In my new build I haven't installed Avast! which has been my default a/v software.  I'm not doing any web browsing per se, but I do visit Avsim & REX, & nVidia, and perhaps make a purchase at one of the flight sim vendors.  I keep Defender updated and running if going to these sites, but disable it when using FSX.  I run malwarebytes maybe once a week as well.  I'm thinking I'm pretty safe if I stick to these FS sites, but what's your take on this?  Like to have as little running on this install as possible so would prefer to forego Avast! or other freeware A/V app.

Are you sitting behind a hardware firewall? If not, running without anti-virus software is taking chances, IMO.

 

It's not where you may visit, but who may come to visit you. They find an unprotected computer, feed it some malware and now they are in business.

 

Last week I went with a neighbor to help someone change some things on her computer. Decided to do a scan with MaywareBytes and found 59 "issues" that needed cleaning up. My neighbor has commented about how he hasn't run AV since he got his computer (back in the Vista days!). He went home and installed AV and ran some scan and was *happy* that there were on 19 issues on his system...

 

Both have installed MSE, which based on comments here and around the communities, has little impact on a system. Your's is strong enough of a system to where having AV active won't cause too much of an impact upon performance. But it's your choice...

Yes!

 

stick with MS security essentials.It's light and effective enough provided you don't go where the dangers are....

Run a dedicated flight simulator computer in a network and have never had an AV on it and never will. Never had a virus/malware.

 

What do AV programers do in their spare time? Hint: Job security.

Not to get into a run on exchange about AV software but, I do not have a dedicated computer to FSX, It depends what you use the computer for and how you might connect to others on a network or if you do remote computer access with others (which I do).

 

After a major virus attack many years ago, I think 8-9, I had to complete wipe my computer clean and reinstall windows all software etc., the guy that helped my said...."it's war out there, do not underestimate how much protection you might need."  Well anyway, I run Norton 360, use lots of its features, I have it running all the time, and my sim works great.  I do get some false positives once and a while, big deal just restore file and set to not scan.  I have it set to run background scans during quite periods.

 

Personally, the best AV I have ever owned, does the job, never have issues.

 

Now protecting against NSA or my govt that's another matter....lord knows what those folks are doing?

NOD 32 for me.

Its NOD 32 for me as well, found the recommendation on these very pages many years ago and have never changed since.

Are you sitting behind a hardware firewall? If not, running without anti-virus software is taking chances, IMO.

 

It's not where you may visit, but who may come to visit you. They find an unprotected computer, feed it some malware and now they are in business.

 

Last week I went with a neighbor to help someone change some things on her computer. Decided to do a scan with MaywareBytes and found 59 "issues" that needed cleaning up. My neighbor has commented about how he hasn't run AV since he got his computer (back in the Vista days!). He went home and installed AV and ran some scan and was *happy* that there were on 19 issues on his system...

 

Both have installed MSE, which based on comments here and around the communities, has little impact on a system. Your's is strong enough of a system to where having AV active won't cause too much of an impact upon performance. But it's your choice...

I'm using Comcast cable internet and its modem/router, and Window Firewall is on.

 

It sounds like you are saying it's possible to get infected w/ malware even when you aren't visiting a specific site?   Well, that argues for realtime protection.  Could I get infected just from running FSX & REX Weather?  If so, that's pathetic!  Surely an OS can stop that, can't it?  Windows Defender is just for show?  Wow!

I don't use an anti-virus. If you know what you're doing and don't download crap, you'll be just fine. 3 years without an anti-virus and just for the fun of it, I installed one of the freeware ones and had it scan my computer - no viruses.

For additional security you can use rescue cd from AVG, Kaspersky, Bit- Defender etc. They are bootable ISO image. In case your main AV is corrupted these will help.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Another option is to install the AV software but don't run with the always on option. Just schedule periodic scans and manually scan downloads. I run MSE , always on, don't see much impact on performance. Have FSX on its own SSD which is excluded from scans. I also manually run Malwarebytes periodically.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

Any computer that is connected to the Internet should have some kind of anti-virus software running, even if it's behind a firewall. Exploits can use well-known ports, and viruses can get in using other methods than tricking users into visiting malicious sites.

You can get the complete Norton suite of protection software for free from Comcast. I use it and carefully follow the recommendations of independent testers. It is always highly ranked. Microsoft's ant-virus is usually at the middle of the pack.

 

I have turned N360 off during FSX and P3D and saw no differences.

 

 

I'm using Comcast cable internet and its modem/router, and Window Firewall is on.

 

It sounds like you are saying it's possible to get infected w/ malware even when you aren't visiting a specific site?   Well, that argues for realtime protection.  Could I get infected just from running FSX & REX Weather?  If so, that's pathetic!  Surely an OS can stop that, can't it?  Windows Defender is just for show?  Wow!

I used to run ZoneAlarm which is frequently reported to be a proverbial PITA. It didn't interfere with my FSX performance but it blocked a number of addon dll's.

 

Just recently I switched to MSE: Same 'degree' of false positives/negatives, no performance impact either, but a much easier interface and those FSX dll's all work just fine.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

For obvious reasons I'm unable to comment on false negatives.  

Edited August 6, 201312 yr by olli4740

i use avast, and i have all windows features like defender, DEP, windows firewall and many others, disabled. I found that FSX runs much stable this way. 

 

In adition to avast, i use acronis true image and i have whole system backup on external hard drive. 

 

This way i'm sure that i can get maximum of FSX, and i don't need to think about mallwares and what new installed addons can do to my FSX, becouse i can revert to previous state in about 20-30min.

 

P.S. I do this for a very long time(at least 2 years), and i never had a problem with mallwares