of protection that eases my mind.
I never got any virus or malware problem. The classical basic safety measures applied quite well: Avoid browsing questionable websites, never install anything from dubious sources, don't use a local email program and instead always read emails remotely... That kind of stuff. It served me well, and I never got any sort of malware infection.
That's true to this day. Luckily I still haven't got any such infection. However, I have changed my mind with regards to the role of anti-virus software.
Actual "classic" computer viruses are actually somewhat of a rarity nowadays. Sure, there still are some of them in the wild. However, they aren't the biggest threat nowadays.
The biggest, and most damaging, threats nowadays are the type of malware that install themselves into the system and do all kinds of nasty stuff, all the way from the most "innocuous" (relatively speaking) but annoying adware that shows adverts or other kinds of messages, on web pages that shouldn't be there, to backdoor software that opens security holes in the system so that hackers can easily connect to your computer and do whatever they want in it (such as using it as a spam server or a DDoS node), all the way up to ransomware which will encrypt your hard drive and demand monetary payment to have it unencrypted. Especially the last case may be especially nasty in that if it gets to do that, there's seldom any way of reversing the encryption, and your only option is to reformat your hard drive completely and re-install Windows from scratch. Even if you don't keep anything of any value in your computer, just the fact that you need to wipe the hard drive and re-install everything can be a huge nuisance and waste of time. It could literally take days to get your system back to about what it was before.
The best anti-virus software out there will protect Windows from this kind of software quite well. Perhaps not absolutely 100% perfectly (because when it comes to computer systems, basically nothing can be protected with 100% certainty), but extremely well nevertheless. Some of these anti-virus software have preventive measures that will stop eg. ransomware from being able to do anything to your system, even if the anti-virus software has no knowledge of that particular ransomware program.
Nowadays it's a risk to surf the internet, or even just be connected to the internet, even if you follow the good old practices (ie. don't browse questionable websites, etc.) You never know when some webpage out there, which might look legit, will try to do something to your system by abusing a security hole in your web browser. You never know if Windows itself may have some kind of security hole that hackers and malware can abuse.
Even the best anti-virus software out there might not be able to protect the system with absolute perfection, from all current and future threats, but even if they "only" protect from 99% of them, that's much better than from none at all.
So yeah, I'll gladly have a good anti-virus program running in the background. It adds a layer of protection that eases my mind.
Comments
Post a Comment