The Cost of Not Running an Anti-Virus

Inevitably you run into the same argument on internet forums and social media, and it goes something like this: “I don’t use an antivirus, common sense is all that’s needed”. “I don’t need an AV, I only download from trusted sources”. My personal favourite is this one; “It slows down my system and I’m careful about what I click on.”

Nah, mate. You need an anti-virus, even if you think you don’t. 

Creepers

The first anti-viral software was a daemon running on TENEX-based systems connected to the ARPANET, designed to combat the Creeper virus which began to spread in 1971. Creeper was a virus that had no malicious intent - it only left behind a message on affected computers that would display when you logged in: “I’M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.”

Creeper would propagate itself onto TENEX computers connected to the ARPANET, at first moving from system to system and later copying itself to systems in a reworked version of the virus.

Ironically, the creator of Creeper had no intention of letting it loose, but Bob Thomas was really constructing a primordial computer virus in a cave from a box of scraps. He had no idea where this would end up.

The solution was an anti-virus, Reaper, created by Ray Tomlinson, that would copy itself onto vulnerable systems and look for instances of the Creeper virus. If it found any, it would kill the process and delete the Creeper files. 

It was a game of cat-and-mouse on the first proper transnational network. Creeper would spread to new TENEX computers as they were connected to ARPANET, and Reaper would come in afterwards to kill it off and continue to monitor the machine for repeat infections.

Reapers

Anti-virus and anti-malware software over the decades since has transformed with the arrival of each new novel attack vector. 

Viruses that spread via email needed an anti-virus plugin that would scan your incoming email to fend off possible attacks. Viruses that spread over networks needed an anti-virus that scanned incoming network traffic to verify its origin and contents. Malware that spread via malicious advertising on the internet needed an anti-virus browser plugin to protect against attempts to remotely download and run software in the browser itself.

With time, combining these capabilities led to consolidation of anti-virus publishers that started to offer a one-stop solution for protecting users connected to the internet. 

And in the beginning, with computers that were relatively simple and designed to only run a few programs at a time on a single core, that led to antivirus software that was perceived as bloated and laggy. Norton was famously disliked as a solution because it would take hours to days to finish a scan of a hard drive, and the perception grew that these solutions tended to get in the way of users trying to do work on their machines. 

This was despite Norton actually topping charts in 2010 for their suite's performance.

That perception has so strongly held that today people are still concerned about the potential impact of security software on their machines. Guides today are still being written explaining how to disable Windows Defender to boost framerates in videogames or to speed up video rendering in Blender, even if the effects are largely placebo. 

But you do need an antivirus. It’s not a want, it’s not a suggestion. It is a need.

No matter how carefully you think you tread on the web, you’re not able to keep track of the hundreds of new ways things try to steal your data. Bots are constantly scanning for open ports with weak authentication to get into your routers and IoT devices. Your washing machine could be doing heinous things while connected to WiFi. Nowhere is safe except if you fully unplug.

Free: Windows Defender

The saying goes that the best camera in the world is the one you already have on you - the one in your phone. That applies to your computers as well when it comes to antivirus software. Because the vast majority of people on the planet use Windows, the default option is Windows Defender. 

It’s not really that pretty, but it does the job. Microsoft uses Defender as a way to track early infections of a virus and sound alarms early about their spread and effectiveness. And it is free, pre-installed on machines running Windows 10 and 11. Hit the Start Button, type in “Windows Security”, and see what things could be configured or enabled on your machine.

If it is disabled, turn it on. If a scan hasn’t been run in weeks, find out why. It sits in the background unobtrusively doing the thing, and uses few resources to maintain its running state. You'll forget it's even installed.

By default, Defender also serves as the engine that scans incoming network traffic on your system too, so make sure you have Tamper Protection (inside Virus & threat protection Settings) turned on so that malware can’t turn these options off in the future. 

One of the pain points about the adoption of Windows 11 is that the hardware requirements are so strict, but that’s also because Microsoft accepts their role in the tyranny of the default in this situation. It is better to ship Windows with all the security options enabled by default, rather than having them be opt-in.

There are other free alternatives available from third-parties, but these options are not going to be significantly better than what Defender offers, so you might as well stick with it. 

On Linux and macOS, the situation is a bit muddier. While clam-av is available for Linux, it’s not user-friendly. macOS has the opposite problem - many free and paid apps exist, but there’s not really a single good recommendation that covers multiple devices. 

Paid: Everything Else (But Only If You Need It)

Windows Defender only goes so far, and because it is free there’s a finite amount of resources Microsoft is willing to spend on it. Paid AV software steps into the picture and offers more security in various areas that may or may not interest you.

AV-Comparatives offers a nice, regularly updated round-up of software and the landscape of options that are actually effective gets smaller all the time. If you need a paid AV package for work purposes, because you work from home or travel quite a bit, it’s worth seeking out the available options for that peace of mind. 

In multiple tests, ESET and Bitdefender frequently top the charts, out of dozens of available solutions online. You can even run Norton if it tickles your fancy.

The prices aren’t unreasonable either. For the cost of securing a single machine for a year, ESET charges users R469 annually for Premium. Competing solutions aren’t badly priced. There are options to protect your mobile devices, too.

You will run into people that claim that paid antivirus is essentially snake oil, but no. Lol, lmao even.

Many of the paid solutions will upsell you on features like a bundled VPN, password manager, and a secure browser, and many more things you probably don’t need. The base packages are perfectly reasonable.

All you need is protection from the basic threats - malware, malvertising, rootkits and worms, spearphishing attempts, the crypto ransomwares of this world and the next. It doesn't have to be too fancy.

It’s About Protecting Others

Like vaccines, running AV software on your computers and mobile devices helps to protect yourself and others. If your devices are somehow infected, chances are good it won’t spread to another machine. If someone you know has a device that is infected, there’s limited opportunity for that infection to impact you, especially if your system is also fully patched. 

By using an antivirus, you help stop the spread of new infections. Viruses that can't spread cannot harm others. That has benefits not immediately obvious as well. 

If someone hands you a flash drive to print something, you don’t necessarily have to worry if there’s a worm on it (because it will be squished). If someone needs files copied onto their external hard drive, you can be sure you're handing it back to them in a clean state.

If you’re sending off that last-minute email with an invoice as a PDF, you can be certain that there’s only a very, very slim chance that it’ll get intercepted by something running in the background on your machine to replace it with something else.

Stop ruining your computing experience by rawdogging it without an anti-virus. Do your bit to protect yourself and others by using a decent free or paid antivirus.

Disclaimer: We were not paid to say any of this.