Answers to Everyday Questions : Why do people not install an Anti virus program on their PC?

Why do people not install an Anti virus program on their PC?

10 Responses to “Why do people not install an Anti virus program on their PC?”

1. taz7360 said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 7:17 am

   Because they are dumbos
2. starknow said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 7:52 am

   It’s a mystery
3. Bend it like Bender said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 8:28 am

   It’s not that simple, they might have but the software they using might be crap or they are visiting bad porn sites.
4. The Beerman said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 8:32 am

   Antivirus programs don’t catch everything. There is always an index case for a new virus.
5. HelpME! said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 9:26 am

   Because they are not that smart. They think they wont assaulted by a virus or a hacker. But the the truth is, everything you do can have a small or big virus on it pretty much. if you don’t have protection you will also be hacked on average of 50 times a night. People need norton.
6. Bashar said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 9:58 am

   people just cant be asked to buy 1 if they cant buy 1 they probably dont know they have 1 already
7. Bob said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 10:30 am

   i use mcafee. its a real drag waiting 30 minutes for it to finish its daily update. i’d sooner get my bank details swiped than wait 30 mins every day
8. Yossarian said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 11:27 am

   Most of them probably do but forget to update their software on a regular basis. Software that is not routinely updated will not stop new forms of malicious software and anti-virus programs cannot detect viruses they are not familiar with.
9. StefGuitarZ said :
   August 31st, 2010 at 12:17 pm

   I know some people who do not have an anti-virus installed in their computers, but these computers are not connected to Internet.

   Having an anti-virus is a must indeed, but more importantly is to make sure it is up to date, cause any anti-virus program being out of date is rather useless.

   It is also important that this program has a built in spyware/malware scanner, otherwise it’s also a must to have one installed and kept up to date.

   One other useful program to have is an backup archive image creating software like Norton Ghost or Acronis True image, this lets you create an image archive of your computer data, so in case something goes wrong, you can restore your computer to the initial state it was when you created the archive.

   Much more efficient than the system restore function built in Win XP and Vista, cause these can also get infected with viruses, so you end up restoring the viruses over and over.
10. Willy said :
    August 31st, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    Maybe because every type of computer malware is often referred to as a ‘virus’ when a virus is actually a specific type of malware, not that common these days, even on Windows pc’s. So, people think that if they have an av program that’s all they need when the reality is that other forms of malware are more common and more dangerous. Most av programs now aim to protect against malware in general but even the ‘best’ – whatever program that may be – can’t be relied upon to detect 100% of malware. In particular, AntiVir free and AVG free are a bit lacking in spyware protection.

    Generally, av programs (and anti-spyware programs) rely upon malware signatures (or definitions), issued *after* the malware has been released. If people don’t have the latest signatures / definitions, they’re vulnerable. Many people don’t keep their av up-to-date.

    Also, most malware now gets on via vulnerabilities in third-party programs such as Apple QuickTime, Adobe Flash player, etc, and the av programs don’t *always* detect this. So *all* programs have to be kept up-to-date with the latest security patches. Use Secunia PSI 😉

    Because av programs rely upon virus definitions released after the new virus has been released, there’s always people who get caught by ‘zero-day’ attacks, i.e. they are the first to get the malware, ahead of the av companies releasing an update for it. Some av programs use heuristics to watch for suspicious behaviour but this isn’t 100% foolproof.

    For the reason above, some people don’t use av programs but use HIPS programs instead. In theory, these are much more secure but in practice they still aren’t 100% guaranteed to stop infections and, for most people, aren’t as easy to use as traditional av programs. However, experienced users who use a HIPS program probably won’t be on Yahoo Answers asking for help, they’ll know what to do 😉

    Don’t think that, because you have an av program, you’re safe.
    Don’t think that, because you own a Mac, you’re safe.
    You ain’t.