How to survive without Antivirus on Windows Computer
Today, nothing is valued more than safety. Frightened by the news about hackers and viruses, you cannot move the mouse without being entrenched by shields and constant security analysis. Life without an antivirus seems unthinkable (atleast on Windows Computer).
However, it is possible to live without antivirus. Without Antivirus installed, the need for a spending the resources of our computer no longer exists. And then the computer wins in speed and avoid major hassles, such as false alarms.
Why live without antivirus? More performance and stability.
The first has to do with performance. Most antivirus need plenty of memory and computing power to conduct its surveillance. In some cases, consumption of memory that can reach 100 megabytes too.
This graph taken from Raymond’s Blog shows the startup time of Windows with various antivirus programs. Although some are highly optimized, such as the Microsoft Security Essentials, but most add 30 to 40 seconds to boot time. A time that many consider unacceptable.
As for stability, the presence of a virus that constantly monitors files can interfere with the operation of programs and games. The false alarms, arising from the use of heuristics aggressive, confuse the user and can lead to disastrous events such as the deletion of system files.
Antivirus are useful but do not replace Common Sense
Virus has changed and no longer try to delete files or cause panic, but present themselves as legitimate programs and deceive the user in social networking. Virus writers now prefer to earn money and gain the trust of the user instead of destroying your computer.
In the case of zero-day attacks , the effectiveness of the best antivirus is down more than half. The following chart, published by security expert Brian Krebs in his blog, shows the blocking rate of the ten best antivirus to an unknown threat. The result: Most antivirus takes two days to react .
If you think, then, that an antivirus will protect you 100%, we will have to give bad news: no antivirus protection ensures complete 100%. Alfred Huger, Chairman Immunet , summarizes the situation with a great metaphor:
People should understand that antivirus is more like a safety belt to an armored car , an accident may save your life, but maybe not. There are things you can do first to make sure you do not have an accident, and those are the places where you put all your attention.
Antivirus is therefore a great helper when it comes to keeping the system safe, but not an infallible remedy.
Are you sure to Uninstall Antivirus?
Before removing the antivirus, you better your computer skills with everything necessary to prevent infection easier. We suggest you the following menu, composed of these ingredients:
- Secure browser: Google Chrome , for example, opens the pages in an isolated area called sandbox , preventing their contents may cross the border to attack Windows and Internet.
- Sandbox: Sandboxie and BufferZone allow you to run programs on a separate memory space than normal. So if you are unsure about the dangerousness of a file, you can put it in a cage .
- Virtual machine: The alternative is to use a sandbox suspicious programs running on a virtual machine, ie a PC inside your PC. You can also use it to browse or download files.
- On Demand Antivirus: To avoid overloading the system, you can scan files with an antivirus like ClamWin , which only scans when you ask it. Another Option? analyze it on the Internet .
- Windows firewall: More than enough to reject most attempts of aggression from outside. To have more control over it, install Windows Firewall Notifier.
- Sysinternals Utilities: Programs like Process Explorer , RootkitRevealer or TCPView will help you find out if something strange is happening in the system. Alternatively, you have those Nirsoft .
- Antivirus CD: For those who scans monthly, can do without installing anything on your hard drive.
- Password manager: Indispensable to have a safe place to store sensitive data on your computer that should not easily fall prey to data thieves and attempted phishing.
How to get rid of antivirus
If you’ve decided to give up antivirus, a type of program particularly hard to remove, uninstall it with Ashampoo Uninstaller or Advanced Uninstaller. If the Windows Action Center gave you the error with no antivirus installed, Disable messages about virus protection from Control panel >> Action Center.
Practical Advice
The utilities that we have recommended are not sufficient to avoid security problems. We need a final touch, common sense. Here’s our list of recommendations:
- Use Windows as a normal user (not Administrator). This prevents a program to have previlege to damage the system. This is what makes Linux and Mac OS X systems are inherently safer.
- Update Windows regularly so that vulnerabilities get patched in the applications you use most often.
- Protect your wireless network against intrusions and connect through a multi-router, which act as barrier between the Internet and home network.
- Download only from trusted sites, such as portals and software applications stores. Here’s a list of free download sites which you can refer.
- Think twice before installing a program or open a file whose unknown origin. The same goes for e-mail attachments or files that you go through instant messaging.
- Create a separate partition to store your sensitive documents and data. You may choose from this list of Free File encryption software.
- Be careful what you ‘re looking on the Internet: Although most browsers already put on the trail of potentially malicious sites, it is worth using extensions like WOT (Web of Trust) or sites like Norton SafeWeb.
Am I recommending not to use Antivirus?
No. What this article aims is to discover the antivirus, though useful, but not remedy to cure everything, and that protection is primarily in your hands. Your use of this information depending on your skill level with computers. The choice is yours.
- If you are an advanced user can stop using antivirus and follow the advice above.
- If you prefer to use anti-virus, following the recommendations of the Article will increase Windows security
You can go through several antivirus software or refer to list of free antivirus software (best of all time).
Do you prefer to use Windows with or without antivirus? Have your say by commenting below.