Fed up with antivirus software

[petey]

I don't use antivirus software because I don't use Outlook, IE or MS Office and I never open attachments unless they're images or text. I've never picked up viruses. Many of my friends, however, do use it.

Antivirus software seems to cause my friends more frustration than the viruses it is supposed to block. It seems like it's messing with every part of their system, frequently causing crashes or other problems.

Is there an antivirus program that doesn't touch *any* part of the user's system, but instead lies dormant on the disk until asked to scan the system, at which point it will simply check a specified file, directory or drive?

Thanks in advance,
petey

 

[FlashTag]

I use Norton's AV. I don't have it load at startup. I run it
it when I want to. Also any file on my pc I can right click
and Norton let you check that file. I use that on all my attachments before I open my mail.

 

[feb]

Hi petey
I am using McAfee VirusScan if you delete all references from the startup directory and disable all the auto features it will just sit on your hard drive waiting for you to access it via shortcut or right click on files in explorer.

 

[snt]

http://www.free-av.com

Free anti-virus software with free updates.
This small program sits quietly in the background. It does scan files constantly, but you would never know it. It uses close to no resources and it works very well. I, too hate av software for the biggest reason that they are resources hogs. I forget that this is even running.
I highly recommend it.

 

[edfair]

or use the web based trendmicro housecall at antivirus.com. Downloads the software once and the data at first and anytime it needs to be updated. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[JonathanB]

If you're frequently swapping diskettes & CD-R's, chances are you'll forget to run AV when accessing these. I have several instances wherein my AV jumped up the screen due to a virus in the CDR. I would rather addup resources than clean install my system.

 

[snt]

JonathanB,
The solution I offered covers that.

 

[dakota81]

Or I can suggest an anti-virus program that does not run in the background and is only active when you run the scan. Check out:

http://www.f-prot.com

and download their free DOS version. Being a DOS program, it is totally self-contained, loaded no files into the Windows directories, requiring no scan programs running at all times.

I hate anti-virus software too, I can't stand anything extra being installed on my computer and running in the background, because of that risk of problems. F-Protect is the software I use, and bottom line is, it works.