Do I need an Antivirus Program?

[serdna117]

Hi guys, I'm in the process of building my first gaming PC. I have it all pretty much down, but I am wondering whether or not I should buy an anti-virus program for it. I will be running Windows XP professional for a couple months until I upgrade to Windows 7 at release. Spending the money on a virus program is not a really big deal for me, but I am more concerned with how anti-virus programs tend to slow down computers.

I won't be using the internet much on it because I have a Mac book which I plan to use for pretty much all my web browsing. The only thing that worries me is that I do plan on downloading mods for some of my games, like oblivion and fallout, and I worry that I may get a virus from one. Any suggestions?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

grab something like avg free edition and be happy.

 

[JessicaD]

Serdna117,

if you are planning to upgrade to Windows 7 at release you might like to know that for a limited time only you can pre-order your copy of Windows 7 for a discounted price of more than half off! For more information, see the Windows 7 Pre-Order offer page here: http://tinyurl.com/nldc8p

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

 

[btk1w1]

Jessica,

Those are upgrades. Is the 7 Ultimate full retail on sale?

 

[Expensive Brick]

Hi guys, I'm in the process of building my first gaming PC. I have it all pretty much down, but I am wondering whether or not I should buy an anti-virus program for it. I will be running Windows XP professional for a couple months until I upgrade to Windows 7 at release. Spending the money on a virus program is not a really big deal for me, but I am more concerned with how anti-virus programs tend to slow down computers.

I won't be using the internet much on it because I have a Mac book which I plan to use for pretty much all my web browsing. The only thing that worries me is that I do plan on downloading mods for some of my games, like oblivion and fallout, and I worry that I may get a virus from one. Any suggestions?

Some form of AV protection is recommended to safeguard you against all the 'nasties' out there these days. There are a few different programs out there that can be tailored to your needs (active monitoring, manual periodic sweeps, disable during game play, etc.). AV software has become much more streamlined even within the past five years that system efficiency isn't adversely affected as much as it used to be.

What's more, the negligible performance reduction that may occur will surely be replaced by the substantial, potentially damaging, performance reduction you will incur without virus protection. I understand you may not frequent the internet on this machine unless for mod/online play but the potential for contracting a virus exists. In my opinion, I would take the guarded approach and purchases protection. After all, you're placing all this time into building a great PC and kicking around with some games just to have some lame-@&% implant a virus? But I digress...

Read these from TopTenReviews on antivirus software and see which most meets your needs / budget. Personally I use Norton 360, but will be switching to Kaspersky once my subscription runs out. Symantec still has some kinks to work out of its server synchronization with regard to updating the software. There are a few other things with the 360 that I'm not a fan of, but it is an effective program over all.

There's also a free antivirus program from AVG Antivirus that got good marks from the Consumer Research folks. I haven't read much into it yet, but if you're looking for something with moderately good protection and for cheap... nothing beats free.

Here I am bloviating over the subject when really all I need to say is: Yes, you should get some AV software. Go to the links and find what suits you best.

 

[FJunior225]

Hey Im also in the process of building my gaming pc, however I will be using the internet for games such as wow etc. Would the free software protect me enough?

 

[btk1w1]

For a gaming PC an option would be to invest in an imaging utility such as Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost.

It doesn't need to run resident, and as long as you have created incremental or differential backups you will always have an uncompromised system state to revert to.

This way there are no system resources being tied up with security applications.

The need to be able to run an on call scanner is a must though, you need to know whenand if the PC is infected.

A very good free on call malware scanner is Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and there is also the option of running online virus scans which most big AV vendors offer.

Running a PC is this way might not be suited to everybody though. Those that game, use online banking and visit password secure sites on the same PC wouldn't fancy running their malware scanners every time they needed to visit secure sites.

 

[Expensive Brick]

@ fjunior225:

From what I've read, the AVG software has pretty acceptable scanning and detection qualities. If you're going to be playing online games and looking for some mods this may be sufficient for you.

However, if you're going to be storing personal information or visiting encrypted websites with log in information, I would suggest going with a paid service vendor that maximizes protection. You can always adjust the software's scanning / monitoring capabilities to help out with the system resources issue during gameplay.

 

[FJunior225]

Thank you!!!