In the past decade, firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware companies ramped up their marketing and made the dangers of the internet known to the public. Their marketing, along with a large portion of the media, made it seem like firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are mandatory and that no computer will ever be safe without them.
If you’re an above average user, the truth is, you don’t really need any of the three. Of course, there’s a catch: you must be aware of your actions. Computers do not get infected on their own, it is usually the fault of the user. Clicking on an unknown link, opening email attachments from someone you don’t know, and downloading files (hint hint: warez and keygens) via P2P (peer to peer) file sharing programs are all very common examples of how an infection starts.
My point is: Be smart about what you do. Use common sense! If you don’t know where a file came from, don’t open it. If you don’t know where a link points to, don’t click on it. In other words, if in doubt, don’t do it! By practicing safe computer usage habits, you leave yourself less vulnerable to spyware and viruses.
One thing I hate about anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are their “Real-Time” scanners which scan files and processes as they execute in real-time. This can cause considerable lag depending on your system configuration. Even on a high-end system, I can still notice the slow down caused by real-time scanning. Because of that, I disable the real-time scanning feature with every anti-virus program I come across. Doing so speeds up the PC slightly and you can always manually scan a file if you think it may contain malicious code.
In my opinion, the days of spyware ended as soon as Mozilla Firefox was released. Before then, I used Internet Explorer 6 and I always found myself with some sort of adware. Back in those days, I’ll admit I wasn’t as smart as I should have been, but the end result was still unacceptable. As soon as I switched to Mozilla Firefox, I never had spyware problems again. From that day forward, combined with good browsing habits, I never had a need to install anti-spyware programs onto my PC.
Firewalls are another story that make me laugh. More than likely, you’ve probably seen a company which claimed your computer isn’t safe from hackers unless you have their firewall product. First off, ask yourself this, “Why would any hacker waste time in trying to hack into my computer?” Most, if not all, self respecting hackers target corporations and organizations for some sort of gain. Will hackers really gain anything by gaining access to pictures you took last summer? Why would anybody target you in the first place? More than likely, the average user will not need a firewall to keep him/herself safe. If you have a router (which lots of us do), you probably have a hardware firewall built into the router, thus, you do not need a software firewall product. Second, if you’re running Windows XP or later, you already have a software firewall. The Windows Firewall may not be as flexible as a mainstream firewall company’s product, but it works the same way by keeping unneeded ports closed.
I, personally, do not like anything other than a hardware firewall. Having a software firewall causes too many interruptions because there’s always a pop-up notification asking you to block or unblock a program from reaching the internet and such. On the other hand, a hardware firewall is configured once and stays that way until you manually need to make a change. A typical user will not have to mess around with hardware firewall settings because the router is usually smart enough to recognize the traffic and route it appropriately.
I’m not trying to say that all firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware products are worthless. I’m really trying to say that good browsing habits along with some common sense can mitigate 99% of all your risks regarding the latter. Being aware is your number one defense against malicious code.
Related posts:
- The Only Way To Permanently Remove Viruses, Spyware, and Malicious Code The average computer user is aware of anti-virus and anti-spyware...
- Two Applications You Need, But Can Never Find Here are two programs that you’ve probably needed at one...
- Adobe AIR – 13 Excellent Applications to Extend the Internet Adobe AIR is a new cross-platform run time environment which...
- Must Have Applications and Programs for the HTC Touch Pro While the HTC Touch Pro comes with an array of...
- More Great Programs and Applications for the HTC Touch Pro / Fuze As a followup to my Must Have Applications and Programs...
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Mostly agree with the article as I don’t use any realtime blacklist scanners and have a hardware firewall.
I do download any and everything and deliberately open all unknown email attachments for testings then upload the installer and results to various security vendors for addition to their detection databases.
How do I get away without getting infected? By using Sandboxie, Returnil and Virtual Machines along with ghost images which haven’t needed to be used for a restore due to any malware breaches.
Learn how to use Sandboxie and Returnil and I doubt you will ever use a blacklist realtime scanner again.
Agreed, Sandboxie is an awesome tool and very, very useful for testing applications and running programs. For the readers, Sandboxie basically creates a “sandbox” where programs can run. Programs running inside a sandbox can only write to the space inside of the sandbox and nowhere else on your hard drive. After you’re done running your tests or what not, you can choose to destroy the sandbox, along with whatever changes the program made while inside the sandbox.
For example, you can use Sandboxie to launch your web browser. Theoretically, you could visit virus and adware ridden sites, get infected, then destroy the sandbox along with whatever nasty software you encountered.