Please read what I wrote before commenting.
I said MOST ORDINARY COMPUTER USERS should be using security products as a line of defense to protect them from their lacking knowledge or experience...
I read what you wrote. Your anxiety places the opposite in question. I don't allow my children to drive my car unless I know they've learned how to drive. By the same token, should folks be messing around with YOUR computer if they don't have a clue about security? When 15 year-old nephew Enus comes over to check his email on his uncle's PC, should the uncle rely on the anti-virus to keep the machine secure? I'm suggesting we need to rely less on security software and more on education and supervision no matter what platform OS we are using.
...Security experts are not ordinary computer users. They know what they are doing. They can probably configure a firewalled router. They probably block javascript by default on a lot of sites. They probably don't surf random webpages using an unpatched version of IE. So yes these people can usually get by without Norton or Kaspersky.
...
Not JUST those people, sir. The interesting thing is, you don't necessarily need to be a security
expert to be relatively secure on your computer. I refer to experts not to illustrate their full geek capabilities, or to aspire to possess the same, but rather to show it is very possible and easy for ordinary folks to be safe without relying on security software. AV & AS programs wont catch everything, and if you are safely computing, my theory is - they wont have to.
1. Dont open or launch email attachments
2. Dont click links in email
3. Dont download files from places you arent absolutely sure are safe
4. Update your Operating System regularly
5. Use a firewall (hardware only - a wireless router works nicely)
6. Don't run as Administrator for the day to day computing
Pretty simply concepts - and none involved a $50+ subscription to software and updates. AV & AS software reminds me of seat belts in cars. They might save your life in an accident, but then again, they might not and your car will probably still be totaled regardless.
...I agree a lot of these programs are bloated and do slow the computer down. But that's by design as they are sitting there in the background monitoring what you do looking for stupid things computer users might do, scanning open files, internet activity and emails as they arrive.
No security program is 100 percent effective at identifying and preventing those stupid things computer users might do. The absence of any awareness of security makes that risk even greater. In my view, once the security software has identified an infection, the Windows machine is already compromised - likely beyond repair.
None of the products on the market can assure me any infection has been removed 100% - so the only way to be sure the system is clean is to start over and reformat (not a bad idea to do regularly anyway). Given this assumption, I'd rather the software chosen for background monitoring was not bloated "by design", was as robust and lightweight as possible, and was not laden with unnecessary features that bog down performance. Norton is notorious for its bloat and problems it causes for Windows users even
without malware present. Instead of Symantec products, I'd personally rather be running AVG Free or other low resource proggies like ESET's NOD32 on my Windows machines.
I would rather listen to one of Ballmer's seminars than put Norton on any of my Macs!
