Do you need anti virus in windows 7?

euser1984

Hi,
IIRC Nod32 was the best - is that still the case?

I'm currently using Comodo firewall and Windows firewall.

Thanks.

BobbyPropane

I use MSE. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download

Can be sure that the virus company isn't creating the viruses.. :pac:

TouchingVirus

Yes, you need antivirus. I use AVAST! myself, but ESET NOD32 is still recommended. Take a look at http://av-comparatives.org - their AV product of the year was Bitdefender with recommendations for NOD32, Avira and Avast! amongst others. I don't see a reason to pay for anti-virus myself so I'll be sticking with Avast! Free.

As for a firewall - I don't run one on the machine other than the Windows firewall. I'm behind a router/firewall and am pretty aware of what I'm at so don't feel the need to bog myself down in other firewall software.

HTML5!

I second MSE. You really don't need anything else for personal computing.

Anything else (accept NOD32 to be fair) I've found, seems to hog resources and constantly update and just generally interfere.

Overheal

MSE lost it's Antivirus certifications.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/antivirus/microsoft-security-essentials-loses-av-c/240142986

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/novdec-2012/

Use caution.

BobbyPropane

Overheal wrote: »

MSE lost it's Antivirus certifications.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/antivirus/microsoft-security-essentials-loses-av-c/240142986

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/novdec-2012/

Use caution.

Never had a virus on my PC and I use MSE. Been about a year and I take riskz.

Overheal

Cant say the same when I used it.

Squeaky the Squirrel

Overheal wrote: »

MSE lost it's Antivirus certifications.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/antivirus/microsoft-security-essentials-loses-av-c/240142986

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/novdec-2012/

Use caution.

Microsoft Security Essentials fails anti-virus certification test, Redmond challenges results

AV-Test boss dismisses Microsoft criticism of malware test results


yoyo recommends avg*

yoyo wrote: »

I use avg and its gr8, its also free, get it

Nick

Edit: Don't get Norton, Its a virus in itself, you'll be lucky to turn on your puter after installation, without it crashing

If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.




*joke

yoyo

I have always said MSE doesn't have the best heuristics engine going. Still it is less annoying than those other free ones. Viper is a good av if you want to pay for one, but keeping your system and plugins up to date, running MSE and you should be fine. Avast is also decent, but nags you from time to time. Avira was the worst for this from memory. Will move this to the Windows forum where it better suits ->

Nick

micosoft

It's more important that you keep the OS patched then having AV. The free Microsoft Firewall and AV are more than sufficient.

Best protection is to ensure that your browser blocks unauthorised sites and use built in Java/Flash as they are the big attach vectors. Personally use Chrome for this reason.

Torqay

Haven't been using any "anti virus" for the last 8 years, have been using Sandboxie for anything internet (browsers, mail client, messengers, etc) ever since. Never had any infections. I do scan all downloads and occasionally the system with Emisoft's Command Line Scanner (a few batch files help a lot) and GMER.

It just works... for me, not saying it's good policy or recommendable.

euser1984

I don't find I've had any problems either with a mix of UAC and comodo defense and firewall. Just wondering if I may be missing something - maybe like vulnerability to root kits for example.

riclad

I find avast is the best ,doesn,t slow down pc.Doesn,t take up much memory.
its been known for people to get a virus ,from clicking on an ad ,on
well known sites ,eg nyt .IT,S not worth the risk,especially if you are
using pc on a banking website or using a credit card.Even win7 is not perfect, every few weeks there,s a security update.
IF you use the pc online, you could have malware,or a keylogger installed
and you,d never know.
Make sure java is disabled in your browser,don,t install it,unless a particular program needs it.
Saying i just get all the security updates ,makes no sense to me, like saying i,m a good driver,
I wont bother putting on a seatbelt.
OR you,r pc could be used to infect other pcs, on a bot network.
ITS irresponsible to other users.

FruitLover

BobbyPropane wrote: »

Never had a virus on my PC and I use MSE. Been about a year and I take riskz.

You mean MSE didn't find any viruses. That could be very good or very bad... :eek:

BostonB

I haven't had any problems with MSE. Recently installed Avast and Spybot, found nothing. Only now the machine is a little slower.

200motels

BostonB wrote: »

I haven't had any problems with MSE. Recently installed Avast and Spybot, found nothing. Only now the machine is a little slower.

I have MSE on every computer in the house with no problems, of course it all depends what sites you use, I've got WOT installed as a plugin on all the browsers that I use and it will warn you if you attempt to go on a dodgy site.