Running Windows without anti-virus software

I have 6 antivirus installed in my computer but only one running at anytime
the others free antivirus scanner have been disabled via msconfig
Paid : Gdata
Free : clamwin, MBAM, eset scanner, housecall, antivir
like some people I don't see any significant decrease in performance when running an antivirus in a 6 months old laptop
I even scanned my computer with those 6 antivirus scanner running at the same time and barely reached 90% cpu load
I found 3 malware recently in my laptop MBAM found one and clamwin the other 2. I didn't notice any slow down at that time. Without an antivirus I would have probably missed them

 

Just because an anti virus says something is a virus, doesn't mean it is.

 

I've had false positives a lot with AVG on other computers now that you mention that. I know other programs have issues with that too. I guess that must be why erig007 has several different programs, for cross checking files in different programs.

@erig: if you don't notice a difference in performance, then you have no reason to change your setup. As I've said before, there just isn't a single method to keeping viruses off your computer. Before you say, well you could keep it offline, well there are still ways, it would just be harder and completely unlikely. I respect that you have your own method and I believe it probably works well for you. But I do think you would receive a performance benefit from having only one security program to serve all your anti-virus needs. From my experience, the more applications you have installed and clogging up your registry, the slower your boot times and application load times will be. General system performance can take a hit from that.
Some that I've talked to might also say that running frequent or several scans can reduce the longevity of your hard drive.
Still, I'm sure you are comfortable with your security standards and system setup just as I am with mine, and I would never try to dissuade you from that (unless you hired me as your security consultant )

 

I'm aware of false positives that's why I doubled check with virustotal and jotti's

Thanks for the info micmac
good to have some input

I agree with you micmac regarding the drawbacks of my solution
but I think that no antivirus is 100% safe that why I cross check with several ones (that becomes obvious when using virustotal or jotti's)
I prefer to have a peace of mind everyday before failure knowing that there are good chances that I don't have a malware and have a failure one day of a component that I will change rather than using only one antivirus and not having a peace of mind
my hard drive being an Intel X25E ssd I already know that I will have to change it sooner than later
I feel pretty much happy with my solution
Thanks anyway

 

That's a lot!

ClamWin found 2 malware 'samples' that all others have missed? Any idea what kind of malware it was?

While I agree that not one anti-virus/malware program can detect everything, your setup requires a lot of maintenance.
Why not use one AV (like free Avast, Avira or MSE) complemented with MBAM and Hitman Pro3 for on-demand scans.

Hitman Pro3 uses combined detection from Emsisoft (2 detection engines; Ikarus also), Prevx, GDATA (2 engines; Avast+BitDefender) and Dr. Web.
That's 6 different detection engines combined.

Avira/MSE + MBAM + HitmanPro = Only 3 programs without any chance of conflicts.
And...8 different engines in total.
Way less hassle regarding program & signature updates.
And yeah, all for free.
It's a win-win-win-win option.
cheers

Edit; I'm aware this post is way off-topic regarding the topic-title

 

you're right that a lot but it's not so much hassle when I use them only once a month or 2
(and even disabled I still can use them easily to scan my computer)

regarding the malwares detected I think one was a win 32 something

regarding your solutions
I wanted to combine with something strong in 0day threats like antivir because shadowserver find Gdata pretty weak in 0day threats under linux

all this to say that without an antivirus software it's sometimes hard to notice a malware especially with current powerful laptops
unfortunately it is not a lot better with one antivirus installed nor 2 or 3
where the limit is depends on each one

 

I'm still thinking about doing a guide for running without anti-virus software. If I do it will be a new thread, but I'll take suggestions mostly from here to add to what I have currently.

 

NoScript + Not downloading risky things.

 

It's like running your car without brakes. Yeah you can slow with engine and gearing, but sooner or later you'll hit something. Maybe you're ok with that.

 

Relying on antivirus alone will never be enough but add a generic behavior monitor to that mix and you increase security ten fold. Consider that every single maleware has to do some kind of action which is when the behaviour monitor is likely to catch something antivirus missed.