AV needed?

Hi there

Why BOTHER with Malware bytes / anti spywhere --- There is 100% NO POINT in finding out AFTER the fact that your computer "Might have become infected". - If it did -- then WHEN -- you don't know so what's the point of BATCH running any protection - the built in system is as good (or as bad depending on your point of view) - anything else is like "Monday Morning Quarterbacking".

Only REAL TIME protection is any good - Windows does that quite OK - so what's the difference in running the Windows defender scan or malware bytes -- ZERO - ZILCH.

If you set your firewalls up (both on Windows and on your Router) you can easily see if there's anything attempting to connect OUTBOUND - so easily enough to protect against things like "Keyloggers" which Windows defender should pick up in the firstplace.

You also have to decide what exactly IS malware -- some legitimate programs (by "legit" I mean standard windows programs that operate simply as windows applications) which throw up zillions of popups etc won't usually be stopped by "malware stoppers".

You need to ensure that downloaded programs can't start system services and block any attempt by a program other than your browser to access the web - easily done by decent FIREWALLS.

The problem comes when you DOWNLOAD things where the actual download is hidden so you either download the wrong program or special offers you don't want or load your system with crazy amounts of toolbars.

If you ensure you ONLY download legit stuff this will never happen. The standard built in system will handle all the likely viruses you might encounter.

I've already thrown out a challenge to all the security gurus here where I said - show me or infect an MKV / MP4 / FLAC / MP3 file that will actually corrupt my machine or do any damage -- provided the file is not in an archive form - in other words the file must be xxxx.yyy where yyy is the music codec. If the music player won't play it then you know it's junk and no damage has been done --you haven't run it as an EXECUTABLE but merely accessed the file as DATA called up by your music application.

Nobody has given me such a file yet !!!.

As I keep re-iterating - HOME users should pay much more attention to the HUMAN ways in which they can be scammed online - these MASSIVELY outnumber any forms of attack by Viruses etc. None of these scams can be prevented by SOFTWARE either.

Corporate / Enterprise systems are another matter entirely.

Cheers
jimbo

Everything you said is true jimbo. But not everybody is probably on the same level of your computer expertise. SAS and MBAM are second layer of protection in case someone missed anything you mentioned above. For me SAS and MBAM are like vacuum cleaners. I use them to clean up my system for optimum performance. And it doesn't hurt to use them.
Have you tried any of the 2?

Quarantine, then check it out for yourself, then decide if you want to get rid of it or not.

Remember, not everything is bad just because windows or some program says it is

As you`ve said, if the user is diligent and uses a little common sense, chances are, they will never have an issue.

Because I'm not all that smart I use a layered method on my computers.
On W-10 I use Defender
Malwarebytes Premium
On demand SAS
Malwarebytes just today or yesterday found a couple of PUP's that sneaked in. I don't know from where because I didn't download anything.
I'm not one of them that is smarter than all the bad guys that create all the bad stuff so I do use more programs when needed.
I like and use Eset Online scan and AdwCleaner also just to make me happy. Every now and then Eset scan will find a PUP everything else have missed. A PUP to me is a infection because I didn't ask for it.

I seldom get anything except a few tracking cookies and PUP's now and again.
I do quick scans often and complete scans about every 3 or 4 days. Their not hard to do and it cost nothing to scan.
One can do what One wants to do on their computers but a pea brain like me needs the help of security programs.
If for no other reason but make me happy.

Never under estimate the bad guys. They are very clever and their are lots of them.

If one would read the Security post that A Guy post I think the readers will get a good idea of what the bad guys can and are doing.

Be aware that a lot of people who used third party anti-virus had problems running any anti-virus after the upgrade to build 9860. Even the native Windows Defender was broken and unusable.

Since Win 10 is still a work-in-progress, there will be more updates (or probably new builds) to come and this anti-virus issue may continue to happen. If you can help it, stay away from 3rd party anti-virus for now or make sure that you uninstall it first before updating/upgrading your Win 10.