Poll: it professionals only! do you think antivirus is necessary?

I used to believe those who know what they are doing didn't need one until I discovered a silent rootkit on my system that was there for who knows how long. It felt like rape.

My Dad is an IT Professional and he has told me that it's very important to have.

If you have a newer OS (like Vista, Windows 7 or 8) then it is all the more necessary. Viruses are tailored to go after new OSs and being that those OSs are more complicated, the virus can do so much more damage because they are tailored to get around all of the little security features. Simply put, the newer your OS is, the greater your risk.

If you're running something like XP, it's not THAT big of a deal. You can still get viruses, but they won't be going after you as aggressively but it's still recommended you have SOME Anti-Virus program.

Anti-malware is worth having because there are a few that can be a real pain in the arse to remove completely, I had one that took no less than 4 programs to remove from my registry and it still didn't fix all the problems it caused.

I've been exposed to malicious ware that will STILL infect even after a definition update, scan and removal. problem i see with "bloatware" is that erase and install is still the most effective. if you can shell out some money to buy decent imaging software, its going to save you hours on downtime.

You need an antivirus program. That's not really optional. Even if you think you haven't had any viruses, you still can, and you could easily have a few already without even realizing it. Take it from me, my dad's a professional and he taught me the ancient art of computerology.

My life was never the same after running into that Russian made virus.

I exaggerate, but it was a good learning experience. For about the next 6 months I was intensely curious about malware and viruses in general.

Anyway, yes anti-virus is always necessary.

If you have assets worth protecting, i suggest you best have antivirus software... If you buy online often, pay bills and use your bank account online i wouldn't take the risk.

AntiVirus is always very important, I can't live without it. It's the first thing I install after installing Windows on a computer.

Eventough I'm an IT-professional and very aware of what I'm doing, I've had several virusses attempting to install themselves on my system. Of course my AntiVirus helped me out. But no matter how much you know about computers and how much you're aware of what you're doing, you can have a virus before you know it.

As for the system resources, there are several good AntiVirus programs that don't require that much sources. With the modern powerfull computers it's not even a single issue anymore. As for the financial aspect, use a free AntiVirus. They're always better than nothing.

Wow, a lot more people than I thought still use A/V. Does it ever actually catch anything? If so why are you downloading viruses and why are you executing them after you download them?

In my jurisdiction, all computers run Windows. So, I make it a point to install a good antivirus (paid) on EVERY computers. Employees are dumb and I don't want to solve each and every of their virus problems.

Let's put it this way: There's really NO reason to NOT have anti-virus.

EDIT: Of course, depending on your OS. On OSX and Linux (e.g. Ubuntu) you don't really need anything. Windows is the only one that might require some protection.

You would be surprised how easy it actually is to make a program that completely bypasses UAC on Windows 7 for example.

Professional or not, Anti-virus is always a must have!

Depends on OS. If running on Windose, then you need a good one!

If you mean professional as in computer nerds I know a few. The ones I know never use AV software and never get viruses. However I had a very poor one and my computer crashed a few times. I am no tech though.

i can't vote until i know what av is is it avg

Thanks for voting!