The answer to the question posed in the title of this article is yes, but only under a certain condition.
It is safe to run your computer with no antivirus if the computer never connects to the internet at any time.
Yes, that sounds ridiculous, but I have a point to make with this.
Most people are under the belief that if you’re not running Windows and using Mac OS X or a Linux distribution as your operating system, you’re 100% safe and need no antivirus suite whatsoever. Maybe that used to be true, but no longer.
What’s known as drive-by downloads aren’t always targeted towards specific operating systems like Windows. Instead they’re being programmed now to target specific browsers like Firefox and Chrome. Most of them operate by running a hidden inline frame in a web page, launching a script, Flash script, Java applet or even a PDF to punch a security hole in the browser, do its thing and then your browser is in effect hijacked. Even on Linux.
Now while true the compromised software is only your web browser and remains “sandboxed” to a degree, that’s the #1 piece of software you use and it’s probably always open and running; therefore the malware is always running.
Windows is more prone to getting hijacked outside the browser because there’s so much malware specifically programmed for it. It is the volume of viruses and malware that exists for Windows that makes is so susceptible to attack. Mac and Linux aren’t nearly as susceptible because of far less market share, but consider this:
Using Facebook as an example, you truly have no control over what apps do on that site. All of it is third-party that operates outside of your operating system. And it’s well known certain Facebook apps have had less-than-noble purposes. Sure, at some point they’re found out and removed, but if you thought running Mac or Linux sheilds you from that stuff, it doesn’t.
The advice you can take is this:
First, malware/spyware programmers know that it’s much easier these days to hijack a computer via web apps rather than try to punch security holes in an OS. If you run across any web-specific app that looks suspect even to the slightest degree, don’t run it. Not on Facebook, not in your webmail or on any other web site you use that offers web-app capability. This is not to say you shouldn’t run web apps at all, because you have to run some. But you should be vigiliant about watching out for the bad stuff even for things that “live only on the web”.
Second, running Mac or Linux is not a “get out of jail free” card, so to speak, because web apps don’t care what OS you’re running. Your system won’t be attacked on an OS level but rather a browser and/or web app level if you just install web apps without thinking about it.
Third, it is difficult for most people to comprehend that web apps designed to compromise your browser even exist. People are still thinking about viruses and malware like they did 10 years ago where they sincerely believe that “it’s just a Windows thing”. No. Wrong. Web apps don’t discriminate when it comes to an OS.
The two best defenses against web-based viruses and malware are to run browser extensions that kill inline frames (NoScript will do it for Firefox, NotScripts will do it for Chrome), and to purposely leave the in-built browser protection on to block known bad web sites (which most of you already do anyway).
Again, I have to stress this is not OS-specific, and applies to Windows, Mac and Linux.
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I recommend to my users that they do their do their normal, daily computer usage from a non-admin account so that malware doesn’t use their install permissions in the background. Doing this and using firefox, have kept me virus free for at least 5 years. . without an antivirus.
I say it depends on HOW you us the internet.
If a kid or teenager is using the PC– YES, in fact, it’s a MUST. Kids and Teens are bored,. Bored Internet users Surf and Surfing can ed up ANYWHERE.
For Adults– it depends on HOW they use the Internet.
Some adults are JUST like Kids & Teens. They use the Internet like TV. They Surf, they browse, they look for anything interesting. When they buy online– they click Ads, Any ads, All ads. YES, they need an AV.
Others only go online to take care of specific business at specific sites. They NEVER surf. Even when they Buy something online, they know EXACTLY what they want and head DIRECTLY to the specific website. They…can get away with no AV– MOST of the Time. But all it takes is a driveby install ad on a trusted website.
Just don’t surf porn sites and warez sites and that alleviates a huge amount of the problem. When I was still using Windows full-time, I went for years without anti-virus installed and never got into problems. Just be smart.
Of course, I don’t recommend people follow my lead and run without anti-virus, but I’m just sayin’… that’s what I did.
The laptop I am typing on now has had no antivirus for 2+ years….I haven’t had a problem but I am a tech and am careful. I am on the Internet for hours each day.
I will upload a downloaded file to virustotal.com in some instances before running it.
This is a personal laptop so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it got infected (plus, I am a tech, so in theory I might be able to recover from it).
I would never go antivirus-less at work however.
NoScript/NotScripts are acceptable replacements for an Antivirus IF:
1. You do NOT download binary files from sources you do know to be safe, and execute them (includes via torrent or other program)
2. You trust, with 100% certainty, that any removable media (flash drives, cds/dvds, etc) that you put into the computer are clean
3. You have a closed firewall on the computer itself (not even other computers on the LAN can see open ports / programs from the network)
Given these three requirements, there is no way that your computer can execute foreign code without you EXPLICITLY allowing it through NoScript/NotScripts.
However, eventually, I think that even NoScript/NotScript will fail to protect you. What happens when your bank website server gets hacked, and you visit that page? The above tools would do you no good in that situation.
The point in this article is valid. But we take an alternative approach to this scenario. We live free and take it easy most of the time, and we prepare for the very few (almost never) times that something does actually happen. We do not lock our doors, we leave the keys in the car (most of the time), and sometimes, (usually when home) we even leave the door wide open AND WE DO NOT USE ANTI-VIRUS.
We simply accept the fact that something will happen sometime; this also applies to our computers. We take precautions such as backing up our personal files and keeping our personal files on a file server separate from our desktop. This could simply be another partition on your own hard drive for simplicity. We also have a backup of our desktop to restore from if we need to. We access personal and private information on the internet rarely, and we don’t save passwords to important sites, and we generally try to keep our personal information available on the internet at a minimum (within reason).
Which leads me to my point of hope for the best and plan for the worst. Virus scans slow down your computer experience ALOT. Is it worth running slower EVERYDAY for a problem that manifests it self once ever 3 or 4 years? And I assure you, you will not die when what ever computer problem arises.
Virus scan slows your computer down. My wife runs a Pentium 4 that runs faster than most of the people she knows with newer computers. But they run virus scan (along with a bunch of bloatware). I swear, you really do not need a dual core CPU with an SSD and 8GB of RAM to browse the internet, use word, play music, watch youtube, and download your pictures; but with anti virus, you sadly do need all that.
You should be practicing safe browsing habits, backing up your data, and generally be prepared for an electronics disaster using virus scan or not. (Newer hard drives fail too, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearch.google.com%2Farchive%2Fdisk_failures.pdf&ei=21r2UNC2EISfiAKvwIGIBw&usg=AFQjCNGdAu5mMDlzXvPg0CSZPH6HavPX3g&sig2=Bt7M0D2t6ze4GudIlb-gdA&bvm=bv.41018144,d.cGE). And if you do all these things, you will find that not only will you rarely have a problem, it will be easier to handle that problem when you have one.
As for us, we run chrome, a sandboxed style browser, we don’t run browser add-ons, we don’t install every add-on and toolbar with software we install, we block ALL program access to the internet that doesn’t need it using zonealarm free firewall (no, HP does not need to check to update our printer every week), we don’t open attachments from people we don’t know, we don’t enter our name and email into every box that asks, and lets face it, some things are simply safer to do ON PAPER with a scanned or paper copy for our records, not on the computer! (Life insurance lady, you did hear us right. We will not enter our e-signature and all of our personal information on YOUR computer on YOUR website, and yes, we would like to proceed ON PAPER with us keeping a copy of our own in the file cabinet – not the computer.)
As a note we have been running without anti-virus for years now and we have only had one infection that we did not ask for from diaperswappers.com from a banner ad on their page. But our personal data is on our server via mapped drives and the infection stayed isolated to the OS drive. We have yet to experience a browser-based attack; but good luck even finding a time to do an attack that could be meaningful to anyone, including us. We also had my bank account with some fraudulent purchases many moons ago; but thankfully we survived the ordeal to tell about it
.
Come on people, be smarter. Murphy is going to come knocking and anti-virus is not going to save you from him. Your bank is going to get hacked, some government guy is going make a mistake, or your workplace is going to be burglarized in the night and you will not be able to stop it from happening. Anti-virus is a dust mask during a plague; maybe its time you actually start reducing your exposure and increasing your insurance (no, virus scan is not insurance, its more like a bubble that hinders your movements) so your can take the mask off and breath freely.
If you start thinking differently, you will realize how much you really do not need anti-virus. (Or a new computer every 18 months, but that’s a whole ‘nother story!)
Damon. (Yes, you could probably find me, I’m not THAT Anonymous.)