---
title: How to protect yourself from viruses without installing anti-virus software.
date: 2009-10-15
topics: security
---

You don’t really need antivirus software on your Windows computer. Over the past
several years, antivirus scanning has become much more centralized. Most of what
you download over email or at work has already been scanned for viruses and
malware anyway—why pay Norton or McAffee to have it scanned again once it
reaches your hard drive? And why have another program running on your computer,
slowing it down and wasting resources?

Running antivirus software on Windows these days is almost like getting a
smallpox vaccine. Your individual situation may vary (see below), but very
likely you can be both free and safe without antivirus software by taking a few
basic precautions and being generally security-aware. You may already be aware
of these precautions, but you may not have known that following them may
effectively eliminate the need for stand-alone antivirus software on your
computer.

1. **Use Gmail (or your corporate account) to send and receive file attachments
   via email.** Many free email providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail,
   scan attachments for viruses and malware for you, so you know the file is
   clean when it gets to your hard drive. Many businesses, both small and large,
   do this as well on their own internal mail servers. (If there is a good way
   of testing and verifying email providers’ attachment scanning claims and
   abilities, though, I would like to know about it.)

2. **Use the Internet from behind a router.** Don’t plug directly into your
   Cable or DSL modem. Plug a router into that thing (a wireless router if
   that’s how you like to roll) and then use that. Most off-the-shelf routers
   have built-in firewalls that prevent the most common attacks.

3. **Limit the amount of software you download.** Get the programs you like
   installed and then keep your computer the way you like it for a good long
   while. Don’t be constantly looking for and downloading new utilities.

   - Especially don’t download anything in response to a popup window, ever. If
     you ever get a popup warning you about viruses on your computer, for
     example, it’s a lie. Just close it.

4. **Don’t use LimeWire or BitTorrent** (unless you *really* know what you’re
   doing out there). As Dylan Boom said in [this comment at
   Lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/5383383/avg-9-free-now-ready-for-download#c16073386),
   *“I work at Best Buy for Geek Squad, and the computers that come in with the
   most viruses, etc. normally have two things on them: AVG as their virus
   protection software, and Limewire.”* It is impossible to verify the
   authenticity or origin of anything that passes through a torrent service (not
   counting md5 signatures on Linux distributions etc). Consequently people love
   to insert malware on stuff and send it on to unsuspecting downloaders as the
   real deal.

5. **Use open-source whenever possible** and download directly from the
   software’s main website.

6. **Stick to mainstream, trusted websites** and access them through your
   bookmarks or browser shortcuts whenever possible–*don’t* get in the habit of
   visiting the same website repeatedly by typing its name into Google (or any
   search engine) and clicking on the top result. Stay away from porn sites and
   any place offering something for nothing. Don’t click on ads.

7. **Keep your computer updated.** Windows has a provision for automatically
   downloading and installing security updates and fixes–[make sure it’s turned
   on and that it’s
   working](http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/automaticupdate.mspx).

8. **Use a more secure web browser** such as
   [Chrome](http://www.google.com/chrome) or [Firefox](http://getfirefox.com).
   Make sure it is fully up to date (instructions for how to do that on
   [Chrome](http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/3436/google-chrome-how-to-check-for-updates/)
   and [Fireox](http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Updating+Firefox)).

   - Don’t use Internet Explorer. Even [the US DoHS has advised against
     it](http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/713878). While that security advisory is
     a few years old by now, the fact remains that IE’s security model is too
     broken to trust.

Note that if you don’t follow most of these practices already, no antivirus
program is going to be able to keep you safe indefinitely anyway!

The main principal here is to clean and verify all the ways that you exchange
information into and out of your computer: that mainly means email, web
browsing, your physical internet connection, and being cautious about installing
new software. **Note that you may still need antivirus software installed if:**

- You need to share files through shared network drives or email accounts at
  work that you know are not scanned by antivirus software. (this would include
  things like shared folders on [Dropbox](http://getdropbox.com) accounts,
  which, as [far](https://www.getdropbox.com/help/27) as I can
  [tell](http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry!default.jspa?categoryID=152&externalID=1697)
  are not scanned for viruses.)
- You regularly exchange files using thumb drives or external hard drives owned
  by other people.

Comments and proposed changes/additions welcome!

***Update**, Nov 11 2009*—After I submitted this post a couple of times at
Lifehacker, they came up with their own variant: [Stop Paying for Windows
Security; Microsoft’s Security Tools Are Good
Enough](http://lifehacker.com/5401453/stop-paying-for-windows-security-microsofts-security-tools-are-good-enough?skyline=true&s=x)
\[sic\]. (Not suggesting there’s a relationship there. Well OK maybe I am.) I
still believe Microsoft’s security tools are *unnecessary*, however supremely
adequate they may be for the job they’re supposed to do, but there are a lot of
good points in the article, and I highly recommend it.

•comment[#:author "Larry" #:date "November 06, 2009" #:link "https://www.blogger.com/profile/01994382985383873333"]{
I’ll bite.

For the most part I agree, with a couple of exceptions. First, this only works
if you can *guarantee* than no one else will *ever* use your computer.

When my son, or niece, or whoever come to visit, they use my wife’s computer.
Both my son and niece have managed to get the computer infected, despite the
fact that they were using FireFox. I managed to recover from my niece’s
infection. The one my son got was so bad I had to wipe the computer and begin
anew.

So my second point would be to suggest Opera as an alternative browser rather
than FireFox. It’s more secure.

I agree with you regarding IE, but a lot of corporate types and schools pretty
much insist on it. My wife’s college e-mail is broken in all browsers save IE. I
tried to ban IE from my house, and she beat me down. So, again, your
prescription only works if you have *100% control* over your computers at *all*
times. Most of us don’t.

Norton sucks. It’s a pig, makes your computer run like crap, takes over the
computer at inconvenient times, won’t protect you much, and the Norton customer
service is egregious. If you need something, I’d suggest ESET Nod32.
}