Anti-Virus Software, and why its now virtually useless
(and even a hindrance)
by Bob Latshaw

It's 2010, folks, you don't "need" anti-virus software if you own a PC running Windows XP or later (emphasis on the word "need").  It's the equivalent of walking around all day with a helmet on in case you hit your head.  It will slow you down, and the odds are that your skull can withstand whatever impact your clumsy feet get it into.  Yes, that's a pretty bold statement, but I felt the need to write this article because of the disproportionate amount of people who still believe that a computer without anti-virus is like a body without clothing.  I've been fixing and programming computers since 1977 and I've watched the PC since its birth (when only a handful of nerds like me used them), to today where virtually no home is without one.  There have been four laptops in our house for almost the last decade, and all running without anti-virus, and none of them has ever gotten a virus.  Keep in mind the other 3 laptops are used by my wife and 2 daughters (ages 15 and 10).  Yes, they all surf the web on a regular basis and they all have email accounts with email coming in everyday.  How is this possible?  It's easier than you think, and we are protected more than you know.  I'm sure all of you have known at least someone who's gotten a virus recently or had it happen to yourself and had to go through the nightmare of rebuilding your hard drive from scratch and maybe even losing years worth of data.  This leads me to my next question, "did you have anti-virus software on the computer at the time?". The odds are you did.  Why?  Well most PCs come with anti-virus loaded from the factory and most people do keep it up to date out of shear fear.  This takes us to the next question, "did it help?".  No it didn't, and that's the part of the equation people amazingly seem to forget.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the PC was still in its infancy, and every corrupt computer nerd was trying to write viruses to exploit the incredible amount of security holes in it.  Microsoft made a strategic decision back then to NOT get into the anti-virus business.  Why?   It was simply a public perception issue.  Being the monopoly that they were, people would be quite suspicious of the company selling anti-virus software because the attitude at the time (and I remember reading an article about this) was pretty much "Microsoft could simply write viruses to keep you buying the anti-virus software".  Sounds pretty far fetched, huh?  Not really for us geeks who remember the tactics of Microsoft back then.  When DOS 2.0 was released, there was a rumored memo that was circulated to the Microsoft software engineers with the motto "DOS 2 isn't done until Lotus won't run".  Basically, Microsoft designed DOS 2.0 so that one of their competitor's products (Lotus 1-2-3) wouldn't run on it (and it didn't), hence giving their own Excel spreadsheet software a HUGE advantage.  With that kind of perception, its easy to see how the public wouldn't trust them in the anti-virus market.

The first two decades of the PC (and Windows) existence was filled with all kinds of viruses, and in the early days, most viruses were spread by floppy discs.  In fact, most viruses were designed to be spread that way.  Then came the internet revolution in the mid 90s, and it opened a whole other can of worms (literally).  Even though the internet has been around since the 1960s, it was only used by the military and universities through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but when home computers began accessing it, virus creators had a field day so to speak.  Internet "Software Libraries" began being created where people could access thousands of programs from one location and it created a great place to "hide" viruses.  The greatest exploit was though email.  Viruses were created that looked like something funny or something important and people only had to open the attachment to get the virus.  Companies like Norton and McAfee were cleaning up on the fear of viruses, and God bless them.  They did a remarkable job (and still do) tracking every known virus out there.

Fast forward to today's world.  After the release of Windows XP in 2001, Microsoft finally began to buckle down and take the virus and spyware threat seriously.  They found it rather embarrassing I'm sure that virtually every PC sold came with anti-virus software preinstalled.  What's that say about your product when it has to come with someone else's product just to protect it?  Around 2005, Microsoft "acquired" (love that word) a small anti-spyware company, and in classic Microsoft style, simply slapped their name on it and called it "Windows Defender".  Since the release of Windows Vista in 2007, all version of Windows come with Windows Defender built-in.  Users of Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows can download Windows Defender for free, and unlike other anti-spyware programs, the updates are all free.  Now, Microsoft had to walk a fine line because if they made the product cover all known viruses, companies like McAfee and Norton would cry foul and have the anti-trust people all over them.  What they did, in a planned staged process was to make Windows Defender cover spyware and all the other annoying software.  That way, it would not appear like they were simply going to put all the anti-virus companies out of business.  Where the true genius came into play was how they very discreetly added something else to the automated "Windows Update" called the "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool", which DID cover viruses.  So, in a nutshell, with Windows Defender and the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, you're covered against viruses, spyware, and all kinds of annoying stuff for free!  Unfortunately, Microsoft can't publicly say this because again it would be an illegal use of their monopoly power, and a lot of anti-virus makers would go out of business if the entire public suddenly realized this.  Anti-virus companies are quite aware of this and mark my word, their days are numbered in selling to home users, and they know it.  The future of anti-virus companies is selling to corporations who run email servers, and web portals like facebook, but the concept of end-user anti-virus protection is slowly fading.

Ok, enough of the history lesson.  "But PCs still get viruses" you say.  Yes they do and regardless of what protection is on your PC, most viruses do most of their damage in their first week of life.  You know what that means?  That means that the odds are that if you get a virus, you will get the virus before Microsoft or McAfee or Norton are even aware of it, which means your anti-virus software is virtually useless!  Yes, Microsoft is protecting your PC from within now, but regardless of what company is doing it, the fact remains that none of them can ever stay ahead of the viruses.  You're only protected against "known" viruses that have already done most of their damage.  With that being said, and to address the people who would trust McAfee or Norton regardless, unlike Windows Defender and the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, third party anti-virus programs like Norton or McAfee scan every single file you access and check it for viruses before it can load.  This slows your PC down to 1/3 speed in many cases.  When you start a program these days, its not just one program file that needs to be scanned, in many cases its hundreds, and 99.999% of the time its all in vain!  What an absolute waste of your processor's power and time.

Another development that really does protect you and most people aren't aware of this is the fact that as of today, virtually every email server on the planet scans all passing email for viruses.  Have you noticed we no longer get stories on the news like "be warned of an email attachment called XXX"?  The email companies fixed that problem years ago, and quietly.  As with any anti-virus, and like I said before, there's still always a risk of something new getting undetected and its also why email companies aren't publicly claiming to protect you from viruses.  If one gets through, you could sue them, but the fact remains, they are most likely on top of the situation as well as they can be.  Just follow the golden rules of not opening any attachment if you don't know who its from (duh) and don't open any attachment who's file name has an extension of (.exe, .com, .vbs, bat or anything that can "run").  Basically, stick to documents (.txt or .doc) and media files (video, audio, etc..).  If you don't recognize the type of file, don't open it.

Ok, so we know now that viruses no longer spread by discs, and email servers are checking our email for us, and Windows now has built-in virus protection that doesn't slow down your PC, but yet people still get viruses......how?  The one last great frontier for virus makers is web sites.  I've cleaned viruses from many business networks, and the culprit is almost always someone who was visiting web sites they shouldn't have.  This one is really a no brainer and if I was able to teach my daughters this when they were each like 5, I think most people should be able to grasp the concept.  Simply pretend that everyone can see the sites you're visiting like they were real buildings.  You wouldn't be embarrassed if everyone saw you walk into Sears or Walmart, but you wouldn't want your mom seeing you walk into a porn shop, would you?  Your safety from viruses goes right along with this.  You know who you can trust and who you can't, and if you're not sure who you can trust, just don't ever answer "yes" to any question or any popup or any download.  It's that simple.

People, go uninstall all of your anti-virus and internet security programs (oh yeah, they've pretty much become a joke as well since Windows has had a built-in firewall since Windows XP).  Get rid of them!  They're slowing your computer down!  ...and they're slowing YOU down as well since you're always having to answer to them!  Learn a few good habits and you will be better protected than ANY piece of software could ever provide.

One more note.  Windows Vista and Windows 7 introduced a new "feature" called UAC (User Account Control), and the premise behind this is to prompt you for your permission for just about everything.  The idea is that if a virus is the one trying to perform the task, you can answer "no" and be protected.  Guess what, 99.99% of people wouldn't have a clue when to answer "no", and I'm one of them, and I know what I'm doing!  This "feature" can also cause good programs to not work properly either.  UAC should be pictured right next to the word "overkill" in the dictionary.  Unless you like being annoyed for no reason, turn off UAC for a much smoother experience with your PC.

Now for the big question you're all thinking.  "What if I uninstall my anti-virus and find out later that it was the only thing that would have caught the virus?"  One of the BEST features of Windows that has been out since XP, is something called "System Restore" (now called "System Protection" in Vista and 7), and this enables you to put your PC back where it was right before the virus hit it, and unlike anti-virus software, it can bring back any files the virus damaged.

In summary, only you can prevent a virus from hitting your computer, and anti-virus software just slows your machine down and gives you a false sense of security.  Follow the few simple rules that I've taught my own family, and you too can have a faster running computer that's virus free for years to come.

©Copyright Latshaw Systems