>Walter, your argument is tantamount to saying you will not use a condom with a stranger becuase it gives a false sense of security. Your partner may or may not have an infection but not wearing a condom with a stranger is irresponsible. AV software is the same. It will provide protection for a wide array of known malware and some unknown. Just becuase it is not 100% effective and cannot necessarily prevent unknown attack vectors does not mean that you should not use one. If you do not employ basic security measures then you become part of the problem instead of the solution.

A condom is about 100% safe (if it does not rupture). However not having sex, probably is safer. AV software caused a lot of problems for me in the past including Windows reinstalls, so to me the cure was more painfull than the problem.

As for being a part of the problem... If I catch a virus, I'm having the problem and that does not say I'm distributing the problem. My ISP has an active scanning program for malware that turns computers into spam bots, so I'd be notified soon enough. Also when i'm sending virusses via email, I'll be notified or even my internet connection would be shut down.

I just don't want my computers bog down (mainly because of HD access) because of AV scanning. I'll deal with events as they occurr. If I'm ever severely hit by a virus and this could have been prevented I'll take measures. Meanwhile I just make sure that in such an event, I can recover from it rather quickly. Running an online AV once a month or so is part of the protection program I have choosen to use.

Walter,