Is it necessary to have anti virus now days?

[Slaye1R]

Hey, since 1 week ago i started to use kaspersky Internet Security and malwarebytes because i got pished, before i didnt use any anti virus or anything else. Now im just too scared. But what do you think? If someone only use steam and surfing on the net should he use antivirus? Is it really necessary?

[[wan-clan.org] Gordy Freeman]

Depends how IT Savvy the end user is really.

I would recommend Malwarebytes hands down though.

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Gordy Freeman 🇦🇺:

Depends how IT Savvy the end user is really.

I would recommend Malwarebytes hands down though.

I'd also have Malwarebytes if I was the kind of user OP is. You never know what dumb stuff you might click on by accident while surfing.

[Ogami]

If you have Windows 10 ,the inbuild Windows Defender is more then enough.
There was just a product test that tested all the free antivirus programs and Windows Defender came out on top and even defeated some of the pay programs.
As long as you dont surf on shady infected sites all day/every day you are more then safe with the Windows 10 standard protection without the use of further software.

[[wan-clan.org] Gordy Freeman]

Originally posted by Ogami:

If you have Windows 10 ,the inbuild Windows Defender is more then enough.
There was just a product test that tested all the free antivirus programs and Windows Defender came out on top and even defeated some of the pay programs.
As long as you dont surf on shady infected sites all day/every day you are more then safe with the Windows 10 standard protection without the use of further software.

Bahahaha, tell that to the guy whose PC I am helping disinfect.

[Sapph]

Originally posted by Gordy Freeman 🇦🇺:

Bahahaha, tell that to the guy whose PC I am helping disinfect.

Even the best anti-virus doesn't make pc safe from stupid people.

[Jerry]

It is possible to get along without antivirus programs, if you are very cautious with what you are doing and do avoid any kind of websites, you are not familiar with.
With that said, it is not to be recommended, as it is still a pretty risky business, and at least once every two years, you will find the pleasure to manually remove malware from your system.
"Just using Steam and surfing on the net" sounds more harmless than it is. The moment, you stray away from major websites, you can only cross your fingers or run a websearch, if the adress, you are about to enter has a history of malware spreading. And checking each link you are going to click twice in advance becomes a ritual (any sort of shortlinks are out of question anyhow).

You are never safe on the internet, with or withour antivirus software. But having such software reduces the risk quite a lot and allows you to feel more comfortable.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Slaye1R:

If someone only use steam and surfing on the net should he use antivirus? Is it really necessary?

Originally posted by Slaye1R:

i got pished, before i didnt use any anti virus or anything else

I think this answers the question.

[BossGalaga]

Originally posted by Slaye1R:

Hey, since 1 week ago i started to use kaspersky Internet Security and malwarebytes because i got pished, before i didnt use any anti virus or anything else. Now im just too scared. But what do you think? If someone only use steam and surfing on the net should he use antivirus? Is it really necessary?

You're too scared to use antivirus because you got hacked...which could have been prevented by an antivirus program? Uh...waaat?

Phishing is user-initiated. If someone sends you a link to the Steam website and you're unsure if it's a real link then you can literally just go to the actual secured Steam website. If you click on a link and a website pops up asking for your Steam login and password, you can just type in the Steam website into your address bar manually. If you get some sort of message that says you're going to be banned if you don't immediately type your mobile recovery code in, AGAIN...you can check this by manually going to the Steam website yourself.

[Slaye1R]

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

Originally posted by Slaye1R:

Hey, since 1 week ago i started to use kaspersky Internet Security and malwarebytes because i got pished, before i didnt use any anti virus or anything else. Now im just too scared. But what do you think? If someone only use steam and surfing on the net should he use antivirus? Is it really necessary?

You're too scared to use antivirus because you got hacked...which could have been prevented by an antivirus program? Uh...waaat?

Phishing is user-initiated. If someone sends you a link to the Steam website and you're unsure if it's a real link then you can literally just go to the actual secured Steam website. If you click on a link and a website pops up asking for your Steam login and password, you can just type in the Steam website into your address bar manually. If you get some sort of message that says you're going to be banned if you don't immediately type your mobile recovery code in, AGAIN...you can check this by manually going to the Steam website yourself.

I meant im afraid NOT to use one.

Thanks everyone.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Sapph:

Originally posted by Gordy Freeman 🇦🇺:

Bahahaha, tell that to the guy whose PC I am helping disinfect.

Even the best anti-virus doesn't make pc safe from stupid people.

I did not say that it makes you immune to stupidity. But if you browse like a "normal" person and dont go on shady sites you can be perfectly safe with just Windows Defender.

Against stupidity the best antivir will not help you.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Use just one active antivirus at a time.
Probably a free one without guard as second opinion.

[SiEgE]

Always keep one nearby. Keep it updated, but disabled, so it won't interfere with your gaming experience and other stuff by lagging your PC.
Its easier to enable an AV, open that new rar\zip\exe file, do your stuff, then disable an AV.
Otherwise, you'll get yourself into a mess, compromising some sensitive data, and risking reinstalling OS completely(unless you're a Linux user).

[SiEgE]

The three most dangerous\least wanted things viruses may ever do to your PC:
- Compromise your data
- Lag the PC
- Corrupt your OS, rendering it useless.

If you have no data to compromise, then you can actually leave out an AV, as you can easily deal with lags and a corrupted OS the easiest way - by reinstalling your OS everytime something happens to it.
It is the fastest way to restore your system, because some changes, made by a virus may be subtle and unrecoverable, and will affect your experience greatly. Just keep in mind that some malware is able to infect stuff like Steam.exe, so if you'll keep something on your disk from before the OS reinstallation, you'll have to clean it up anyway.

You also can keep a read-only flash drive\SSD with all the required files you need on your fresh system, so you just copy-paste it onto the disk after the reinstallation. This way, your PC may be a virus nest, main part of a botnet, a secret bitcoin mine, and still, you'll restore it back to it's cleanest state in around two hours.

[Winged One]

I will tell you the same thing I tell my clients at work, the average person should have some sort of security.. you won't believe how many times I have seen people say "but I only use facebook and youtube!" but still had a PC riddled with Malware..

as long as you are connected to the internet, you have a risk of infection..

Originally posted by Ogami:

If you have Windows 10 ,the inbuild Windows Defender is more then enough.
There was just a product test that tested all the free antivirus programs and Windows Defender came out on top and even defeated some of the pay programs.
As long as you dont surf on shady infected sites all day/every day you are more then safe with the Windows 10 standard protection without the use of further software.

I have had numerous Clients who tried to rely on Windows defender, didn't turn out well.. Keyloggers leaking company credit cards, Ransomware, even some RAT's (Remote Access Trojans) that options like Hitman PRO, Malwarbytes, or ESET can pick up in seconds..

and let me tell you, being on clean up duty after some office felt they could get along with Windows Defender only for a strain of Ransomware to spread across their entire network is not a fun thing to have to clean up..


given that the vast majority of modern Computers already have Windows Defender installed, most of the people making any of the serious threats out there already know thats the first one to make sure your infection can fall under the radar of..

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by theseraph1:

Keyloggers leaking company credit cards, Ransomware, even some RAT's (Remote Access Trojans) that options like Hitman PRO, Malwarbytes, or ESET can pick up in seconds..

You still never know. Any detection tool can fail. And you never know when.

You use things from reputated sources, and scan them.
Any other things you run in a sandbox, and scan them :D .
Thats the only way to be at least reasonable safe.