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edpatino

Opinions on Antivirus for flightsim PCs

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My 2c: Kaspersky for about 6-7 years now, not a single issue with it, FS is running great (excluded), performance degradation on todays (FS PCs usually) is almost negligible, here and there a false positive, other than that, all is well. And this is coming from a sys-admin (not security expert however).

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I removed AV software from my machine about three years ago. I just backup everything regularly to an external drive and keep away from opaque websites. Its a dedicated fligthsim machine, so flightsim payware is about all that gets downloaded. My machine has been much less brattish without AV software.

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I removed AV software from my machine about three years ago. I just backup everything regularly to an external drive and keep away from opaque websites. Its a dedicated fligthsim machine, so flightsim payware is about all that gets downloaded. My machine has been much less brattish without AV software.

Same here dont use any AV, all I do is run malwarebytes once a month and CClean once a week. I dont keep anything on PC that needs hiding or is of any use to anyone. 


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all I do is run malwarebytes once a month and CClean once a week

 

Yup.  That''s my regime too

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I and a friend of mine both ditched it a couple of years ago and switched to Web root, and saw an increase in performance on both P3D and Train Simulator. Wasn't nonsense for me.

Hi Bob,

 

Certainly can't argue with that. However, it does raise the question about the differences in our Setups that could explain our experiences. It's funny, because in the days of Windows XP I too was happily using Webroot A/V until Michael Greenblatt steered me away from it and also the free offering of AVG A/V which I had tried previously. Can't say I've ever felt disappointed. ESET seems to handle things nicely, has a relatively small footprint and, like the other poster, most of the time I'm unaware of its presence. I guess we all have made our choices and will defend that choice vigorously irrespective of whether it would be considered the best option. In the end I suspect it has much more to do with our browsing adventures and the maintenance of an appropriate level of caution than the technical finesse of our security products which are there simply to cover our backs.

 

All the A/V solutions have improved over the years in terms of capabilities and degree of intrusiveness. I remember it said about Norton having such deep rooted code embedded in the operating system that it was extremely difficult to uninstall cleanly without using Norton's bespoke tool. I'm sure things have changed for the better over the years and no matter the choice we make most of the better products will do a pretty good job for us.

 

Cheers!

 

Mike 🍺

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I'm with Bob, Webroot is a great product.

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I use Windows defender and once in a while I run the free version of Malwarebytes.  One thing I think makes a lot of sense for flightsim is to turn off the A/V when flying.  I usually just kill the program with a startup manager.


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There are a number of organizations that do serious AV testing, but I really like AV Comparatives. They consistently rank several AV packages in the top tier, with probably the two best scoring ones usually being Kaspersky and BitDefender. MSE usually falls one, if not two, classes behind.

 

Humm, quite interesting and thanks for sharing!. Downloaded their AV Comparatives latest survey dated Dec. 2016 and surprisingly to me they rated Avira as product of the year, and also give big awards to Kaspersky and Bitdefender. Adding all those valuable comments so far, it seems that most users prefer either Kaspersky, Bitdefender or Webroot. Picture is mot clear now to me.

Thanks to all of you, Ed


Cheers, Ed

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I've seen some pretty effective buzz words and phrases here, such as "reckless" and "false sense of security", and while I believe they make for good argument, I firmly believe that the best anti-virus out there, bar none, is abstinence.  If you use your computer to check email, browse the web, purchase products from an online retailer, engage in social media, then yes, you are exposed, but in the general sense.  We've bought into this perpetuation of fear, brought about by the big name security firms and anti-virus developers, and sure, there was a time when worms, viruses and malware ran rampant and our chances of contracting such things were pretty high, but now, it's all about staying informed, educated and vigilant.  With those three things, under our belts, we don't have to worry about being attacked, infected or otherwise inconvenienced by viruses.

 

My point here is that in the three years I've been not using anti-virus, my computer has stayed clean.  I say three years, because I'd been around the bend with paid and free anti-virus and I found overall, they were more trouble than they were worth.  Whether they touted their program to be "light on resources" or "unobtrusive", the fact remained that it was just another process having to run all the time on my machine, and I still never knew whether it was truly protecting me.  On top of that, it was yet another thing to configure, watch over, and worry about when I fired up my sim. I also thought perhaps it was all part of a "placebo effect", in that having an anti-virus program installed on my machine was somehow fooling me into believing that I was protected and that i could go anywhere I wanted online, knowing I couldn't get a virus or be subjected to malware, when in truth, it was all about my browsing habits and how diligent I could be to just avoid the possibility of getting attacked.  

 

The only "anti-virus" I have running is Windows Defender, because by default, it is a part of Windows 10.  Would I still be safe without it? Who knows, but I don't give it a second thought, with the operative phrase being "do I even think about it anymore?".  What I do know though is that anywhere I go, whatever I do, i am responsible for those actions and if by chance, I get infected, it's my fault.  Choosing to go to shady websites, or make purchases that may not be from a verified vendor, is just asking for trouble, so this is where abstinence comes into play.  If you stay away from questionable sites, you're fine.  If you get an email from someone you don't know, mark it as junk, delete it and move on.  If the news says that a certain site was hacked, don't go there.  It's all that simple, but people seem to believe that having that protection in place would somehow satisfy their fears.

 

Fear and paranoia seem to be the driving force for anti-virus program developers.  I have had my fair share of viruses in the past, and I can honestly tell you exactly how I got them, through no fault of my own.  I was given links to downloads that were bad.  I went to questionable websites.  I brought all of that on myself.  Now, I am wiser and learned from those mistakes, but not through installing anti-virus, rather I changed my habits.  Not too long ago, I performed a quick experiment by downloading Malwarebytes trial and I ran a deep scan on my computer, which had been exposed to the internet through several websites without any type of protection.  The results were not surprising, since MB found nothing.  My due diligence paid off, and all through alternative methods of protection.  There are many extensions for Chrome that blocks trackers, bad ads and the like...all free.  I only browse to sites that are necessary and my email inboxes are spam free.  I educated myself on the ins and outs of safe browsing without the need for additional software that has to inject itself into the browser to protect me.  Another aspect of the net that is pretty popular is the inclusion of social networking, which I abstain from as well.  From what I have read, it is a haven for trouble, but that's my opinion, and with that, I don't engage in it and it's become yet another level of protection for myself.  It's all pretty simple when you think about it.

 

If you believe anti-virus works for you, then great, keep using it.  My own experience tells a different side and if you can live without a lot of those things that can contribute to possible attacks, then you save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration.

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my computer has stayed clean.  I say three years, because I'd been around the bend with paid and free anti-virus and I found overall, they were more trouble than they were worth.

+1


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I can appreciate a person deciding not to run an AV, but just one experience will change your mind. I mean, you can get away with it and I can admit that probably a lot of people get a way with it.

I did for a while one year and then one day a request pop up came up on me that (the pop-up looked like all previous adobe flash requests) wanted to update, I did and I knew instantly that I had been "had".

 

Total re-install of Win 7 was required. (after days of trying to get rid of a vicious self replicating virus.)

 

Just one of those and you don't forget....never. 


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I used AVG about 4 years ago, and one day, my PC wouldn't boot up. Got a tech from Dell into my home, because it was still under warranty, and he quickly determined that I had been infected by a virus. I told him I had AVG on all the time, and he said he had run into problems with AVG protected computers before and recommend I get another AV, which I did. In the meantime, I had to wipe my drive and start all over again. To me, around $35 a year, with the things I have going on in my computer, is super cheap insurance. I still don't open attachments from people I don't know, and am careful about what websites I visit, and run Malwarebytes about once a month. Have performed comparisons with P3D and Webroot on and off, and performance is exactly the same, so I just leave it on 24/7. 


 

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I had been using Win 10 security, but recently got my credit card hacked.  I suspect it went through my Yahoo mail, alas maybe even my Android phoneas I had just installed the banking app to monitor a week before (!!).  I had a push notification on it about and there was no way I was awake at  5 a.m. going to Starbucks (I prefer Dunkin Donuts).  I have a work laptop that uses McAfee, so not sure which one let it by.  I did a lot of comparisons and choose BitDefender.  It  does a full scan on my drives on startup (my e: drive must have a billion files), so still trying to figure out what's up with that.  I did exclude that drive, but to hear the chirping for hours on end...


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I didn't realize your technical background... similar to mine

 

Thanks my friend.  Yeah, I got my start back in 1980 with mainframes and went from there.  I'm current on threat types and end point protection, but I'm not really current on the backend anymore - so much changes so quickly! I've also had somewhat recent threat training at the US Department of Defense (couple of years old but I've stayed updated via a few professional security websites.  Watching what one click on is important, but doesn't stop all the threats - especially the mutated versions of state sponsored malware which is now pretty much everywhere.

 

One thing is for certain today's threats to Personal Computers are not what the were yesterday.  Let me put it this way... I'm encouraged, and absolutely see the need for the new home/small business routers that are coming out as they not only inspect header information but the payload as well.

 

For anyone who ventures online, a Hardware Firewall (router or stand alone) and one of the computer Security Suites I referenced above are the minimums I'd ever recommend.


Dave Hodges

 

System Specs:  I9-13900KF, NVIDIA 4070TI, Quest 3, Multiple Displays, Lots of TERRIFIC friends, 3 cats, and a wonderfully stubborn wife.

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virus software has been deprecated by blackhats who now favor Malware delivered via links.  I simply use Windows 10 defender which does the job well IMO.  Don't compare it to past Defender versions or even the virus Scanner Marketeer versions.  They all do the job well but Defender is the least obtrusive IMO.  Make sure to exclude you sim folder in any case.

 

Regards

jjs

+1, let defender do the job.


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