Hello,

I have proved to myself that it is an unnecessary expense.

Each his way ... I can't disagree ..But I disagree on the fact you never caught a virus :)As you don't use a antivirus.. you don't really know if this is not a virus running on your computer.Some virus are running sometime in "silent mode" and make some nasty thing in your PC (and you are not aware of this until you want to use some services or soft infected or make a specific operation)Also they can just reside in your PC ... as a launch base for infect other computers by the internet.Viruses appears under many forms.Run a antivirus is the safest way for be a responsible PC user.Safety is sometime expensive ... but with all the free security softs available .. methink this cost is reduced to nil.... not the risk to be infected of course .. it's allways a risk.Regards.

Hey Charlie, Thanks for taking the trouble to append your experiences.I have to say it takes a lot of courage to expose your system as you do. I am also past student status and have been flying since I was 18 so have some experience of risk taking. My take on this is that, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', and clearly your pudding is untouched by the dreaded scourge we call "virus".Now, how do you remove all the "other stuff" - not necessarily a virus per se; but "Malware"/"Trackers"/"cookies" that frankly, my system seems to attract when visiting even the everyday sites we use to check the weather or our bank balance - buy insurance or order college photo's etc. etc. etc? I regularly clear these things out; and should I ignore them they sap the strength of my system preventing my Flight Sims doing what I bought them for. I'd appreciate your observations on that if you have a moment. I must say "No anti virus software" seems like a great idea if it works;-)Regards, Blue.PS. Does anyone else run their system thus....... without anti virus protection? I'm really curious!

Hey Charlie, Thanks for taking the trouble to append your experiences.I have to say it takes a lot of courage to expose your system as you do. I am also past student status and have been flying since I was 18 so have some experience of risk taking. My take on this is that, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', and clearly your pudding is untouched by the dreaded scourge we call "virus".Now, how do you remove all the "other stuff" - not necessarily a virus per se; but "Malware"/"Trackers"/"cookies" that frankly, my system seems to attract when visiting even the everyday sites we use to check the weather or our bank balance - buy insurance or order college photo's etc. etc. etc? I regularly clear these things out; and should I ignore them they sap the strength of my system preventing my Flight Sims doing what I bought them for. I'd appreciate your observations on that if you have a moment. I must say "No anti virus software" seems like a great idea if it works;-)Regards, Blue.PS. Does anyone else run their system thus....... without anti virus protection? I'm really curious!

First of all, I should tell you that I run Windows 2000 and only recently moved from Windows 98SE, so those are the platforms that I speak from experience about. When I ran Windows 98 SE, for years I used Lavasoft

Charlie,I am just wondering.You said "I haven't used anti-virus software of any kind for at least 5 years – not sure, maybe more - and have never had any problem whatsoever. "If you do not use an antivirus program (to detect a virus or scan your PC) how do you "know" your PC is not in fact infected.Some infections could be "working" in the background ... correct?

I just read the most interesting interview. It claims that Anti virus software can produce new vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit; and that the best approach to pc security is virtualization. The researcher has configured her machine to have 3 vms, one completely unprotected, but with an image of the vm saved to which she returns once a week. Her second VM is her work machine, in which she provides limited access to scripts etc., and finally her third vm is dedicated to her bank, in which access is isolated to her bank.I also thought the discussion was pretty interesting to note that when malware occupies the same permissions level as anti-virus software, that the odds are only 50-50 as to which will win. I assume this means if the malware wins, it creates a false comfort for the user...I assume in that case it's successful at hiding itself from AV. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/joanna...otkit,2356.htmlBob

I use CA security and I am very happy with it.

One more vote for AVAST! I have used it for many years now. I fly FSX with it, just as I did with FS2004. I am in a Pentium 4 (2.65 MHz), FX-5700 and IMB ram. FSX is killing my HD. Avast!, Best thing I ever did + COMODO (off while FSX).Cheers,MABfreebies on the World.

Hello,

I use CA security and I am very happy with it.

One more vote for CA (Computer Associate) Antivirus (former EZ)Use it from ages (from the begining when it was free) with great satisfaction and they offer great services !This coupled with Tiny Firewall and Malwarebytes I'm on the safe side If I must make a other choice I will go to ESET Nod32.Regards.Gus

Avira is free and has no affect on the performance of the sim

Charlie,I am just wondering.You said "I haven't used anti-virus software of any kind for at least 5 years

Many of you will not believe this, but with the latest version of Norton Internet Security/AV, it uses less system resources than previous versions. CPU (Computer Power User) recently tested several different AV/internet security suites and found that the latest AV programs do not impart such an impact on system resources as they did before, especially Norton. I use it (though I would prefer the corporate version like I could with my old XP installs) and do not even notice it.

I've been using Trend Micro PC Cillin for 3 years now, and I didn't notice any performance impact of any kind, and it really does not interfere with Flight Simulator, VATSIM or whatever. It's a bit expensive, but it really works great.