[LemonMan]

over the summer i formatted my drive, reinstalled the os and all the drivers and my laptop is as good as new. it took 2 days, but it was worth it. is was over run with viruses and all that crap

damn viruses!

[Mrafcho001]

I format on a regular basis, every 2 months. I reinstall all the stuff i need within 3 hours...

Can't keep windows clean forever, or even for a while

[snoj]

That is untrue, I've been running my desktop for methinks a year now on this install of XP. And the reason I had to reinstall was because my powersupply wasn't playing nice with my harddrives. (I didn't know it at the time though.)

The main problem is that people don't monitor what's being installed or have firewalls in place and so they get infected.

[Mrafcho001]

I've been running without a firewall and disabled antivirus system for quite a while. I can't even remember the last time I got a virus, i keep my pc clean from spy-ware and ad-ware.

But it still manages to slow down and clog up with all kids of useless shit.

[Nova Dragoon]

Wooo linux, only reinistall when you are chaning to completely different distros

[Thorian]

I get teh disk the way I like it with everything playing nice. Then I ghost it to another HDD then I take the Ghosted drive to work and put it on the network to back that up as well

[MarkoDaGeek]

Good Idea.

[adamjon858]

My Windows system is spotless...I've been running it 3-4 hours a day on the net for over a year and a half. And it's running naked, no protection. I'd say that's amazingly good. On the other hand...I have a windows based server that when I last ran norton on...detected (get this)....5700 viruses or the like.

Linux server...been going for about a year without a reboot now

[max302]

My linux server is a workhorse. It's a gameserver, it's about 10 years old and sounds like a speeding train, but it's running smooth, thanks to linux.
</linuxpraise>

[Beng]

Mrafcho001, on 16 Oct, 2006 - 05:39 PM, said:

I've been running without a firewall and disabled antivirus system for quite a while. I can't even remember the last time I got a virus, i keep my pc clean from spy-ware and ad-ware.

To all you who think that a firewall and anti-virus does nothing then maybe the reason you arn't getting virus' is because YOU DON'T HAVE ANTI-VIRUS. Windows doesn't come out and say to you "I have a virus!!!" So how can you know that your comp has no virus' if you don't have anything to detect them by??? Also a firewall is about the most useful and annoying tool to ever come out for a PC but if you spend 20 mins configuring it when you set up the comp it is a very valuable tool. i sugest you use it!!!

Agree that Linux is the only OS that is virus free. Many people think Mac's are but not anymore. They had to stop playing that PC has virus' and Macs don't because there are now virus's for macs.

[born2c0de]

My Windows runs kinda smooth too.
Running it for over a year, no firewall, a disabled NOD32...and It's still running fine...

I personally scan my disks for virii and worms every month so I can isolate them elsewhere where I can study them.

[Beng]

born2c0de, on 2 Jan, 2007 - 07:54 PM, said:

My Windows runs kinda smooth too.
Running it for over a year, no firewall, a disabled NOD32...and It's still running fine...

I personally scan my disks for virii and worms every month so I can isolate them elsewhere where I can study them.

Windows is just too insecure for you to run without a firewall and scanning for virus' does nothing for hackers who can get through your ports cause you don't have a firewall. Believe me if i did a scan on ur comp there would be hundreds of things it finds not just virus' and worms but everything.

Also the firewall stops hackers accessing something Microsoft put in there operating systems. "Remote network registry edit." So unless you have this service disabled your comps reg will be full of crap.

Firewall also stops people from being able to install programs on your computer without your knowledge. People can hide things in Zip files and MPEG's even photo's.

So if you don;t have a firewall use the windows one or download one off the net.

[snoj]

Are you calling him a liar?

I've been running Windows for way longer then I remember without any sort of firewall installed or antivirus. In that (methinks) 3 years I've only been hit with one virus...ever, and that was because I was foolish enough to let my siblings download "free" MP3s. And you know what I did about it? I removed it manually. I do however (and likely born2code does as well) have a firewall on my router...infact I have two routers, each one having a firewall.

Don't tell me it can't be done, because it can be done and I do it.

[born2c0de]

hotsnoj, on 3 Jan, 2007 - 05:42 PM, said:

Are you calling him a liar?

I've been running Windows for way longer then I remember without any sort of firewall installed or antivirus. In that (methinks) 3 years I've only been hit with one virus...ever, and that was because I was foolish enough to let my siblings download "free" MP3s. And you know what I did about it? I removed it manually. I do however (and likely born2code does as well) have a firewall on my router...infact I have two routers, each one having a firewall.

Don't tell me it can't be done, because it can be done and I do it.

To Beng:
I do have a firewall on my router.
hotsnoj is right. It is possible to work without an Antivirus and Personal Firewall.
It's just the fear that stops you from trying it out.

[MarkoDaGeek]

I havent ran Antivirus or software firewalls on my machines for a long time. I wanted to try out this ClamWin Antivirus, I installed it and it hasn't found anything from all of that time I ran wide open.

Now I'm going to uninstall it and run wide open again. However for those who are interested in a free antivirus solution, ClamWin is pretty nice.