Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TygerTyger It does also raise the interesting question of how you know you don't have any viruses if you have nothing to detect them. Perhaps I've just missed out hearing about those keyloggers that announce their installation with an informative bulletin. |
Every two months or so I run, in the following order:
1) a full TrendMicro scan;
2) AdAware
3) Spybot
4) HijackThis
Again -- all that's ever flagged are tracking cookies and a few worms in my cache. Nothing that dials out, no suspicious processes (if I'm ever in doubt, Process Exporer + HijackThis + some googling will go a long way, and it only takes a moment).
I don't run IIS. I'm not networked. Whenever I update Windows, for example, it's very, very rare that one of their security updates actually applies to something I use.
Maybe I am riding around without a helmet, but to extend that analogy to match my impression of I'm handling things: I'm on the open road with little traffic and great visibility; when a big truck comes by, or an erratic driver, I pull off to let them pass; oil slicks and bumps are easy to spot and avoid; and all the helmets on the market are cumbersome and restrict my vision. If I drove on a winding road or at night, I'd probably don that helmet, but not right now.
And one more note about how 'lucky' I've been -- I'm a web developer who's on the computer probably 8 hours out of every single day, weekends too. So after 4 years of no problems, I'd either have to be lucky in the extreme (ie lottery-winning territory) or perhaps my routines really aren't as dangerous as those of others.
Anyway, I didn't mean to post this thread so that I could attack people for using AV software, or look like a foolish rogue for choosing not to use it -- I merely wanted to share my experience and see what others had to say about it, and learn if anyone else had made a similar choice.