In all the years (5years) of buying antivirus software, I have only
had 2 virus threats, one from a email attachment, and the other i cant
remember.

so thats well over $500 for nothing it seems. 

Is virus software really needed, if one :

1. does not open email attachments
2. does not download any software
3. does not exchange software or anything with others

Hello Bluekat,

These days, purchasing anti-virus software for your computer isn't
really necessary - you can get your computer scanned for malicious
little bugs for free!

Trend Micro - House Call
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

BitDefender Free Online Virus Scan
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

RAV Online Virus Scan (Scans individual files of your choosing)
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

Should you use them, even if you never open attachments, never
download software, and never trade software with others?

Oh, yes.  Most definitely.  You need not open an attachment yourself
for one to do you some damage - some virus files are self-executing,
even if you've only downloaded the e-mail with the offending
attachment - and new security holes that allow someone with malicious
intent to wreak havoc on your files are announced with an alarmingly
increasing frequency.  Additionally, if you surf the web *at all*,
you're at risk for malicious (hostile) applets - small applications
that *automatically* download themselves when you open a website, and
do damage to your machine:

Malicious Applets
http://www.securingjava.com/chapter-four/

A Collection of Increasingly Hostile Applets
http://www.cigital.com/hostile-applets/

You don't need to *purchase* antivirus software, but you still need to
*use* it, to help safeguard your data and save you the potential
headache of an accidental infection.

--Missy

Search terms:  [ "Anti-virus software" necessary ], [ Free anti-virus scan ], 
[ malicious applets ]

thanks

Please do not listen to that nonsense.
Of course, you need to pay for the antivirus products.
You pay here to get an answer and you do not wish to pay for the antivirus?

The best virus libraries are listed here:
https://ssl.dewdesigns.com/domains/cookies.htm

Of course, you MUST have the latest antivirus with the latest virus
definition list. Only supported by you companies can provide you that.
You also MUST have firewall and IDS.
All modern security packages have all 3 thing in them.

The best programs MUST be installed on your computer and MUST be
running, otherwise your computer can be hacked in several seconds. Do
you need that?


Why do I say "best"? Because, all "windows" is a mass production, it
can not be good, it is common. All windows are identical. If every
person in the world had the same immune system then the first flu
would kill everybody in this world. But, NO. We all have different DNA
and we all have different immune system.

The viruses use different exploits and, for instance, they use exploit
in Outlook Express so that they execute themselves even if you do not
open them.


Moreover, you MUST study all exploits in details by visiting security
sites or virus libraries. If you continue to use common products then
you will continue to be vulnerable to viruses and attacks.

Thanks. When I saw the first response I nearly kicked the cat. I am
kidding I REALLY like my Cat, but ANYONE who uses a computer for
e-mail or the Internet ABSOLUTLY has to have a currently UPDATED
anti-virus application running on their computer. Personally I think
the vewry best out there for a home user is Grisofts AVG. I am using
the "Pro" version but the free one is light years ahead of the
competion.

IMNSHO

This link is to the free version.

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php



Wolf

Free Antivirus: Finally Ready for Prime Time
 
We appraise four no-cost antivirus software packages to see how they
stack up against each other.

Scott Spanbauer
From the January 2004 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Tuesday, November 25, 2003

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113462,00.asp





langalist] LangaList Plus Edition 2003-07-24  
Date: 7/23/2003 9:29:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

11) Plus! Edition Extra:

Another Free AntiVirus Alternative
Bronson Elliot--- who helps produce the LangaList Archives for us---
sent in a couple interesting items:
Fred: I received today's edition of the AnchorDesk from David Coursey
with the following article for an offer to download a full version of
Panda anti-virus for free

http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914249,00.html
 
I've never used Panda before but I couldn't pass up this offer.-- Bronson 
Panda has a good reputation, but I've shied away from recommending it
as a free AV tool because the qualification form was quite
restrictive. But according to Coursey, the Panda people don't mind if
you, um, fudge your answers a bit on the forms to qualify for the free
download. As far as I can tell, it's true: Panda has a new PR team,
and they seem intent on getting better visibility for Panda. Seems
worth a look!



AntiVir Personal Edition for Windows 9x and NT
AntiVir Personal Edition  for Windows 9x and NT by

 www.hbedv.com

http://www.free-av.com/


***********************************************************

Subj: [Lockergnome] 02.17.2001 Weekly Digest Date: 2/17/2001 10:05:58
PM Pacific Standard Time


<> AVG Anti-Virus System v6.0 [4.8M] W9x/NT/2k FREE



http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.cfm

http://screenshot.lockergnome.com/avg.png


{Live virus protection} Your PC could get sick quickly. You need
to keep it healthy and virus free, so it won't hurt to have this
virus-zappin' program at your disposal. Use it to scan your system
for any hidden abnormalities. Wondering about a foreign floppy or
CD-ROM? Yeah, it'll scan those, too. E-mail message or attachment
from an unknown source? Well, by golly... it scans those as well.
Actually, it'll scan any digital item from any source. The AVG
interface is simple; you can view a list of known viruses and
review the results from every scan. The shield will make sure new
viruses don't come on board, either. Unprotected clicks can be
dangerous.


Gladiator Security Labs, which is one of the new vendors, is offering
security software for FREE.

Gladiator AntiVirus GAV is a professional virus and trojan scanner.
GAV is designed to detect and identify known Viruses, BAT-Viruses,
HLLx-Viruses, I-Worms, IRC-Worms, mIRC-Worms, IIS-Worms, Trojans,
Trojan-Notifier, Trojan-Dropper, Trojan-Downloaders, Backdoors, Unix
Trojans/Backdoors, VBS Viruses/Backdoors, General Office Macro
Viruses, Word Macro Viruses, Excel Macro Viruses within files,
boot-sectors, main-boot-records, partition-tables and memory.
You can use GAV for scanning all your floppy disks, hard disks,
CD-ROMs and network-drives.

Gladiator AntiVirus does detect and unpack also runtime packed
trojans/worms/backdoors like UPX or PECompact compressed malware. This
is a important point and most of the commercial scanners dont have
this feature, so GAV is ideal as 2nd On-Demand Scanner to protect the
PC from packed/patched malware which other scanners dont find.

Note: GAV IS STILL IN BETA PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT!

http://www.gladiator-antivirus.com/


ALWIL Software?s
Avast! antivirus, version 4
Home edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed for home
usage. Our company offers Home Edition free of charge, since in our
opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient
prevention. However, many user are not able or do not want to pay for
antivirus software.
 
  http://www.avast.com/avast4/index.html



[langalist] LangaList Plus Edition 2003-06-05 
Date:	6/4/2003 10:31:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Plus! Edition Extra: New Free Antivirus Tools, Test
Mihai Radu is both a LangaList reader, and an employee at
"Bitdefender," an antivirus vendor I hadn't previously heard of. The
site (
http://www.bitdefender.com 

) offers free and paid versions of antivirus tools spanning a huge
range of applications, plus free infection-removal tools, and a free
online scanning engine. Worth a look....
http://www.bitdefender.com/index.php


Free Antivirus Software

http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/antivirus.shtml



VCatch Basic

Operating System -- Windows 95 / 98 / NT 4.0 / 2000 / ME / XP. 
 Web Browser       -- Internet Explorer Version 4.0 or later. 
 eMail reader         -- Microsoft Outlook 97 or later. 
                                or -- Outlook Express 4 or later. 
                                or -- Netscape Messenger. 
                                or -- Eudora. 
                                or -- Incredimail.

The following Websites also feature VCatch. 
For direct Downloads, Links and Reviews click on your favorite site.

http://www.vcatch.com/links.html

Download VCatch Basic Version 5

http://www.vcatch.com/download.html





THERE ARE SEVERAL WEB BASED ANTI-VIRUS SCANNING SITES:


Trend Micro, Incorporated - Free Tools - HouseCall

http://housecall.antivirus.com/pc_housecall/start_corp.asp



Panda's ActiveScan (

   http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/




The AntiVirus Wizards of HAURI On Line Scan

Try our most trusted online solution, LiveCall.
This trialware detects viruses on your system so you can protect your
digital assets from malicious codes.
NOTE 
This LiveCall service provides detection only. You will not be able to
remove virus with this trial service.
To use LiveCall, Internet Explorer 4.0 or above is recommended.
(Netscape is currently NOT supported)

 
 http://www.globalhauri.com/html/onlineservice/livecall.html



Mcafee has a free online scan at this web site:
 
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp



symantec.

  
 Scan for Viruses

http://security.symantec.com/ssc/vc_about.asp?j=1&langid=us&venid=sym&plfid=23&pkj=HMXUPWFYJOKMFIDPMSV



[langalist] LangaList Standard Edition 2003-06-05 
Date:	6/4/2003 10:31:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Plus! Edition Extra: New Free Antivirus Tools, Test
Mihai Radu is both a LangaList reader, and an employee at
"Bitdefender," an antivirus vendor I hadn't previously heard of. The
site (
http://www.bitdefender.com 

) offers free and paid versions of antivirus tools spanning a huge
range of applications, plus free infection-removal tools, and a free
online scanning engine. Worth a look....
http://www.bitdefender.com/index.php

Free Online Virus Scan

http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/antivirus.shtml