Anti-virus are useless : Truth or myth?

[Noctosphere]

Hello tempers,

It's something I've heard many times now and I'd like to have your opinion guys.

Apparently, anti-virus are now completly useless on OS like Windows. Their monthly updates would usually be enough to protect your computer.
Right now, I'm subscribed to Kaspersky Plus. My subscription will end in about a month. Is it worth to renew? Or should I go with just a VPN?
Because that's what I've been hearing too. It's actually better to pay for an actual VPN and not for an Anti-virus coming with a VPN. Do you agree with that too?

I'd like to hear what you guys think about it.

 

[SAIYAN48]

Windows Defender is usually good enough.

 

[supergamer368]

Windows Defender is usually good enough.

Seconding Windows Defender. If you're worried you might have a virus you can also download a free trial of Malwarebytes and run a scan, then uninstall it when done. Not super knowledgeable about VPNs and what that has to do with protecting your PC (if anything), but if you plan on torrenting totally legal content then a paid VPN is a MUST. Probably wouldn't get one attached to an antivirus tho.

 

[SylverReZ]

Windows Defender is the only effective antivirus to rely on. Despite many years ago it was criticized for false positives, it's actually doing pretty well now for detecting the more sophisticated pieces of malware.

 

[emigre]

Yup, just use Windows defender with malwarebytes.

 

[CoolMe]

By now you must know certain things when using the internet, viruses don't come out of nowhere and start wreaking havoc on your pc just cause you don't use an anti virus.. it's knowing how to use the internet, and practicing internet hygiene like knowing what sites not click on, instant recognition of spam links/sites, using ad/pop-up blockers and having always http/s on etc. to protect you when browsing, that should be enough imo.
I too find Windows Defender find perfectly decent at what it does, tweak it to your liking somewhere around the middle so it wouldn't bother you too much.

 

[AverageHorse]

Linux is the best antivirus.

 

[Ligeia]

As long as you know what you're doing on the net, Windows Defender is perfectly fine and other anti-virus software often do more harm than good, like slowing down your PC etc.

 

[linuxares]

By now you must know certain things when using the internet, viruses don't come out of nowhere and start wreaking havoc on your pc just cause you don't use an anti virus.. it's knowing how to use the internet, and practicing internet hygiene like knowing what sites not click on, instant recognition of spam links/sites, using ad/pop-up blockers and having always http/s on etc. to protect you when browsing, that should be enough imo.
I too find Windows Defender find perfectly decent at what it does, tweak it to your liking somewhere around the middle so it wouldn't bother you too much.

This argument doesn't work anymore. You can get viruses from ANY method. Steam (last week via a free game), mods or even legit applications that gotten hacked. You always need an anti-virus of some sort.You just don't need something like Bitdefenders payed version, but using Windows Defender at a minimum.

Then yes, I agree with the rest you say.

 

[Blythe93]

I second the Windows Defender + free MalwareBytes (you don't necessarily needs its real-time protection). Of course, mind what you're clicking on. I've been using uBlock Origin and uMatrix on my Firefox to block some of the potentially harmful stuff for quite some time and haven't run into a virus in a long time. At least, not into one that caused havoc on my PC.

As for the Kaspersky, I believe that they still have some sort of a free rootkit scanner so that's a good tool to have around as well. Haven't checked in a long while, though, so I might be wrong.

Paid VPN (not the one included with the AV) is a must if you're dealing with the pirated content and torrenting in a country where it's not allowed to do so. Optionally, seedboxes are nice addition to that as well, plus you can get some nice upload stats on certain private trackers if you're part of any.

 

[Ryccardo]

I only recommend Common Sense 2012 Pro, maybe leave Defender enabled if you need a crutch but know that for Mysterious Reasons™ it will find Wacatac (its most common false positive) in a plain text file which is conveniently part of the Xbox Dashboard source leak

 

[KleinesSinchen]

A VPN is not an anti-malware. It has a totally different goal and has nothing to do with "virus scanner yes or no?". Completely different topic.

Anti-malware in the sense of classic "virus scanners" isn't too helpful in my opinion. Badness enumeration doesn't work. At least not against unknown malware. No, heuristic and behavior analysis aren't reliable and will have tons of false positives and false negatives.

Windows Defender should suffice as badness enumerator. Turn on ransomware protection. It will trigger stupid errors (don't turn off notifications) and you will have to whitelist a few processes.

Note that security holes in security software have been entry points for (sometimes targeted) attacks. No, I'll not search the sources now. Complex software always has attack surface and virus scanners are no exception.

Other approaches are far more effective than badness enumeration.

 

[Noctosphere]

For the VPNs part, maybe I should explain why I was asking
Yes, it is indeed because I'm doing torrenting and other kind of stuff like that.
I live in a country (Canada), where the government won't chase you for that, but I recently started to notice that my ISP is slowing my connexion from time to time.
I heard in many places that a VPN was a solution for that, but also that anti-virus VPN were to be avoided if it were for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[urherenow]

Been covered and beat like a dead horse, so I won't go over the whole thing again. I just want to add that an imaging software (I pay for mine... whenever a lifetime license of Acronis True Image goes on sale, because I DETEST subscription software), is a lifesaver. Whether you get a virus, or you want to upgrade your system to a new/better/faster hard drive/ssd. ~10 minutes or so, and your last image is restored. Heck, if you like to venture into shady sites, I would even say to use a VM with it. Get it working and set up how you like, then copy the whole directory. If it gets nuked, copy the working one back over. Easy.

 

[Osha]

Linux is the best antivirus.

If you think Linux doesn't have any viruses, that makes you a prime target for them.

 

[AncientBoi]

Windows. Their monthly updates would usually be enough to protect your computer.

 

[linuxares]

If you think Linux doesn't have any viruses, that makes you a prime target for them.

The difference is that the Opensource community are stupid fast to patch them.

 

[Citizen_404]

Been covered and beat like a dead horse, so I won't go over the whole thing again. I just want to add that an imaging software (I pay for mine... whenever a lifetime license of Acronis True Image goes on sale, because I DETEST subscription software), is a lifesaver. Whether you get a virus, or you want to upgrade your system to a new/better/faster hard drive/ssd. ~10 minutes or so, and your last image is restored. Heck, if you like to venture into shady sites, I would even say to use a VM with it. Get it working and set up how you like, then copy the whole directory. If it gets nuked, copy the working one back over. Easy.

^ I totally agree, and having a cloned good drive saved in reserve for when some driver or other software fucks everything up is a lifesaver.

Macrium Reflect has a free version that works well.

Also, Clonezilla is perfect for doing this as well. So, you don't necessarily have to wait for any sales for this.

 

[linuxares]

^ I totally agree, and having a cloned good drive saved in reserve for when some driver or other software fucks everything up is a lifesaver.

Macrium Reflect has a free version that works well.

Also, Clonezilla is perfect for doing this as well. So, you don't necessarily have to wait for any sales for this.

Counter your Clonezilla argument, for the average joe I recommend Rescuezilla. Basically does everything Clonezilla does (use Partcloned) but much easier.

 

[console]

No to Anti-virus are useless. It will not help antivirus more due to more powerful virus, malware, etc. That's why hackers are still making some more powerful virus, malware, etc right now to future. Malwarebytes will help more than normal antivirus but still not enough protection.


Chinese Hackers Exploit MAVInject.exe to Evade Detection in Targeted Cyber Attacks
https://thehackernews.com/2025/02/chinese-hackers-exploit-mavinjectexe-to.html


and more are go on....




Did anyone heard about PirateFi game on Steam? It's hacker made nasty game bundle with malware together to steal people passwords, accounts, etc.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...-caught-installing-password-stealing-malware/

https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/b...emoved-from-steam-library-for-pushing-malware


Few weeks ago, I did claim this free game name PirateFi to my Steam account and never download it. Very surprise to me about it. I will never trust game anymore which are made by hackers. It's make me angry!