cdd wrote:The answer is not to get/run a virus checker at all, which are simply programs whose popularity is propogated by the overzealous media and technophobic PC users; anyone who just opens applications or downloads p2p without selecting an audio file format filter, etc., must have an idiot level approaching 100% and deserves to get one. By employing common sense (EDIT: and knowing the common ploys -- that's important too!) it's impossible to open a virus.
you are wrong - there have been a number of viruses and worms which have relied upon vulnerabilities in critical windows services, like RPC, and recently people have found ways to run executable code from malformed wmf files - whilst visiting a website with such an image would require user interaction i don't accept that it is something you could simply avoid by having common sense. the rpc flaw (corrected in sp2 allowed people to run executable code on your pc with NO user interaction at all)
most people assume that their webbrowser is a 'sandbox' which prevents anything nasty from entering their pc which they don't want... this has proven not to be true in all the popular browsers and with the increasing sophistication of operating systems these days you'd be pretty silly not to sit behind a firewall with some sort of antivirus software.
and if you think you're safe on a mac:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/08 ... erability/
Not all PC users have their systems connected to the internet, so a firewall program would be effectively redundant.
